Benefit of co-teaching

    One of the best things about co-teaching is the ability to leave the room if you need to and know that there will still be a teacher with the class.  I am constantly wondering, how will I ever do this alone.  As I mentioned yesterday, we've had some kids in our class going through rough times this week, and parents and kids have been needing alot of extra attention from us.  The last two mornings I have run the whole first hour of the day while Ms. Jorde has been in the hall and elsewhere dealing with these personal issues.  Since there are two of us, we can afford to give these kids the TLC they need while still making sure the rest of the class is attended to.  Then, today during math we did an activity that groups were finishing at different times.  After the activity was our class's turn for differentiation in the computer lab.  With two teachers, one of us could take groups who finished early down to the lab, while the other stayed upstairs to help groups who were still working.
    Another benefit of co-teaching, that wasn't really mentioned in our orientation, but which has been very important to me, is that it means there is another adult in the room to support you as a teacher and as an adult.  What I mean is, I have a blast not only with the kids but also with Diane.  It is so nice having another adult in there to laugh with when the kids say something hilarious, but they don't realize how funny it is.  It's also nice on days that are a bit more tedious to have someone else in the room on your side to help you out.  As a student teacher, the emotional support of co-teaching might be one of its biggest benefits.

Choice

Sorry! I was a day ahead yesterday. I wrote the blog post for Wednesday on Tuesday and today when I went to school I thought it was Thursday already. I think I have it straight now...:)

Now I will follow the prompt from Tuesday!
Today, my third day in middle school, I got to teach for two class periods. I didn't really get to teach a new math concept because students have not started their new books yet, but I got to lead some activities. Students were cleaning out their math binders today, reorganizing the materials and creating their math portfolios. They also got new textbooks today. For two of the class periods I got to guide students through all of those processes. I watched Zoe teach for two hours and then I just decide to give it a try. I was sort of nervous at first because the student were older and I was not sure exactly what classroom management techniques would work with them. I was surprised at how certain management phrases and techniques came back to me and were more natural to me than when I first started teaching in 4th grade. I was able to feel pretty comfortable teaching the students right away. Actually, I was able to use a lot of the management techniques I used when teaching 4th grade science.There were so many supplies and directions that I needed to give when teaching science and there were also a lot of directions and supplies today. I was glad that I spent so much time teaching science and learning how to manage supplies and activities! The students are a little chatty, but for the most part they are really nice middle school students. I am enjoying this age group so far. The students are fun to talk with and Zoe seems to have a really good relationship with them. Tomorrow I am going to introduce an algebra game to them.

Choice

  This week has been an important reminder to me about how important it is to communicate openly in the classroom and how important it is to think of the students as whole people, who are affected by thier lives outside the classroom.  We have two kids who are going through some serious family challenges this week--one has a grandfather who is in the hospital after a heart-attack and another who's father is moving out.  The good part of this is that both students felt comfortable and even wanted to share their situations right away in the morning.  One chose to talk to Diane and I during morning work time privately and the other chose to share this during our morning meeting.  It was really helpful to know about these situations going into the day because, not surprisingly it had an affect on both boys' behaviors. I tried to maintain reasonable expectations on both cases but also remember to be empathetic as well to the fact that the kids were having a rough day.

One thing I admire most about Diane is her ability to create this classroom climate where children feel safe to share what is bothering them.  At parent night last fall one mother said that over the summer when she and her ex-husband told their child they would be getting a divorce, the child's first reaction was to ask if he could call Ms. Jorde and talk to her about it.  I'm trying hard to develop a similar rapport with the kids and I think I have a solid start, but I can only hope to be as good at this someday as Diane.

Benefits of Co-teaching

I think co-teaching has a lot of benefits, both for students and the student teacher. Probably for the cooperating teacher as well. When I was teaching in 4th grade, we used one teach, one observe. I was not observing Jane's teaching, instead I observed the students and their work as I walked around. Jane and I had brainstormed some categories the day before and as I walked around I wrote down names of students that fit into those categories. The students were doing a writing assignment and we wanted to know how far along students were and what areas they were having trouble with. I was able to gather some valuable data. From that data, Jane and I were able to pull students for small groups to work on specific things. It is sometimes hard to observe everything one would like if you are the only adult in the room. This was one time it really helped to have two teachers.
I also think co-teaching was valuable when we tried one teach and one assist. If I was teaching a lesson, Jane could help me monitor students or check in with groups during science or social studies activities. Students were able to ask more questions and get feedback quicker. At the beginning of teaching, this helped me feel less overwhelmed. This method was also helpful during Writer's Workshop. By having two teachers Jane and I were able to conference with each individual student on their first writing project. The students really enjoyed the feedback and their final drafts turned out very well. You could tell that the individual conferences really helped. Conferencing with each student on every writing project is much harder to manage with just one teacher.

Feedback

Monday was my last day of filming my TPA.  It was just the assessment portion of my lesson and since they were taking a unit exam I knew that I wouldn't be able to give a lot of feedback.  I found that many children struggled with the last question on the test in which they had to explain the relationship between a square and a triangle in regards to their quilt.  Many students that asked me for help were having a difficult time with this question but I was equally having a difficult time because I was struggling with how to support them while still not giving them the answer.  I found that the best way to trigger their thoughts and get them started in the right direction was to remind them that the day we learned about this we practiced turning the shapes on the promethean board and laying them next to each other.   By doing this I was able to trigger what part of the unit they should be thinking about and many of them were able to take that information and apply it to what answer they should be giving me for the test.

feedback

We've written a bit about giving feedback before, I believe, so I guess today I'll focus on how I gave feedback during my TPA.  I had given the students a pre-assessment assignment the week before beginning our writing unit.  I didn't give them a specific grade on this assignment, or even hand them back to students.  Instead, I responded to the class as a whole in one of my mini lessons during the TPA.  We talked about some of the challenges students had experienced and some of the area I had noticed for improvement.

One thing I really like about the writer's workshop model is that the longer writing time gives me more of a chance to walk around the room and read students' work with them right there.  I can ask them questions about their thinking and give them ideas about things to think about in terms of where they will go next.  Generally, I prefer to respond to student work in this format--they have it out on their desk and I can walk around and write a short comment as I read it.  I think it's more interesting for them because we can have a quick conversation about it and it's much faster/easier for me than collecting everyone's work, correcting and passing back.

