Wanda's+WikiSpace+Page

=**Wanda's Log**=

I am finally able to respoond to all of my questions that Ariane asked during my observations. During my first official observation on January 13, 2012, the quesions were: "Are they grouped randomly?" " How do the behavior points work?" When forming groups in my classroom, I tried to pair students together so they can help each other. I tried to pair higher and lower students together, so when we are doing classwork and/or group work the higher students would be able to help the lowers tudents. As the year went on, my groups changed based on student behavior. Some students were easily distracted by other students, so I had to change groups. When it comes to behavior points, I split the class into three teams and they earn or lose points based on behavior. If they are given compliments by the teacher they can earn points toward free time. If they are not following directions, they can lose points toward their free time, which usually happen at the end of the day. My next observation on January 18, 2012. The question was "Is it difficult to plan material for a large age span?" During this obseervation, I was observed presenting during our school's Morning Program. During morning program, every teacher will be assigned a week to present information on African Americans in front of the entire school. It isn't really difficult now, to find information for all grades because I have been doing this now for the past 5 years, so it has become a little easier. I try to incorporate videos, books, questions, etc., so all the students are interested and can participate. The second part of my observation was during my "Anti-Bullying" meeting. Every Wednesday, I have an Anti-Bullying Meeting in my classroom, and this is part of our school's curriculum. We discuss any bullying that the students have experienced. Whether it was something that they have witnessed or was a part of. The question that I was asked: "How do you deal with tired/uncoopertive behavior?" Well, it depends on the student and the situation. If a student is very uncooperative in my classroom, I have different things that students can work towards such as free time. Sometimes student can lose time in the Computer Lab or Art too. My next observation was on Jauary 26, 2012. It was a Math Lesson on Place Value. When I first started teaching in the school, I knew my biggest challenge would be teaching Math. I never liked Math when I was in school, so I knew I wanted to try to make it fun for my students. I didn't want them to know tha I never liked Math, because I want them to form their own opinions about school. I would hope that it will be a positive one. The question that were asked: "Does the point system work?" "When did you start it?" " What seems moree imapctful-giving points or taking pioints away?" To aswer the first question, I would say yes. The majority of my class want to earn "special things," so they try their best to follow directions. When I do class points, they seem to get upset with their class mates if they lose points for not following directions. The same thing happens when I do "team points" too. They seem to get upset when someone in their groups is not following directions and they lose points for their team. I try to encourage the class not to gt upset with each other because that can cause them to lose points too. Especially when they blame each other for losing the points. I also try to point out teams following directions too. I will give compliments, and make sure I recognize the positive behavior by making an effort to point it out before I add the points to the team. I started the point system within the first few months of school. I try to change it up every so often from team to entire class points. I think this has a significant imapct on the class as a whole because each student likes to see their group earn the most points. My next observation on January 31, 2012, was on "Fix it and Homophones." This was my Spelling lesson. During this lesson, I had the students identifying homophones, with the focus on their, they're, and there. The students had to identify the words in sentences and fix them. I aslo used sentence strips and we ended the lesson with the Spelling game Sparkle. The question that was asked: "How do you think your students would describe your classroom?" I would say that my students would describe my classroom as interesting and fun. I try to do a variety of things to help make learning fun. I try to teach using the stuents to help teach so they can undertand what they are being taught. I hope to continue making leanring fun for my students as the school year goes on.
 * || [|wsciup] Feb 10, 2012 3:15 pm

__During my observation on this day, I started out reviewing morning work. We have morning work right after our Morning Program. My schedule is listed on the board so my students know what to do as soon as they come into the classroom. My lesson for the morning was Spelling/Homophones. I started out with the Journal Entry that asked students to find the correct homophone in each sentence. We completed this as a class. We then continued with our lesson and the students were able to use the dry erase boards. Students had to listen to the sentence I said and they had to write the correct homophone in each sentence. After they listened to several sentences, we went over last night's Spelling Homework. The students were going to have a Spelling Test the next day. I was asked the question: " How is the class with other teachers?" I observe my students with different teachers because they have an Art Teacher, Library Teacher, Science, etc. I notice that some teachers they feel like they can get away with talking out or getting up out of their seat without raising their hand. Other teachers, they listen and pay attention without talking out. I just need to remeber that they are only in the second grade and sometimes they are going to make mistakes. They aren't always going to have "perfect" days. They are kids. We as teachers need to remember that. That is why I try to get them out of their seats as much as possible. __

During the lesson for this day, I did a Text Talk book. I really enjoy doing these books and the studentslike them too. When I am reading these books, I really try to get into character and change my voice to match the different characters throughout the story. After reading these books, I want my students to understand the vocabulary words that they heard from the story and understand them. For this story I had the students cut and paste different phrases underneath the correct vocabulary word. For example, I had the phrase a handmade purse.... the students had to figure out if that would go underneah creation, isolate, or disbeleif. The students seem to enjoy learning more if they are doing something active. So as I continue working on my lessons, I will try to cotinue with more hands on learning activities.

_

During this observation I did a multiplication lesson. I used teddy bear counters to help the students understand the lesson more. I found that most students caught on quickly, while others had trouble. We did this right before the multiplication test as a review. We worked with this a few times before the test. When I gave the class a problem such as 5x3 or 2x4, I wanted them to group the teddy bears according to the problem. I observed that some students flipped it. They would have three groups of five instead of five groups of three. I know most students will need more than one lesson to actually grasp the concept. ||