The preservice teachers participating in the USA 100 Black Men Summer Enrichment Program are an outstanding group of students at the USA College of Education. This blog is a safe environment designed for journaling reflections, sharing ideas, and communicating challenges and successes during the program.
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Saturday, June 4, 2011
Week One Post One
Journal your thoughts on the week. This entry may include highpoints, issues, challenges and/or reflections on your experience in the program.
This week has been great so far. I am learning so much as I plan for each individual class. Although I teach 5th grade reading every class, each 5th grade class is different and requires a different teaching method. I have had to learn how to adjust my lesson plans each class and each day. I had one set of lesson plans for Monday that worked for two classes; however, those same set of plans did not work as well for my other two classes. Monday night was spent readjusting my original lesson plans to meet the needs and interests of all of my classes. These past two days have taught me that this is the "real world" of teaching. I think I have learned more from having to adjust my plans versus having lesson plans that flow smoothly for every class. Although I have had to make minor changes for each class, the past two days have been filled with fun, educational activities that I will be able to use in my own classroom one day.
So far this week, I have not had any major issues with planning or classroom management. I know now why they say to start off strong in rules and procedures. All students want to see how far they can push a new teacher, and I have learned many classroom management skills, due to some students wanting to test the waters. I set my boundaries the first and second day. Although some students tested the boundaries, like any student would, I had to learn quickly to stick to my plan of action, so the students would know that I was serious about the rules and procedures. This plan is working so far becasue I have not had any major behavior problems.
Mostly this week has been the experience of getting to know my students that make up each class. I have enjoyed participating in hands-on activities with my students, and I have really enjoyed reading with them. Although I am still learning about each student, I feel confident that I am on the right track to not only allow myself to grow this summer but also for the students to walk away with a fun and educational experience. This summer experience has already given me a glimpse of what having my own class full of students will be like in the real world. This reading class is my reading class, and this experience is the best and most informative teaching and learning experience a preservice teacher can have. I honestly feel like this program will help me not only in student teaching but also in the future with my own room. Everybody says that teachers do not really learn until their first year of teaching. Due to this program, each preservice teacher is being prepared for that first year of teaching. Every single day that we plan, prepare, teach, and classroom manage a group of students, each of us is one step closer to knowing what it is like to be a first year teacher and learning from those experiences. I still have a lot to learn and this week is not over yet. However, if things go this well, then this summer will be nothing but a success!
My first week went SO WELL!!!! I am writing on a Sunday and I am really excited about this next week coming up. Last week I learned that I need at least 8 hours of sleep on days that I teach. After teaching and staying until about 5pm each day, I would come home, eat dinner, and go to bed! This is why I prepare my lessons and write them for the week ahead on the weekends! Now I know why teachers and older people go to bed so early! I also learned this week that teaching reading for 1 hour a day to each class is not enough time! I have so many ideas and fun activities planned, but the lack of time prevents us from getting to all of them. Time-management, I soon found out, is a weakness of mine. I think that the majority of my lessons this week were a success. Having a Smartboard in my classroom is a BIG help. I love making interactive presentations to introduce and teach concepts, such as context clues for last week. The kids LOVE getting to play with it and learn from it too! Most of my classes are on the same reading level, so I have pretty much been able to use the same plans for all 4 classes. I do have about 4 children who are younger than the others, who are going into the 3rd grade. So teaching and dealing with vastly different maturity levels has been a huge classroom management challenge. For example, I have been using the 'Caught Being Good' ticket behavior management tool to reward good behavior. The students acquire tickets throughout the week and on Thursday I draw 2 tickets, for educational prizes. Well Thursday a couple of the younger kids didn't win a prize and basically had a temper-tantrum. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with the tickets... I really do love each and every one of my students and most love me too! I have a few girls that are super clingy to me. It is hard for me to deal with because when I tell them to go sit down a few will pout the rest of the class. I think that this first week has been great for getting to know each of the students and for them to get to know me. We are getting used to each other. I'm sure this week has been stressful for the children, having to meet 5 different teachers who all have different teaching styles. I think this upcoming week will be a lot smoother and everyone will know what to expect. Thursday is our first field-trip and if you have ever been on a field-trip... well say a prayer for me! Bring it on! :)
This week I learned a lot about myself as a teacher. Being on my own in the classroom showed me that I can handle classroom management. It also showed me that I cannot procrastinate and I have to be well prepared. I made sure to have my lesson plans ready in advanced and that you cannot stay up the night before writing them. There is not enough time in the day to do everything that you want to do. I also have come to realize that a teacher’s day does not end when the bell rings, you constantly have things that you can do for improvement and are always thinking of things to do for your classroom and students.
