Today in placement, I taught a lesson on making words with the class and my supervisor was there to observe me too. I think that the lesson went really well compared to when I taught the same type of lesson two weeks ago. I was a lot less nervous when I was going through the lesson. The students really like to manipulate the letter tiles to make words. I think this is a good lesson because students are working on similar ending of words (word families) as well as alphabetical order. This lesson is very interactive and students are moving around by going up to the board to make words. The students at the end of the lesson put the words that they made in alphabetical order. I thought that students were well behaved during the lesson and actually listened to me. I'm excited to pick up on another lesson next week.
Today was quite the busy day at placement! My class took a wagon ride out to a pumpkin patch, where they read a story and then picked their own pumpkin to take home! The agriculture teacher from the high school incorporated some great aspects of science into the discussion. He taught the kids about what pumpkins need to grow, and everyone seemed very engaged and excited! I also taught my first lesson today, which was observed by my supervisor. My lesson was on rounding, and I was surprised with how quickly the kids picked up the content. They enjoyed using white boards to write their answers down, and I liked being able to see everyone’s answers at once! I think I will use this strategy in the future, but I may need to pay more careful attention to some of the kids who had the temptation to doodle! I think my lesson went alright for it being my first with 4th grade – They were interested in the game we played, but I plan on working more with pacing my time for future weeks. I feel that these type of management techniques may just have to come with time.
today I taught a 40 minute reading/writing lesson as my supervisor observed me and IT WENT GREAT. i was so nervous because it is the first time I have taught a reading/writing lesson at this placement. It is also the first time I have taught a whole class lesson to the homeroom class. I have taught math twice but math is leveled and my teacher has a mix of the lowest kids from all of the third grade classes. It also did not help that i made my own lesson that was completely separate from the basel that they normally use for reading. it was unfortunite that the technology in the classroom acted up the entire day and my co-op lost a decent amount of teaching time trying to get everything to work.
Today my students were taking a reading test that was spread out throughout 4 days. Many of them were on task and got to the designated ending page today but some of them just sat in their seats the whole time and did nothing. My co-op teacher and I were allowed to read the instructions to them but that was it. Some of the students are normally below level at reading so they obviously had a very difficult time with the test. My co-op showed me the test and it was 3 fairly long stories and then 5-6 questions for each story. I felt bad for the students who were struggling with the reading and obviously just giving up then. They need the extra help because they are very far behind their other classmates but until they catch up, or are in their appropriate groups, they just get pushed along and fail every assignment. The one student I have been working with a lot is always off task and cannot focus long enough to read the story so he just colors in any random answer which are always wrong. He was worried about his erasers and was coming up with every excuse he could to get out of doing his test. I felt bad for him but he had to complete the test. Another boy had broken his pencil tip and did not have a second pencil ready which he is supposed to so he just sat for half of the time until I asked him how his test was going and he said he can't do it because his tip was broken. I was surprised at his actions because he was more afraid of getting reprimanded rather than receiving a failing grade. I feel bad for my co-op teacher because she has her hands full with the entire class and I'm glad I can be there to help her assist the students so they don't all rely on her all the time. I will be teaching a small group vocabulary lesson to the lowest level students next week so maybe I can do some activities with them to help them become more interested in reading.
Today was a "normal" day in fourth grade. The students were very well behaved and involved in their learning. Ms. Kauffman read "The Giving Tree" to the class and we spoke about different things we could take away from the book. The whole class had really deep and meaningful answers. We then discussed what it is to be a good citizen and we made a tree in the hallway. Anyone spotted being a good citizen and helping others without being told will get a leaf with their name on it to be hung up in the hallway. The class was very excited about this and couldn't wait to start earning leaves! We also did a science activity that involved making boats out of aluminum foil and seeing how many pennies it could hold before it sank in the water. Everyone was really excited and we were all cheering as the pennies added were more and more. It was a great day and I really enjoyed today!
Today I taught calendar and a math lesson on pattern blocks. It went really well and I was pleased with how the students responsed to my teaching.
Of course there are always little things you would do differently if you were to do the lesson over again, and for me it would have been to use the smartboard more. I used the smartboard for calendar, as well as modeling the worksheet they completed. However, for the one activity I had the students counting the pattern blocks we used by moving each one by one off of their mat. This did not go so well because some students counted out loud and didn't touch their blocks, some wiped the whole board in one motion, and some actually listened to my directions. Nevertheless, I would have used the smartboard to model this action before we did it so there would not have been as much confusion in my directions.
I also helped with TIDE Groups while my teacher took a phone call. I enjoyed this because it was students from different classrooms, so I met a variety of students around the school. It was a really great experience.