I am still analyzing students' final draft copies.  I haven't given them a 'grade' and I don't think that I will.  I am using the same checklist that I had them use with their peer reviewing, so they have had them opportunity to check one another's work and check their own with the checklist.  Since they are so proud of their work, I'm wary of giving them a grade on it.  I might just use the rubric to inform my own next steps.

Feedback

Today was my first day in middle school and it was a very interesting day. Middle school is a lot different than the elementary day I was used to. I enjoyed my elementary school experience, but I think I am going to also enjoy my middle school experience from what I experienced today. It was sort of nice to only focus on one content area today instead of having to focus on all subjects. We will see how the rest of the weeks goes, but I had a good day today.
This week is sort of a work week in my math classroom and I did not have much of a chance to give feedback. Students just finished a math unit last week and took a unit test. This week Zoe is taking time to review some math concepts and switch to a new math book. Students will also take a preassessment on Thursday. Due to the review week, I mostly got to work with students on worksheet problems today. I worked with one student during 4th hour and helped her complete problems on multiplying fractions. I gave her some feedback and methods for completing problems in an easier way given the work I had seen from her. She was able to take my advice and complete the problems in a different way. She could reduce some of her fractions first and then multiple. Then when turning the answers into mixed numbers they were smaller and easier to work with.

choice

I wanted to write a bit about my TPA which I completed this week.  I did writing and we worked specifically on descriptive paragraphs about a person we care about.  I was really nervous going into the lesson because up until last week we had never done a full week of writing or finished a full project with all of the drafts.  I am happy and proud to report that the mini-unit went REALLY well.  The kids wrote 3 distinct drafts and complete a prewriting activity.  Each draft was supposed to show some revisions from the prior draft, which is new to these kids (they are more used to editing than revising), but they thoughtfully revised and changed their work.  I was most happy because they were all so proud of their final copies, which we mounted on colored paper and they read aloud to classmates in small groups.

In addition to the actual writing skills, one of my goals for the TPA was working on writer's stamina and writer's etiquette for peer conferencing.  I was impressed by  how receptive the kids were to this and I think it contributed a lot to the level of pride everyone had in his/her work.

My one frustration was that I had the opportunity to work one and one with our EL student and really dig deep on her revisions and reteaching what exactly was meant by description, but during that conference, DIane was out of the room and so it didn't get taped!  ugh!  It's hard to balance the feeling that you are putting on a show with an authentic desire to work with kids when they need it most.  I guess in the end it's more important that she got the help she needed than me getting the footage.

Choice: My last day in fourth grade

Friday was my last day in fourth grade. It was a bittersweet day for me. I am amazed at how fast the time went. Looking back on the first day of school, I realized how much I have learned. I was just getting into a routine and feeling comfortable and now I am starting all over. On Monday I start in middle school. I am thankful I will still be at LHUC though. I am glad I do not have to learn a whole new building layout. Also, I worked with my cooperating teacher last year which makes the transition easier as well. I will be working with 3 classes of 7th graders learning 7th grade math, a group of 6th graders learning 7th grade math and then a group of 6th graders during a math study hall. I am looking forward to learning how the middle school day/routine is different than an elementary school day/routine. I will then be able to determine which I would like to teach more.
My cooperating teacher was really great at making my last day memorable. The morning meeting that day was dedicated to me and all of the students got to greet me. During sharing, students got to ask me different questions about things they were curious about. The class also presented me with a book they made. Each student wrote me a letter stating something they will remember about our time together and advice for me. My cooperating teacher also got me a gift. For lunch all of the fourth grade teachers and student teachers sat together and ordered food from Damico's. At the end of the day,I got a big round of applause, a couple students gave me gifts, and I got a lot of hugs and handshakes. It was sad to say goodbye to all of them. I hope to be able to come back in the winter as a volunteer or a substitute teacher to see the kids again! I really enjoyed my placement! I feel blessed that I had such a great cooperating teacher as a role model! I learned many things and I have some great ideas to take with me to my own classroom. I enjoyed Jane's teaching style and the way she managed the students. The whole Lake Harriet community has been very welcoming and supportive thus far! Hopefully I have made some good contacts for the future!Tomorrow starts a new adventure, I will keep everyone posted on how it goes. Wish me luck :)

Don't look at the snow!

I thought of this story when it started to snow on Thursday last week--and then I thought of all three of you in your classrooms with kids who would certainly (and rightfully) be excited to look outside. Here's one of my favorite stories about teaching and writing. Maybe it will make you smile, too. “It’s starting to snow!” the teacher said to her class. The fourth graders looked up. “Come over to the windows. We’ll open the blinds and take a good look at it.” The kids hurried over, eager to eyeball the year’s first snowfall. One boy held back and stayed at his desk. “Come on, Brent,” the teacher urged. “Join us.” But Brent was adamant. “Don’t do it!” he cried to the other kids. “Don’t look! She’ll make us write!” From What a Writer Needs by Ralph Fletcher

choice

Yesterday we had a sub and I was in  charge for the whole day.  I did have a sub in the room, but he wasn't supposed to do anything unless I asked him for assistance.  It was exciting to get the opportunity to run the whole show.   I got to try out some behavior management strategies that I had not previously tried.  I also got the exposure to what it will feel like when all of the choices are mine.  It was nice to have a one day preview of this before I take over completely.   It was my first time leading group reading and it went really well.   I felt confident in what I was teaching and the kids were very interactive.  Since it was the first day of snow the kids were a bit rowdy, but I am glad I got the opportunity to manage the classroom under such conditions in a setting where if I needed assistance, the sub was there to offer ideas and opinions.  

co teaching strategy

One of the co-teaching strategies that we use is differentiated teaching.  We do this during reading groups and WTW groups.  We have found that we are better able to meet the needs of our students this way because we are able to adapt the curriculum based on their needs.   With such a wide span of ability levels (our CBM scores range from 5-168) we really have to use this strategy every day.   We alternate groups based upon a weekly schedule with myself, my cooperating teacher, and an additional teacher aid.  Each group has a specific book that they are working to read and answer questions.  The books and questions vary in difficulty and the higher level group is working on written responses instead of verbal.

