Miss Sam's Student Teaching Blog Introduction:My name is Samantha and I am an Early Childhood Education Major. My two student teaching placements are in Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms in a public school. I am extremely excited to take this final step in my own education and anticipate an exhausting yet rewarding experience.
January 3, 2012 Today was my first day of student teaching and I'm still shocked that it is actually happening right now! I never thought this day would come! My first placement is a Pre-K classroom and so far I absolutely love it! The teachers are great and my mentor teacher in particular is really a wonderful teacher. Her beliefs reciprocate exactly what we have been taught at Carlow.I feel extremely lucky to have a teacher that I know I can look up to and really respect because of her obvious love and enthusiasm for teaching. Today I spent my time getting to know the kids, observing, and just getting a feel for the schedule that they follow throughout the day. I was able to sit down with my mentor teacher and really get to talk with her about the next two months. After speaking with her, I feel much more comfortable. She is very encouraging and supportive and I know that she is going to be very helpful throughout my student teaching experience. I'm already excited to go back tomorrow and get more involved with the class. I look forward to getting to know each and every child and cannot wait to see what they have in store for me to learn!
January 9, 2012 My first week of student teaching has really changed my views on Pre-K classrooms. When I first found out that one of my placements was a Pre-K classroom was a little bit disappointed. In the past, I did not have great preschool experiences during observations and placements so I did not really know what to expect. Last week has really changed my views on preschool and I am really grateful for this experience. I now know what a great preschool classroom consists of.
During my first week, I used the "Supervision Summary" to guide my observations. Throughout the week, the climate was always welcoming and warm. The teacher shows evidence that she knows her students well and gives them feelings of importance. The head teacher and the teacher's aide work very well with one another. There is a mutual respect between them which is important for the children to see. Not only do they see the teacher's working collaboratively, but they are also able to see friendship and trust. The students are very interested in learning. They especially show a lot of excitement for reading! The teacher has a system going on where the students read books at home and then bring back their hand cut out with the names of the books and authors. The class then counts the books and adds them to the classroom. Currently, Mrs. G's Pre-K has read 1,599 books! It is truly amazing. The centers are engaging and there are many items that are rotated to maintain interest. Books, songs, and pictures are huge part of the curriculum. The letter of the week usually coincides with a new song that the students love to learn. Books and pictures are also shown and read that implements the letter of the week or a theme (the current them is communities). The pictures are a huge help especially when connecting the learning to the children's own lives. Open-ended questions are asked throughout the day to allow for critical thinking. Pictures and discussions also help connect the material to the real world. For example, the teacher and students hold a discussion on the various places around their neighborhood. The students are very excited to talk about the different stores they go to, parks, and fire stations that they see. The teacher is very flexible in her teaching. If a student brings in a book or something to share that she wants to incorporate, she makes sure that it is done. She also has high expectations for the students. Her first piece of advice that she gave me was "what you expect from your students is what you will get from them." She believes in her students and that is fundamental to setting up a successful classroom. There is a smooth flow throughout the days. Mrs. G always lets students know what is next. There are always transition times for the students so they can calm down and get ready to move on. During lunch and breakfast, there is always a two minute warning when it is almost time to clean up. The teacher has a set routine within the classroom that gives the students a structured atmosphere in which they feel safe and secure. Positive feedback and repsect is always given to the students. Even when the students do not make good choices, the teacher handles the matter in a respectful way and allows them the chance to fix their behavior. Before jumping into a situation that involved two students, she asks them to talk the matter out. I think this is a great technique. She has great classroom management skills and I believe it is because she respects the students and expects respect in return. I really hope to gain many of her techniques and skills throughout my experience in her classroom regarding classroom management. There is always conversations within the classroom that extend the students learning. During lunch, it is served family style with the teachers sitting at the table with the students. This allows for great conversations between the adults and children. Today, for example, I was sitting down with six of the students and we were having a great conversation about dinosaurs, which led us into talking about the museum and the different things you can find in a museum. It really was a great conversation!
I'm both excited and nervous for tomorrow. Mrs. G will be out for the day, so I will be taking charge of the classroom for most of the day (besides when the teacher's aide is doing circle time). My mentor teacher went through the various tasks and procedures that I will be doing tomorrow and I definitely feel ready. I'm just a little bit nervous about my classroom management skills. I think this will definitely be a great experience however and I'm very anxious for tomorrow to come!
