Week 2!

THIS WEEK WAS AMAZING!
I can't even put into words how much I love my class. There are so many things that I want to tell you guys about but I would end up writing a novel so I'll spare you. For now :)

1. Describe your teaching day.

On Friday I taught my first lesson solo. Our social studies slots are an hour long and it was absolutely glorious to have that much time. Since we are covering Ancient Egypt, I taught about mummification. The students were to imagine that they were Pharaohs and by the end of the lesson decide if they would be mummified or not. It was so much fun, and they learned the process of mummification step by step. They got really into it and brought it up many times after the lesson was over. It was so natural to me and fit my time slot perfectly. I was very proud of that lesson!

2. Describe your favorite part of the day.

Last week my favorite part of a day (I'm choosing Friday, because I really really want to share this with you) was when my teacher had each student stand in front of the class and recite Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken". She was doing this because they are doing Ancient Civilization presentations next week and they need to practice being in front of the class. She was giving them 50 extra credit point if they had memorized it and could do it without reading their paper. One boy got up that I didn't expect and he put his paper on the board behind him so he wouldn't read it. He tried to recite it from memory but he was so nervous and a couple of students in the front of the room were laughing and playing around. He thought they were laughing at him, and he got really upset. My teacher excused him and gave him a minute and he broke down in tears. I wanted to cry along with him. The other students finished up while he gained his composure, and then he marched back up to the front of the room and recited the poem without a single mistake. I started crying halfway through because I was so proud of him. The whole class cheered him on, and then stood up with a standing ovation when he was finished. I've never been more proud of someone for overcoming an obstacle.

3. What went well, what didn't work and what did you change?
Back to my lesson...I thought that management was great. My class runs off of a point based system, so if a student participates, answers a question, or does something good, we can reward them points. I did that a lot during my lesson and I think it helped the kids behave. They have a cue where I can say "Squirrel" and no matter what they are doing they all yell "SUPER FOCUS, SHOOOOP!" and it brings the attention back to me. I definitely utilized that! The only thing that was difficult was that part of the lesson was reading in pairs, and some groups finished faster than others. Next time I need something in place for them to do our discuss before we come back together as a class.

4. To help your students you would...
I would do anything for these kids. This week I helped a lot in math again, and I was able to observe their reading levels in my lesson. A lot of them need individual help, and I wish there were more of us to help. This week they also did a freewrite and shared what they wrote in their journals. They made themselves vulnerable and shared their feelings about their families and what was important to them. I wanted to make all of the hard things right. And I know I can't, but maybe I can just make them a little bit easier.