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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Monday, June 20, 2011
Week Three Post Two
Hi Everyone,
Post your second reflection for Week Three here.
This week has definitely been the best week for me so far! Yesterday I was excitedly nervous about my planned lesson on roller coasters. I did not really know what to expect. The kids had so much fun constructing roller coasters for their “research”, which was used to construct a paragraph containing the main idea and supporting details. All classes acted with appropriate behavior and enjoyed the activity. I had some students who exceeded my expectations on the actual construction of coasters. Yesterday’s lesson was out of the ordinary and super fun for everyone. I was very pleased with the day and students’ work! Not only did my lesson go well yesterday, but today we had our water fun day. From the moment I walked into the cafeteria, my kids asked me if I was participating. Of course I said yes. They all got excited, and I was even more excited to participate. The water activities were very engaging and fun! I must say that I sort of held my own during the activities. The kids thought that they’d soak me, but it was actually the other teachers doing the soaking. Although I was drenched, I had a great time. The students behaved very well and really got into each activity. It is nice to have these types of activities for teachers and students because the kids get to see a different, more fun and relaxed side to teachers. I really enjoy Thursday afternoons with my girls. They really open up to me during these activities, and we all have so much fun. I am really excited about next Thursday’s field trip to New Orleans! This week was not only my best week, but each day I come to school, I feel more relaxed and “at home.” I love walking into my room and seeing all of the hard work that we have done this summer. Before this summer, my room was completely empty. Now that we are going into our final week, my walls are full of student work. I am so impressed by my students’ work, and I am even more thrilled that when you walk in my room, you can actually see what we have been doing this summer. It is a great feeling to know that you have accomplished what you set out to do, and I have that feeling! I am so much more confident in my teaching abilities than I was when we first began this program. I am still learning each day, and I am progressing each day with each class. This program is teaching me more about the type of teacher I am becoming. I have learned that I am more relaxed as a teacher than I first thought. Each day is a new learning experience and one that prepares me even more for my future as a teacher. I cannot believe next week is our final week. I know it will be a great week because we have our New Orleans field trip and our closing performances on Friday.
I totally agree with Ms. Benton. Despite having a rather rough morning, the water activity part of the day made everything worth while. It is so rewarding to get to spend time with the students and show them that we are humans that like to have fun too!
Sorting through the interesting dynamics amongst my group of 21 CASE boys is a maze that I enjoy traversing most days. However, sometimes, I feel like I get a little turned around, and today was one of those days. Throughout the past few weeks, I have learned that each class has a different dynamic that needs different modes of support.
For my regular math classes, we begin and end with excitement. I love being greeted with, "Are we going to get to do that thing we did yesterday again?" I get a kick watching a flash of disappointment turn into curiosity about what we are doing today instead. I try new things all the time, and every new teaching activity I try to incorporate-- I learn a better way to do it. I love trying new things and I love learning along the way.
What I have learned with the CASE boys is that the freedom that we enjoy in math class doesn't allow for the same results in our CASE activities. The deepest feedback, and the most meaningful journal entries and conversations have come from an atmosphere built within the safety of structure.
I loathe monotony. So, to escape the grind that often accompanies rigid structure, we (the CASE boys and I) have been working in a system of centers that include, independent desk work, group table water coloring, computer time, banner finger painting, and carpet reflections recorded on chart paper. Coordinating these center rotations makes me feel like a ringmaster, but the circus is getting better and better everyday. I am learning the pace of each student and am better able to see who can step up to replace the students at each center without disrupting the center that I lead at the reflection carpet.
I have said it before, but I will say it again-- I know that this program is designed to help us see our strengths and weaknesses. It helps us grow personally and professionally. It instills confidence in our students as much as ourselves. However, I feel like my work will be undone when these kids leave us. I wish we had more time. I wish there was a way to continue building these boys into young men that truly believe in themselves and in their futures.
More and more love and respect goes out to them everyday.