January 6, 2012 I am so excited to get back in the class tomorrow. I really missed the kids! The past week has gone really well and I feel as if I'm really starting to get to know the students. This past week I did the transitions between centers which consists of a mini lesson, activity, or just a discussion. I decided that integrating physical activities into this time frame would be great for the kids, especially because they can't go outside and run some steam off. The kids really seemed to enjoy doing exercises and it went really smoothly. Because exercising went so well, I am thinking of incorporating yoga into transitons as well. I also used this time to discuss with the students what they did in their centers. Other times, I do a quick review of what they did in circle time. This week, I'm going to be making their circle time lessons into quick games for them to do for practice. This week I will also be doing morning meetings on top of transitions. Last week because the teacher was not there, I did morning meeting. I didn't do things in the exact order that the kids are used to so they definitely didn't forget to remind me what came next! I loved seeing that though because it definitely made me realize how important routine is for kids. Having a structured environment really does make the kids feel safe and if there's something that breaks that structure, they are not afraid to make that known! Hopefully tomorrow I will make them proud and keep everything in order!
January 23, 2012
I took the picture above off of Miss Katie's blog. I saw this picture and realized just how fitting it was for the day that I had today. The day started out great, however! All of the students were right on track in the morning. I was so proud of them and kept commenting on how great they were listening to the teachers and one another. However, 3rd grade came in to read to them and then as soon as they left, my preschoolers did too. Obviously, not literally, but they were definitely not the same kids that were there in the morning! This was the first time that I honestly felt like I did not know what to do and I felt like running to my cooperating teacher and yelling, "HELP!". Thankfully I didn't. I tried my very hardest to get them to quiet down and they did. Before lunch, I did a few exercises with them thinking that it would do them good to get out some of that extra energy. They did great with the exercises! However, when I asked them to sit down, I lost them. They became so loud that by the time I sat down to say, "1,2,3 eyes on me," only ONE student heard me and responded. I do not yell at my students and I don't believe in just getting louder than them to get their attention. I gave them time and waited and then finally put up my "peace and quiet" sign. Thankfully a few students saw and followed along. Pretty soon the class was able to quiet down enough that I could talk. It was definitely a defining moment for me as a future teacher because I knew at that moment I had lost control and I had to get them back. I definitely took too long thinking of something to do to quiet them down though and I know now thinking back I should have immediately turned off the lights and put up my peace and quiet sign. Even now thinking about what happened, I get very frustrated at myself. I definitely am going to try a different transition to get them to sit down. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to try asking students to sit down based on a color they are wearing.
I'm also working on small group activities this week. Today I did a sink and float activity that I think went well. I definitely need to change the end of the activity though. I have the kids all pick an object they would like to put in the water and then predict what will happen. After they place it in the water, they observe the object and what happens to it. At the end when everyone has had a turn, I had them each pick an item and then put it under either the word, "sink" or "float." This did not work out well at all. They did not care about placing it under the correct category because they were far too worried about the water. I think that tomorrow when I do the activity, I'll have them directly take the object out of the water after observing it and put it under the correct sign. I also need to work on making my small groups shorter in time. By the end, they were getting to anxious so if I can make it a little bit shorter for them, it will definitely be more effective.
There's so much that I want to work on tomorrow! My transitions, classroom management, and small group activity are some things that I will be paying special close attention to. I'm hoping that my changes will make a difference for the students!
January 31, 2012 Last week, I made a few changes to my sink and float activity and it went very smoothly. Just a small change that I implemented completely changed the experience for the better. The first time that I did the sink/float activity, I had the students take all of the objects at the end and put them (physically) under the correct category (sink or float). They did it, however, they did not seem interested and I actually lost a few students' attention. The next day, I decided to shorten my intro to sink and float to allow more time for them to experiment. I then had them individually pick and object, predict if it would sink and float, put it in the water, observe it, and then put it directly under the correct category. This lesson went so well and I could tell that they were still engaged so I told them they could either chose to go back to centers or stay at the activity and have a small "free play" with the objects and water. I simply sat back and watched them and it was so interesting! They loved it and they even took the objects and categorized them independently. I was extremely happy with the outcome of this lesson. I'm also really pleased that the lesson initially had a few "kinks" in it because I was then able to fix them and see just how much a small change can create such a huge difference.
