This week, I took over Math. Because of my experience at Bridgeport, I feel like I am so much more prepared to be teaching. I absolutely love teaching; it pains me to just be sitting around. I have now moved away from using the Benedum lesson plan format which to me makes everything so much easier. When I was using the Benedum plans, I felt as if I had to follow them exactly and I constantly wanted to look at them to make sure I wasn't forgetting something. In my opinion, the lesson plan format is more like a script and really inhibits my teaching. I think it is good for tutors and even participants (first semester) to use so that they can think through their lessons, but at this point in our schooling I think that it just inhibits my teaching. I am so happy not to be using it anymore.
This week in math, we learned about adding and subtracting on the number, telling time to the half hour and frames and arrows. Adding and subtracting on the number line and telling time to the half hour was a lot harder for the students to understand than I thought. We had a couple students in tears on these days. On both of these days, I used books to help students understand the concepts. This seem to help them a little bit, but the concepts were just hard for them. It also could have been the way I taught it or how the book went about addressing it. I really wish that there was some other way to go about teaching these concepts and allowing students to practice them without using the text or worksheets. I feel like students are overwhelmed with worksheets. This is something that I need to look into.
On Friday, we had our Fall Festival. A tutor and I were put in charge of the bowling station. It was torture. The wind was blowing all of the pins over. I think that we spent more time picking up the pins than the kids actually bowled. It was a lot of fun though. The students really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun.
Action Research Week 2:
This week's data was a little different than last week's data. There was no clear pattern of students doing better when books were used and when they were not. I think that the material was a little bit harder this week. Students had a lot of difficulty understanding the concepts. I am not sure how I am going to analyze my data because I keep having these different results.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
October 18 -22, 2010
This week was my first week back at Suncrest Primary. After being with 6th graders for such an extended period of time, I forgot how dependent the young ones are. This week has definetly been difficult at times because I am still transitioning from 6th grade to 1st grade. It has been difficult for me to bring myself back down to thinking on a 1st grade level. I have noticed that often times I am expecting too much from them. For example, the other day a student asked me what to do on the paper. I simply told him to read the directions without even thinking about it first because I was so used to saying that in 6th grade. Students in 1st grade are unable to read many of the words that are stated in the directions; therefore, they actually do not understand what to do. I have found myself doing this quite often, but I am working on it. I have started to realize that they are in 1st grade, not 6th. It is nice that I am with 1st grade this semester because I have been with many of these students since pre-school. Many of the students know who I am and I know many things about them. I am already aware of many of their learning styles and behaviors which will definetly help me when I start my full time teaching. I am excited to start teaching! It is always fun teaching the younger kids because they are always so much more interested in everything.
Because I have only taught two lessons this week, I have been able to observe the students. Also, I have had the opportunity to talk to many of the students and get to know them more. I feel like I have really made a connection with a child in the classroom with an unidentified disability. He has a lot of trouble staying on task and by working one on one with him I have been able to get him to get his work done. It has been a rewarding experience thus far. I still wonder: What else can be done to keep him more focused and on task?
I am really looking forward to start teaching math next week. I hate just sitting around and not doing anything. I love to be up on my feet and moving around, teaching something.
Action Research Week 1:
This week, I began my action research. I taught the lesson on Monday about even and odd numbers and used the book: Missing Mittens. It was a really cute lesson and the students were able to make the connection between the book and even and odd numbers. Students were given an exit slip at the end of the lesson which connecting the book to the concept learned. Tuesday and Wednesday, Mrs. Beckner taught the lesson, but the students were still given an exit slip. On Thursday, I did the introduction to the lesson, counting on a number line. I read the book Animals on Board and showed students how to add. I went one step beyond what I should have and I think that I may have confused the students a little bit, but it is a good introduction to next week's lesson. They had an exit slip that related directly back to the book and the concept.
I have collected several different forms of data thus far and quite frankly, I feel a bit overwhelmed. I am not so sure what to do with all of it! I have an exit slip from Monday-Thursday. A chapter 3 pre-test, student work from Monday, and an interest inventory. If you multiply all of that by 25, you get a whole big stack full of papers. I feel that all of my data so far is valuable data and I don't want to get rid of anything. I think that these sources will help me in answering my questions. When looking through the exit slips, I noticed that I am already seeing differences. More students are receiving check pluses and checks on the exit slips when a book is used than they are when a book is not used. This could be due to several reasons though. For one, the material learned could be of a different difficulty level on the days I don't use books. Also, students could be having an off day. In addition, the material could have been presented in a way that was confusing to students. Many factors exist that could explain why I am already seeing the results that I am. I wonder if I will ever be able to answer my question?
