Week of 11-11-13
It sounds like everyone is doing well. I love hearing from you all. Here are the questions again.
1. Describe your teaching day.
2. Describe your favorite part of the day.
3. What went well, what didn't work, and what did you change?
4. To help your students this week you would...
Happy Commenting:)
1. Describe your teaching day.
ReplyDeleteIt is so much fun to be in the classroom and work with all these amazing students and to see how smart they really are. They definitely are a ton smarter than I guessed. My teaching days this first week were mostly observing and helping students with little things here and there. We usually start out the day with vocabulary and a bit of reading from their treasure book after they have gotten their planners from the previous night signed off. Next we have been working on their "Wax Museum" presentations. This is a project where they choose one well known or famous person, dead or alive, and write about their lives and interesting facts about their person. It was fun to be able to see what they wrote and to learn more myself about these people. I really enjoyed being able to help them and it was funny to see that a lot of times they wanted our help rather than their teachers. We are also their for recess, and then they come in for math and the kids go to different classrooms according to the level they are at. Our teacher teaches the middle level and they are learning long division right now. The students are doing really well and learning quickly. It's exciting to see their progression. Usually right before lunch they will do a read aloud where the teacher reads to them and students are allowed to do homework silently as long as they aren't distracting anyone.
2. Describe your favorite part of the day
For me, my favorite part of the day is when I get to interact with the students and feel the accomplishment of having helped them. I also really like seeing the different strategies we've learned in our classes being used inside a real elementary classroom. It helps me see how to apply them to the students and see that they really do work. Even fifth graders get excited or little things like pencils and fake money.
3. What went well, what didn't work and what did you change?
The teacher we have has a money system. Whenever a student is late, forgot an assignment, or disobeys a rule she takes money from them. They hate getting their money taken, but it's fun to see how willing they are to give it up. Our teacher just has to say, "anyone that's talking you owe by $10 and the students will just stand right up and giver it to her. Half the time I wonder if they were even the ones talking or if they just feel guilty. There aren't a whole lot of things that haven't worked well in her classroom. They have great management skills and love her as a teacher. She covers all subject pretty well and I am very impressed and glad we were able to get her as our field teacher. I don't think I would change anything. It's tons of fun to see how she interacts with the students and how much they respect and love her.
4. To help your students you would..
I would do exactly what my cooperating teacher is doing. Keep the class under control so it's not hectic and make sure students are learning and have expectations they know they need to reach. I would definitely use some kind of system like the money system as an incentive to be good, and when I start the year teaching I think it is super important to let the students know what is expected of them so the rest of the year will flow smoothly.