Co-teaching

The co-teaching strategies we have used most often are team teaching and one-teach-one-assist.  We had a blast team teaching math on Wednesday.  Somehow our lesson turned into a sort of game show staring Ms. Morrow and Ms. Jorde.  We were talking about using the distributive property to break difficult multiplication problems into 2 or 3 easier problems.  With two of us we were able to kind of take on characters--Diane being the stubborn one who hadn't learned her higher multiplication facts and me being the one who knew the facts and knew how to break the problem down.  The kids thought it was hilarious and Diane and I had a good time too.  We hadn't done much co-teaching for a while as I have been taking over most lessons so it was refreshing and fun to team teach again.

While every lesson certainly can't become a show it was a fun way to spice up a math lesson on a grey day.

Co-teaching Strategy

One co-teaching strategy that we have used in our room is parallel teaching. I was excited to try this strategy because I thought the students would be able to get more attention and feedback this way and it would be nice to teach a smaller group of students. We tired this co-teaching strategy in science and social studies. The science lesson worked out okay. I was able to monitor one side of the room and make sure students were successful with their science kits and Jane was able to monitor the other side and answer questions. When we tried the co-teaching strategy again in social studies it did not work out so well. We divided the room in half and had students move their desks into two groups. I taught one side of the room and Jane taught the other, we both tried to teach the same activity. The problem was our space. It was difficult to have two lessons going on in the room at the same time. If one group of students got too loud, the other students were distracted. Also, with two voices talking it was sometimes hard for students to concentrate. I think this strategy could be a good one if we had more space or could take one group of students to another room. I hope to get some opportunities to try different co-teaching strategies in middle school in the next couple weeks. It will be interesting to compare my experiences with co-teaching in elementary school versus middle school.

building climate

There has been a major shift in building climate since I have been at LHLC.   There was a disagreement between the principle and the teachers regarding who gets to pick the format of the PLC's.  Unfortunately, the teachers (knowing they were correct) chose to vote on the issue as a union (Which is entirely within their rights to do).  However, the principle became really upset about it and told the staff they had been insubordinate.   Following this, a few teachers told the principle that they were following the group for fear of being "hastled" by their peers.  Now, no one wants to speak to anyone and no one wants to take on new responsibilities or offer ideas at meetings because they are fearful of anyone saying anything negative about them.

I had never seen this side of being a teacher and it has been very worisome to me.  It has clearly damaged some relationships within the building.   From this experience I am reminded of the importance of being united as a teaching staff as well as how difficult the role of a principle must be and  how their choices affect their relationships as well.  I'm glad that student teaching has given me these insights as I enter the professional field.  

Routines

One of the most effective routines I have observed is the way that my cooperating teacher gets the attention of her class.  She uses the phrase 123 eyes on me, in which the students respond 12 eyes on you.  It works really well to get the classes attention quickly without side chatter continuing on.  The other technique that she uses is that when she's really drained that is when she chooses to sing.  She says it keeps the kids happy and engaged and lightens her own mood at the time.  We have a special song we sing on fridays, a song about being ready to move to the next task, and a song about waiting by the door (like flies on a garbage can!).  The kids love these songs and it allows the kids to still be on task even though they are making noise during a transition.

routines and procedures

Routines and procedures were a bit nebulous and hard to come by at first in our room.  Since Diane had these kids last year we never actually went over any routines or procedures.  As the year has progressed we have fallen into some routines especially in the mornings as students arrive.  They know I will have a morning work assignment on the Promethean BOard for them to complete and that we will do a morning meeting.  When one of these doesn't happen they are extra squirrly.

Another routine we have developed on Diane's suggestion helps with the transition from math into reading.  Since some students are with us for math but others have to come back from another room it often takes a few minutes to transition.  Now the students know that as soon as math is over they are to take out their independent reading book and begin reading.  This allows time for bathroom breaks as necessary and for the other kids to come back to the room and put their things away from math.  When everyone is reading I know I can begin the mini-lesson.  At that point the kids know to simply set thier book down on their desk and join the group up front for the lesson.  When it's time for them to go back to their seats everyone already has their book out an ready to go, so that we don't have to spend time with another transition.

Effective Routines and Procedures

Some effective routines I have witnessed take place at the beginning and end of the day. Each morning students know that they need to go to their lockers, hand in their homework in the homework basket, and sign in on the attendance board. After that routine, the students know there will be a morning message for them to check and they should do what it says. Each morning we have morning work for students to complete before the bell rings. At the end of the day, students take the last 10 minutes to get out their agenda books and write down the homework that is due the next day. Jane puts her agenda book under the document camera and students copy down the homework. As students leave the room to get their backpacks, their agenda books are checked to make sure everyone has their homework written down. If students do not have a planner, they use a post-it note and stick it in their homework folder.
Another effective routine I have seen happens during math class each day. Students know that each day at the beginning of the hour they switch papers with someone at their tables and correct the homework that is due that day. We read off the answers and students score each other. This is a very quick way to get the homework corrected. They also record their scores in their math binders on their score sheets.

Building Relationships

In order to build relationships with students, first I  try to get to know students on a personal level. I like to ask them about their lives outside of school and their interests. I try to remember events or activities students have mentioned to me and then I ask them about them periodically. I also like to share things about myself with them. The second thing I do, is to try to show students that I care about their learning in the classroom and what they have to say. I try and call on many people to participate during class discussions. I also walk around and conference with individual students and talk with them about their work. If students need help I try and help them succeed.  Third, I try to redirect students in a positive way in the classroom. I want them to know that I am redirecting them so they can learn better not because I am being mean, or I want to embarrass them. I try to be compassionate, but firm in the classroom. I try to have a positive attitude, but I want students to know that I have a plan when I am teaching and I can keep the lesson in control and moving forward.

focusing on students

I came away from conferences a bit overwhelmed by this topic--hearing parents talk about thier children and simply taking the time to reflect on each individual kid really brought home how much attention each one needs. I was surprised to hear about anxiety and insecurities in our room that neither Diane nor I had picked up on.  

I try to talk one on one with each student at least once everyday.  This doesn't always happen--especially if there are a few kids being especially challenging and requiring lots of attention.  I also try to keep up on looking at and responding to student work so that I can identify those kids that are struggling.  