I enjoyed the week; I am not really looking forward to planning lessons next week. I have to do projects in two of my classes and I cannot figure out what I should do in my other two classes... I don't want to do something too exciting because then my other students may feel left out, but I don't want to do anything that will be boring because I don't want to have any behavior issues. I am also going to implement starting work that will give my students an assigned seat and something to do right when they come in to maybe eliminate the crazy hussle and bussle of entering the classroom. I am sad that it is almost over, but I am also relieved that I can go back to just working one job again. Working almost 80 hours a week is very overwhelming for me, but I wouldn’t trade any of it because I am enjoying the experience. I am looking forward to doing the lesson with owl pellets. I hope that I will have a helper in my room to keep the children calm and engaged. I am disappointed that they are going to be working in groups, because if there is one skull and many little bones the children would probably fight over the bones to take them home.
This week went by so fast, as has the whole summer really! This week I taught ‘main idea and supporting details.’ I knew that this was going to be the most challenging content to teach, but I thought it would be easy to make fun and interactive. I was kind of wrong! It was hard to get the kids engaged! I didn’t have any amazingly fun things planned, besides the main idea hands, they turned out great! I thought that week 1 ‘context clues’ would be the hardest to teach, but it was the most fun and easiest. I guess I am learning that things aren’t always what you think they are. We also wrote paragraphs, hamburger writing style, that turned out great! The main idea for them was, ‘the best food I ever ate was...’ I was very impressed with these just-out-of-second graders. They were very descriptive and creative! One child said that sweet smoky ribs were his favorite food because they tickle his tummy! I hung them up on the wall in my classroom so that everyone can read them at the open house on July 1st! Water day was a great end to the week. My family and I prayed all week that the rain would hold off until later Thursday night, and it did! Before water day got started, Mr. Lewis gave the boys a talk about being leaders and not letting anyone take your power from you, which they needed to hear. After the talk, some of the high school helpers taught us how to wobble. If you don’t know what that means, it is a dance. Youtube W.I.C. Wobble, it is a catchy song and very funny to watch about 150 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade boys dance to it I said funny to watch because I have zero rhythm so that’s what I did! When that was over, everyone was riled up and it was water time! I want to give a shout-out to Mrs. Husong for always being so organized and prepared! She is a great P.E. teacher! Water day was set up into 6 centers and they all involved getting wet! There was the sprinkler, water balloons, buckets of water, and bubbles. Oh, and every teacher got a Supersoaker! Needless to say I squirted a bunch of kids! Everyone had fun, some a little too much. Then when it was over we ate popsicles and dried off in the hot sun. I get very sad when I think about how this upcoming week is our last week with these kids! They have worked their way into my heart! Monday is my last day to really teach. Tuesday we give the post-test, Wednesday we practice for our performance on Friday, and on Thursday we go to New Orleans! I can’t wait for New Orleans! I know that it will ware me out and that field trips take a lot of time and effort, but the end result is worth it. People learn from experiencing and I want to give my students as many experiences as I can. If it were up to me, my real class would take a field trip every week! This has been the best summer ever! I wish that I could make an impact like this every summer and year-round.
This week went by too quickly! When my students were counting money on Tuesday, I realized that many of them could not skip count by fives or tens unless they began counting with five or ten. I used a Hundreds Chart on Wednesday so that they would be able to look at the numbers as they counted. This seemed to help a lot of my students! I also learned a new strategy for counting money from my students! Many of my students were taught to draw "hairs" on quarters, nickels and dimes. I learned that each hair is worth five so a nickel receives one hair, a dime two, and a quarter five. I really like this strategy and I plan to use it in my classroom in the future. I was a little discouraged on Tuesday when I saw how many students were struggling with counting money because I knew that we only had two more days in the classroom; however, I was blown away by the progress that many students made on Wednesday. At the beginning of class on Wednesday I had the students write down what coins they needed to make four different amounts of money. They students loved it! We made charts of the different combinations of coins that can be used to make up one the same amount of money. We also discussed which combination of coins you would use if you wanted to use the largest or fewest amount of coins. Thursday was water day so we did not have a typical day in the classroom. In the morning we practiced our song for the closing ceremony on Friday, and then after lunch we had a ceremony for the boys and water day. Mr. Lewis did an excellent job talking to the boys about they way that they talk to people and then we danced! Thursday was a great day because we were able to spend time and talk to our students outside of the classroom. I have enjoyed everyday with my students and I am sad that it is coming to an end.