I am very excited for tomorrow as I will be attending their fieldtrip to a pumpkin farm! I can't wait!
Today was a very busy day! I was able to go over the warm-up activity with the students, as well as teach the oral language lesson, word work, reading, and grammar lesson in the morning. In the afternoon I was able to teach the math lesson and do part of the science lesson with the students. My co-op tries to get me actively involved in the classroom, and allows me to teach the majority of lessons throughout the school day. I enjoy getting involved in the classroom, and everyday I am there I feel more comfortable teaching the lessons.
Today was the first day I taught science. For the lesson I read a book on anteaters, which taught the students about where they live and what they eat. The students had to make predictions before I read the story and had to determine whether the story was fiction or non-fiction. This lesson integrated some oral language concepts with science. It was nice to get to do an integration lesson, after doing an example one in social studies methods class earlier in the week. Next week I am doing an integration lesson with language arts and social studies, so I am also excited about that. Also, today was the first day I got to see one of the students with Asperger's Disorder work with a full-time TSS worker. When teaching I could tell how much of a difference it made when I didn't have to stop and try to get him to focus every few minutes. I feel that it is easier to teach the whole class when he has some one on one attention. I hope by having a TSS worker he is able to learn some techniques and strategies to help him in the classroom. Overall, I had a great week and can't wait to get back into the classroom next week.
Today at placement, I helped with guided reading. There were 5 different reading groups (rangin from high to low), and the students seemed to be engaged and learning. The two highest students are reading at 2nd and 3rd grade levels and they are in kindergarten! They are not comprehending everything, but are working towards that. They can sound out and use context clues to figure out the harder words though.
I read them a story about Halloween, and had them interacting with the book. I would ask questions about the characters, plot, and I would have them predict feelings and what might happen next. The students were answering the questions and they were backing up their answers with supporting details, which is a great skill to get them into the habit of doing.
This was the first day I saw them do kid writing in their journals. It really showed the range of levels throughout the class. Some students had clear sentences but incorrect spelling, and others had symbols or lines for their letters and words but a picture. It was interesting to see how cognitively and developmentally different my class of 5 and 6 year olds really are.
Today I taught a phonics and transportation lesson. I felt that my phonics lesson went pretty well and the students were engaged during the activity based on short e and short o vowel sounds in words. The only thing that upset me was that time went very quickly and I had to cut out some things. I just focused on the most important aspects of the lesson. I feel that a teacher goes through this every day. My co-op even told me that it is a challenge to fit in all of the stuff from the manual because there is too much to go over.
I also taught a Social Studies lesson on transportation. My supervisor observed me today. I think the lesson went very well. I had great eye contact and all of the students were engaged in the activity. The students learned about the different types of transportations that are found on land, air, and water. I felt that I needed to try to slow down at times during the lesson. I asked a lot of questions which engaged the students. I really enjoyed the pocket chart activity in which I showed a picture to the students and they had to identify it and determine if it was found on air, land, or water. The students were involved and motivated to learn. I think the only thing that I need to change during the pocket chart activity is to make sure that all of the students are paying attention and are on task. This is probably the hardest part with a first grade classroom.
In addition, I incorporated math in the lesson when the students counted how many types of transportations were found on land, air, and water. I realized that I need to be explicit in my instructions before sending students back to tables to work on their chart worksheet. I think the worksheet was definitely a great task because students had to think about the pictures that they saw in the story that we read and draw three types of transportations that are found on land, air, and water. This lesson taught the students different types of transportations that are found on land, air, and water. At the same time, they learned that there are different types of transportations found all over the world. This activity increased learning among students and motivated participation in the classroom. I cannot wait till I teach more lessons next week. I feel very comfortable in the classroom which is definitely a positive thing. I am teaching phonics, math, and a making words lesson next week.
Today was not a typical day at field work for me. I found out that my teacher is still ill and would not be returning until at least the end of October. So, my supervisor had it approved to switch me to a different classroom. I am moving from a 2nd grade classroom to a 5th grade class. It was sad to leave the kids, I didn't realize how great of a connection I had already made with them. I am a little nervous to be in 5th grade now, but I am reassured that my teacher is very great. I am glad that everything is settled and I am now able to focus on planning and teaching lessons.
Today was another hectic but exciting day! I feel that I am becoming more and more comfortable with instructing and interacting with students on the third grade level. I have really started to develop meaningful relationships with the students, and I have begun to see their progress and accomplishments throughout these past couple months.