Overall, I believe my week went well. At the beginning of last week, I was very curious to see what this week would bring. I had many questions roaming in my head such as “What if they don’t understand what I am teaching them?” and “What if they don’t listen/obey me?”. This all went away once I actually had my students sitting in front of me looking and listening to me as I was explaining the concept of variables. During my lessons throughout the week, mostly all of my students were actively engaged in the activities. I believe they really enjoyed experimenting with the pendulums. For the most part, my classes have had pretty decent behavior. I do have one class that is sometimes a challenge for me to manage, but I do try to do my best with them. In that class ¾ of them are boys. One of my main problems with this class is transitioning to and from lunch. On Wednesday, after lunch, I started to question myself. I asked myself “Am I cut out to do this?” After a moment to myself (while they were at P.E.), I reassured myself that it is, in fact, what I want to do. For me, it is somewhat of a challenge to keep them in tack. This week, I plan to be more assertive with them. I plan to have a little more structure with this class than my others. I know my classroom management is not at its best, but I am, in fact, trying to get better at it. I really enjoyed teaching CASE this week. I have a large group of girls (about 30) and many of them were not afraid to talk about some issues that were discussed in the curriculum. I feel they looked at me as someone they could talk to about their problems and not “just” a teacher. It made me feel as if we were a “family”. With all of this being said, I know I have gained confidence and reassurance in the career path that I have chosen. Now, I am ready to see what this week will bring!
This one week has already given me so much more confidence in my abilities to explain the material so that my classes can learn and understand. I would have to say that that was my biggest concern. This week has been a whirl-wind and I can say that this experience will be an eye-opening as well as life changing one. I love the challenge of making reading fun. My class has given me such a positive response about the art, games, and other activities that I have chosen to connect and relate to context clues. It was so wonderful to see what I was teaching click for each child and for them to understand and how excited they got because of it. My favorite part was being able to see how many creative students fourth grade has. We used crescent shapes on Wednesday to create something and then form a riddle using context clues to describe their creations. I am still so amazed at how talented these children are.
There were a few challenging moments as well. I had two girls have an “altercation” during CASE so we turned the rest of the day into a discussion about fighting, and figuring out other ways other than violence to handle our problems. I was amazed at how many of my girls had already been in a fight and they just finished third grade. I also learned that every moment has to be prepared and accounted for. If not, behavior and management issues can become an issue. Overall, this week was wonderful and I am daily learning more about myself and the kind of teacher I am striving to become.
This week has been awesome! I learned a lot about how interesting and engaging I can make lessons. I also realized that I am a teacher that needs to have projects, experiments, and arts and crafts in my classroom. I have not had any behavior problems that I originally thought I might have. These students are great and as long as you keep it interesting they will pay attention and retain the information. I was challenged this week with name pronunciation but by Thursday I knew about 90% of my students! YAY! Anyway this week went by quickly and I am excited to see what the next few weeks teach me!
Last week I had one of my proudest moments. On Thursday when the kids were allowed to get on stage and speak before the guest speaker arrived many of the fourth grade students were wanting to speak. Everytime a student said "In science I learned..." or, "In Ms. Cook and Ms. DeVore's class I learned..." I was beaming with pride. You would think it was my own child up there recieving the most prestigeous award available. At that point I knew I was doing something right. No matter what I thought these kids were getting it. Which is the most important thing to me at this point. They were excited about science and they understood what I was telling them. Even though I didn't always understand it! It was an amazing experience.