Because I have only taught two lessons this week, I have been able to observe the students. Also, I have had the opportunity to talk to many of the students and get to know them more. I feel like I have really made a connection with a child in the classroom with an unidentified disability. He has a lot of trouble staying on task and by working one on one with him I have been able to get him to get his work done. It has been a rewarding experience thus far. I still wonder: What else can be done to keep him more focused and on task?
I am really looking forward to start teaching math next week. I hate just sitting around and not doing anything. I love to be up on my feet and moving around, teaching something.
Action Research Week 1:
This week, I began my action research. I taught the lesson on Monday about even and odd numbers and used the book: Missing Mittens. It was a really cute lesson and the students were able to make the connection between the book and even and odd numbers. Students were given an exit slip at the end of the lesson which connecting the book to the concept learned. Tuesday and Wednesday, Mrs. Beckner taught the lesson, but the students were still given an exit slip. On Thursday, I did the introduction to the lesson, counting on a number line. I read the book Animals on Board and showed students how to add. I went one step beyond what I should have and I think that I may have confused the students a little bit, but it is a good introduction to next week's lesson. They had an exit slip that related directly back to the book and the concept.
I have collected several different forms of data thus far and quite frankly, I feel a bit overwhelmed. I am not so sure what to do with all of it! I have an exit slip from Monday-Thursday. A chapter 3 pre-test, student work from Monday, and an interest inventory. If you multiply all of that by 25, you get a whole big stack full of papers. I feel that all of my data so far is valuable data and I don't want to get rid of anything. I think that these sources will help me in answering my questions. When looking through the exit slips, I noticed that I am already seeing differences. More students are receiving check pluses and checks on the exit slips when a book is used than they are when a book is not used. This could be due to several reasons though. For one, the material learned could be of a different difficulty level on the days I don't use books. Also, students could be having an off day. In addition, the material could have been presented in a way that was confusing to students. Many factors exist that could explain why I am already seeing the results that I am. I wonder if I will ever be able to answer my question?
Saturday, October 16, 2010
October 11-15, 2010
On Monday, we had Parent/Teacher conferences. It was a really good experience. We learned a lot about our students that we didn't know. It was really interesting learning about our students outside of the classroom. It allowed us to gain insight into how to help our students within the classroom.
This was my last week at Bridgeport Middle School. It was a very sad week. The students constantly reminded me that I was leaving and constantly asked me why I had to leave. It was really comforting to me knowing that the students were that upset to see me leave also. It allowed me to realize that I did make a difference in their lives and left an impression on them.
My experience at Bridgeport, is one that I will never forget. Although, it was tough at times; it was extremely rewarding. I know that I made a difference in several student's lives. Knowing that I have changed how my students feel about science makes me the happiest person. I am so thankful that I was placed where I was and had the opportunity to work with the teachers that I worked with.
This was my last week at Bridgeport Middle School. It was a very sad week. The students constantly reminded me that I was leaving and constantly asked me why I had to leave. It was really comforting to me knowing that the students were that upset to see me leave also. It allowed me to realize that I did make a difference in their lives and left an impression on them.
My experience at Bridgeport, is one that I will never forget. Although, it was tough at times; it was extremely rewarding. I know that I made a difference in several student's lives. Knowing that I have changed how my students feel about science makes me the happiest person. I am so thankful that I was placed where I was and had the opportunity to work with the teachers that I worked with.
Friday, October 8, 2010
October 4-8, 2010
Monday- Today went pretty well. We finished up our life size gameboards today in reading. All of the groups did very well, except for one. Everyone in the group kind of just sat back and let the one girl do all of the work. When it came time to do presentations, all of the group members looked at this girl so that she would talk. This is when I had to interject and tell them that I wanted someone else to talk. All of the other group members were unable to explain anything about the game. This really upset me because not only did it go with the book, but we have spent over a week working on these. This just proved to me that these group members didn't contribute anything to the project. The way that the rubric was set up for this project was so that everyone received a group grade. Because of this one group, I changed it so that each person got his/her own grade. I didn't think that it was fair to penalize the girl who did all of the work because she had no say in her group members. I chose the groups by random selection so that the class got to work with people they wouldn't usually choose to work with. Now I am wondering...is random selection a bad method to use when choosing groups? In Science, we went over our study guide and then did a vocabulary review. After this, I allowed the students to work on the rest of their study guide. I am anxious to see how many students still walk in tomorrow without it done. They were given almost 20 minutes and by the way the students were chatting, not much worked seemed to be getting done. I have to partially blame this on myself though because I know that I should be more strict with them, but I am not the type of person that has to have a quiet classroom. I want the students to be able to interact with each other and work together.