On this particular day, I got to see students participate in an excellent and beneficial math activity. This week the students worked on counting coins, so my co-op developed an activity in which the students visited different stations in order to count various combinations of coins. For this activity the students worked in partners and had to determine how much money was at each station. I felt as though this particular activity encompassed meaningful learning because it presented students with a challenge in an exciting and investigative way. It was an activity that allowed students to practice their counting skills in an unintimidating way. Through my observations and interactions with the students I was able to observe individual development of understanding, as well as, application of a concept to a "real-life" situation. The students were engaged, attentive, and excited throughout the entire activity. I felt that it was an awesome way to summarize the lesson on counting coins, and thus encourage students to continue to use their new skill throughout their life.
I also saw a great integrative lesson involving both Social Studies and Reading. Although this lesson was cut short I was still able to witness the two subjects intertwined together in one lesson. For this particular lesson, my co-op linked instruction and discussion on various landforms to their reading skill of finding the Main Idea and its supporting details. Instead of instructing the students to memorize the different landforms and what each one looked like, my co-op had them focus on the Main Idea of the unit: "Landforms affect where people build communities". Through this recognition of the Main Idea she was able to present details and information in a way that was applicable and relatable for the students. She was able to foster meaningful discussions with the students about landforms.
I really enjoyed observing effective instruction, as well as, building deeper relationships and connections with the students.
For next week, I will be instructing a small group lesson in which my supervisor will observe. I am nervous yet excited!
At field placement I taught a center lesson on Final Blends to my students. They got to play a game--that I created called Final Blends Safari--and say final blends. The student teacher in my classroom played Bingo with Final Blends also. They really enjoyed playing the game. I also read the second half of a book on Christopher Columbus. The students really enjoyed learning about him. They also sang songs about October and one of them was a song on Christopher Columbus. It was nice to hear that students were learning something new and remembering it to sing it later in the day.
I finally go to see social studies in my placement yesterday! My kids had been working on north-eastern states. About 4-5 students would be in one group, working on one state! They had a large poster board for each group and on the poster board that had to include pictures, a drawing of their state, and other characteristics. Each group member was assigned to do research about a topic on their state. Some of the topics were the population, economy, state song, state animal, state moto, manufacturing, ext. The fourty minutes I obsereved of the social studies lesson consisted of each group presenting their poster and information about their state they were assigned! Only three groups had enough time to go, so I saw Deleware, New York, and Rhode Island! The students did wonderful and I was really impressed with the information they collected!
Yesterday at field placement I worked with the lower level reading group on a scavenger hunt. They were supposed to reread and go through their story and find answers. My co-op told me that she really wanted the students to practice looking through a passage to find the answer because they need to do this on their tests and she thinks they are not where they should be with this skill. Three out of the four students did really well, however one student did not want to do this activity. She kept asking me why she needed to look through the book when she already knew the answer. I just kept telling her it is an important skill to learn and that it will help her in the future. I think one reason she was not cooperating was because she is not the best reader and having to go through it takes her a lot of time. I thought this was interesting and I was trying to think of ways I could motivate her to want to do her work even if it's hard for her. I also talked to my teacher about my first lesson which I am doing in two weeks. I think I'm going to be teaching singular and plural nouns. My co-op and I came up with some good ideas that I'm really excited about!
Placement this week was just like the others. I did not teach a lesson this week since we just came off of break. This was however the first time the students switched for reading since I've been there so I got to work with other students for a 3 hour period. Mrs. Potter has the lowest level of reading students so that was very interesting to experience because her initial class has very intelligent kids in it.
It was hectic during the social studies portion because we did painting. My teacher put me in charge of that activity. They are learning landforms and oceans so they were making an ocean background with blue paint that they could decorate tomorrow. I split it up in groups of ten so that I could help one group paint while Mrs. Potter taught the other group the lesson. This was a very good experience for me though, to manage all the kids doing something that messy. I really enjoy my placement..I like it more and more every time I go. I feel like I'm becoming a part of the school.
Like Leigh, I also taught a Making Words lesson, and it went really well. The students loved it, were very attentive, and kept asking when we could do it again! I related the lesson to the spelling words that my second graders were learning so the activity mirrored the rhyming patterns of the week. I love the way that my co-op helps me integrate the lessons that I teach into the regular learning of the classroom. My Making Words lesson became the spelling review, and right after, my teacher had me give the spelling test and use words from my lesson for the students to be tested on. I also graded the tests, recorded students' grades in the computer, and put them in students' mailboxes to be taken home. It gave me a sense of ownership in the classroom when I was able to see the process through from start to finish.