Wow! I believe my colleague/ teacher friend Jen Norton put it best about our first week of teaching, “The week was wonderfully exhausting.” That is honestly the best way to put it. Some high points I had was with one my classes that they all came in and sat quietly waiting for my instruction on the second day. It blew my mind I just wanted to cry/hug all of them at the same time. I loved when I would put the students in the children in their cars in the carpool line and they said they would see my tomorrow and smile. Their smile kept me smiling no matter how tired I was. I got one of girls to smile on Thursday with a weird dance I move I did and it was the first time she had smiled all week. So I told her now that I knew that she had teeth she had to smile all the time. Another high point was actually pulling off a math lesson I had created myself. When I got home I just dance around my kitchen because the lesson went well! Low points I guess would be classroom management. I felt ran over with some classes. With one class we had to sit in silence for 15 minutes because of the level of disrespect and the noise. The next day the class did better and even now into week 2 they are progressing. But that first day took a lot out of me because of how discouraged I felt. I need to in week two to constantly remind the classes of my rules that way they will know that I am serious about my classroom rules. I look forward to week two and hopefully will manage my time better so I will not be so exhausted!
Exhausting.... I wish I could breath... I am not only working as a teacher, but I am still working 30+ hours a week to pay my bills at home... I am working on time management. I have to think about what my weekly plans are on Monday and Tuesday for the following week, or I won't get any sleep over the weekend. I am gaining so much more confidence. Right now, I feel as thought I could be hit with student teaching next week and I would hit the ground running. I believe that I will be able to handle this upcoming semester. I say bring it on... I don't even want to wait to have my own class, so the sooner I can get student teaching over with the sooner I will graduate, and the sooner I will have my own classroom where I can take the time to spend a week or two straight practicing rules and procedures of my class. I have been enjoying my classes. I have one imparticular that really pushes my nerves and tests my limits. I fear for my own personal class that if they even try to do some of the things I have seen, I will pull a crazy chick out of my pocket that will go bezerk on them if they don't learn my rules and how to behave within a month. I'm sure by the end though, this class will grow to be one of my favorites (I'm praying) because they are very passionate students and I do not want to have to have them write definitions all class long...
Monday came quick and I was eager to get in the classroom and work with my students, hoping that my excitement would spread to them as well. This was easier than I had expected. The students came in every day excited and curious about what we would be doing. I was a little leery of science when I first heard that was what I would be teaching, but it has turned out to be great! I feel like we play all day and the students don’t even realize how much they are learning! Classroom management has been my focus and I feel like consistency has played a big role in the success of the first week. I knew that working with various materials with over twenty students in each class would need to be organized and my expectations would need to be very clear. I feel like I accomplished these goals and we had a wonderful week. I have gained so much confidence already in my teaching and classroom management. In addition, I have learned that organization and time management are key components to a productive and engaged classroom environment. I know that each day I’m responsible for what these students learn and that has made me really step up to the responsibility. I look forward to the next three weeks, getting to know my students and learning so much about myself in the process!
Excellent Beginning! Every puzzle piece from day 1 is coming together in perfection. It is exciting to see the daily transformation! Day 1 is always interesting, because everyone is new to the experience. New faces, New Places! TEEAAMMMWORK!!!
My first week working at the Summer Enrichment Program was interesting. I found it to be challenging, and learned a lot about myself. I learned about my weaknesses, and strengths. I realize what I need to work on, and know that this week will definitely be better. One thing I enjoyed was getting to know the students. They are all very smart, and I see great potential for each student.