Tuesday- Today we had our Chapter 2 Vocabulary Quiz. I had students walk in and say I didn't know we had a test today! This drives me crazy because we spent majority of class yesterday discussing the quiz and what was going to be on it! I am not sure what else I could do to get students to prepare better for quizzes and tests. I want them to do well, but I can't hold their hands and make them take their stuff home to study.
Wednesday- In Reading, I taught the students a new song to help them with the word onomatopoeia. This song really allowed them to make the connection. By singing it, they learned how to spell it and what it means. In science today we had our chapter 2 test. Third period was a complete disaster. We completely forgot to set up the measurement lab. Also, we hadn't planned how we wanted to do it. By 6th period, we broke it up into stations and had it all figured out. third and fourth period ended up being our test dummies. Sixth and Seventh period's measurement labs were smooth sailing. I can't even count how many students asked me if they were to use centimeters or inches!!! This was a test on the metric system, by the way!!!! We have spent 2 and a half weeks learning about the metric system and measuring in centimeters and millimeters and meters. NEVER once did we do anything in inches! Needless to say, today was a very stressfulk day filled with lots of problem solving.
Thursday- Today was my birthday. My students all knew it was my birthday so my first period class sang to me. It was so cute! Then at the end of the day, one of the other interns came over and brought me 80 birthday cards! I was so surprised that none of the students accidently told me the surprise. I do have to say that it was one of the best birthdays that I have had. Never have I received so many birthday cards with such meaningful messages. It really made me think that I am leaving an impression on these students and I am teaching them something. Many of them wrote about how they never used to like science until this year because I have made it so much fun by doing all of the hands-on activities. This makes me really happy because I am not really a science person either, but these past 8 weeks have really changed my mind about science. I have grown to love it!
Friday- Today was our second day of doing Tech Steps. So far it has been a disaster. The students just aren't getting it. We have broken it down into the littlest parts possible to help them. We are doing the one about investigating paper copters. So far all they have had to do was write a research question, a hypothesis, the variables, background information, and the materials. It has taken us two days to get this far. We should have had the experiment done by now and be ready to go into the computer lab. I don't know what the problem is. We have done every step with them, they just either aren't paying attention or really don't get it. This is all stuff that we have done before though so I am really confused. We spent weeks and weeks on all of these things. The students performed really well on their test. I am starting to think that maybe they haven't retained the information. I wonder what the problem could be?
Tuesday- Today we had our Chapter 2 Vocabulary Quiz. I had students walk in and say I didn't know we had a test today! This drives me crazy because we spent majority of class yesterday discussing the quiz and what was going to be on it! I am not sure what else I could do to get students to prepare better for quizzes and tests. I want them to do well, but I can't hold their hands and make them take their stuff home to study.
Wednesday- In Reading, I taught the students a new song to help them with the word onomatopoeia. This song really allowed them to make the connection. By singing it, they learned how to spell it and what it means. In science today we had our chapter 2 test. Third period was a complete disaster. We completely forgot to set up the measurement lab. Also, we hadn't planned how we wanted to do it. By 6th period, we broke it up into stations and had it all figured out. third and fourth period ended up being our test dummies. Sixth and Seventh period's measurement labs were smooth sailing. I can't even count how many students asked me if they were to use centimeters or inches!!! This was a test on the metric system, by the way!!!! We have spent 2 and a half weeks learning about the metric system and measuring in centimeters and millimeters and meters. NEVER once did we do anything in inches! Needless to say, today was a very stressfulk day filled with lots of problem solving.
Thursday- Today was my birthday. My students all knew it was my birthday so my first period class sang to me. It was so cute! Then at the end of the day, one of the other interns came over and brought me 80 birthday cards! I was so surprised that none of the students accidently told me the surprise. I do have to say that it was one of the best birthdays that I have had. Never have I received so many birthday cards with such meaningful messages. It really made me think that I am leaving an impression on these students and I am teaching them something. Many of them wrote about how they never used to like science until this year because I have made it so much fun by doing all of the hands-on activities. This makes me really happy because I am not really a science person either, but these past 8 weeks have really changed my mind about science. I have grown to love it!
