Another fabulous week!!

1. Describe your teaching day.  This week I taught for the first time. I had so much fun!!! I actually was not really that nervous to teach, I think the newness of Sandy and I being in the classroom is still really exciting for them, so I was not very worried about how they might behave or whether they would participate. I had faith that that part of the lesson would be okay. Plus, the teacher is really good about keeping them on task and correcting behavior if it is necessary, so I figured if I was struggling she would step in and help me out. I was more concerned about making sure that I stayed under the 30 minute time frame.( I tend to be one of those over achieving students that our professors joke about in class). My desire to be thorough was getting the best of me the night before. I was up until 1:30 a.m. stressing about whether it would be fun, engaging, and different than what they were used to.    
2. Describe your favorite part of the day. My favorite part of the day is still when the kids come in first thing in the morning, I am so happy to see their bright smiling faces. I really wish we could stay there all day. I am so sad to leave at 11:30. So being there in the morning to greet them is very exciting for me. I do have to admit though, I am also a big fan of "move and munch".  Our teacher allows her to students to move around and grab a snack half way between the beginning of school and lunch time. It helps to keep the kids focused and gives them a chance to socialize for a minute. I really like the name she gave this time and asked her if she cared if I used it in my class. Plus, I snack a lot !!! so this has been a bonus for me too. 
3. What went well, what didn't work so well, and what would you change or do differently? So, my lesson went really well. Not to bad for the first being the first one. The kids listened really well and seemed to be enjoying the lesson. The one thing that didn't work so good at first was the participation from students. I asked several pre-assessment questions to see what they new about Native Americans and also helped build background knowledge before showing them the 5-7 minute video I had planned for the lesson. Prior to starting my lesson, the students received quite a scolding from the teacher regarding their poor behavior the day before during music class. She expressed how disappointed she was and told the students she was not going to be lenient with them that day. She warned them in advance that any misbehavior would not be tolerated and would result in a a name crossed out (which is not good) This affected the students' willingness to particpate. I think they were reluctant to partiipate in fear that it might be taken wrong or they may possibly be punished. At first, only a few students were raising their hand to answer questions. When I realized this, I I used the popsicle stick strategy and soon a lot more kids started to perticipate so kudos to Keri for teaching us this strategy. It works! 
4. To help your students you would...  I think there are a few students in the class who might benefit from a different strategy approach to both academic and behavioral progress. I'm not sure my ideas would work, but I think they would be worth a shot. One of my strategies would be to offer more opportunities for them to feel needed in the class and to give them more responsibility. Think this might be one of the reasons for the misbehavior and lack of desire to work on assignments. 

 Like Sandy said in her post, we have the most awesome class! the kids are so kind and sweet to Sandy and I . If I can figure it out, I will post a picture of one of the many letters she and I have received from a few students in the class. It makes your day so much brighter knowing that you've made a new friend.