The first week went better than I could have imagined. It was a little intimidated at first especially since most of the students in the class already knew each other. Friday after the pre-test the students decorated their name tags with sequins, stickers and pom-pom and I got to walk around and talk to the students as they worked. It was great having the opportunity to go around and speak to every student before we had to get started with work. On Monday we started place value and I tried to incorporate as many games and manipulative as possible. The student respond better to active learning and they seem to enjoy what they are learning. We continued with place value throughout the week and the students did great!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis week has been great so far. I am learning so much as I plan for each individual class. Although I teach 5th grade reading every class, each 5th grade class is different and requires a different teaching method. I have had to learn how to adjust my lesson plans each class and each day. I had one set of lesson plans for Monday that worked for two classes; however, those same set of plans did not work as well for my other two classes. Monday night was spent readjusting my original lesson plans to meet the needs and interests of all of my classes. These past two days have taught me that this is the "real world" of teaching. I think I have learned more from having to adjust my plans versus having lesson plans that flow smoothly for every class. Although I have had to make minor changes for each class, the past two days have been filled with fun, educational activities that I will be able to use in my own classroom one day.
ReplyDeleteSo far this week, I have not had any major issues with planning or classroom management. I know now why they say to start off strong in rules and procedures. All students want to see how far they can push a new teacher, and I have learned many classroom management skills, due to some students wanting to test the waters. I set my boundaries the first and second day. Although some students tested the boundaries, like any student would, I had to learn quickly to stick to my plan of action, so the students would know that I was serious about the rules and procedures. This plan is working so far becasue I have not had any major behavior problems.
Mostly this week has been the experience of getting to know my students that make up each class. I have enjoyed participating in hands-on activities with my students, and I have really enjoyed reading with them. Although I am still learning about each student, I feel confident that I am on the right track to not only allow myself to grow this summer but also for the students to walk away with a fun and educational experience. This summer experience has already given me a glimpse of what having my own class full of students will be like in the real world. This reading class is my reading class, and this experience is the best and most informative teaching and learning experience a preservice teacher can have. I honestly feel like this program will help me not only in student teaching but also in the future with my own room. Everybody says that teachers do not really learn until their first year of teaching. Due to this program, each preservice teacher is being prepared for that first year of teaching. Every single day that we plan, prepare, teach, and classroom manage a group of students, each of us is one step closer to knowing what it is like to be a first year teacher and learning from those experiences. I still have a lot to learn and this week is not over yet. However, if things go this well, then this summer will be nothing but a success!
My first week went SO WELL!!!! I am writing on a Sunday and I am really excited about this next week coming up. Last week I learned that I need at least 8 hours of sleep on days that I teach. After teaching and staying until about 5pm each day, I would come home, eat dinner, and go to bed! This is why I prepare my lessons and write them for the week ahead on the weekends! Now I know why teachers and older people go to bed so early! I also learned this week that teaching reading for 1 hour a day to each class is not enough time! I have so many ideas and fun activities planned, but the lack of time prevents us from getting to all of them. Time-management, I soon found out, is a weakness of mine. I think that the majority of my lessons this week were a success. Having a Smartboard in my classroom is a BIG help. I love making interactive presentations to introduce and teach concepts, such as context clues for last week. The kids LOVE getting to play with it and learn from it too! Most of my classes are on the same reading level, so I have pretty much been able to use the same plans for all 4 classes. I do have about 4 children who are younger than the others, who are going into the 3rd grade. So teaching and dealing with vastly different maturity levels has been a huge classroom management challenge. For example, I have been using the 'Caught Being Good' ticket behavior management tool to reward good behavior. The students acquire tickets throughout the week and on Thursday I draw 2 tickets, for educational prizes. Well Thursday a couple of the younger kids didn't win a prize and basically had a temper-tantrum. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with the tickets... I really do love each and every one of my students and most love me too! I have a few girls that are super clingy to me. It is hard for me to deal with because when I tell them to go sit down a few will pout the rest of the class. I think that this first week has been great for getting to know each of the students and for them to get to know me. We are getting used to each other. I'm sure this week has been stressful for the children, having to meet 5 different teachers who all have different teaching styles. I think this upcoming week will be a lot smoother and everyone will know what to expect. Thursday is our first field-trip and if you have ever been on a field-trip... well say a prayer for me! Bring it on! :)