This week for me was full of successes and challenges, very large challenges and successes. This week in fourth grade math we covered prime and composite numbers. With the help of my mentor teachers we worked out my lesson with starting with hundreds chart and number sense. We started Monday with noticing patterns with the hundreds chart and playing arrow math with the students. It was interesting to see how each class noticed very different things about the hundreds chart. I believe my favorite comment made was by a female student of mine who noticed that the 11 multiplication tables could be seen moving diagonally across the chart. I thought it was a huge success because she was thinking outside of the box. Tuesday moved so quickly with all my classes. I had designed a game for my students to play where they were up moving out of their seats to work with arrays. They were split into teams of 3 or 4 and then they were instructed to make an array of a number of my choosing. They had to create an array as a team and then show it to me. One of my classes does not do well with all the freedom of working groups so I had them work by themselves using the multi-link cubes. One thing I will always remember from my teachers at South is to ALWAYS allow your students to play with the manipulatives first before trying to teach with them. Wednesday was pretty good. I created a life size review game where to students were the pieces to the game and had to move around the board by answering math problems. Through this whole lesson I had to keep reminding the students they were on a team and to work together to get the answer. Also a huge lesson with teamwork was learning that sometimes you have to work with students you do not necessarily get a long with. That was a tough challenge for the girls especially in my classroom. Thursday was so much fun do to the fun activities all day. Myself and Ms. Alms were lucky enough o work with all the boys in the fourth grade all day long. This included being able to "wobble" with them (a type of dance) and play with them at water day. I particularly enjoyed watching my kids dance. A couple of my homeroom boys who do not talk a lot were dancing up a storm. They moved so well! I was like "where did this come from?" and then they just got a huge smile on their faces. Water day proved to be the biggest challenge for the week. We gave the boys an inch and they took a mile. I had boys pushing people to the ground, dog piling, back talking, and rolling of eyes. It got to the point Where Ms. Alms and myself had to sit all 25 boys out so they could re-group. Some did and some didn't. Monday will be a the start of a new week where hopefully the boys and I can start fresh!
This was the best week for me since we started the program! I was excited about the activities that I chose, and the students really seemed to be engaged. My favorite was having the students make quicksand. It was a huge mess, but the kids really got into it. Overall, I can't believe that we only have one week left. Our focus, this coming week, will be working on the science fair projects. The students are excited that they get to make their own posters.
Each week of this program I feel like I have learned something new and exciting. This week the lesson I was supposed to take away was loud and clear. I needed to work on my ability to adapt and be flexible. Boy was my ability to do so tested throughout the week!
In my first post of the week I covered my Monday situation. We all had to deal with the break in. This caused me not to be able to meet with my first class. I had to adapt to find a way to keep them on track. Monday, through doing science centeres, I learned that my students were not very proficient in knot tying. So Tuesday morning I adapted. I tied the strings on every parachute for them. The fourth grade science team had originally planned on having one boy and one girl present their science project for the closing ceremony. Tuesday Mrs. Harris came in with a song she had made for us. It was so cute and there was no way we could pass it up. I had to let go of being in control ( whihc is an issue I deal with constantly) and change the plan. Tuesday we also found out the scedule for Thursday had been changed. No longer would we be meeting for a short amount of time with each of our classes, but a regular class period with the first class and no time with the other students. I would adapt. I had planned for a fun, outside activity with all of my classes that came along with popsicle surprises on Thursday. I had been using this to encourage good behavior all week and now I was going to have to take it away. (Luckily I had kept the popsicles a surprise!) I instead allowed my first class to catch up during this time (which they had really almost done anyway) and we read a book. The students will be getting their special surprise tomorrow. Throughout the week I had to constantly adapt. This has been a great learning experience for me!
This week I was able to overcome my math fears. I had a great time teaching fifth grade math, but I was happy to be "home" on Wednesday. I really missed my students and teaching with Ms. Devore. We started making plans for the science fair projects and we were also presented with a science song on Thursday. I am really stressed about having so much to do in such a small time frame. Amber keeps saying we will have it done in time, but oh the song. I hope that it is a fun success. I have spent my weekend looking over student’s folders to get ready to make the posters for the science fair. I want it to be a huge success. The fourth grade science teachers have decided to give awards out. I think that this will be a nice incentive for the students to do their best.