At my placement on Thursday I got to be the teacher for the majority of the day because my placement teacher had laryngitis and did not have much of a voice. It was a great learning experience for me. In the beginning, I was a bit nervous and unsure of things but as the day went on I got more comfortable and gained more confidence. I also taught my first real content lesson on Thursday because prior to then I had only done a few read alouds. My lesson was during content time and it was based around a Scholastic News on bats. As a hook, I read the students a book about bats. The book was geared towards second or third grade but it was about 50 pages so I decided to modify some of the book by omitting specific details because of time restraints. Then I had the students answer some true and false questions which were part of the Scholastic News. The questions posed in the Scholastic News were answered in the read aloud, so it was a good way to informally assess the students. We then went over each question and the students did very well which indicates they comprehended and retained information from the read aloud. At the end of the lesson, the students were very excited about sharing some stories they had about bats so I allowed them to do so as a reward for doing such great work and since we had a few minutes left. Although, this was not part of my original lesson I feel it was a nice alternative wrap up of the lesson. Overall, at my placement this week I learned that is very important as a teacher to be able to think on your feet and be flexible. Throughout, the day many minor issues or problems arose that were not originally anticipated so I had to quickly problem solve in order to resolve the issue. Even in my own lesson I had to change things around and make adaptations. Therefore, I feel some of the best teachers are those that are quick and efficient problem solvers who are willing to be flexible.
Thursday was a pretty regular day for my 5th grade class. I led the morning activity where the students had to mingle and find others that share something in common with them like birth-month or # of siblings, etc. They liked it, but I think it got them a little wired and a little crazy to start the day. For some reason, maybe my game or maybe the rainy weather, the students were very loud and some had a little more attutude than usual. It was a little harder for me and Mrs. Miller to keep them inline, but we survived the day. I looked at a lot of the classroom decor today and one thing I noticed is Mrs. Miller started this thing where the class can get a "state" when they are acting correctly or get a "state" taken away when they are not acting correctly and the number of states they had Thursday did not grow since I was there two weeks earlier. It's a great idea for fifth grade rewards in my opinion and integrates SS into the classroom. I also looked at the fact that she has a bulletin board that has an essential question for most of the subjects and she changes them often. I like that the students can always see the essential question like that. One last thing I noticed was that Mrs. Miller tries to have the students write about their own lives whenever she can so I feel like it makes their writing assignments more bareable than others. Thursday was another good placement experience.
On Thursday I had the opportunity to teach my second math lesson. This particular lesson I was quite nervous and stressed about. The night before my co-op remembered she had some materials I could use which unfortunately for me required me to rewrite the entire lesson plan the night before. Then, while I was preparing for the lesson the next day at school I realized the materials I wanted the students to use were not going to work like I had imagined. So I had to once again change my lesson, this time in my head, right before I actually did my lesson. Plus, to top it all off my co-op was coming to sit in on my lesson. Thankfully, everything went well and the lesson was very sucessful!
On Thursday the third grade teachers at my placement had a grade level meeting where they discussed with their principal and reading specialist about how their students were going to meet the reading requirements for third grade. One thing I found extremely interesting was that they made the decision that the ELL students would be pulled during the Social Studies/Science block to work with the ELL specialists to improve their reading and writing skills. It is extremely disappointing that these students have to miss such a core block of time to meet the reading requirements. I wonder if it's possible for the reading specialists to use texts from these two subjects because they are going to be missing this valuable learning time?
Thursday started with an unfortunate event. A student with autism brought his Nintendo DS to school without the parents knowing and with permission from the teacher. The game was taken from the student and sent to the office, in response the child went after the student taking the game to the office. It took about 20 minutes for the child to calm down and the teacher called the office for assistance. The assistance took nearly 20 minutes to come and the student was already calmed down. It really started the day off bad for the student and it was a struggle for him to function the rest of the day. He was easily upset by small things. This was unique experience for me because I had not witnessed the student really act out at all before and it made think about how that change effected him and his mood.
I had the opportunity to teach a grammar lesson which is something I have never taught the third graders before. The lesson was about action verbs and was a fun one to teach. The students have been learning about verbs so I started the lesson with a quick review. We then demonstrated action verbs (each student went one by one) and the class tried to guess their action verb. Once the class guessed correctly, the student acting out the verb got to make a sentence using that verb. This was an effective lesson because the class got up and moving and were not stuck in their seats. The students were really into the lesson since they were so involved. I then reminded them that if they ever become confused about action verbs they can think back to this game and think about what their classmates as well as themselves acted out.