ReplyDeleteThis week I learned a lot about myself as a teacher. Being on my own in the classroom showed me that I can handle classroom management. It also showed me that I cannot procrastinate and I have to be well prepared. I made sure to have my lesson plans ready in advanced and that you cannot stay up the night before writing them. There is not enough time in the day to do everything that you want to do. I also have come to realize that a teacher’s day does not end when the bell rings, you constantly have things that you can do for improvement and are always thinking of things to do for your classroom and students.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I believe my week went well. At the beginning of last week, I was very curious to see what this week would bring. I had many questions roaming in my head such as “What if they don’t understand what I am teaching them?” and “What if they don’t listen/obey me?”. This all went away once I actually had my students sitting in front of me looking and listening to me as I was explaining the concept of variables. During my lessons throughout the week, mostly all of my students were actively engaged in the activities. I believe they really enjoyed experimenting with the pendulums. For the most part, my classes have had pretty decent behavior. I do have one class that is sometimes a challenge for me to manage, but I do try to do my best with them. In that class ¾ of them are boys. One of my main problems with this class is transitioning to and from lunch. On Wednesday, after lunch, I started to question myself. I asked myself “Am I cut out to do this?” After a moment to myself (while they were at P.E.), I reassured myself that it is, in fact, what I want to do. For me, it is somewhat of a challenge to keep them in tack. This week, I plan to be more assertive with them. I plan to have a little more structure with this class than my others. I know my classroom management is not at its best, but I am, in fact, trying to get better at it. I really enjoyed teaching CASE this week. I have a large group of girls (about 30) and many of them were not afraid to talk about some issues that were discussed in the curriculum. I feel they looked at me as someone they could talk to about their problems and not “just” a teacher. It made me feel as if we were a “family”. With all of this being said, I know I have gained confidence and reassurance in the career path that I have chosen. Now, I am ready to see what this week will bring!
ReplyDeleteThis one week has already given me so much more confidence in my abilities to explain the material so that my classes can learn and understand. I would have to say that that was my biggest concern. This week has been a whirl-wind and I can say that this experience will be an eye-opening as well as life changing one. I love the challenge of making reading fun. My class has given me such a positive response about the art, games, and other activities that I have chosen to connect and relate to context clues. It was so wonderful to see what I was teaching click for each child and for them to understand and how excited they got because of it. My favorite part was being able to see how many creative students fourth grade has. We used crescent shapes on Wednesday to create something and then form a riddle using context clues to describe their creations. I am still so amazed at how talented these children are.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few challenging moments as well. I had two girls have an “altercation” during CASE so we turned the rest of the day into a discussion about fighting, and figuring out other ways other than violence to handle our problems. I was amazed at how many of my girls had already been in a fight and they just finished third grade. I also learned that every moment has to be prepared and accounted for. If not, behavior and management issues can become an issue. Overall, this week was wonderful and I am daily learning more about myself and the kind of teacher I am striving to become.
This week has been awesome! I learned a lot about how interesting and engaging I can make lessons. I also realized that I am a teacher that needs to have projects, experiments, and arts and crafts in my classroom. I have not had any behavior problems that I originally thought I might have. These students are great and as long as you keep it interesting they will pay attention and retain the information. I was challenged this week with name pronunciation but by Thursday I knew about 90% of my students! YAY! Anyway this week went by quickly and I am excited to see what the next few weeks teach me!
ReplyDeleteLast week I had one of my proudest moments. On Thursday when the kids were allowed to get on stage and speak before the guest speaker arrived many of the fourth grade students were wanting to speak. Everytime a student said "In science I learned..." or, "In Ms. Cook and Ms. DeVore's class I learned..." I was beaming with pride. You would think it was my own child up there recieving the most prestigeous award available. At that point I knew I was doing something right. No matter what I thought these kids were getting it. Which is the most important thing to me at this point. They were excited about science and they understood what I was telling them. Even though I didn't always understand it! It was an amazing experience.
