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 13, 2011
What would you change?
If you could change anything about the first week of preparation and the first day, what would you change? Dr. Andi Kent
I am VERY grateful for the few days of preparation time that we had before the students came. I wish that we had more in our class time the last couple days and did most of the get-to-know-you/ team-building activities the first days. This would allow us to have more time to get organized and have more clear thinking opportunities about what we are going to need, how we want things laid out, etc.
I totally understand the purpose of the pretest being on the first day. However, I wonder if it would be better to do it on Monday-- that way we have an opportunity to get to know the students, go over class rules, share our vision for the class, etc. AND the roll is more stable on Monday than Friday.
Outside of those minor adjustments-- everything went well. The whole staff has been VERY supportive (special thanks to Mrs. Tara Dubose and Ernest).
Preparation was interesting to say the least. I loved coming up with my bulletin boards and door decorations! I had no worries for the first day except that I would not get to know my students or tell them the rules. The only thing I would change would be to give the pre-test on Monday because we were adding third graders. Overall I think preparation went well! =)
I have to agree with Jen and Anthony on this. I would have given the pretest on Monday. That way on the very first day the classroom rules could be introduced and a fun get to know you activity could be done to put the students at ease. I thoroughly enjoyed the training and getting to know everyone i would be working with over the summer!
I would add more days of preparation, also give more warning about what we will need to decorate our rooms before hand because it was a struggle coming up with the money to decorate everything.
I think Friday should be more of a day of games and to get to know each other. I am lucky that I did not have to test my children on the first day and that we were able to "play" with car design. I just hope that I do not have to test on the last day of school to see what has been learned...
Dr. Green, Dr. Lewis, and Staff have organized wonderful events with this program, I would like to see additional funding for an event such as a trip to the Smithsonian! It would be wonderful to continue this program in an after-school setting during the school year. This program has been, and will be monumental in the transformation of young lives!
I very much appreciate your comments. I think that most of the USA faculty that are involved with this program agree with you. I know Mrs. Simpson and I do! I am hoping we can implement your suggestions for next year.
I am glad you all have such positive attitudes and made the first week phenomenal!
The first days of preparation went by too quickly. That first week was very busy with team building and planning and preparations. I am very thankful for those couple of days for planning, but I wish that we could have done team building all in one or two days and then had the remaining part of the week strictly for room preparations and lesson planning.
My first day went by smoothly mainly because all the students had time to do was take the pretest. I think a pretest should be given to students to observe where the students are, but I do not think giving a pretest the first day is the best idea. I know that most of the students were not thinking about the pretest; most of them were excited to see friends and talk about the weekend. I simply think that the pretest should be given the second day, after the teachers introduce themselves and the class procedures. With some students taking almost the entire class time to take the test, I did not have time to establish rules/procedures/etc. I believe rules and procedures should be established the first day to set the standard for the rest of the program.
The first week and day went by too quickly, but the first week was a success. The whole process of planning and preparing for the first day was a learning experience. That first week of preparing was a reality check that I was the person in charge of my room and class; I knew that if I did not plan or prepare, nothing would happen in class. It was a helpful experience that will make me a more prepared and planned teacher in the future. I also enjoyed getting to know the other teachers and staff for the program that first week.
I definitely wasn't expecting to have to decorated a whole classroom and door, as well as plan my whole first weeks lessons, all in a few short days. If I could go back, I would take a deep breath, take back the tears from being overwhelmed, and just know that everything will turn out great!
I would also agree with the others in that I would give the pretest on Monday or even Tuesday. Giving it on Friday was very chaotic and rushed feeling, and it left me scared what was to come the following week. If it were given on Tuesday then the students would be a little more use to the environment and at least have seen the teachers before. Giving the the on Friday was okay, but I think that it would have been better for the teachers and kids to give it at the beginning on the week.
I am in agreement with the others about moving the pre-test to Monday instead of giving it to them the first day. I feel that day would be better spent going over rules and procedures and spending time doing ice-breaker and get to know activities. Allowing students to adjust to their new environment may make the process of giving the pre-test run smoother in the future.
I am very thankful for the time we had to spend in our classroom; however, it seemed to FLY by! There was so much to do and plan for that maybe moving the team building to an earlier day would allow a little more time for these things. I underestimated the time it would take to decorate an entire classroom. I feel much more prepared and now know what to expect when I graduate and get to do this again in my own classroom.
Overall, the first week went really smoothly and this program is daily improving my confidence in being a teacher and I am very grateful for that!
I agree with all of the others on giving the pre-test on Monday instead of Friday. I agree it would be fun to have this day to get to know the students, but even more than that we still had students coming in on the first few days. This meant that they missed part of the instruction and or activities in the first few days because they had to go take the pre-test during class. I don't know about everyone else, but I introduced a lot of material on the first day that was missed by some students.