Today in placement, I taught a lesson on making words with the class and my supervisor was there to observe me too. I think that the lesson went really well compared to when I taught the same type of lesson two weeks ago. I was a lot less nervous when I was going through the lesson. The students really like to manipulate the letter tiles to make words. I think this is a good lesson because students are working on similar ending of words (word families) as well as alphabetical order. This lesson is very interactive and students are moving around by going up to the board to make words. The students at the end of the lesson put the words that they made in alphabetical order. I thought that students were well behaved during the lesson and actually listened to me. I'm excited to pick up on another lesson next week.
ReplyDeleteToday was quite the busy day at placement! My class took a wagon ride out to a pumpkin patch, where they read a story and then picked their own pumpkin to take home! The agriculture teacher from the high school incorporated some great aspects of science into the discussion. He taught the kids about what pumpkins need to grow, and everyone seemed very engaged and excited! I also taught my first lesson today, which was observed by my supervisor. My lesson was on rounding, and I was surprised with how quickly the kids picked up the content. They enjoyed using white boards to write their answers down, and I liked being able to see everyone’s answers at once! I think I will use this strategy in the future, but I may need to pay more careful attention to some of the kids who had the temptation to doodle! I think my lesson went alright for it being my first with 4th grade – They were interested in the game we played, but I plan on working more with pacing my time for future weeks. I feel that these type of management techniques may just have to come with time.
ReplyDeletetoday I taught a 40 minute reading/writing lesson as my supervisor observed me and IT WENT GREAT. i was so nervous because it is the first time I have taught a reading/writing lesson at this placement. It is also the first time I have taught a whole class lesson to the homeroom class. I have taught math twice but math is leveled and my teacher has a mix of the lowest kids from all of the third grade classes. It also did not help that i made my own lesson that was completely separate from the basel that they normally use for reading. it was unfortunite that the technology in the classroom acted up the entire day and my co-op lost a decent amount of teaching time trying to get everything to work.
ReplyDeleteToday my students were taking a reading test that was spread out throughout 4 days. Many of them were on task and got to the designated ending page today but some of them just sat in their seats the whole time and did nothing. My co-op teacher and I were allowed to read the instructions to them but that was it. Some of the students are normally below level at reading so they obviously had a very difficult time with the test. My co-op showed me the test and it was 3 fairly long stories and then 5-6 questions for each story. I felt bad for the students who were struggling with the reading and obviously just giving up then. They need the extra help because they are very far behind their other classmates but until they catch up, or are in their appropriate groups, they just get pushed along and fail every assignment. The one student I have been working with a lot is always off task and cannot focus long enough to read the story so he just colors in any random answer which are always wrong. He was worried about his erasers and was coming up with every excuse he could to get out of doing his test. I felt bad for him but he had to complete the test. Another boy had broken his pencil tip and did not have a second pencil ready which he is supposed to so he just sat for half of the time until I asked him how his test was going and he said he can't do it because his tip was broken. I was surprised at his actions because he was more afraid of getting reprimanded rather than receiving a failing grade. I feel bad for my co-op teacher because she has her hands full with the entire class and I'm glad I can be there to help her assist the students so they don't all rely on her all the time. I will be teaching a small group vocabulary lesson to the lowest level students next week so maybe I can do some activities with them to help them become more interested in reading.
ReplyDeleteToday was a "normal" day in fourth grade. The students were very well behaved and involved in their learning. Ms. Kauffman read "The Giving Tree" to the class and we spoke about different things we could take away from the book. The whole class had really deep and meaningful answers. We then discussed what it is to be a good citizen and we made a tree in the hallway. Anyone spotted being a good citizen and helping others without being told will get a leaf with their name on it to be hung up in the hallway. The class was very excited about this and couldn't wait to start earning leaves! We also did a science activity that involved making boats out of aluminum foil and seeing how many pennies it could hold before it sank in the water. Everyone was really excited and we were all cheering as the pennies added were more and more. It was a great day and I really enjoyed today!
ReplyDeleteToday I taught calendar and a math lesson on pattern blocks. It went really well and I was pleased with how the students responsed to my teaching.
ReplyDeleteOf course there are always little things you would do differently if you were to do the lesson over again, and for me it would have been to use the smartboard more. I used the smartboard for calendar, as well as modeling the worksheet they completed. However, for the one activity I had the students counting the pattern blocks we used by moving each one by one off of their mat. This did not go so well because some students counted out loud and didn't touch their blocks, some wiped the whole board in one motion, and some actually listened to my directions. Nevertheless, I would have used the smartboard to model this action before we did it so there would not have been as much confusion in my directions.
I also helped with TIDE Groups while my teacher took a phone call. I enjoyed this because it was students from different classrooms, so I met a variety of students around the school. It was a really great experience.