Friday- Today was our second day of doing Tech Steps. So far it has been a disaster. The students just aren't getting it. We have broken it down into the littlest parts possible to help them. We are doing the one about investigating paper copters. So far all they have had to do was write a research question, a hypothesis, the variables, background information, and the materials. It has taken us two days to get this far. We should have had the experiment done by now and be ready to go into the computer lab. I don't know what the problem is. We have done every step with them, they just either aren't paying attention or really don't get it. This is all stuff that we have done before though so I am really confused. We spent weeks and weeks on all of these things. The students performed really well on their test. I am starting to think that maybe they haven't retained the information. I wonder what the problem could be?
Friday, October 1, 2010
September 27-October 1, 2010
On Monday, I introduced my Reading students to the life size game board activity I had planned for them. They weren't as excited as I thought that they would be. This really disappointed me because I thought that it was going to be an awesome and fun activity for them to do. In Science, we learned about mass and weight and the difference between the two. The students had a lot of trouble with this and I partially blame myself. I do not think that I explained it as well as I could have. Also, I didn't use concrete examples to explain or show the difference to them. I think that this would have benefited the students alot. Today was the requiz for the students. Almost every single student failed the requiz. I am completely baffled as to why this happened. I wonder why the students didn't do well on the quiz? Was it something I did? Was it because it was a Monday? Was it something the students did?
On Tuesday, I realized why the students in my Reading class weren't excited yesterday. They didn't understand what the assignment actually was. They thought we were making this little tiny game board. When they found out that it was this giant game board that they themselves played on, they were ecstatic. By the time seventh period comes around, I feel that I am just extremely irritated. I feel like I need to get a tape recorder and just press play. I am not sure if it is the students in my 7th period or that it is the end of the day, but my 7th period does not pay attention or listen to a world that I say. I will literally get done saying something and no more than 1 second later someone will raise their hand and ask the same question I just answered. I wonder why this is? After having my seminar tonight, I have decided that I am going to make a survey for the students to take about their quizzes. I am really curious as to why they performed the way that they did. On the survey, I am going to ask students: if he/she understands the material, what he/she doesn't understand, why he/she may have done poorly, and if there is anything I could do to better facilitate their learning.
On Wednesday, I overslept a little bit and had an extra burst of energy. My reading class specifically asked me: What is wrong with you? I was so jumpy and excited for the lesson. My reaction to everything really livened up the class. We had a lot of fun today and I think that my enthusiasm in everything that we did really helped this. I tried to video tape my lesson today, but we had a human error and the record button was never pressed. I guess I will just have to try again tomorrow! In Science, I had the students fill out their surveys as a bell ringer. I had them keep it annoymous. As i watched them fill it out, I noticed how long it was taking them to do. I got curious so I walked around a table and noticed that they were all really concentrated on filling it out and working really hard at it. This made me feel a lot better because it told me that they really cared about this and wanted me to understand. We started our Mini Olympics today. It took a period or two to work on the kinks, but it ended up being a lot of fun. The students really had a lot of fun with it. It gave them practice measuring, while competing.
On Thursday, I read all of the responses that the students wrote on their surveys. The students were extremely honest and I am very pleased about this. They told me whether or not they understood the material and what exactly they didn't understand. They told me ways to help them. For example, playing more games, hands-on activities, more practice, and better explainations. These surveys were very beneficial for me. It has allowed me to think from the students point of view and cater to their needs and wants. I am now building my lessons around what they need and how I can best facilitate their learning (although I do this anyways, but this is more specific). I have changed my lesson plans for the remainder of this unit and have found several different ways to help them understand the material better. I have done a plethora of research! Honestly, I will glad when the metric system is over! In reading, we sang our Figurative Language rap again today. The students absolutely love it! It is so funny watching them sing and dance to. It has really helped them understand the different types of figurative language and examples to go along with them.
On Friday, I found out that one of my weaknesses is teaching unit conversion. I feel like I did a really poor job teaching it. It is not that I don't understand it because I do; it is that it is so hard to put into words. I didn't mess them up too bad though because it is something that is not needed for the test; we just like to touch on it so that they know that this type of thing exists. I had a few students know how to do all of this better than me. They did a better job explaining it than I ever could. By the time seventh period rolled around, I was a pro at it. I think this is honestly because I get more and more practice as each period goes on. I think that if I taught this again, it would definetly benefit me to consult another science teacher or a math teacher!