I also did small groups with the children and created an obstacle course for them. I was not able to get to all the students last week so I will still be working on it with them this week. It actually went very well, especially for my bodily/kinesthetic learners (there's quite a few in this class). The obstacle course was set up to include jumping, rocking in a boat, riding on a tricycle, and at the end, they were to search through a small bin for a small transportation vehicle (their current theme is transportation). To go back to their center they must name the type of vehicle it is. They really seemed to enjoy this and they wehttp://carlow2012studentteaching.wikispaces.com/Samantha%27s+WikiSpace+Pagere so proud of the vehicle they found! During the day, I have them talk to the class about what type of vehicle they found and they seemed to really enjoy being able to tell the others what they did in the obstacle and what they were able to find.
This week I will also be working on gross motor. Hopefully the weather cooperates for one of the days this week because I want to take the students outside for some fresh air and exercise. I'm hoping I can take them on a walk and we can talk about the different types of vehicles they see around the neighborhood. Fingers crossed!
Samantha - Here are some resources for you that may help with transition times:
February 10, 2012 This week has been a very exhausting, yet exciting one. This was my first full week of "taking over the classroom." I didn't realize just how many things need to be taken into consideration to have the day go on smoothly. Little things like: washing hands, putting the mats out, getting the tables set all have to be done at the right time so the students aren't waiting and have enough time to get out of hand. This was also my first week of doing circle time. I did a human graph on Monday and Tuesday and the students loved it! They had so much fun just getting up out of their seats and actually being able to be a part of a graph rather than just drawing a circle or star to represent themselves. Today, we worked on moving our bodies and self-regulation by dancing to fast and slow music. I then switched it up a bit and added a freeze game into it where when the music paused they had to freeze and stand like a statue. They seemed to really like this. It took a few of the students to warm up and get moving, but eventually the whole class was dancing and laughing together. The music that I decided to use was from "Yo Gabba Gabba!" because I noticed that many of them sing some of the songs throughout the day. It definitely worked because as soon as they heard the first song they got so excited. At the end of circle time, to get them to calm back down, I had them dance to a slow song and move down until they were sitting criss-cross. I then through in meditation and had them close their eye, hold their stomachs, and breathe in through their nose and out through their mouths. This really worked so when I had them choose centers, they weren't jumping around and still in "dance mode." Today, both the head teacher and the teacher's aide were out so I was in the room with two subs. They were both familiar with the children and the classroom procedures so it helped the day go on smoothly. I was in charge of the classroom, however, so I definitely felt less pressured and I could have a little bit more freedom to get creative and try out some things for myself. I was a little nervous because I thought that the students would get out of hand with two subs in the room, but it actually went great! This was definitely a confidence booster because I feel really prepared now that I was able to take charge of the classroom and have it run smoothly. I also want to note just how great this school is! The janitor comes after school everyday to clean the classroom while the teachers and I get things ready for the next day. He knew that both of the teachers would be out today so he stopped by in the morning to give me his number incase I needed him for an emergency. It was something so small, but I appreciated it so much. Now, I really understand why its so vital to create a good relationship with the staff members within the school.
February 17, 2012 This week in small groups, we worked on ordinal numbers. I didn't realize just how hard this was going to be! I believe I changed the lesson about 3 or 4 times. I think that I finally found the best way to do it though with the students. There were many students who completely got the lesson and then some who couldn't even identify numbers which made it extremely hard. However, I now know who needs to work on identifying numbers which makes it easier because instead of focusing on ordinal numbers with them, we can practice just knowing the numbers and eventually they can move on. The first time that I taught the lesson, I did it without connecting first to 1, second to 2, etc. The lesson went okay, but I decided to add the connection of cardinal numbers to ordinal numbers. The next time that I did that, it seemed to help the students. Obviously the students having trouble identifying cardinal numbers still did not completely get it, but the students who now needed to move on to ordinal numbers started to get the connection and it began to click. I thought it was so cool to see that! Unfortunately, I won't have enough time to work on cardinal numbers with the students having trouble. When I leave, my teacher will be focusing on that with the students who need it, but I wish I could. I would LOVE to see the progression that the students make. This was definitely an eye opening experience for me. It definitely was really motivation for me though to continually change the lesson until it was the best it could be for the students. I'm also VERY thankful that I had the time to do it as well. It is so important to give the students and the teacher enough time to work on a subject and to change it until the students are ready to move on. Unfortunately, not all teachers are lucky enough to be given enough time to focus on a subject or topic for as much time as the students need and I'm sure that that it very frustrating.