I am very excited for tomorrow as I will be attending their fieldtrip to a pumpkin farm! I can't wait!
Today was a very busy day! I was able to go over the warm-up activity with the students, as well as teach the oral language lesson, word work, reading, and grammar lesson in the morning. In the afternoon I was able to teach the math lesson and do part of the science lesson with the students. My co-op tries to get me actively involved in the classroom, and allows me to teach the majority of lessons throughout the school day. I enjoy getting involved in the classroom, and everyday I am there I feel more comfortable teaching the lessons.
ReplyDeleteToday was the first day I taught science. For the lesson I read a book on anteaters, which taught the students about where they live and what they eat. The students had to make predictions before I read the story and had to determine whether the story was fiction or non-fiction. This lesson integrated some oral language concepts with science. It was nice to get to do an integration lesson, after doing an example one in social studies methods class earlier in the week. Next week I am doing an integration lesson with language arts and social studies, so I am also excited about that. Also, today was the first day I got to see one of the students with Asperger's Disorder work with a full-time TSS worker. When teaching I could tell how much of a difference it made when I didn't have to stop and try to get him to focus every few minutes. I feel that it is easier to teach the whole class when he has some one on one attention. I hope by having a TSS worker he is able to learn some techniques and strategies to help him in the classroom. Overall, I had a great week and can't wait to get back into the classroom next week.
Today at placement, I helped with guided reading. There were 5 different reading groups (rangin from high to low), and the students seemed to be engaged and learning. The two highest students are reading at 2nd and 3rd grade levels and they are in kindergarten! They are not comprehending everything, but are working towards that. They can sound out and use context clues to figure out the harder words though.
ReplyDeleteI read them a story about Halloween, and had them interacting with the book. I would ask questions about the characters, plot, and I would have them predict feelings and what might happen next. The students were answering the questions and they were backing up their answers with supporting details, which is a great skill to get them into the habit of doing.
This was the first day I saw them do kid writing in their journals. It really showed the range of levels throughout the class. Some students had clear sentences but incorrect spelling, and others had symbols or lines for their letters and words but a picture. It was interesting to see how cognitively and developmentally different my class of 5 and 6 year olds really are.
Today I taught a phonics and transportation lesson. I felt that my phonics lesson went pretty well and the students were engaged during the activity based on short e and short o vowel sounds in words. The only thing that upset me was that time went very quickly and I had to cut out some things. I just focused on the most important aspects of the lesson. I feel that a teacher goes through this every day. My co-op even told me that it is a challenge to fit in all of the stuff from the manual because there is too much to go over.
ReplyDeleteI also taught a Social Studies lesson on transportation. My supervisor observed me today. I think the lesson went very well. I had great eye contact and all of the students were engaged in the activity. The students learned about the different types of transportations that are found on land, air, and water. I felt that I needed to try to slow down at times during the lesson. I asked a lot of questions which engaged the students. I really enjoyed the pocket chart activity in which I showed a picture to the students and they had to identify it and determine if it was found on air, land, or water. The students were involved and motivated to learn. I think the only thing that I need to change during the pocket chart activity is to make sure that all of the students are paying attention and are on task. This is probably the hardest part with a first grade classroom.
In addition, I incorporated math in the lesson when the students counted how many types of transportations were found on land, air, and water. I realized that I need to be explicit in my instructions before sending students back to tables to work on their chart worksheet. I think the worksheet was definitely a great task because students had to think about the pictures that they saw in the story that we read and draw three types of transportations that are found on land, air, and water. This lesson taught the students different types of transportations that are found on land, air, and water. At the same time, they learned that there are different types of transportations found all over the world. This activity increased learning among students and motivated participation in the classroom. I cannot wait till I teach more lessons next week. I feel very comfortable in the classroom which is definitely a positive thing. I am teaching phonics, math, and a making words lesson next week.
Today was not a typical day at field work for me. I found out that my teacher is still ill and would not be returning until at least the end of October. So, my supervisor had it approved to switch me to a different classroom. I am moving from a 2nd grade classroom to a 5th grade class. It was sad to leave the kids, I didn't realize how great of a connection I had already made with them. I am a little nervous to be in 5th grade now, but I am reassured that my teacher is very great. I am glad that everything is settled and I am now able to focus on planning and teaching lessons.
ReplyDeleteToday was another hectic but exciting day! I feel that I am becoming more and more comfortable with instructing and interacting with students on the third grade level. I have really started to develop meaningful relationships with the students, and I have begun to see their progress and accomplishments throughout these past couple months.
