Week 5- Journet

1. What happened this week? What did you do? Your cooperating teacher do? Students do? Others? What was effectively done in the class? Discuss a situation or two you encountered in relation to what you have been taught. Did you see anything that challenged your beliefs about teaching or learning?                                                                                                                                      This week I taught a small guided reading group.  I had 3 small rotating groups.  My cooperating teacher rotated 2 groups challenging the higher ability students.  I had 2 small groups and a one on one student.  For one group the Animal Krew, I provided support with magic e syllables.  For the second group I provided support in multi-syllabic words.  The third rotation consisted of one student and I provided support in CVC words.  I am passionate about providing literacy support and have been trained in the Wilson Reading System.    The competent Teacher 1J) differentiates strategies, materials, pace, levels of complexity, and language to introduce concepts and principles so that they are meaningful to students at varying levels of development and to students with diverse learning needs.                               My cooperating teacher gave me more responsibilities like taking attendance, writing the monthly news letter and she also asked me to collaborate with the preschool teacher in order to spear head The Black History Trivia Bowl.  I am holding a mini trivia bowl within the classroom in order to select the 5 students that will represent our classroom in the larger school wide trivia bowl.  I am excited about Black History Month and I feel my energy transferring over to my students. The competent teacher: 8J) works with all school personnel (e.g., support staff, teachers, paraprofessionals) to develop learning climates for the school that encourage unity, support a sense of shared purpose, show trust in one another, and value individuals.  I was excited about how my small groups have been doing.  I have felt that the students are responding very well and craving the challenge to be pushed further in literacy.  I see their enthusiasm when we are dissecting complex blends and 3 syllable words like val-en-tine.  I down loaded the Wilson Sound Cards for my personal lap top. This saves me time when reviewing new sounds and words along with reviewing other literacy concepts.  The competent Teacher 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;

This is a copy of the February Newsletter that I created.

2. What did you learn in terms of new ideas, concepts, techniques, strategies, best practices, etc.? Did you have any personal insights   about teaching, student learning, teacher or student roles, or new connections.                                                                                                                         I learned that you can have the best lesson plan but if you do not have the class behavior under control, all that planning was in vain.  I also know that I have to be stern with hallway behavior because if I allow talking and playing, I am also leaving room for students to play and makes noise which can be disruptive to other classrooms.  My personal insight is that in order to have the students safe in the hallway, I must set the expectations high.  Another personal insight is when I am teaching Math and using the Jump  Math Slides sometimes the workbook practice sheets and the slides do not align, so I must customize the slides to reflect what the students are working on.  Another major insight is when I grade the students quizzes or unit exams, I realized that the students may not have understood the question that they were asking.  In return they answer incorrectly or I have to clarify during the quiz/test.  What I will do from now on is look at the test and or quizzes ahead of time to make sure that I frame some of my questions during my lesson to match exactly how it is being asked in the test.                                                                                                 - For example the question might ask "Fred bought a 35 cent orange, he paid with a dollar.  How much change will he get back?"  The next question will ask "Carmen paid the cashier with a one dollar bill for the box of crayons that cost 87 cents.  How much change is owed to her?"   Do you see how both questions are asking for the same thing but in two completely different ways.  Many of my 3rd graders did not realize that it was the same question.

3. What do you hope to learn or discover about your teaching or student learning in the week ahead? What might you do differently now based on your experiences than you would have done previously?  I hope to discover how I can fine tune my behavior management skills.  I am also learning to build a relationship with my students.  I want to know what their passions are and continue to use that within my my lessons.  I have also realized that I have to chunk my lessons out and not throw to much content at my students at once.  Sometime I talk to them too fast with too much content as if I were talking to adults and I see their 3rd grade faces looking bewildered.  I remind myself to slow it down and introduce one new concept at a time before I add another one.  After all they are 8 and 9 year olds.  I have done this twice and their questions and confused faces remind me to slow it down a bit and let it sink in and also check for understanding.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           This week as an educator I witnessed behavior challenges from stud nets and their parents.  I have seen how the teachers and administrators handle these situations.  This is the part of my job that I am not looking forward to.  I pray that the Holy Spirit give me extra grace and guidance to approach every situation with an open mind.                                                                                                                                            The next week I will fully take over teaching.  I really appreciate that my cooperating teacher allows me to take risks and has full faith in my teaching.  We are also doing STEP Testing which I will get to observe and review data along with the teachers.