Developing relationships

The best ways I've found ot build relationships with kids involve talking to them about non-academic life.  I think the most powerful tool are the little conversations you have with kids on the playground, between lessons, during transitions--giving them your attention and finding ways to connect with them and remind them that you are more than just a teacher is important.  Similarly, conversations and sharing during morning meeting are also a good way to build relationships.  Like with the less formal conversations, listening to kids share and sharing myself gives us a chance to learn more about one another's lives.  A third way is to have some of these 'conversations' through writing as I respond to student work.  I like to ask questions or write what their work made me think of.  I think this shows the kids that I care about what they have written and the work they have done.
Finally, slightly different than the others, Diane has shown me how powerful 'special jobs' can be when dealing with a challenging student.  Asking these kids to help with the technology or run a quick errand makes them feel important and shows that you trust them, which goes a long way towards building that relationship

Strategies for talking with students

The three things that have worked best for me when talking with students are 1) get on their level physically 2) get on their level socially  3) get on their level emotionally.   I have found that no matter what the topic is, if I make myself at eye level with the kids they are both more open with me and more willing to make eye contact with me.  Whether the topic is academic or just trying to make a connection with the student, I find that being at eye level makes them more comfortable with me (especially since I'm a giant in comparison!)   The first real conversation I had with my students was talking about mariokart on the wii.  I believe that when I talk about things that interest them, we create a bond.  This bond it what allows them to talk to me about concerns, they trust me. The final strategy I use is to meet them at where they are emotionally.  When kids are upset their feelings are valid.  Acknowledging hurt feelings, frustration, or boredom before I move onto what I would like for them to do allows my students to relax and it reminds them that at the end of the day we are on the same team.

Focusing on Students

With 34 students it is hard to focus on all of the students, but I try each day the best I can. During class discussions, I try to be aware of students I am calling on and to make sure that I call on different students. Sometimes I pull sticks or randomly call on students as well just to make sure students are paying attention. I try not to do that too often though. Also, I have gotten to know certain student work habits. I know the students who are going to have a hard time getting started on a writing assignment for instance so I will check with those students right away to make sure they understand what to do. I try to walk around as much as I can during work time and check on each table and look over work. I also try and walk around during whole class instruction or reading to check on students. One of my goals is to work on using small groups more. My teacher really does not do that, so it has been hard for me to start.  I think it is really important though and I would like to do that in my own classroom one day for reading and math. I only have a week left, but I am going to try and meet with some groups during reading time. That will also help me focus on more students. I try to get to know students on a personal level as well and find ways to connect with them. Having conferences helped a lot because I got to learn information about students from their parents. We learned many students have attention issues, some have anxiety, and we learned about two eye sight problems. Getting to know students, how they work best, things they need more help with, etc. allows the classroom teacher to better support them and focus on their needs.

Parent communication

As we are finishing up conference week I have been thinking a lot about how I communicate with parents and how Diane does.  Our situation is a bit unique in that Diane had most of these students last year and knows the families very well.  Additionally, Diane is very laid back about parent communication--there is no classroom newsletter or even regular website updates.  Even at conferences she doesn't really have a form or specific report filled out for the kids.  

Because of this most parent communication (besides conferences this week) happens via email and when they stop in to drop something off.  This means that I am often not involved in the communication as emails go directly to Diane and chats in the room often happen between Diane and the parent while I'm teaching.  This system works really well for her and jives with Diane's personality and general way of communicating.  In the future I imagine I will have more formal communication pathways with parents, because small talk and chit chat is not a strength for me.  I am more comfortable with a more structured conversation.  I've learned a lot however being in these conferences and having to simply speak up and chime in--I've done it in every conference and it feels good!

Parent Communication

The topic of this posting seems fitting as I just got home from conferences. Over the last couple weeks I have gotten to have some interactions with parents. Parents come in about every two Fridays to help with book talks. I am able to interact a little bit with the parent volunteers that come in to help. Another way I have gotten to communicate with parents is by filling out a bi-weekly report that goes home with students on their behavior and things they have learned. Due to the fact that I have been teaching for the past week or so full time I got to fill out the progress report on students last week. My cooperating teacher sends a Friday letter home each week with topics the class is working on. On the back of the letter, every two weeks the students reflect on their behavior and what they have been learning and then Ms. Lieptiz evaluates them and writes a comment. The parents then sign the forms and students have to return them on Monday. Conferences have been the main way I have gotten to interact with parents. It has been great to learn about students from their parents and how they are at home. All of the parents are so involved with their children and really want to work with them at home. I wish it was like this for all students! Conferences have been so interesting and a really great experience. I am wondering how I am going to be able to do them all myself though. It is intimidating to me still!

Parent Communications

I have had a lot of opportunities to interact with parents within the last two weeks.  We have been on field trips and we have started conferences.   It has been great getting to meet them, it gives me a lot more information about their home life, their commitment to homework  and reading outside of school, and the students daily activities.   We had some parents who we had to give some not-happy news (concentrating in class, using nice words, low test scores etc.) It was nice to have this experience with a cooperating teacher for support.  Also, our parents are very involved and very interested in their child's academic and social goals.  The first couple conferences I was nervous about these interactions, but 10 conferences in I felt more relaxed and comfortable sharing what I have seen and assessed.

Conferences

Last night was our first official night of conferences.  The time seemed to fly right by as we moved from meeting to meeting, without any breaks in the schedule.   I really enjoyed hearing the parents perspective of their children.   As I have mentioned before, LHLC is a very unique Minneapolis Public School.  I was amazed at how organized the parents were with their thoughts and questions.  A few of the parents brought folders with notes that we had sent home.  One mom even had a two page list of questions from dad and all of the conference notes that they had received regarding their daughter since she was in preschool.  Parents were looking for growth in their children in specific areas and were asking about tutoring services.  The parents definitely kept us on our toes and were quick to ask how we were meeting their child's individual needs.  It was a unique experience that I'm sure won't be the experience I will have everywhere in my teaching career, but it was a great experience nonetheless.

conferences

We had our first conferences tonight and they were quite interesting.  It was really valuable to hear the parents talk about their children from that perspective.  I learned a lot about my students, including some issues that neither Diane nor I had really picked up on.  It seems we have a bit more anxiety and insecurity in our room than we realized.  We also learned some interesting things about the way the kids behave at home.
It got a bit exhausting going through the same bit over and over with each new family, but it was so nice to be in the conference and feel like I could share and speak up as a second teacher.  I was very grateful to Diane and the families for including me on these meetings as a full participant.
Finally, one of our student's father teaches in the Metro State licensure program as the literacy expert.  When he saw the math journals Nicole and I are using as our action research he asked me to send a synopsis of the project so he could show his students as an example of content area literacy.  It's really cool to think about how we are all a part of this community of educators and learners.