On Tuesday, I realized why the students in my Reading class weren't excited yesterday. They didn't understand what the assignment actually was. They thought we were making this little tiny game board. When they found out that it was this giant game board that they themselves played on, they were ecstatic. By the time seventh period comes around, I feel that I am just extremely irritated. I feel like I need to get a tape recorder and just press play. I am not sure if it is the students in my 7th period or that it is the end of the day, but my 7th period does not pay attention or listen to a world that I say. I will literally get done saying something and no more than 1 second later someone will raise their hand and ask the same question I just answered. I wonder why this is? After having my seminar tonight, I have decided that I am going to make a survey for the students to take about their quizzes. I am really curious as to why they performed the way that they did. On the survey, I am going to ask students: if he/she understands the material, what he/she doesn't understand, why he/she may have done poorly, and if there is anything I could do to better facilitate their learning.
On Wednesday, I overslept a little bit and had an extra burst of energy. My reading class specifically asked me: What is wrong with you? I was so jumpy and excited for the lesson. My reaction to everything really livened up the class. We had a lot of fun today and I think that my enthusiasm in everything that we did really helped this. I tried to video tape my lesson today, but we had a human error and the record button was never pressed. I guess I will just have to try again tomorrow! In Science, I had the students fill out their surveys as a bell ringer. I had them keep it annoymous. As i watched them fill it out, I noticed how long it was taking them to do. I got curious so I walked around a table and noticed that they were all really concentrated on filling it out and working really hard at it. This made me feel a lot better because it told me that they really cared about this and wanted me to understand. We started our Mini Olympics today. It took a period or two to work on the kinks, but it ended up being a lot of fun. The students really had a lot of fun with it. It gave them practice measuring, while competing.
On Thursday, I read all of the responses that the students wrote on their surveys. The students were extremely honest and I am very pleased about this. They told me whether or not they understood the material and what exactly they didn't understand. They told me ways to help them. For example, playing more games, hands-on activities, more practice, and better explainations. These surveys were very beneficial for me. It has allowed me to think from the students point of view and cater to their needs and wants. I am now building my lessons around what they need and how I can best facilitate their learning (although I do this anyways, but this is more specific). I have changed my lesson plans for the remainder of this unit and have found several different ways to help them understand the material better. I have done a plethora of research! Honestly, I will glad when the metric system is over! In reading, we sang our Figurative Language rap again today. The students absolutely love it! It is so funny watching them sing and dance to. It has really helped them understand the different types of figurative language and examples to go along with them.
On Friday, I found out that one of my weaknesses is teaching unit conversion. I feel like I did a really poor job teaching it. It is not that I don't understand it because I do; it is that it is so hard to put into words. I didn't mess them up too bad though because it is something that is not needed for the test; we just like to touch on it so that they know that this type of thing exists. I had a few students know how to do all of this better than me. They did a better job explaining it than I ever could. By the time seventh period rolled around, I was a pro at it. I think this is honestly because I get more and more practice as each period goes on. I think that if I taught this again, it would definetly benefit me to consult another science teacher or a math teacher!
Friday, September 24, 2010
September 20-24th, 2010
On Monday, we had a meeting with a parent about a student on our team. He has been low performing and just not with us mentally in class. After reviewing his file, we discovered that this is not normal behavior for him. He has been an A, B student in the past and never had any complaints about his attention. He has suffered a tragic event over the summer, a death of immediate family member and we knew that this was on his mind. We called the meeting to talk with his parent to see what we could do to help him. It was a very emotional conference to say the least. We discovered that he loves talking about his loved one and that is how he is grieving. Also, we learned that he loves motor cross. After finding out these two facts about him, we are now able to think of ways to keep him engaged or just feel like we really care about his situation and what he is going through.
In Science on Monday, we continued our unit on Measurement. We learned about the SI units (metric system). I could not get the students to understand that we do not use the English system in Science. I thought that the lesson went fairly well, but I know that there a lot of things that I could have done differently. For example, I should have used concrete objects to explain the different quanities and units, such as length and meter. I could have showed students a meter stick and explained to them that this is how we measure length. I could have even taken that farther and discussed centimeters and milimeters. My reasoning for not doing this in the first place was that throughout this unit we will be covering all of these quantities and discussing each in detail. I realize now that students probably would have had a better understanding if I did a general overview that first day of SI units.