February 24, 2012 I can't believe that I'm done with my first placement already! Time has flown by and I'm really sad at how fast it went. I was only with the kids for 8 weeks and I was so upset to leave them! I can't imagine what I would be like after a whole year, or two! I'm so happy that I had this experience though. I am so very thankful to have had such an amazing mentor teacher, students, school, and just pretty much everything that went along with this placement. I have learned so much from this! I went in not looking forward to preschool and came out LOVING it! There were frustrating times and some days were not always the best, but I realized that is teaching; nothing is going to go perfect, no matter how much I plan and practice. One of the most important things that I have to do is reflect and just think and know what is going wrong with the lesson, day, activity, or whatever it may be and focus on how I can fix it or make it better for the students as best as I can. Another thing that I realized is that this field is not just about teaching the students, it's about caring about them as well. Calling them by name, talking about interests, listening to them, and just giving them a warm and welcoming environment to come into is fundamental. They need to feel wanted, welcome, and loved to be able to learn. I really look forward to creating a classroom of my own that brings all of this together to make the children love coming to school and parents to feel safe and confident in my abilities to give their children this right. Now it's time to move on to kindergarten! I look forward to observing this class for the first week to see the similarities and differences between them and preschool.
March 3, 2012 My first week with the kindergarteners is over and I'm actually in shock at how different it is than what I thought it would be like. My mentor teacher is really great! She's very helpful and kind and I'm so thankful for that. The kids are great as well! The atmosphere is extremely different from the preschool. The preschool is play-based while the kindergarten is a lot more academic. There is definitely structure and routine in the preschool, but in the kindergarten it is more intense. The students begin their day by having math routines where the calendar, weather, attendance, and days of school are done. It is very structured and very academic. The students usually then move on to their "special" class (science, gym, or art). When they come back, usually we do reading for a period or two and then the students split up into various groups for focus time. Focus time is school-wide (I believe district-wide as well). All three of the K teachers, plus 3 outside assistants take a group of students (6 groups altogether) based on their reading abilities. My teacher and I have students who are struggling in reading and need a lot of support with identifying letters and the sounds that they make. It's very interesting that the school does this. There is a part of me that likes it, but a part of me that does not. The students know (even in Kindergarten) which groups are the advanced groups and which ones are not. I think that it would be more effective to have students that are proficient to help the struggling students. This may not be effective to do every day during focus time, but once in a while it may work. I also think that labeling the groups differently would help as well. They are currently labeling the groups based on color. By attaching a more "positive" name on the groups, it may help the students feel more positive as well. Overall, Kindergarten is a lot different from pre-k mainly because of the structure and academic demands put on the students. I really feel as though I will enjoy teaching Kindergarten and look forward to a great time with my teacher and students!
March 8, 20112 Getting to know this bunch of kids is so rewarding! I'm so thankful to get to know all of them because they really are a great group. I'm really excited to start doing more lessons and getting to see their likes and dislikes. This first week I did math routines in the morning. It's very structured and it's part of the curriculum for the district so it all has to be done. They seem to really take pride in their jobs when doing the various tasks. I also have an assessment checklist that I use and I find it very useful because I can then look at it and see who needs more work on what. During math routines this week, I was able to see real growth in a student this week during her job and it was very cool! I can't wait until I start teaching more lessons and being able to see the students' progress and growth throughout the weeks that I'll be there. It's such a great feeling seeing them excel after seeing the struggles that they had to go through to get there. After math routines there's usually another 20 minutes or so for an activity. Tomorrow, I'm going to work on first, second, third with the students during that time because they were having a lot of difficulties with that today. Since the students love singing and dancing, I'm incorporating the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" song into the lesson. I also have pictures of smashing peanuts, grapes, spreading the peanut butter and jelly, and eating it for them to put in order. I thought this was a cool way to do it for them since they really just love to move around and sing. I'm really excited to see how it goes tomorrow. I actually have another math lesson that I will be teaching in the afternoon. I'll be doing a human clock with them so I'm also excited about that. I'm a little nervous because they are very used to work sheets and work books and I'm trying to stay away from those as much as possible so hopefully it will go as smoothly as possible!
March 15, 2012 The topic that was given at yesterday's seminar is very fitting for today! A teacher from another grade had to borrow my teacher's classroom so we switched classrooms for a period. It was my period to teach so I thought that it wouldn't be too big of a deal to do this. We went upstairs into the different classroom and got settled in. PSSA's were going on next door so I made sure to tell them to be extra quiet in this classroom to show respect for the other students. They were doing a seasonal collage so I had them get into 4 groups of 4 or 5 and they had pictures of themselves and out of magazines to include on the collage. They were very excited to do this so it got very loud. I made sure to redirect them and to tell them to quiet down, but eventually it got very out of hand. There were some students coming up to me because their friends were not sharing, others arguing over what pictures to put on, and it just felt very loud and unorganized. I was very flustered and by showing that, I feel like I made the situation even worse. I know that in their own comfortable environment, they would not have gotten as loud as they did and because they were out of their element, it made it worse. However, I feel as though if I had been more organized and prepared in the environment, it would have went over better. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take my things up into that classroom and set up so it was a little unorganized. Being flexible is a part of being a teacher so I'm a little upset with myself with how things went. Hopefully, I'll be able to get control of the classroom more easily from now on or have a set technique to get them to pay attention to me and to actually listen to what I'm saying when they start getting too loud.