Conferences

I am just getting home from conferences so I decided to write about that as my choice. Today was my first ever conference on the teacher side and it was interesting. What a busy, busy day. I am still teaching the entire day right now so I was busy all day teaching and then stayed for conferences in the evening. It was so nice to meet with the students and their families! It was so interesting to meet the parents and see looks and traits in the parents that the students possess. It was great when the students came as well, to see them interact with their families and get to know them on a personal level. I feel like I know the students so much better after tonight and will think about them just a little bit differently when I am teaching tomorrow. I learned a lot about good items to share at conferences and my cooperating teacher made this great sheet for parents with test scores, reading level, and subject goals. It was a nice summary that parents could take home. My cooperating teacher was always really positive with families as well and even if there was an issue she was able to spin it in a positive way. Parents were very responsive and it was a good example for me to see. These are long days, but I am looking forward to meeting more families tomorrow! I think tomorrow may be my last day of teaching everything. Wish me luck. It is my last week in fourth grade next week and I will start to give subjects back slowly. My time has gone by so fast!

Characteristics of Students

After reading the other blog posts, I felt like I could relate to a lot of what Julie and Meggie were saying. I enjoy working with all students, but it is more fun to work with students who want to learn and who like to participate and ask questions. It is nice to work with these students because you don't have to remind them to be on task and they are excited about learning. Students who are negative about learning, off task, and don't participate in class are the most challenging. The  really challenging students are the students who have to be reminded 3-4 times to get to work and then they still don't want to do anything. I have a student in math right now that is really challenging. It is also very rewarding to work with students who may generally not participate, but suddenly get excited about one topic or the other and suddenly they are a totally different student. The hardest part is making all lessons interesting and appealing to all students to elicit excitement and participation.

I have been challenged by students a lot this past week as I have taken over teaching full time and students have been a lot more talkative and off task. By the end of the week, things had started to improve, I will see how this short week goes. I am looking forward to a break myself!

characteristics of students

As with everyone, my students all have both challenging and rewarding moments.  There are times when they really test me and times when they are such a joy to be with.

It is easiest to work with students when they are genuienly engaged in the learning.  When we are doing something that interests the kids and elicits questions and hypotheses from them, it is a joy to work with them.  They experience that intrinsic motivation to learn and discover.  This is why I enjoyed teaching science so much, because the format allowed the kids' own questions and wonderings to drive a lot of the activities.  When they ask questions it energizes me and gets me more excited about teaching too, it's kind of a reciprocal process.

I find it most challenging to work with the kids when they question my authority.  Diane and I both work very hard to make sure that the kids know I am just as much of an authority as she is, but of course they still know that I am the student teacher and in the end it's her room.  I have a hard time when the kids undermine and disrespect my authority.  Sometimes this means that they'll ask me something and if they don't like my answer go to Diane.  Other times it's more blatant--they'll giggle when I am trying to redirect them or when I try to count down from five to get the kids quiet every once in a while there are a few boys who like to count before me and giggle.  Overall the kids generally respect me as an authority, but I'm sure they have picked up on the fact that this is my biggest area of insecurity and that they can push my buttons by playing inot it.  I try very hard to stay calm but firm and demand the respect I deserve.

Characteristics of Students

Hi All,
     The students I find the least struggle with teaching is the students who are inquisitive.  Getting the kids to ask the questions is half the battle.  The kids who genuinely want to learn what I'm teaching and ask questions are really easy for me to connect with.  These are the kids that make me excited to come to school each day.

     The students that I struggle with teaching are the ones that don't attempt to answer.  I have a couple kids in my class who just sit and look at me when I ask them to sound out a word.  I also have kids that regardless of the subject I am teaching, just take guesses.  It is really difficult for me to meet the needs of these students with teaching strategies because I feel like I'm just doing half the work.  I find myself getting frustrated.  I consistently remind these students that they have to work to learn and to use their skills to come up with the best answer that they can.

Julie

Skill

Hi All,
     The skill I feel the most proud of developing is my new found comfort level with time management.  In field experiences I always felt nervous throughout my whole lesson, worrying about if my material would cover enough time or too much.  I've become much more comfortable looking at my lesson plan and determining how long it will take me and if I need to shorten the lesson, plan to use two days, or if I am going to need an additional activity for the children that finish early.  As a whole, I have become much more comfortable and I believe that this affects my skill to time manage.  It really shows in my science lessons, where I can tweak the amount of time I allow the students to observe.  In my first science lessons I didn't adapt the amount of time a gave students to observe because I was so concerned about how I timed things out in my lesson plan, but now I am able to be more flexible with my time based on student needs.

Julie

skill

The skill development I am most proud of is my organization.  I came into student teaching most concerned that I (unlike many of my peers at St. Kate's and seemingly in the teaching profession) do not care particularly whether or not postit notes are color coded or whether my poster looks pleasing.  I have always been of the mindset that it is more important to get the content and let these organizational/aesthetic details fall to the wayside.  I was however very nervous that this was an essential teacher skill/tendency that I lack.

Although it may not appear as such to someone visiting our room, I have made great strides in my organization and presentation this year.  I happened to be placed with one fo the few teachers who is more disorganized and even less concerned with aesthetics than I am.  For this reason, I have had to become the organized one.  It's been a bit of baptism by fire as our year started with such a haphazard array of semi-complete materials and resources, and no clear system for doing anything.  I now am the primary record keeper in the room, and I set the whole space up and organized it so I'm also the one who knows where everything is/belongs.  Anyone visiting our space would notice that the walls are a still a but less cheerful and colorful than other rooms, but we're getting there...  It's been a big step and even bigger confidence boost for me.