On Tuesday, we had a 504 meeting with a student's parents. She has brittle bone disease and is very fragile. We were thinking of ways that we can make her life easier. We decided that we would send home an extra copy of the textbooks so that she didn't have to carry them back and forth. This seemed to be the best solution. We also discussed many other things that would work well for her, but she is a very independent girl and doesn't want the attention. She realizes that she is different from the other students and does not want attention brought to her.
Also, today I dealt with my first puking in the classroom incident. A little girl came up to me and said she wasn't feeling well so I told her to go to the nurse. She didn't want to miss class so she said she would go after. First mistake on my part, I allowed her to stay. No more than five minutes later she was standing over the garbage can throwing up. I thought for sure there was going to be a chain reaction. I ran her as quickly as I could to the bathroom and sent a student in with her while I ran to the nurse to let her know what was going on. Needless to say, she ended up going home. It was quite an experience to deal with, especially when the sub and I had no idea what to do.
In Science today, we continued our unit on Measurement. In the beginning of class, students had a bell ringer. It required them to fill in the missing parts of the SI unit charts. I didn't allow them to use their study guide because they were informed yesterday that they needed to start studying. Also, I wanted to see how much they retained from the day before. This bellringer turned into a 20 minute thing. The students were trying to hard to recall the information, but it just wasn't there. After the bell ringer, we went right into length. We talked about meters, centimeters, and millimeters. Students completed a hands-on activity called: How do you measure up? Students were required to measure themselves with tape measurers. They had to do everything in centimeters. Before measuring, they had to estimate. Their estimations were pretty far off, but that is because they haven't really dealt with centimeters before. Many of the students approached me and said that this is the best activity they have done all year! This made extremely thrilled.
On Wednesday, we had a two hour early release day. I ended up completely changing my lesson plans for today to fit the 35 minute class periods. In reading, I assigned students a family portrait and write up and allowed them to work on this during class. In our book, The Summer of the Swans, there are very little details provided about what the characters look like. I wanted the students to get creative and draw what they think the characters looked like and then I wanted them to tell me why they looked this way. The students did an excellent job on this!
In Science, I allowed students to continue working on their How do you measure up? worksheets because many of them did not get past the estimate phase of the assignment. They had a lot of fun doing this and I felt as if it was a less stressful assignment to do in a short amount of time. The students worked really well and seemed to really enjoy it for the second day.
On Thursday, we got caught up on chapters in Reading. Although, all of my teachers have told me in classes not to use popcorn reading, I did (ooops)! In my opinion, it worked out great! Everyone in the class had a chance to read and it forced them to follow along because they had no idea when they could be called on. I was really surprised that it worked out the way it did because for the first time I was able to hear how everyone was able to read. I usually don't put students on the spot to read because I understand some students have anxiety about reading aloud, but this seemed to work out okay and everyone did great!
In Science, we had our SI units quiz. This quiz took almost the entire period. I was not expecting it to take this long at all! At this point in the week, I was still unfinished with what I had planned for Tuesday so I was hoping that this quiz would only take about 15 minutes and we could move on. Again, I needed to rethink my lesson plans. As students finished, I gave them a measuring worksheet where they practiced using centimeters and milimeters. It all worked out in the end, but we were still days behind.
After the students left, we had Faculty Senate. During this, teachers presented ways that they were using technology in the classroom. The one that I enjoyed the most and became very interested in was the use of Google Earth. I never realized that students could go on there and take a 3-d tour of building and landforms. I think that this would be extremely interesting and engaging for students. I have started thinking about when I go back to Suncrest and do my Mexico unit. I think that this would be interesting for students.
On Friday, students in reading, completed a bell ringer that again turned into a 20 minute thing. It wasn't such a big deal though because this is stuff that they need to know and I wanted them to take their time working on it. After their bell ringer, they partner read Chapter 15 in the book and then discussed it with their partner.
In Science, we finally finished Tuesday's lesson on volume. Students seemed to really enjoy this lesson. We discussed the two ways to measure volume, the meniscus, a graduated cylinder, milileters, immersion, and displacement. We then did a lab where students saw first hand how to measure volume and displacement.
While thinking about my lesson plans for next week, I came up with many hands-on activities for next week. I am so excited. In reading, I am going to have students create a life size game board of the obstacles that Charlie faces while he is lost in the woods on his way to the lake. I am not quite sure how I want to do this yet so I have this weekend to figure it all out. Also, I am going to have the students pretend to news reporters and interview a character in our book about the disappearance of Charlie. The students will work in pairs and will be video taped. I think that they will really enjoy these activities.