Water day was fantastic. I had such a great time playing with all of my girls again. I think that the fun days are important for building relationships with these students. You see so much more of their personalities and they love it when you join in on the fun. I will always remember the importance of the teacher participating in activities when I become a certified teacher.
Thursday was something else. Ms. Knowles and I had the fourth grade boys for water day. It turned out to be a challenging experience. Our boys got a little out of control and a student ended up getting injured. Thankfully, everyone was okay though. We plan to talk with the boys on Monday about having to earn their privileges back, especially before we take them to New Orleans on Thursday. I have faith that they will be very well behaved next week. We’ve worked really hard to get to where we are now and I’m confident that the final week will be a GREAT one!
Overall, it seems like each day gets better and better. I feel more confident in myself as a teacher each time I walk through those school doors and into my classroom. That is such an awesome feeling. It’s amazing how much I have changed in just a mere three weeks. I’m looking forward to what next week will bring.
Monday was an unusual day. We arrived in the morning to discover that the school had been vandalized and items had been stolen. We were told that the students couldn’t be released from the cafeteria until the police had conducted their investigation and completed all paperwork. Therefore, we missed our first class that day. This was my first week to teach using the AMSTI kit and it was nice having everything laid out for me, but I must admit that I don’t enjoy it near as much as writing my own lesson plans. I feel that there is more ownership when creating lessons and therefore the instruction is so much more personal and meaningful. However, the students really enjoyed the lessons each day. We started out by creating FOSS planes, which took longer than I had anticipated. Only two classes actually made them on Monday due to the robbery and one class is working on individual experiments that took the entire class period. Therefore, by Tuesday each class was working on something different. I enjoyed the varied instruction and felt that I managed it well. The second day of AMSTI for each group fell on different days, but ultimately each class created a plane, experimented with flying it on the flight line, and then brainstormed about variables that would affect the flight, such as mass (paperclip passengers), fuel (extra rubber bands), angle of flight line, etc… Then each group worked to test a chosen variable. The students really liked working with the flight system and I enjoyed seeing all the classroom management that I have worked to establish make the task more enjoyable and conducive to learning. Each group had 5 meters of flight line, so you can imagine with 6 groups what it was like in the classroom. I felt that each class did a great job with these experiments and worked well in their individual groups. In addition to the flight system experiments, I am also working with two of the classes on individual science experiments. This has proved to be a very involved task, requiring lots of organization and extra hours. The students’ excitement makes it well worth it, so I have continued to push forward with the projects. In the coming week, we will finish these projects and complete the science boards that will be displayed on Friday during the open house. We will also review for and take the post-test on Tuesday. Thursday was a fun day with the boys learning a line dance, the “wobble.” It was great to see them having a good time and just cutting loose. This was followed by water day, which was fun for the students as well as the teachers. I love spending time with my students in a relaxed atmosphere where they get to be themselves and see me having fun as well. I can’t believe that the summer enrichment program is coming to an end! I still have so much to accomplish this week. I have grown close to many of my students in this short time and there are others that I wish I had more time to connect with. Each of these students has taught me more about myself than I could ever have dreamed of teaching them.
Thursday was a chaotic day for me. After my first class, I had my CASE girls for the remainder of the day. I didn’t realize how much trouble it would be to manage the same group of girls for the rest of the day. There were a few girls who didn’t get along in the group and they would often call each other names. It is also hard for me to keep the volume down in my classroom with so many girls. A whisper can turn into a shout in a heartbeat in that class. By lunch time, I was ready for my day to be over with. I didn’t even want to think about ‘water day’. Once it was time for us to go outside for water day, things got better and we had fun. I got drenched with water a couple of times and the girls loved it. I was so tired when I got home that day. Overall, I learned a lot through my experiences last week. I know it takes time, but I learned that I really need to work on my classroom management skills. I am ready to conquer this last week. I am ready to learn new things. I know the New Orleans field trip is going to be a learning experience all by itself. Along with my camera and sunglasses, I definitely learned that I am going to have to pack my patience.