Skills

This is my first week teaching all day and I am proud that I have made it through the week almost. Tonight I was thinking back to a few weeks into student teaching and I felt like I would never be ready to teach  all day. I am happy to say that things get easier every day and I am enjoying myself. I have gained so many skills over student teaching and I hope to gain many more. I am able to manage a classroom by myself from the planning to delivering lessons and keeping up on grading and procedures. I have been trying to work on giving directions in a really clear way and on asking good questions and questioning techniques. I feel like I am getting better at both of those things as well. It is hard to believe I only have one more full week in fourth grade due to conferences.

Responding to Student Work

In my classroom we correct tests, quizes, math homework, and spelling tests. Reading response homework is looked at for completion and detail, then marked off. We correct in a colored pen usually. If the answer is multiple choice, I will just mark it off if it is incorrect. If the answer was written out, I usually write something back to the student. I find myself wanting to give a lot of feedback sometimes, but with 34 assignments to get through I need to limit  myself. Jane likes to record percentages so I always make sure to write the percentage that students got on tests and quizes. I try to give meaningful praise if the student did a great job, or I try to ask a question or help a student if they did not answer the question completely. Math assignments and tests get handed back in class and the students are responsible for taking them home. Reading response homework gets put back in the student's reading binder so it can be looked at over the year. Social studies and science tests are handed back in class and then students can take them home and show their families.

Response to comment:
Currently students don't earn extra money for the things you have mentioned, only being a student and their Micro jobs. I really like those ideas though and would like to try them in my own classroom someday if I try Microsociety.
As far as pooling their money together, I like that idea too. Actually, last year Jane told me her class did a school fundraiser, to raise real money, to buy a classroom whiteboard because they did not like one of the chalkboards they had. This fundraiser was part of their micro time as well. I thought that was so cool and really taught about team work and working hard to earn money for things you want. 

responding to student work

I respond to work in many different ways.  For the homework that gets turned in daily (mostly math and spelling assignments) I usually do a quick spot check of a few questions and check off that the work was submitted on time and complete.  

I prefer to write comments and questions on work before I hand it back.  I've done this with a few longer assignments.  I usually ask a question about something the student wrote or make a comment about how it connects to me. I also try to comment on the neatness and effort I see in the work.  Our students also have reading logs they are supposed to write in a few days a week during writing time.  My favorite thing to do is walk around a read their short entries and write a comment or question right in front of them.  

Finally, yesterday I gave a student a "shout out" in front of the whole class because I was so impressed by the effort I saw in her work.  Effort is something we are working very hard on in our classroom, as we have a few students who prefer to spend approximately zero time on their assignments. But, this student had taken the time to neatly and completely answer each question with complete, thoughtful sentences.  I asked her permission to show her work under the document camera to highlight the parts I thought were so impressive.

Responding to Student Work

Hi All,
     My cooperating teacher and I respond to student work by correcting it in colored ink.  If an assignment is considered incomplete, we put it back into the unfinished work bin for the student to finish/correct and turn back in.   When the assignments have been corrected, they get stamped with one of the stamps from our collection.  We place the stamped assignments in each students mailbox.  The students are responsible for collecting graded work at the end of each day and putting it in their backpack.  It is the parents responsibility to review the assignment with their child.

Julie

classroom management

Classroom management wise my favorite tool is the microphone.  It is amazing!  We have a very loud room, even when students are not trying to be noisy, the hard wood floors and chairs make everything extra loud.  It is wonderful to be able to use the microphone because I can call for attention without having to raise my voice.
The microphone alone is of course not sufficient, so I also do a countdown from 5 to zero when we are transitioning or when I am trying to get everyone's attention after a period of worktime.  The countdown allows kids a few seconds to finish what they are doing, find a good stopping place and perform the necessary tasks to be ready for the next thing (ie clearing off desks, getting out new materials).
When students are really squirrely or testing me I make sure to wait until everyone is calm, quiet and looking at me.  As I do this I remind them I am waiting and that the more time we spend waiting for people, the less time we have for recess or read aloud.  It helps that they absolutely adore the read aloud time.

Classroom management

As far as classroom management, I have been following the techniques that my cooperating teacher put into place. She uses a bell to get students' attention back when they are working in groups, or with partners, or just being really loud. She also uses, "give me 5" and counts down with her hand in the air. I have been using the same techniques and things have been going well. It is interesting though because this is my first week of teaching all day and I notice students testing me a lot more. Their behavior when I am teaching has gotten worse. My cooperating teacher assures me it will get better as they are just trying to see what they can get away with. I am holding my ground and trying to be firm, but sometimes I feel like a big crab! Our class also have a micro-society, so the students run a state within their classroom and they get paid for doing certain jobs. One of the jobs each person has is to be a "student". They start out with $25.00 microdollars a day. As a form of behavior management,  dollars are taken away for not following directions or not being on task. Each day the tables tally up how many dollars they have earned. Students get paid at the end of each week and can use their money to do certain things during mirco-society time at the end of the day. So far that has also been working  well.

Classroom management techniques

Hi All,
    My favorite classroom management I have is ringing a bell.  We have a very chatty classroom and it is difficult sometimes for the students to hear my voice over the voices of their peers.   I find that if I ring a bell until the students stop talking, that I save my voice.  I also find that I become less frustrated if I use this technique because I'm not begging for my students attention.  It is always effective!

     My favorite strategy that I use in the hallway is reminding the kids before we ever leave the classroom who's classrooms we need to "sneak by" when we are in the hall.   I've found that it is very effective for the kids to have a goal.  They stand quietest at the gym door where the principles office is across the hall.  They love having Ms Parish either not notice them at all or notice just how quiet they are being and come out to the hall to thank them.   I try to always use this reminder strategy whenever we are leaving the room.

Handling Stress

Hi All!
     The best way that my cooperating teacher, myself, and my EA have found for handling stress this year is to allow each other to take a break.   Because there are 3 adults in the room, we find ourselves often leading discussions so that the other person can take a moment to de-stress.  The most frequent example of this is when we are working with our behavior needs child.  The other day he was in the hallway hitting, speaking disrespectfully, and throwing pencils under the door.   I could tell the EA was at her wits end, so I stepped into the hallway and worked with her small group so that she could go inside and talk/vent to my cooperating teacher.  This switching of roles happens quite frequently in our room without any difficult transitions.

