My favorite part of the day is anytime I can help the students. I love when they feel comfortable enough to ask for help. Also I love when they give me things. I had one girl give me a pencil and then a couple of days later a girl brought me an elastic bracelet that she made for me. I was so excited and wanted her to know that I liked her gift so I wore it the next day too. Later that day I heard her talking to her friend and was telling her how cool it was that I was wearing the bracelet that she made for me.
One think that went really well was my talking stick. In my lesson we did a debate and I was really nervous about the students being polite and not talking out of turn. I brought the talking stick that I made in Classroom Management and explained to the students how the talking stick works. It was AMAZING! The students showed so much respect for the speaker and I only had to remind a couple of students that they didn't have the stick so they shouldn't be talking.
The one thing that I would do different is to make sure that I know exactly what I want my lesson to look like. If things come up I can make changes, but it is good to have a complete plan of what you are going to do.
I'm going to help the students by making sure I am available to help all the time by walking around and offering my help to those who may not dare to come up and ask.
This week has been so much fun and I'm getting sad that we are almost don :( I can't wait to be in the classroom full time.
Rachelle it is so fun to hear your experiences. I think we all definitely go through a stress factor knowing someone is coming into observe you, on top of teaching which is new and kind of scary at first. I really liked your talking stick idea and I will definitely want to try that in the future. Im sure your students love you! And I too am very excited to be in the classroom full time already.
ReplyDeleteRachelle,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are doing really well. I love that the students have made you little things. I always enjoyed that when I used to be an aide. Once, for my birthday, the second-grade teacher I did work for had her class make birthday cards for me, telling me what they would wish for me if they could give me anything in the world. The cards they made were absolutely hilarious! I Loved it! (I kept the cards.)
Also, I'm glad you mentioned using your talking stick. I've been wondering how I might incorporate it into a lesson, and I thought that if I did a Socratic Model (where the students take turns contributing, while sitting in that big circle), I could have them take turns holding the stick then.
I feel that it has been important for me to have the openings and closings of my lessons clearly in mind as I teach, so I remember to do the "non-lesson" type things, such as "group-talk etiquette," etc.
Great Blog!