I think that everything is going really well provided the circumstances. Although I am often overwhelmed with school, work, and taking on the responsibilities of my teacher, I am really enjoying myself. I am going to be so upset when I have to hand the teaching over to my sub. I really enjoy working with the students and I am learning something new everyday. This has been such an amazing experience for me and I wouldn't do anything to change it.
In Science on Monday, we continued our unit on Measurement. We learned about the SI units (metric system). I could not get the students to understand that we do not use the English system in Science. I thought that the lesson went fairly well, but I know that there a lot of things that I could have done differently. For example, I should have used concrete objects to explain the different quanities and units, such as length and meter. I could have showed students a meter stick and explained to them that this is how we measure length. I could have even taken that farther and discussed centimeters and milimeters. My reasoning for not doing this in the first place was that throughout this unit we will be covering all of these quantities and discussing each in detail. I realize now that students probably would have had a better understanding if I did a general overview that first day of SI units.
On Tuesday, we had a 504 meeting with a student's parents. She has brittle bone disease and is very fragile. We were thinking of ways that we can make her life easier. We decided that we would send home an extra copy of the textbooks so that she didn't have to carry them back and forth. This seemed to be the best solution. We also discussed many other things that would work well for her, but she is a very independent girl and doesn't want the attention. She realizes that she is different from the other students and does not want attention brought to her.
Also, today I dealt with my first puking in the classroom incident. A little girl came up to me and said she wasn't feeling well so I told her to go to the nurse. She didn't want to miss class so she said she would go after. First mistake on my part, I allowed her to stay. No more than five minutes later she was standing over the garbage can throwing up. I thought for sure there was going to be a chain reaction. I ran her as quickly as I could to the bathroom and sent a student in with her while I ran to the nurse to let her know what was going on. Needless to say, she ended up going home. It was quite an experience to deal with, especially when the sub and I had no idea what to do.
In Science today, we continued our unit on Measurement. In the beginning of class, students had a bell ringer. It required them to fill in the missing parts of the SI unit charts. I didn't allow them to use their study guide because they were informed yesterday that they needed to start studying. Also, I wanted to see how much they retained from the day before. This bellringer turned into a 20 minute thing. The students were trying to hard to recall the information, but it just wasn't there. After the bell ringer, we went right into length. We talked about meters, centimeters, and millimeters. Students completed a hands-on activity called: How do you measure up? Students were required to measure themselves with tape measurers. They had to do everything in centimeters. Before measuring, they had to estimate. Their estimations were pretty far off, but that is because they haven't really dealt with centimeters before. Many of the students approached me and said that this is the best activity they have done all year! This made extremely thrilled.
On Wednesday, we had a two hour early release day. I ended up completely changing my lesson plans for today to fit the 35 minute class periods. In reading, I assigned students a family portrait and write up and allowed them to work on this during class. In our book, The Summer of the Swans, there are very little details provided about what the characters look like. I wanted the students to get creative and draw what they think the characters looked like and then I wanted them to tell me why they looked this way. The students did an excellent job on this!
In Science, I allowed students to continue working on their How do you measure up? worksheets because many of them did not get past the estimate phase of the assignment. They had a lot of fun doing this and I felt as if it was a less stressful assignment to do in a short amount of time. The students worked really well and seemed to really enjoy it for the second day.
On Thursday, we got caught up on chapters in Reading. Although, all of my teachers have told me in classes not to use popcorn reading, I did (ooops)! In my opinion, it worked out great! Everyone in the class had a chance to read and it forced them to follow along because they had no idea when they could be called on. I was really surprised that it worked out the way it did because for the first time I was able to hear how everyone was able to read. I usually don't put students on the spot to read because I understand some students have anxiety about reading aloud, but this seemed to work out okay and everyone did great!
In Science, we had our SI units quiz. This quiz took almost the entire period. I was not expecting it to take this long at all! At this point in the week, I was still unfinished with what I had planned for Tuesday so I was hoping that this quiz would only take about 15 minutes and we could move on. Again, I needed to rethink my lesson plans. As students finished, I gave them a measuring worksheet where they practiced using centimeters and milimeters. It all worked out in the end, but we were still days behind.
After the students left, we had Faculty Senate. During this, teachers presented ways that they were using technology in the classroom. The one that I enjoyed the most and became very interested in was the use of Google Earth. I never realized that students could go on there and take a 3-d tour of building and landforms. I think that this would be extremely interesting and engaging for students. I have started thinking about when I go back to Suncrest and do my Mexico unit. I think that this would be interesting for students.