I also think it would have been great to have our teaching assignments earlier. Not having them until the first day of training meant that we were unable to plan anything until that point. Even bulletin boards and door decorations couldn't be pre-planned because we didn't know what the focus should be.
I think that week of preparation was great. I loved the activities that we did. I would agree with Amber on getting to know our placements earlier. I would have liked to have been better prepared for my first day experience. I would like to give the test on the following week and not the first day. It is hard to give a test on the first day of school. Students are still coming in and you are trying to establish classroom management all in one.
The first week was great but a little overwhelming! I understand that Monday was a holiday and it was only a four day week but one more day to prepare would have been wonderful. The week was very beneficial and I learned a lot but everything seemed rushed. I would have also liked to have been able to get to know the students more on Friday and pretest on Monday. As a whole, I am very happy with how the first week went and I believe that the program has been a success.
I completely agree that the first week was a bit overwhelming. It was challenging coming up with lesson plans, decorating our classrooms, and doing team building activities in such a short period of time. Personally, I would have liked to have known my assigned subject before we started the program. It would have given me a chance to start thinking about activities I would like to do. I also agree that the test should be given on Monday.
The first week of preparation was overwhelming. I know this was good experience for the future because I'm sure that it parallels real life. I got very little sleep and spent many hours outside of school preparing for the students' arrival on Friday. I feel like it would be more beneficial if the professional development was the focus of the first day and then room preparation could take place for the remainder of the week. This would give us a chance to meet the staff in the beginning and get to know each other, as well as allow more time to work on getting our rooms together. One more day of prep would have been nice. I agree with everyone else about the pre-test. Getting to know our students and going over classroom procedures would be a much better start. I also feel that it would have been nice to know ALL of the expectations of the program prior to the first week, such as the weekly letters and the many blog entries required. I also expected to hear from someone prior to starting the program about where I would be placed. This would have allowed me more time to brainstorm and decide on my classroom theme. I would have also started designing or gathering information for lesson planning.
I agree. I felt like the training week was a little chaotic when it came to preparing for our future classroom. I was scrambling to get my classroom together as well as prepare for what I was going to do on Friday since I was not giving the pre-test. By that Thursday, I was afraid that I would not finish everything that I needed to do. But, in the end it all worked out. I do believe we would have had a slight advantage if we would have known our grade level and subject that we were teaching in advance. That would helped us out a lot.
I am VERY grateful for the few days of preparation time that we had before the students came. I wish that we had more in our class time the last couple days and did most of the get-to-know-you/ team-building activities the first days. This would allow us to have more time to get organized and have more clear thinking opportunities about what we are going to need, how we want things laid out, etc.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand the purpose of the pretest being on the first day. However, I wonder if it would be better to do it on Monday-- that way we have an opportunity to get to know the students, go over class rules, share our vision for the class, etc. AND the roll is more stable on Monday than Friday.
Outside of those minor adjustments-- everything went well. The whole staff has been VERY supportive (special thanks to Mrs. Tara Dubose and Ernest).
Preparation was interesting to say the least. I loved coming up with my bulletin boards and door decorations! I had no worries for the first day except that I would not get to know my students or tell them the rules. The only thing I would change would be to give the pre-test on Monday because we were adding third graders. Overall I think preparation went well! =)
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Jen and Anthony on this. I would have given the pretest on Monday. That way on the very first day the classroom rules could be introduced and a fun get to know you activity could be done to put the students at ease. I thoroughly enjoyed the training and getting to know everyone i would be working with over the summer!
ReplyDeleteI would add more days of preparation, also give more warning about what we will need to decorate our rooms before hand because it was a struggle coming up with the money to decorate everything.
ReplyDeleteI think Friday should be more of a day of games and to get to know each other. I am lucky that I did not have to test my children on the first day and that we were able to "play" with car design. I just hope that I do not have to test on the last day of school to see what has been learned...
Dr. Green, Dr. Lewis, and Staff have organized wonderful events with this program, I would like to see additional funding for an event such as a trip to the Smithsonian! It would be wonderful to continue this program in an after-school setting during the school year. This program has been, and will be monumental in the transformation of young lives!
ReplyDeleteI very much appreciate your comments. I think that most of the USA faculty that are involved with this program agree with you. I know Mrs. Simpson and I do! I am hoping we can implement your suggestions for next year.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you all have such positive attitudes and made the first week phenomenal!
The first days of preparation went by too quickly. That first week was very busy with team building and planning and preparations. I am very thankful for those couple of days for planning, but I wish that we could have done team building all in one or two days and then had the remaining part of the week strictly for room preparations and lesson planning.