This week has definitely been the best week for me so far! Yesterday I was excitedly nervous about my planned lesson on roller coasters. I did not really know what to expect. The kids had so much fun constructing roller coasters for their “research”, which was used to construct a paragraph containing the main idea and supporting details. All classes acted with appropriate behavior and enjoyed the activity. I had some students who exceeded my expectations on the actual construction of coasters. Yesterday’s lesson was out of the ordinary and super fun for everyone. I was very pleased with the day and students’ work!
ReplyDeleteNot only did my lesson go well yesterday, but today we had our water fun day. From the moment I walked into the cafeteria, my kids asked me if I was participating. Of course I said yes. They all got excited, and I was even more excited to participate. The water activities were very engaging and fun! I must say that I sort of held my own during the activities. The kids thought that they’d soak me, but it was actually the other teachers doing the soaking. Although I was drenched, I had a great time. The students behaved very well and really got into each activity. It is nice to have these types of activities for teachers and students because the kids get to see a different, more fun and relaxed side to teachers. I really enjoy Thursday afternoons with my girls. They really open up to me during these activities, and we all have so much fun. I am really excited about next Thursday’s field trip to New Orleans!
This week was not only my best week, but each day I come to school, I feel more relaxed and “at home.” I love walking into my room and seeing all of the hard work that we have done this summer. Before this summer, my room was completely empty. Now that we are going into our final week, my walls are full of student work. I am so impressed by my students’ work, and I am even more thrilled that when you walk in my room, you can actually see what we have been doing this summer. It is a great feeling to know that you have accomplished what you set out to do, and I have that feeling! I am so much more confident in my teaching abilities than I was when we first began this program. I am still learning each day, and I am progressing each day with each class. This program is teaching me more about the type of teacher I am becoming. I have learned that I am more relaxed as a teacher than I first thought. Each day is a new learning experience and one that prepares me even more for my future as a teacher. I cannot believe next week is our final week. I know it will be a great week because we have our New Orleans field trip and our closing performances on Friday.
I totally agree with Ms. Benton. Despite having a rather rough morning, the water activity part of the day made everything worth while. It is so rewarding to get to spend time with the students and show them that we are humans that like to have fun too!
ReplyDeleteSorting through the interesting dynamics amongst my group of 21 CASE boys is a maze that I enjoy traversing most days. However, sometimes, I feel like I get a little turned around, and today was one of those days. Throughout the past few weeks, I have learned that each class has a different dynamic that needs different modes of support.
For my regular math classes, we begin and end with excitement. I love being greeted with, "Are we going to get to do that thing we did yesterday again?" I get a kick watching a flash of disappointment turn into curiosity about what we are doing today instead. I try new things all the time, and every new teaching activity I try to incorporate-- I learn a better way to do it. I love trying new things and I love learning along the way.
What I have learned with the CASE boys is that the freedom that we enjoy in math class doesn't allow for the same results in our CASE activities. The deepest feedback, and the most meaningful journal entries and conversations have come from an atmosphere built within the safety of structure.
I loathe monotony. So, to escape the grind that often accompanies rigid structure, we (the CASE boys and I) have been working in a system of centers that include, independent desk work, group table water coloring, computer time, banner finger painting, and carpet reflections recorded on chart paper. Coordinating these center rotations makes me feel like a ringmaster, but the circus is getting better and better everyday. I am learning the pace of each student and am better able to see who can step up to replace the students at each center without disrupting the center that I lead at the reflection carpet.
I have said it before, but I will say it again-- I know that this program is designed to help us see our strengths and weaknesses. It helps us grow personally and professionally. It instills confidence in our students as much as ourselves. However, I feel like my work will be undone when these kids leave us. I wish we had more time. I wish there was a way to continue building these boys into young men that truly believe in themselves and in their futures.
More and more love and respect goes out to them everyday.
I enjoyed the week; I am not really looking forward to planning lessons next week. I have to do projects in two of my classes and I cannot figure out what I should do in my other two classes... I don't want to do something too exciting because then my other students may feel left out, but I don't want to do anything that will be boring because I don't want to have any behavior issues. I am also going to implement starting work that will give my students an assigned seat and something to do right when they come in to maybe eliminate the crazy hussle and bussle of entering the classroom. I am sad that it is almost over, but I am also relieved that I can go back to just working one job again. Working almost 80 hours a week is very overwhelming for me, but I wouldn’t trade any of it because I am enjoying the experience. I am looking forward to doing the lesson with owl pellets. I hope that I will have a helper in my room to keep the children calm and engaged. I am disappointed that they are going to be working in groups, because if there is one skull and many little bones the children would probably fight over the bones to take them home.
