Week #3!

1. Describe your teaching day.

Week 3 was a great week because I taught two lessons! The preparation is always the hardest part, but the lessons have always ran smoothly. On Monday we taught our Social Studies lessons during the math time slot, and then they had math later in the day. On Friday we taught first thing in the morning, before ancient civilizations presentations. We split up the lesson so that I would teach 30 minutes and Brandi would teach 30 minutes. It worked out really nicely.

2. Describe your favorite part of the day.

We had a different schedule this week because we (Brandi and I) were teaching so much, and because the kids were preparing and presenting their ancient civilizations projects. My favorite part of the day is usually the morning transition when the P.M. kids get to school. We do the pledge, the greeting circle, a song (usually Brave by Sara Barielles or Roar by Katy Perry), and then the kids watch CNN Student News before getting started on math. There was a day where a few students needed to work in the computer lab so my teacher went with them, and I got to lead the transition time! It was a blast and I actually stayed on schedule. I also loved the times that I got to teach (of course) and the ancient civilization projects on Friday were AWESOME. The kids "dressed professionally" (they were so cute) and stood in front of the class, and I was just so proud of them.

3. What went well, what didn't work, and what would you change?

I felt like my Monday lesson was a little scattered because it was a Reader's Theater. I felt like it was difficult because I had them read in groups and some groups finished before others. I realized I need something for them to do or focus on while waiting for others to finish. I also realized that kids aren't so patient in sixth grade...they didn't like waiting for slower readers to read aloud. If I knew their reading levels better I could have put them into better groups. That will definitely be something to think about for future lessons.

4. To help your students, you would...

I helped them a lot on their presentations in the computer lab. They each made a powerpoint, and they actually really surprised me. I always help a lot in math, which is most rewarding for me. I feel like it's fun to watch math "click" for them. My teacher did an inquiry based math lesson that was awesome, and I worked closely with one of the groups to help them figure it out.