The collages actually came out wonderfully despite the curcumstances! Later in the afternoon, we made a graph as a class on what our favorite season is and it's now hanging in the hallway with our collages. Overall, the results came out great, but the process of the lesson did not go as well as I intended.
March 23, 2012 This week has gone pretty good for the most part. I have picked up reading and it's actually a really enjoyable subject to teach. I'm having fun integrating other subjects into it, especially science. I think integrating the science is so easy for right now because the theme of the unit is on plants. We're having a ton of fun with it though! We went on a nature walk and picked up item found in nature like tree bark, sticks, seeds, and flowers. They are really interested in plants so it makes it even more exciting!
I'm trying my very hardest to stay away from worksheets and I was successful at it the first few weeks of teaching, however, there are many reading lessons where my mentor teacher wants me to use worksheets so I do. I used a worksheet today and they were so bored. It almost felt pointless as well. After the worksheet we did a hands-on activity with a treasure hunt finding objects bigger than the item showed. They really loved it and it made me so excited to see them loving the activity. It made such a huge difference in the atmosphere and they're learning period. I'm really happy that my mentor teacher is supportive with activities that are really hands-on, however.
I'm really going to try and get as creative as I can even with worksheets. Maybe having them partner up or work on them in groups will make it even more interesting and help with their social skills and partner skills.
March 30, 2012 This week was my full week of teaching. I had an absolute blast! It was so much fun taking over the class! It's a lot more work than I thought, however. Time management is a HUGE part of teaching that I didn't realize! Finding time for them to just take a break for the day, bathroom, get the coats for gym, lunch, or going home, etc. It all doesn't sound like a lot, but it really is!
I really feel comfortable in front of the students now. Looking back when I was nervous to student teach seems so silly! Yes, it's a lot of work, but it's totally worth it when you're in the front of the classroom! They are a lot of fun and I think that's a huge part of teaching...having fun WITH them. I try to do this as much as I can because I know that it will make my job enjoyable as well as their job.
We had a PD on the students' half day about equity. Many of my student teaching seminars within the district focused on equity. I believe that the way the principal went about this topic, however, really hit me more than the other presenters. She really presented the topic well. Yes, many teachers within this specific urban school district are white females, however, that cannot stop teachers from being effective. It's about NOT being color blind, it's about trying to understand yourself as an educator as well as your students and being aware of your practices. The only way to begin to take the steps toward eliminating the current achievement gap between African Americans and White students is by being aware of it and yourself. I really learned a lot about myself personally during all of these seminars, but specifically this PD. I'm truly grateful for this experience because even if I am not in an urban school district in my future, I will still find this information valuable and resourceful.
April 13, 2012 Today was my culminating event. It went really great! I set up various stations on our project (Plants). The first station was seeds and they could choose one and draw a picture of what they think it will look like when it is fully grown. The second station was on the plants that the students created. They observed the plants and drew a before and after picture (what it looked like when the seed was first planted and what it looks like now.) The next station was all of the books that were read during the project. They got to explore them independently and draw pictures of their favorite book in their journals. The fourth station was sunflower pictures. The students drew a sunflower and put actual sunflower seeds in the middle of the sunflower. A few even glued sunflower seeds blowing off the flower!! The final station was were students finished up their plant poems and their KWL charts. They finished drawing the border to their poem and added more of what they learned to their chart. After the whole group was finished, they were to read their poems to each other.
This culminating event was very successful! They had a blast and it was a lot of fun because the conversations heard during this time was truly amazing! I believe that just this time to even talk with one another about the things that were learned was beneficial for the students. I had a great time and really was able to see how rich projects can get. At the end of the stations, we gathered together and discussed everything that was learned throughout the project. More questions came up during this time so I was able to see how much further this project could have gone. It was truly a great experience for myself and the students!