ReplyDeleteOn this particular day, I got to see students participate in an excellent and beneficial math activity. This week the students worked on counting coins, so my co-op developed an activity in which the students visited different stations in order to count various combinations of coins. For this activity the students worked in partners and had to determine how much money was at each station. I felt as though this particular activity encompassed meaningful learning because it presented students with a challenge in an exciting and investigative way. It was an activity that allowed students to practice their counting skills in an unintimidating way. Through my observations and interactions with the students I was able to observe individual development of understanding, as well as, application of a concept to a "real-life" situation. The students were engaged, attentive, and excited throughout the entire activity. I felt that it was an awesome way to summarize the lesson on counting coins, and thus encourage students to continue to use their new skill throughout their life.
I also saw a great integrative lesson involving both Social Studies and Reading. Although this lesson was cut short I was still able to witness the two subjects intertwined together in one lesson. For this particular lesson, my co-op linked instruction and discussion on various landforms to their reading skill of finding the Main Idea and its supporting details. Instead of instructing the students to memorize the different landforms and what each one looked like, my co-op had them focus on the Main Idea of the unit: "Landforms affect where people build communities". Through this recognition of the Main Idea she was able to present details and information in a way that was applicable and relatable for the students. She was able to foster meaningful discussions with the students about landforms.
I really enjoyed observing effective instruction, as well as, building deeper relationships and connections with the students.
For next week, I will be instructing a small group lesson in which my supervisor will observe. I am nervous yet excited!
At field placement I taught a center lesson on Final Blends to my students. They got to play a game--that I created called Final Blends Safari--and say final blends. The student teacher in my classroom played Bingo with Final Blends also. They really enjoyed playing the game. I also read the second half of a book on Christopher Columbus. The students really enjoyed learning about him. They also sang songs about October and one of them was a song on Christopher Columbus. It was nice to hear that students were learning something new and remembering it to sing it later in the day.
ReplyDeleteI finally go to see social studies in my placement yesterday! My kids had been working on north-eastern states. About 4-5 students would be in one group, working on one state! They had a large poster board for each group and on the poster board that had to include pictures, a drawing of their state, and other characteristics. Each group member was assigned to do research about a topic on their state. Some of the topics were the population, economy, state song, state animal, state moto, manufacturing, ext. The fourty minutes I obsereved of the social studies lesson consisted of each group presenting their poster and information about their state they were assigned! Only three groups had enough time to go, so I saw Deleware, New York, and Rhode Island! The students did wonderful and I was really impressed with the information they collected!
ReplyDeleteYesterday at field placement I worked with the lower level reading group on a scavenger hunt. They were supposed to reread and go through their story and find answers. My co-op told me that she really wanted the students to practice looking through a passage to find the answer because they need to do this on their tests and she thinks they are not where they should be with this skill. Three out of the four students did really well, however one student did not want to do this activity. She kept asking me why she needed to look through the book when she already knew the answer. I just kept telling her it is an important skill to learn and that it will help her in the future. I think one reason she was not cooperating was because she is not the best reader and having to go through it takes her a lot of time. I thought this was interesting and I was trying to think of ways I could motivate her to want to do her work even if it's hard for her. I also talked to my teacher about my first lesson which I am doing in two weeks. I think I'm going to be teaching singular and plural nouns. My co-op and I came up with some good ideas that I'm really excited about!
ReplyDeletePlacement this week was just like the others. I did not teach a lesson this week since we just came off of break. This was however the first time the students switched for reading since I've been there so I got to work with other students for a 3 hour period. Mrs. Potter has the lowest level of reading students so that was very interesting to experience because her initial class has very intelligent kids in it.
ReplyDeleteIt was hectic during the social studies portion because we did painting. My teacher put me in charge of that activity. They are learning landforms and oceans so they were making an ocean background with blue paint that they could decorate tomorrow. I split it up in groups of ten so that I could help one group paint while Mrs. Potter taught the other group the lesson. This was a very good experience for me though, to manage all the kids doing something that messy. I really enjoy my placement..I like it more and more every time I go. I feel like I'm becoming a part of the school.
Like Leigh, I also taught a Making Words lesson, and it went really well. The students loved it, were very attentive, and kept asking when we could do it again! I related the lesson to the spelling words that my second graders were learning so the activity mirrored the rhyming patterns of the week. I love the way that my co-op helps me integrate the lessons that I teach into the regular learning of the classroom. My Making Words lesson became the spelling review, and right after, my teacher had me give the spelling test and use words from my lesson for the students to be tested on. I also graded the tests, recorded students' grades in the computer, and put them in students' mailboxes to be taken home. It gave me a sense of ownership in the classroom when I was able to see the process through from start to finish.