ReplyDeleteThis week went by so fast, as has the whole summer really! This week I taught ‘main idea and supporting details.’ I knew that this was going to be the most challenging content to teach, but I thought it would be easy to make fun and interactive. I was kind of wrong! It was hard to get the kids engaged! I didn’t have any amazingly fun things planned, besides the main idea hands, they turned out great! I thought that week 1 ‘context clues’ would be the hardest to teach, but it was the most fun and easiest. I guess I am learning that things aren’t always what you think they are. We also wrote paragraphs, hamburger writing style, that turned out great! The main idea for them was, ‘the best food I ever ate was...’ I was very impressed with these just-out-of-second graders. They were very descriptive and creative! One child said that sweet smoky ribs were his favorite food because they tickle his tummy! I hung them up on the wall in my classroom so that everyone can read them at the open house on July 1st!
ReplyDeleteWater day was a great end to the week. My family and I prayed all week that the rain would hold off until later Thursday night, and it did! Before water day got started, Mr. Lewis gave the boys a talk about being leaders and not letting anyone take your power from you, which they needed to hear. After the talk, some of the high school helpers taught us how to wobble. If you don’t know what that means, it is a dance. Youtube W.I.C. Wobble, it is a catchy song and very funny to watch about 150 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade boys dance to it I said funny to watch because I have zero rhythm so that’s what I did! When that was over, everyone was riled up and it was water time! I want to give a shout-out to Mrs. Husong for always being so organized and prepared! She is a great P.E. teacher! Water day was set up into 6 centers and they all involved getting wet! There was the sprinkler, water balloons, buckets of water, and bubbles. Oh, and every teacher got a Supersoaker! Needless to say I squirted a bunch of kids! Everyone had fun, some a little too much. Then when it was over we ate popsicles and dried off in the hot sun.
I get very sad when I think about how this upcoming week is our last week with these kids! They have worked their way into my heart! Monday is my last day to really teach. Tuesday we give the post-test, Wednesday we practice for our performance on Friday, and on Thursday we go to New Orleans! I can’t wait for New Orleans! I know that it will ware me out and that field trips take a lot of time and effort, but the end result is worth it. People learn from experiencing and I want to give my students as many experiences as I can. If it were up to me, my real class would take a field trip every week! This has been the best summer ever! I wish that I could make an impact like this every summer and year-round.
This week went by too quickly! When my students were counting money on Tuesday, I realized that many of them could not skip count by fives or tens unless they began counting with five or ten. I used a Hundreds Chart on Wednesday so that they would be able to look at the numbers as they counted. This seemed to help a lot of my students! I also learned a new strategy for counting money from my students! Many of my students were taught to draw "hairs" on quarters, nickels and dimes. I learned that each hair is worth five so a nickel receives one hair, a dime two, and a quarter five. I really like this strategy and I plan to use it in my classroom in the future. I was a little discouraged on Tuesday when I saw how many students were struggling with counting money because I knew that we only had two more days in the classroom; however, I was blown away by the progress that many students made on Wednesday. At the beginning of class on Wednesday I had the students write down what coins they needed to make four different amounts of money. They students loved it! We made charts of the different combinations of coins that can be used to make up one the same amount of money. We also discussed which combination of coins you would use if you wanted to use the largest or fewest amount of coins.
ReplyDeleteThursday was water day so we did not have a typical day in the classroom. In the morning we practiced our song for the closing ceremony on Friday, and then after lunch we had a ceremony for the boys and water day. Mr. Lewis did an excellent job talking to the boys about they way that they talk to people and then we danced! Thursday was a great day because we were able to spend time and talk to our students outside of the classroom. I have enjoyed everyday with my students and I am sad that it is coming to an end.