     The same type of scenario happens in the morning when it is just I am my cooperating teacher in the room.  She might be leading reading groups and the kids can get really talkative.  Her personality is to yell when she isn't getting respect and have the kids put their heads down, so when that happens we transition to me reminding the kids to keep quite with heads down at their desk and she will run to the copy room or to get a drink of water during that time. 

    When I am leading a lesson I try to always stick with it through my stressful portion of the lesson because I am trying to improve my teaching skills.  However, when teaching I know I can always ask Ms Perez to switch roles with me momentarily so that I can watch how she would handle the situation. 

handling stress

Since our last posting about stress I have moved back home with my parents.  While this was far from my first choice, I have to admit it has really been nice and taken some stress off of me.  I am greatly enjoying homemade healthy dinners every night and not having to worry about grocery shopping.  It's also nice to be able to chat with my mom and dad at the end of the day and debrief a little.  They are very supportive, but also don't let me get too worked up about things.
Additionally, I have joined a gym.  Mostly this was because I am suddenly very motivated to have things to do in the evenings so I can get out of the house... I still don't enjoy exercise but everyone says it's a good way to deal with stress so we'll see...

Handling Stress

Since the last post about the stress of teaching, I have been feeling more stressed. I am feeling this way because I have a lot more to do than before. I started my first week of teaching all day today and we had a substitute in the afternoon. Luckily I got to teach all day, but the students were still not themselves. They always act a little differently when Ms. Lieptiz is away. Today was a stressful day and I knew I had to go home and do a lot more work because I am right in the middle of my TPA. This weekend I also spent most of the weekend working on things for school. It is a lot more stressful to have to plan lessons for the whole day, but the first day went  okay. I think as I teach more and more I will find ways to be more efficient. I had a hard time sleeping last night because I could not relax. I made a goal for myself to be done working by a certain time tonight so I get a least an hour to myself before bed. I also took time to sit down and eat dinner with my husband. I have been trying to plan and make dinners ahead of time so we don't have to do so much cooking during the week as well. These little things have helped me so far. I am open to any tips people have for managing stress :)

most challenging student

Overall we have a really good group of kids this year.  As a whole though, they are VERY chatty and our big goal right now is working on reigning in the commentary and chit chat that seems constant.   

Probably the most challenging student is one a boy who is new to the school and the district this year.  He seems to be far behind everyone else, but he is also extremely off task.  He is constantly playing with things in his desk and drawing, never doing his work.  When he took the MAP test he scored in the 6th percentile. We talked to him about it and he said he didn't try at all.  It's really hard to know how much of his behavior is due to the fact that he is genuinely struggling and how much is because he doesn't try.  I have a feeling there is a little of both.  

My Most Challenging Student….

As I have written about before, I have a student in my class with behavioral problems.  Upon reading the topic for todays blog however, his name was not the one that immediately popped into my head.   I have a young girl who is the lowest in our class based on CBM and F&P scores.  However, she receives no set services from the school because her kindergarten teacher only completed one intervention on her- and it was for emotional needs, not academic.  Because of this, we share our resources for our behavioral needs student with this little girl, sending them both into the hall to work with the EA during math time.

This little girl often misses school or a large portion of the day.  There are a wide array of reasons: she was sick, she was tired, her mom didn't wake up, her mom had to go downtown to get health insurance,  the police were at our place late last night, mom had friends over, I couldn't find my glasses, or my all time favorite- "She just wouldn't put clothes on" her mother told me at 1:30 in the afternoon as the child was being dropped off.  When you ask her why she was so late the little girl always responds with a cheerful disposition and a smile, telling you the story as if it was a funny joke that we should be laughing with her about.  

This week she finished reading her first book of the year for reading time.  She can't match the sound a letter makes to what the letter looks like on the page, even if your are quizzing her on the same two letters repeatedly using flash cards.  She doesn't understand the concept of blending sounds to form a word.   She is a top concern for me and my cooperating teacher.  All of this is overwhelming as a student teacher from the beginning, however it becomes increasingly more worrisome when Lilly laughs at herself for not knowing the sounds.

We are currently engaged in a documented intervention.  It's just hard to watch a child struggle so much and have her mom and the child herself not making the full commitment to giving her the academic experiences she needs.

My Most Challenging Student(s)

I am not sure that I have just one challenging student. I think there are certain students that challenge me in different ways. In my math class, I have a student who I am having a hard time motivating. When I circulate the room while students are working, I find her not working or filling in the answers quickly to get the problems done. The answers she puts down are then incorrect. I can tell from homework and classwork that she is having trouble learning the material, but then in class she talks with the person next to her and does not pay attention. She also is having a hard time with the math journaling. She has already lost her math journal even though students are not to take them out to the room. The journals are collected after each class period. When she did write, she had a hard time staying on task and getting much down on paper.

Then I have a student in my homeroom class who is challenging as well. He does his work just to get it done and has a hard time focusing. He comes across as quite, but is good at getting other students in trouble and has been involved in some bullying like behavior this year. He is sneaky and you never can tell what is going on in his head. I know he takes medication for ADHA and his parents have been trying different dosages so things may get better for him as the year goes on.

choice--

Nicole and I started our action research project this week.  In our project we are asking students to write math process papers (short ones) and then switch journals to respond to another students' process.  Our first few days were a bit rough as we start learning this process.  Students aren't very good at explaining their thinking in writing, especially when it comes to math.  It took two days a a good deal of modeling to have about 80% of the kids write a full journal entry, answering all the questions I asked.  I was a bit discouraged at first, but after the second day I felt a little better about our progress.
Today we switched journals and students responded to one another.  I had originally given them very strict prompts and instructions for how to respond, but it was clear that those prompts were restrictive so I said they simply needed to read their partner's process entry and respond with their feelings and reflect on their partner's approach.  I was so impressed by how well these responses went.  I think the kids really began to understand why I was asking them to be so detailed in how they explained thier thinking, because as they read the partner's journal they realized how crucial it is to make every step explicit.  I was also touched by how excited they were to write to one another.  In preparation for the project Nicole and I read some studies about the power of partner journaling, but it was really cool to see how motivating it is for the students to have that written conversation.

my students learn because

My students learn because I always try to challenge them to think a little deeper.  I work hard to help my students make the connections and do the thinking that will lead them to discover the concepts I'm trying to teach.  I like to think of our learning as a community endeavor that I am in with the kids.  This probably sounds super cheesy, and often times it probably doesn't work as well as I want it to, but I want the students to feel ownership over their learning.  I want them to ask questions and I am comfortable saying that I don't know (well to be honest I usually turn the question back to them rather than just say I don't know).  I understand that I am the teacher and the authority figure, but I like to think that we are all learning together, me included.  I believe that this creates opportunities for students to think deeper and learn more than if I simply told them everything straight out.