ReplyDeleteAt my placement on Thursday I got to be the teacher for the majority of the day because my placement teacher had laryngitis and did not have much of a voice. It was a great learning experience for me. In the beginning, I was a bit nervous and unsure of things but as the day went on I got more comfortable and gained more confidence.
ReplyDeleteI also taught my first real content lesson on Thursday because prior to then I had only done a few read alouds. My lesson was during content time and it was based around a Scholastic News on bats. As a hook, I read the students a book about bats. The book was geared towards second or third grade but it was about 50 pages so I decided to modify some of the book by omitting specific details because of time restraints. Then I had the students answer some true and false questions which were part of the Scholastic News. The questions posed in the Scholastic News were answered in the read aloud, so it was a good way to informally assess the students. We then went over each question and the students did very well which indicates they comprehended and retained information from the read aloud. At the end of the lesson, the students were very excited about sharing some stories they had about bats so I allowed them to do so as a reward for doing such great work and since we had a few minutes left. Although, this was not part of my original lesson I feel it was a nice alternative wrap up of the lesson.
Overall, at my placement this week I learned that is very important as a teacher to be able to think on your feet and be flexible. Throughout, the day many minor issues or problems arose that were not originally anticipated so I had to quickly problem solve in order to resolve the issue. Even in my own lesson I had to change things around and make adaptations. Therefore, I feel some of the best teachers are those that are quick and efficient problem solvers who are willing to be flexible.
Thursday was a pretty regular day for my 5th grade class. I led the morning activity where the students had to mingle and find others that share something in common with them like birth-month or # of siblings, etc. They liked it, but I think it got them a little wired and a little crazy to start the day. For some reason, maybe my game or maybe the rainy weather, the students were very loud and some had a little more attutude than usual. It was a little harder for me and Mrs. Miller to keep them inline, but we survived the day. I looked at a lot of the classroom decor today and one thing I noticed is Mrs. Miller started this thing where the class can get a "state" when they are acting correctly or get a "state" taken away when they are not acting correctly and the number of states they had Thursday did not grow since I was there two weeks earlier. It's a great idea for fifth grade rewards in my opinion and integrates SS into the classroom. I also looked at the fact that she has a bulletin board that has an essential question for most of the subjects and she changes them often. I like that the students can always see the essential question like that. One last thing I noticed was that Mrs. Miller tries to have the students write about their own lives whenever she can so I feel like it makes their writing assignments more bareable than others. Thursday was another good placement experience.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday I had the opportunity to teach my second math lesson. This particular lesson I was quite nervous and stressed about. The night before my co-op remembered she had some materials I could use which unfortunately for me required me to rewrite the entire lesson plan the night before. Then, while I was preparing for the lesson the next day at school I realized the materials I wanted the students to use were not going to work like I had imagined. So I had to once again change my lesson, this time in my head, right before I actually did my lesson. Plus, to top it all off my co-op was coming to sit in on my lesson. Thankfully, everything went well and the lesson was very sucessful!
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday the third grade teachers at my placement had a grade level meeting where they discussed with their principal and reading specialist about how their students were going to meet the reading requirements for third grade. One thing I found extremely interesting was that they made the decision that the ELL students would be pulled during the Social Studies/Science block to work with the ELL specialists to improve their reading and writing skills. It is extremely disappointing that these students have to miss such a core block of time to meet the reading requirements. I wonder if it's possible for the reading specialists to use texts from these two subjects because they are going to be missing this valuable learning time?
ReplyDeleteThursday started with an unfortunate event. A student with autism brought his Nintendo DS to school without the parents knowing and with permission from the teacher. The game was taken from the student and sent to the office, in response the child went after the student taking the game to the office. It took about 20 minutes for the child to calm down and the teacher called the office for assistance. The assistance took nearly 20 minutes to come and the student was already calmed down. It really started the day off bad for the student and it was a struggle for him to function the rest of the day. He was easily upset by small things.
ReplyDeleteThis was unique experience for me because I had not witnessed the student really act out at all before and it made think about how that change effected him and his mood.
I had the opportunity to teach a grammar lesson which is something I have never taught the third graders before. The lesson was about action verbs and was a fun one to teach. The students have been learning about verbs so I started the lesson with a quick review. We then demonstrated action verbs (each student went one by one) and the class tried to guess their action verb. Once the class guessed correctly, the student acting out the verb got to make a sentence using that verb. This was an effective lesson because the class got up and moving and were not stuck in their seats. The students were really into the lesson since they were so involved. I then reminded them that if they ever become confused about action verbs they can think back to this game and think about what their classmates as well as themselves acted out.
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