I can’t believe our three week field is already over! I am going to miss each and every student so much - I almost cried when I left the classroom today! I had an amazing field experience and this past week in the classroom has been especially fun.
1. Describe your teaching day
When students first arrive to class in the morning, they start by greeting their teacher (and Rachelle and I).Then students hang up their coat and backpacks, pick their name off of a Velcro strip, and make their lunch choice by placing their name in the correct section (either the lunch choice #1, lunch choice #2, or the cold lunch section). I really like this easy morning routine because it allows the teacher to quickly take roll by knowing who is present or not, just by looking at who has made their lunch choice. After the students make their lunch choice, they immediately start working on their “self starters” without being told and do so, and continue working until after the morning announcements and pledge of allegiance. After “self-starters”, students start rotations where they look at a chart which quickly tells them what rotation to work on and start (writing, reading, or math). I am so amazed each morning as to how well the students just come into the classroom and follow this morning routine without being told to do so! I am impressed with my cooperating teachers classroom management style and hope that I too can have this well of management as a teacher. As students are working on their morning routine, Rachelle and I are usually doing whatever the teacher has asked us to do, whether that be: coping of papers, grading and recording students’ scores, helping to preparing items for the day’s (or future) activities, or just simply walking around helping students.
2. Describe your favorite part of the day
My favorite part of the day is when I get a chance to spend one-on-one time with a student. For example, this week I got to work with cute shy boy who needed extra help with long division. I was so excited when after some guidance, he actually “got it” and started solving the math problems on his own!
3. What went well, what didn't work and what did you change?
Rachelle and I finished teaching our fifth lesson this week in which we taught a fun art project. While teaching our art project, we had someone come in to observe us and I think that overall, our lesson went really well. What didn't go quite so well was, since we were teaching art, I wanted the students to interact with each other and have fun, but during our project it got a little loud and hectic in the classroom to where at one point, I had students trying to glue their hands together! I am very proud of myself though for quickly getting on top of the situation and feel that I handled it well, but maybe for next time just making sure I give more clear directions (including what not to do).
4. To help your students you would…
During our lessons, Rachelle and I have been using the fill-in-a-square classroom management technique using a turkey picture and having students color in a section of their turkey (instead of a square) for rewarding behavior. This technique has been so successful to use! We have some students who have not filled in all of their turkey sections yet so this past week, I have really tried to let students know what expectations I was looking for and tried to help students achieve these goals to fill in their turkey! Today, I am happy to announce that all mostly all the students filled in their turkeys so all the class earned their reward (Rachelle and I put together cute goody-bags for each student).
I am really going to miss all the students! I have had several girls come up to me in tears, especially today, because they were sad that Rachelle and I weren't coming back! I had a lot of students make me heart-warming notes and drawings saying: “please don’t go”, “I’m going to miss you…” and “all I want for Christmas is for you to stay in our classroom.” Rachelle and I had a hard time not crying as we were given hugs today before we left by almost all of the students (including some of the boys). - Overall, I have had an amazing field experience, (with a wonderful partner - thank you Rachelle!) that is just another confirmation to me that I want to become a teacher even more!
No comments:
Post a Comment