My Students Learn Because...

I feel like my students learn because of many things my cooperating teacher and I do in the classroom. For each lesson I teach I try and make the objectives clear for students at the beginning and end of the lesson so they know what they are learning about. I also try to check for understanding many times throughout the lesson and sequence the lesson in an order that makes sense and releases knowledge gradually. I really like data as well so I enjoy giving pretests, or activating background  knowledge in some way,to see what students know.  I  like to assess how my lessons went by giving a post test as well to see what still needs to be taught or reviewed. I try, but am still working on, asking higher order thinking questions during lessons to challenge students. Making the lessons engaging also ensures more learning. If a lesson can include a game or a hands on activity students learn better as well.

Free Choice

This week I started teaching math. I really like math, but had never taught a math lesson before. I started with a division unit and so far things are going well. I used a pretest question to gauge how much students knew about division and what strategies they had. From reading the test, Jane and I were able to make a list of students who may need some extra help. I have taught 3 lessons now and after each one I am assessing how students are doing. They always have a "Thinking Deeply" question on their homework and from reading their responses I have been able to tell what and how I need to teach division to reach certain students. I am enjoying teaching math so far, but still learning. The class is 1.5 hours so I am trying to get the pacing correct. That has been hard for me. I have felt rushed at the end of the lessons for the past two days. I am hoping with time I will get better. I am also trying to incorporate some more technology into math class to math it more interesting. I found a Promethean board Jeopardy template online and I am going to use it Monday in math to play a review game before they take a quiz. We are also using it tomorrow in science.

Along with starting to teach math, I also started my action research data collection. On Monday students got their math journals and have been writing in them each day this week. It has been interesting seeing the various reactions to the journals. Students have done a nice job of journaling on their own, but they had trouble when they had to switch journals and respond to a partner. I am curious to see how things will go over the next two weeks as we continue to work on our writing skills in math.

Answer to Anticipatory Set Question:
I think of an anticipatory set as sort of a launch into my lesson. I want to assess what students know, I want to get them thinking about concepts that are in the lesson and give them an idea of what they will be learning. I know with the video it really didn't activate any background knowledge, but it set the stage to then discuss what students knew about social scientists.

My students learn because...

"My students learn because…"  is a very broad topic to cover.  Instead, I would like to focus this to things that I do that affect my students learning.  One of my focuses this semester is consistently using the promethean board to increase student learning.  I have put the entire morning meeting on the promethean board as well as making a promethean presentation for each math, science, and social studies lesson I teach.  

I have found that the promethean board helps increase my student learning.  The students are more interested in sharing ideas when they get to move or write on the board.  Every question I ask we read as a group off of the promethean board so that the students get to practice their reading skills frequently.   I am better able to demonstrate what I am doing by using the large screen and being able to save images/ text in advance.   I use the clock on the promethean board to set a buzzer for when I would like my students to begin cleaning up/ move to the carpet/ switch activities.

As a whole my students are much more engaged when the promethean board is used during my lessons.

substitute teacher

My cooperating teacher decided late last night that she needed to take a day off today.  She is really struggling with the noise level in the room and feels fairly overwhelmed so today I worked with a sub who works regularly in the building.   It was really difficult being the only adult in the room that the students knew.  Plus, having a new teacher teaching reading and language arts really threw off the kids routine.   That being said, I am absolutely exhausted right now.   I got a crash landing in leading wtw today.  It went well, but I expected the kids to have a better understanding than they did of how to sort their words since it was the 4th time that they have done this activity.  I had to back-track to reintroduce how the words should be sorted.

Math and science both went really well.  The math assignment today I knew would leave the kids ancy in their seats, which it did, but everyone completed the assignment and understood what we were working on.    In science my cooperating teacher was missed when I had to ask for the students attention more than once.  However, it did give me an opportunity to try out my own classroom management techniques.

I'm excited to go home and take a nap before I head out to work at the pool tonight!

anticipatory set

I'm not sure it was the best anticipatory set of all time, but today during literacy I was introducing a new book as our mentor text (it's an informational text about making and selling chocolate).  I had heard from the other fourth grade teachers that this was not a very exciting book, but it was the one recommended by our curriculum and it was too late to find another one to use instead.  So, in order to get the kids excited about this and the lesson which was about activating background knowledge, I put up a bunch of images of chocolate.  I was amazed by how excited the mere image of candy made these kids.  I had them so engaged and interested in the book and we had a great discussion of all the things we already know about chocolate.

I'm not sure I will be able to maintain this level of engagement for the whole book--after the first few pages it's clear why the other teachers recommended skipping this one--but simply showing the images got kids excited for today and now I have time to look for a better book!

Anticipatory Set

I have found a couple ideas that have worked well so far as anticipatory sets with my class. I got to introduce the social studies curriculum and the first lesson discussed the different social scientists that students would be thinking like and studying this year in social studies. I found a funny claymation video online and introduced social scientists to students that way. The students were really engaged and they enjoyed the video. After the video we talked about the different social scientist and their characteristics. The students were able to recall a lot of information.
The other anticipatory set I used was during a science lesson. I started my lesson with a demonstration, a question students would be trying to answer and then we worked together as a class to determine the set-up of a science experiment they would be using to answer their question. I asked for student volunteers to demonstrate appropriate procedures and to test the experiment and almost all students had their hands raised to participate. I used this format today during science as well and students responded very well.