January 14, 2019 – January 18, 2019
(Jan 14) I arrived early at about 7:15 am. The room door was closed so I decided to wait
and check emails. My CP arrived shortly,
and we verbally reviewed our day. She
reminded me that she had a 504 meeting and an IEP. I would need parent permission to attend the
1pm meeting. I picked up the students
and individually greeted each one. I
brought them up to the class as and they started their Do Nows. The teacher greeted them in the
classroom. During breakfast/do now one
of the students approached me and said that she wanted to talk about something
in private. I said Yes but please give
me a minute as I was supporting a student with math problem. When I was done I gave her my full attention
and she stated that she was upset because her home was robbed on Friday. The robber took many valuable and invaluable
belongings. I told her that I was sorry
that this happened to her and her family and that I knew exactly how scary it
felt to have someone rob my home. I also
recommended that she right this experience in her journal. I focused my attention back on the group and directed
them to finish their Do Nows as we would then review them on the board. The
reason I mention this moment is because I feel that I am building rapport with
my students enough where they can share things with me. I didn’t know how to respond at first and my
first thought was to direct her to the cooperating teacher but then I
thought. I must practice being “The
teacher”. I felt that the student felt
relieved in telling me and also seen when I told her that I my home was robbed
too.
Today (Jan14) I took on more roles throughout
the day such as picking up and the students from specials, lunch and dismissing
them. The teacher had to leave for a
504 plan meeting and she asked me if I felt comfortable leading the math
lesson. I said yes, even though it wasn’t
my lesson plan I did my best to follow her instructions. The Co-teacher came and provide support while
I taught the lesson. They were working on
Shape and Area. As I nervously switched
places with the Master Teacher, I picked up where she left off and began to
give the students shapes with a indicated measurements.
Standards: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.C.6: Measure areas by
counting unit squares (square cm, square m, square in, square ft, and
improvised units).
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.C.7 Relate area to the operations of
multiplication and addition.
I called on quiet
hands, I praised the students for volunteering.
They worked hard on their math boards as I projected examples on the
board using and ELMO. At one point I
realized that I was writing on a dry erase board and some of my students could
not see the board. I began to write on
the Elmo so that all my students can see.
Ms. W came back early and gave me the cue to keep going. By that time, I felt that I had the kids
sitting too long because I had 2 students beginning to play and so I concluded
the activity and sent the students to work individually in their Jump Math
books. I realized that I found it a bit
challenging to keep track of time. I can
reflect on this and say that I will set a timer for myself in my future lessons
to help me manage my time.
I learned many new insights about teachers and Learning
specialist roles. This week I attended a
grade level meeting hosted by my cooperating teacher and it was about guided
reading and students work and feedback.
I found this to be very informative and I also felt like part of the
intermediate team. They treated me like
an equal and included me in all the activities.
I also attended a Union meeting to see what goes on in many areas of a teacher’s
life. The 3rd and 4th
grade students were NWEA Testing this week and so I was able to see firsthand
how NWEA is administered. I learned that
you have to be the student’s cheerleader because these tests can be hard or
long for them especially for students with reading challenges. I realized how tough teachers take it when
the testing is done, and the students don’t make the gains they were hoping
for. I also saw how excited and proud
they feel when students made significant gains.
They take it personal and it does reflect on them. I really enjoyed learning how Ms.G analyzed
the data and explained it to me. I
learned so much as Ms.W conferenced with each student to set goals and review
there map scores.
This week has been a bit different because of testing but I did
get to teach the students about Martin Luther King. Standard (Perspectives SS.H.2.3: Describe how
significant people, events, and developments have shaped their own community
and region). I began with a KWL chart
asking the students what they knew about MLK.
At first there was only 2 out of 22 hands up. As one student answered more hand shot up in
the air. Some replies mentioned Rosa
Parks, end of slavery, end of racism and segregation. I made 7 groups of 3 and one student insisted
on working alone. I gave each group a
post it pad and had them what they knew down on a post it note. We reviewed and put them on the anchor
chart. We had a brief discussion before
I read the Martin Luther King Read Aloud.
As I started reading the story and come to the art where MLK was not
allowed to play with some of his white friends, students had so much to say and
I would hear thing like that isn’t fair, Why?
That is racist. I could feel the
energy of the room escalating. I had to
pause and give the students some time to express their feelings on how unfair
this was. I then continued to read. I asked them to show me their facial emotions
during parts that they didn’t agree with so that I could continue reading. They had so many great responses to this
book. I wish I could have a turn and
talk activity because they had so much to say about how unfair segregation was. We moved on to a brief BrainPOP video about
MLK and then I put them all in teams at their table to play a Martin Luther
King Kahoot Game. I was a bit hesitant
because games can get loud and I had no Idea how it would turn out but I took a
risk and set up a game. They worked in
teams and I gave them thinking time and they had to agree as a team on the
answer. They loved it but I do admit it
was very high energy and a bit loud.
Ms.W looked like she was going to scream at one point but she didn’t and
I appreciate that she let me navigate this lesson solo so that I can learn from
all of this. She is an amazing
Cooperating Teacher. I learned that
kahoot games are so much fun and high energy that you might need a quiet
transitional time for the next activity.
In retrospect, I recognize that I need to have student take turns
clicking the answers because one kid at the table would not give others a
chance to click. I didn’t do this individually
because this would have meant that my students with reading challenges would
lose or be at the bottom even if they knew the answer they would not be able to
read the questions on their own. I did
keep the students engaged and working together but I also wished that I would have
had an exit slip with 3 questions at the end.
This would have been a quiet transitional time for them and also a way
for me to see if they remembered facts.
This Martin Luther King lesson was not a graded one and was meant to
teach the kids about Martin Luther King in a fun way but I still wish I would
have given them some formal assessment. Overall,
I feel happy with how I did. I
approached Ms.W and nervously asked her what she thought of the lesson. She said it was loud and too much energy for
her but she said that the only way I can find my teaching style is by me trying
and taking risks. She said that she has
seen high energy classrooms and that there is nothing wrong with it. Some teachers do very well but she likes her
rooms with less rowdiness. She also said
that I will find what works for me and that she will not expect me to be her. Her guidance and suggestions are helping me
grow as a teacher.
For the upcoming week I will teach math. I am excited to teach a lesson that I have
put together. I am also excited that I
get practice in teaching because I know the only way that I will get better is
by teaching. I have to just do it and
reflect and learn from it. I will be
introducing money because that the next unit in the 3rd grade Jump
Math curriculum. I realized that money
is not a 3rd grade standard but I can intertwine it with math
standard that are 3rd grade.
Standards that involve skip counting by 5s, 10s and 25’s and counting
(3.NBT.A.2, 3.OA.D.9, 3.NBT.A.3, 2.MD.C.8)
I can also incorporate arrays and multiplication to 1000. I will show them about the decimal placement
and briefly show how coins are part of a whole (dollar) which involves
fractions.
I will also begin to work with a small group during guided
reading. I will begin working with the students
on word work, phonics ( RF.3.3, RF.2.3, RF.1.3, W.3.8)and writing using the
R.A.T.E strategy. I will gradually
incorporate more guide reading responsibilities with the goal of mastering a
guided reading group toward the end of my placement.
I have
been listening to the audible book teach like a Pirate and I set personal goals
to always be positive, professional, loving and passionate teacher. I am committed to giving all my students my
best and I can only do that I have a healthy mind, body and soul. I will continue to seek God in all I do so
that I can serve all of my students and their families.
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