ReplyDeleteWow! I believe my colleague/ teacher friend Jen Norton put it best about our first week of teaching, “The week was wonderfully exhausting.” That is honestly the best way to put it. Some high points I had was with one my classes that they all came in and sat quietly waiting for my instruction on the second day. It blew my mind I just wanted to cry/hug all of them at the same time. I loved when I would put the students in the children in their cars in the carpool line and they said they would see my tomorrow and smile. Their smile kept me smiling no matter how tired I was. I got one of girls to smile on Thursday with a weird dance I move I did and it was the first time she had smiled all week. So I told her now that I knew that she had teeth she had to smile all the time. Another high point was actually pulling off a math lesson I had created myself. When I got home I just dance around my kitchen because the lesson went well!
ReplyDeleteLow points I guess would be classroom management. I felt ran over with some classes. With one class we had to sit in silence for 15 minutes because of the level of disrespect and the noise. The next day the class did better and even now into week 2 they are progressing. But that first day took a lot out of me because of how discouraged I felt. I need to in week two to constantly remind the classes of my rules that way they will know that I am serious about my classroom rules.
I look forward to week two and hopefully will manage my time better so I will not be so exhausted!
Exhausting.... I wish I could breath... I am not only working as a teacher, but I am still working 30+ hours a week to pay my bills at home... I am working on time management. I have to think about what my weekly plans are on Monday and Tuesday for the following week, or I won't get any sleep over the weekend. I am gaining so much more confidence. Right now, I feel as thought I could be hit with student teaching next week and I would hit the ground running. I believe that I will be able to handle this upcoming semester. I say bring it on... I don't even want to wait to have my own class, so the sooner I can get student teaching over with the sooner I will graduate, and the sooner I will have my own classroom where I can take the time to spend a week or two straight practicing rules and procedures of my class. I have been enjoying my classes. I have one imparticular that really pushes my nerves and tests my limits. I fear for my own personal class that if they even try to do some of the things I have seen, I will pull a crazy chick out of my pocket that will go bezerk on them if they don't learn my rules and how to behave within a month. I'm sure by the end though, this class will grow to be one of my favorites (I'm praying) because they are very passionate students and I do not want to have to have them write definitions all class long...
ReplyDeleteMonday came quick and I was eager to get in the classroom and work with my students, hoping that my excitement would spread to them as well. This was easier than I had expected. The students came in every day excited and curious about what we would be doing. I was a little leery of science when I first heard that was what I would be teaching, but it has turned out to be great! I feel like we play all day and the students don’t even realize how much they are learning! Classroom management has been my focus and I feel like consistency has played a big role in the success of the first week. I knew that working with various materials with over twenty students in each class would need to be organized and my expectations would need to be very clear. I feel like I accomplished these goals and we had a wonderful week.
ReplyDeleteI have gained so much confidence already in my teaching and classroom management. In addition, I have learned that organization and time management are key components to a productive and engaged classroom environment. I know that each day I’m responsible for what these students learn and that has made me really step up to the responsibility. I look forward to the next three weeks, getting to know my students and learning so much about myself in the process!
Excellent Beginning! Every puzzle piece from day 1 is coming together in perfection. It is exciting to see the daily transformation! Day 1 is always interesting, because everyone is new to the experience. New faces, New Places! TEEAAMMMWORK!!!
ReplyDeleteMy first week working at the Summer Enrichment Program was interesting. I found it to be challenging, and learned a lot about myself. I learned about my weaknesses, and strengths. I realize what I need to work on, and know that this week will definitely be better. One thing I enjoyed was getting to know the students. They are all very smart, and I see great potential for each student.
ReplyDeleteThe first week went better than I could have imagined. It was a little intimidated at first especially since most of the students in the class already knew each other. Friday after the pre-test the students decorated their name tags with sequins, stickers and pom-pom and I got to walk around and talk to the students as they worked. It was great having the opportunity to go around and speak to every student before we had to get started with work.
ReplyDeleteOn Monday we started place value and I tried to incorporate as many games and manipulative as possible. The student respond better to active learning and they seem to enjoy what they are learning. We continued with place value throughout the week and the students did great!