On Friday, students in reading, completed a bell ringer that again turned into a 20 minute thing. It wasn't such a big deal though because this is stuff that they need to know and I wanted them to take their time working on it. After their bell ringer, they partner read Chapter 15 in the book and then discussed it with their partner.
In Science, we finally finished Tuesday's lesson on volume. Students seemed to really enjoy this lesson. We discussed the two ways to measure volume, the meniscus, a graduated cylinder, milileters, immersion, and displacement. We then did a lab where students saw first hand how to measure volume and displacement.
While thinking about my lesson plans for next week, I came up with many hands-on activities for next week. I am so excited. In reading, I am going to have students create a life size game board of the obstacles that Charlie faces while he is lost in the woods on his way to the lake. I am not quite sure how I want to do this yet so I have this weekend to figure it all out. Also, I am going to have the students pretend to news reporters and interview a character in our book about the disappearance of Charlie. The students will work in pairs and will be video taped. I think that they will really enjoy these activities.
I think that everything is going really well provided the circumstances. Although I am often overwhelmed with school, work, and taking on the responsibilities of my teacher, I am really enjoying myself. I am going to be so upset when I have to hand the teaching over to my sub. I really enjoy working with the students and I am learning something new everyday. This has been such an amazing experience for me and I wouldn't do anything to change it.
Friday, September 17, 2010
September 13-17, 2010
This week was my first week with my new subsititute, Jessica Sandy. We believe that she is going to be the long-term subsititute in the classroom. Everything went very smoothy. She is very personable and easy to get along with. I like doing partner reading during Reading class because I think it gives the students a break from listening to me read, but I have noticed that not all of the students are always reading when I allow them to do this. It is starting to make me think that I should not allow them to do this anymore. Last Friday, I had a big issue with students turning in Science homework. To my shock, all students except for 1 returned all papers to me on Monday! On Tuesday, I ran out of things to do in Reading! I always overplan so I decided to take one activity out this week and to my surprise we actually needed it! In Science, we had a vocabulary quiz which students have been preparing for for a long time. Many of the students did not do very well on it and I know it is simply because they did not study. It really upsets me because I want to see my students succeed, but I can't hold their hand at night and make them study. Also, I noticed that I have this one girl who is really struggling in Science. I asked her to come see me during AA on Tuesday so that I could help her. You can tell that she does not have that solid support system at home and doesn't get all the help that she needs. She was so grateful! I was very pleased with how well she did on her worksheet after our one-on-one tutoring session. I feel like my experiences these past two weeks (by taking on the role of the classroom teacher) have really forced me to grow up and become that teacher figure. Although, I am still learning everyday, I think that I am doing a good job and the students are helping me through this and being very patient with me. By Wednesday of this week, I saw a complete turn around in many of my students. In reading, the students were participating like they have never participated before. In Science, students had a test and then we made Get Well cards for Mrs. Starkey. I got to see a side of my students that is rarely seen within the regular classroom. They really let their creativity shine through. This is the most dedicated work I have seen any of my students do thus far. The cards turn out amazing! I know that Mrs. Starkey is really going to enjoy them! On Thursday, we started Chapter 2 on Measurement in Science. After seeing many of the results on Chapter 1's test, I am really freaking out. This chapter is on my shoulders and I need to teach the students to the best of my ability to improve these test scores. Measurement is not an easy thing to teach students when you haven't had to sit down and think about how you are going to teach all of these concepts. It is going to take a lot of preparation. Today was Picture Day and boy was it crazy. When I was told not to plan anything, they were right! There were interruptions every 2 minutes with kids getting called out to go get their pictures taken. Of course, I taught a new concept in Science today and the students really needed to learn it. Luckily, it didn't affect any of my periods other than fourth. I have been preparing to teach this lesson all week because I was unsure of how to actually teach it to the students to allow them to understand it. I taught precision and accuracy, rounding, and significant digits. I was all ready to teach it and had all of my thoughts together and knew exactly what I was going to say until it actually came time to teach it. Third period was a disaster! I was stumbling over words and really struggling on how to get my point across. Fourth period was a little better. Sixth period was even better, but seventh period was by far the best. I finally had all of my thoughts together and definitely rocked the socks off of that lesson! I think that I need to revisit this lesson on Monday and explain it a little bit better to my other classes now that I have figured it all out! This week has definitely been a challenge, but it has been a great experience. I am learning a lot about myself as a teacher and I am constantly learning from my students and learning more about my students. I really enjoy full time teaching!
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