This week for me was full of successes and challenges, very large challenges and successes. This week in fourth grade math we covered prime and composite numbers. With the help of my mentor teachers we worked out my lesson with starting with hundreds chart and number sense. We started Monday with noticing patterns with the hundreds chart and playing arrow math with the students. It was interesting to see how each class noticed very different things about the hundreds chart. I believe my favorite comment made was by a female student of mine who noticed that the 11 multiplication tables could be seen moving diagonally across the chart. I thought it was a huge success because she was thinking outside of the box.
ReplyDeleteTuesday moved so quickly with all my classes. I had designed a game for my students to play where they were up moving out of their seats to work with arrays. They were split into teams of 3 or 4 and then they were instructed to make an array of a number of my choosing. They had to create an array as a team and then show it to me. One of my classes does not do well with all the freedom of working groups so I had them work by themselves using the multi-link cubes. One thing I will always remember from my teachers at South is to ALWAYS allow your students to play with the manipulatives first before trying to teach with them.
Wednesday was pretty good. I created a life size review game where to students were the pieces to the game and had to move around the board by answering math problems. Through this whole lesson I had to keep reminding the students they were on a team and to work together to get the answer. Also a huge lesson with teamwork was learning that sometimes you have to work with students you do not necessarily get a long with. That was a tough challenge for the girls especially in my classroom.
Thursday was so much fun do to the fun activities all day. Myself and Ms. Alms were lucky enough o work with all the boys in the fourth grade all day long. This included being able to "wobble" with them (a type of dance) and play with them at water day. I particularly enjoyed watching my kids dance. A couple of my homeroom boys who do not talk a lot were dancing up a storm. They moved so well! I was like "where did this come from?" and then they just got a huge smile on their faces.
Water day proved to be the biggest challenge for the week. We gave the boys an inch and they took a mile. I had boys pushing people to the ground, dog piling, back talking, and rolling of eyes. It got to the point Where Ms. Alms and myself had to sit all 25 boys out so they could re-group. Some did and some didn't.
Monday will be a the start of a new week where hopefully the boys and I can start fresh!
This was the best week for me since we started the program! I was excited about the activities that I chose, and the students really seemed to be engaged. My favorite was having the students make quicksand. It was a huge mess, but the kids really got into it. Overall, I can't believe that we only have one week left. Our focus, this coming week, will be working on the science fair projects. The students are excited that they get to make their own posters.
ReplyDeleteWeek Three lesson: Adaptation/Flexability
ReplyDeleteEach week of this program I feel like I have learned something new and exciting. This week the lesson I was supposed to take away was loud and clear. I needed to work on my ability to adapt and be flexible. Boy was my ability to do so tested throughout the week!
In my first post of the week I covered my Monday situation. We all had to deal with the break in. This caused me not to be able to meet with my first class. I had to adapt to find a way to keep them on track. Monday, through doing science centeres, I learned that my students were not very proficient in knot tying. So Tuesday morning I adapted. I tied the strings on every parachute for them.
The fourth grade science team had originally planned on having one boy and one girl present their science project for the closing ceremony. Tuesday Mrs. Harris came in with a song she had made for us. It was so cute and there was no way we could pass it up. I had to let go of being in control ( whihc is an issue I deal with constantly) and change the plan.
Tuesday we also found out the scedule for Thursday had been changed. No longer would we be meeting for a short amount of time with each of our classes, but a regular class period with the first class and no time with the other students. I would adapt. I had planned for a fun, outside activity with all of my classes that came along with popsicle surprises on Thursday. I had been using this to encourage good behavior all week and now I was going to have to take it away. (Luckily I had kept the popsicles a surprise!) I instead allowed my first class to catch up during this time (which they had really almost done anyway) and we read a book. The students will be getting their special surprise tomorrow. Throughout the week I had to constantly adapt. This has been a great learning experience for me!
This week I was able to overcome my math fears. I had a great time teaching fifth grade math, but I was happy to be "home" on Wednesday. I really missed my students and teaching with Ms. Devore. We started making plans for the science fair projects and we were also presented with a science song on Thursday. I am really stressed about having so much to do in such a small time frame. Amber keeps saying we will have it done in time, but oh the song. I hope that it is a fun success. I have spent my weekend looking over student’s folders to get ready to make the posters for the science fair. I want it to be a huge success. The fourth grade science teachers have decided to give awards out. I think that this will be a nice incentive for the students to do their best.
