Journet - Week 3

Third Week Experience:

            This was a shorter week because we had Monday off to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s life.  On Tuesday, the Cooperating Teacher and the Co-teacher and I broke up into groups for Language Arts.  Its the guided reading block but I didn’t do guided reading per say.  The teachers gave me a rotation in which I focus on word work and phonics instruction with a small group.  I have 3 groups, the Animal Krew, The Rising Huskies and The Jelly Bean Group.  I have their Reading Levels and their S.T.E.P data that gives me a baseline and a starting point of where they need extra support.  One group needs support in CVC words including beginning, middle and ending sounds.  The second group needs support in R-Controlled words and Silent E words.  The also need more practice with complex blends like patch, latch, fudge and trudge.  The last group also needs help with R controlled words and complex blends and long vowel patterns. Standard 1 - Teaching Diverse Students. Performance Indicators – The competent teacher: 1H) analyzes and uses student information to design instruction that meets the diverse needs of students and leads to ongoing growth and achievement; I love doing this kind of work.  As a paraprofessional, I was trained on The Wilson Reading Program so this a strength of mine.  I have so much experience in this area and I am so happy that I get to use this skill, while at the same time helping students grow. I did small groups 3 times this week. 

I taught my first  official Math Lesson in wish I wrote the lesson plan.  It was the first lesson on the money unit.  I was nervous yet excited.  I started the lesson by reading a poem on money.  The students gave their attention.  I was a bit nervous because I was using the smart board for the first time and I wasn’t sure if all the wires and the connection was working properly.  I didn’t want to have any technical issues during my money lesson.  I love to incorporate technology in my lessons, but I also know that we need a back up plan for the times that wires aren’t working or the internet connection is low. Standard 2 - Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge 2L) demonstrates fluency in technology systems, uses technology to support instruction and enhance student learning, and designs learning experiences to develop student skills in the application of technology appropriate to the disciplines;)

I was happy with the way my lesson turned out.  I feel that the students were engaged.  Being well prepared made the lesson flow well.  My time management was surprisingly good.  In this lesson I added introduced a way of counting money called magic money for my students who struggled with adding money. Standard 3 - Planning for Differentiated Instruction – The competent teacher plans, and designs instruction based on content area knowledge, diverse student characteristics, student performance data, curriculum goals, and the community context. The teacher plans for ongoing student growth and achievement. I received good feedback from my cooperating teacher.

            I taught lesson 2 in the money unit and the students did well.  I feel that the levels vary so much and so I have to teach in a way that challenges some students but also helps my struggling students.  In this second lesson I was determined to get the kids moving and counting with their bodies.  With the suggestion of my cooperating teacher we used hula hoops to both verbally and physically skip count.  The kids really enjoyed the activity which served as a movement break as well.  It is my goal to get incorporate as many of the multiple intelligence's in my lessons.  The first lesson I used poetry which was well liked by the students with the verbal linguistic intelligence.  The 2^nd lesson I included a physical activity with body kinesthetic intelligence students in mind.  Standard 5 - Instructional Delivery – 5I) uses multiple teaching strategies, including adjusted pacing and flexible grouping, to engage students in active learning opportunities that promote the development of critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, and performance capabilities; The 3^rd lesson included more of a role-playing situation with one activity required that the students act like detectives to find out which coin was missing.  I had them solving money mysteries.  In the second activity they were shoppers buying from a supermarket while learning about money  These role-playing activities used the skills of students with existential intelligence's.  The math activities also involved the use of the visual spatial and logical mathematical intelligence's of the students.  I taught 3 math lessons back to back and I am so proud of myself and the students.

            I do admit that my 3^rd math lesson did not go as smooth as I hoped for.  We had an unexpected visit from a music program that comes once a week.  They were scheduled for today but none of us remembered.  This pushed back our whole schedule and when it came time to teach my math lesson I feel that the students were exhausted and overstimulated.  I also felt that I had to rush through my lesson and in the end,  I did not give my students enough time to finish their work. I feel that next time I would have removed one of the activities so that I do not have to rush my students.  Another thing I could have done was teach half of the lesson and finish the other half the next day.  I didn’t like the added pressure the students inadvertently felt because they didn’t finish their work.

            On the fourth day, I did not teach a money lesson, but we did do a review and I gave the students a quiz on the 3 lessons.  I am following the Jump Math curriculum for 3^rd grade.  One huge insight that I had was that as a first-year teacher sometimes having a curriculum helps me in planning my lessons and this means I don’t have start them from scratch.  The curriculum gave me the standards that I needed to address and the main learning objectives.  It was up to me If I wanted to use their activities and thanks to my cooperating teacher she gave me the flexibility to incorporate my own activities if I wished to.  Given this flexibility, I added poetry, role- playing and movement to the math lessons.

            I have brought the math quizzes home to grade.  My cooperating teacher gave me the scoring rubric and how to grade their quiz. I have my first batch of papers to grade this weekend.  This will help me determine if I should teach a review lesson or move on to multiplying money.  I will let this data guide my math instruction for the next week.  After another 3 lessons I will give another quiz.  Standard 7 - Assessment – The competent teacher understands and uses appropriate formative and summative assessments for determining student needs, monitoring student progress, measuring student 6 growth, and evaluating student outcomes. The teacher makes decisions driven by data about curricular and instructional effectiveness and adjusts practices to meet the needs of each student.

            Today I focused on the classroom atmosphere and tone.  I asked my cooperating teacher for permission on adding soothing study music and she gave me the green light.  Before the students set foot in the class, I set up the oil diffuser for smell, turned of the lights and turned on some lamps, played some soothing instrumental music and projected a fireplace on the smart board.  Having single digit temperatures, I wanted to create an atmosphere where the students felt comfortable, calm, warm and focused.  In return I noticed that today we had a relaxed morning.  I think all of these things matter and contribute to the mood of the classroom.  Even adults that stopped by seemed to be in a good mood.  Some jokingly bopped their head to the soft beats.  Standard 4 - Learning Environment – 4I) creates a safe and healthy environment that maximizes student learning;

Goals for the next week:

·         Gather data from assessments on my small groups.

·         Continue to give word work and phonics support.

·         Continue teaching money unit and integrating Authentic Learning with Multiple Intelligence's

·         Practicing behavior management in the hallway.  It has been a bit chatty.

·         Practice time management with lesson s and activities.