ReplyDeleteMy first day went by smoothly mainly because all the students had time to do was take the pretest. I think a pretest should be given to students to observe where the students are, but I do not think giving a pretest the first day is the best idea. I know that most of the students were not thinking about the pretest; most of them were excited to see friends and talk about the weekend. I simply think that the pretest should be given the second day, after the teachers introduce themselves and the class procedures. With some students taking almost the entire class time to take the test, I did not have time to establish rules/procedures/etc. I believe rules and procedures should be established the first day to set the standard for the rest of the program.
The first week and day went by too quickly, but the first week was a success. The whole process of planning and preparing for the first day was a learning experience. That first week of preparing was a reality check that I was the person in charge of my room and class; I knew that if I did not plan or prepare, nothing would happen in class. It was a helpful experience that will make me a more prepared and planned teacher in the future. I also enjoyed getting to know the other teachers and staff for the program that first week.
I definitely wasn't expecting to have to decorated a whole classroom and door, as well as plan my whole first weeks lessons, all in a few short days. If I could go back, I would take a deep breath, take back the tears from being overwhelmed, and just know that everything will turn out great!
ReplyDeleteI would also agree with the others in that I would give the pretest on Monday or even Tuesday. Giving it on Friday was very chaotic and rushed feeling, and it left me scared what was to come the following week. If it were given on Tuesday then the students would be a little more use to the environment and at least have seen the teachers before. Giving the the on Friday was okay, but I think that it would have been better for the teachers and kids to give it at the beginning on the week.
I am in agreement with the others about moving the pre-test to Monday instead of giving it to them the first day. I feel that day would be better spent going over rules and procedures and spending time doing ice-breaker and get to know activities. Allowing students to adjust to their new environment may make the process of giving the pre-test run smoother in the future.
ReplyDeleteI am very thankful for the time we had to spend in our classroom; however, it seemed to FLY by! There was so much to do and plan for that maybe moving the team building to an earlier day would allow a little more time for these things. I underestimated the time it would take to decorate an entire classroom. I feel much more prepared and now know what to expect when I graduate and get to do this again in my own classroom.
Overall, the first week went really smoothly and this program is daily improving my confidence in being a teacher and I am very grateful for that!
I agree with all of the others on giving the pre-test on Monday instead of Friday. I agree it would be fun to have this day to get to know the students, but even more than that we still had students coming in on the first few days. This meant that they missed part of the instruction and or activities in the first few days because they had to go take the pre-test during class. I don't know about everyone else, but I introduced a lot of material on the first day that was missed by some students.
ReplyDeleteI also think it would have been great to have our teaching assignments earlier. Not having them until the first day of training meant that we were unable to plan anything until that point. Even bulletin boards and door decorations couldn't be pre-planned because we didn't know what the focus should be.
I think that week of preparation was great. I loved the activities that we did. I would agree with Amber on getting to know our placements earlier. I would have liked to have been better prepared for my first day experience. I would like to give the test on the following week and not the first day. It is hard to give a test on the first day of school. Students are still coming in and you are trying to establish classroom management all in one.
ReplyDeleteThe first week was great but a little overwhelming! I understand that Monday was a holiday and it was only a four day week but one more day to prepare would have been wonderful. The week was very beneficial and I learned a lot but everything seemed rushed. I would have also liked to have been able to get to know the students more on Friday and pretest on Monday. As a whole, I am very happy with how the first week went and I believe that the program has been a success.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the first week was a bit overwhelming. It was challenging coming up with lesson plans, decorating our classrooms, and doing team building activities in such a short period of time. Personally, I would have liked to have known my assigned subject before we started the program. It would have given me a chance to start thinking about activities I would like to do. I also agree that the test should be given on Monday.
ReplyDeleteThe first week of preparation was overwhelming. I know this was good experience for the future because I'm sure that it parallels real life. I got very little sleep and spent many hours outside of school preparing for the students' arrival on Friday. I feel like it would be more beneficial if the professional development was the focus of the first day and then room preparation could take place for the remainder of the week. This would give us a chance to meet the staff in the beginning and get to know each other, as well as allow more time to work on getting our rooms together. One more day of prep would have been nice. I agree with everyone else about the pre-test. Getting to know our students and going over classroom procedures would be a much better start. I also feel that it would have been nice to know ALL of the expectations of the program prior to the first week, such as the weekly letters and the many blog entries required. I also expected to hear from someone prior to starting the program about where I would be placed. This would have allowed me more time to brainstorm and decide on my classroom theme. I would have also started designing or gathering information for lesson planning.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I felt like the training week was a little chaotic when it came to preparing for our future classroom. I was scrambling to get my classroom together as well as prepare for what I was going to do on Friday since I was not giving the pre-test. By that Thursday, I was afraid that I would not finish everything that I needed to do. But, in the end it all worked out. I do believe we would have had a slight advantage if we would have known our grade level and subject that we were teaching in advance. That would helped us out a lot.
ReplyDelete