ReplyDeleteWater day was fantastic. I had such a great time playing with all of my girls again. I think that the fun days are important for building relationships with these students. You see so much more of their personalities and they love it when you join in on the fun. I will always remember the importance of the teacher participating in activities when I become a certified teacher.
(written on Saturday)
ReplyDeleteThursday was something else. Ms. Knowles and I had the fourth grade boys for water day. It turned out to be a challenging experience. Our boys got a little out of control and a student ended up getting injured. Thankfully, everyone was okay though. We plan to talk with the boys on Monday about having to earn their privileges back, especially before we take them to New Orleans on Thursday. I have faith that they will be very well behaved next week. We’ve worked really hard to get to where we are now and I’m confident that the final week will be a GREAT one!
Overall, it seems like each day gets better and better. I feel more confident in myself as a teacher each time I walk through those school doors and into my classroom. That is such an awesome feeling. It’s amazing how much I have changed in just a mere three weeks. I’m looking forward to what next week will bring.
Monday was an unusual day. We arrived in the morning to discover that the school had been vandalized and items had been stolen. We were told that the students couldn’t be released from the cafeteria until the police had conducted their investigation and completed all paperwork. Therefore, we missed our first class that day. This was my first week to teach using the AMSTI kit and it was nice having everything laid out for me, but I must admit that I don’t enjoy it near as much as writing my own lesson plans. I feel that there is more ownership when creating lessons and therefore the instruction is so much more personal and meaningful. However, the students really enjoyed the lessons each day.
ReplyDeleteWe started out by creating FOSS planes, which took longer than I had anticipated. Only two classes actually made them on Monday due to the robbery and one class is working on individual experiments that took the entire class period. Therefore, by Tuesday each class was working on something different. I enjoyed the varied instruction and felt that I managed it well. The second day of AMSTI for each group fell on different days, but ultimately each class created a plane, experimented with flying it on the flight line, and then brainstormed about variables that would affect the flight, such as mass (paperclip passengers), fuel (extra rubber bands), angle of flight line, etc… Then each group worked to test a chosen variable. The students really liked working with the flight system and I enjoyed seeing all the classroom management that I have worked to establish make the task more enjoyable and conducive to learning. Each group had 5 meters of flight line, so you can imagine with 6 groups what it was like in the classroom. I felt that each class did a great job with these experiments and worked well in their individual groups.
In addition to the flight system experiments, I am also working with two of the classes on individual science experiments. This has proved to be a very involved task, requiring lots of organization and extra hours. The students’ excitement makes it well worth it, so I have continued to push forward with the projects. In the coming week, we will finish these projects and complete the science boards that will be displayed on Friday during the open house. We will also review for and take the post-test on Tuesday.
Thursday was a fun day with the boys learning a line dance, the “wobble.” It was great to see them having a good time and just cutting loose. This was followed by water day, which was fun for the students as well as the teachers. I love spending time with my students in a relaxed atmosphere where they get to be themselves and see me having fun as well.
I can’t believe that the summer enrichment program is coming to an end! I still have so much to accomplish this week. I have grown close to many of my students in this short time and there are others that I wish I had more time to connect with. Each of these students has taught me more about myself than I could ever have dreamed of teaching them.
Thursday was a chaotic day for me. After my first class, I had my CASE girls for the remainder of the day. I didn’t realize how much trouble it would be to manage the same group of girls for the rest of the day. There were a few girls who didn’t get along in the group and they would often call each other names. It is also hard for me to keep the volume down in my classroom with so many girls. A whisper can turn into a shout in a heartbeat in that class. By lunch time, I was ready for my day to be over with. I didn’t even want to think about ‘water day’. Once it was time for us to go outside for water day, things got better and we had fun. I got drenched with water a couple of times and the girls loved it. I was so tired when I got home that day. Overall, I learned a lot through my experiences last week. I know it takes time, but I learned that I really need to work on my classroom management skills. I am ready to conquer this last week. I am ready to learn new things. I know the New Orleans field trip is going to be a learning experience all by itself. Along with my camera and sunglasses, I definitely learned that I am going to have to pack my patience.
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