April 20, 2012 I cannot believe that my last week is done and over with and I'm finished with student teaching. It's amazing how fast time flew by and I was actually really sad to see it go. These kids were amazing and I'm really lucky to have met them. They have touched my life and taught me so much and for that I'm am so thankful. I'm also thankful that I was able to teach in an urban school district. I have learned so much from this experience. The main thing that I have learned is that teaching and being an effective teacher in an urban district does not mean "saving" the kids. They don't need saved! That is such a common misconception from others who have no experienced an urban school district. Yes, they deserve and need the best education possible, but many of the students come from loving homes where parents care and love their children. When I first told people I would be working in this particular district, they would make negative comments such as, "Better you than me" or "I don't know how you can do that." Some people did worse - they said nothing. It is such a shame that this kind of stigma is put on school district such as this one where many amazing teachers working with the most amazing students. Although I'm excited to graduate and become an ACTUAL certified teacher, I'm going to miss student teaching. I would not have had such a great experience if it had not been for my supervisor, mentor teachers, and other staff at my placement and Carlow and I cannot thank them enough for all that they have done for me!
Introduction:My name is Samantha and I am an Early Childhood Education Major. My two student teaching placements are in Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms in a public school. I am extremely excited to take this final step in my own education and anticipate an exhausting yet rewarding experience.
Today was my first day of student teaching and I'm still shocked that it is actually happening right now! I never thought this day would come! My first placement is a Pre-K classroom and so far I absolutely love it! The teachers are great and my mentor teacher in particular is really a wonderful teacher. Her beliefs reciprocate exactly what we have been taught at Carlow.I feel extremely lucky to have a teacher that I know I can look up to and really respect because of her obvious love and enthusiasm for teaching.
Today I spent my time getting to know the kids, observing, and just getting a feel for the schedule that they follow throughout the day. I was able to sit down with my mentor teacher and really get to talk with her about the next two months. After speaking with her, I feel much more comfortable. She is very encouraging and supportive and I know that she is going to be very helpful throughout my student teaching experience.
I'm already excited to go back tomorrow and get more involved with the class. I look forward to getting to know each and every child and cannot wait to see what they have in store for me to learn!
January 9, 2012
My first week of student teaching has really changed my views on Pre-K classrooms. When I first found out that one of my placements was a Pre-K classroom was a little bit disappointed. In the past, I did not have great preschool experiences during observations and placements so I did not really know what to expect. Last week has really changed my views on preschool and I am really grateful for this experience. I now know what a great preschool classroom consists of.
During my first week, I used the "Supervision Summary" to guide my observations.
Throughout the week, the climate was always welcoming and warm. The teacher shows evidence that she knows her students well and gives them feelings of importance. The head teacher and the teacher's aide work very well with one another. There is a mutual respect between them which is important for the children to see. Not only do they see the teacher's working collaboratively, but they are also able to see friendship and trust.
The students are very interested in learning. They especially show a lot of excitement for reading! The teacher has a system going on where the students read books at home and then bring back their hand cut out with the names of the books and authors. The class then counts the books and adds them to the classroom. Currently, Mrs. G's Pre-K has read 1,599 books! It is truly amazing. The centers are engaging and there are many items that are rotated to maintain interest. Books, songs, and pictures are huge part of the curriculum. The letter of the week usually coincides with a new song that the students love to learn. Books and pictures are also shown and read that implements the letter of the week or a theme (the current them is communities). The pictures are a huge help especially when connecting the learning to the children's own lives.
Open-ended questions are asked throughout the day to allow for critical thinking. Pictures and discussions also help connect the material to the real world. For example, the teacher and students hold a discussion on the various places around their neighborhood. The students are very excited to talk about the different stores they go to, parks, and fire stations that they see.
The teacher is very flexible in her teaching. If a student brings in a book or something to share that she wants to incorporate, she makes sure that it is done. She also has high expectations for the students. Her first piece of advice that she gave me was "what you expect from your students is what you will get from them." She believes in her students and that is fundamental to setting up a successful classroom.
There is a smooth flow throughout the days. Mrs. G always lets students know what is next. There are always transition times for the students so they can calm down and get ready to move on. During lunch and breakfast, there is always a two minute warning when it is almost time to clean up. The teacher has a set routine within the classroom that gives the students a structured atmosphere in which they feel safe and secure.
Positive feedback and repsect is always given to the students. Even when the students do not make good choices, the teacher handles the matter in a respectful way and allows them the chance to fix their behavior. Before jumping into a situation that involved two students, she asks them to talk the matter out. I think this is a great technique. She has great classroom management skills and I believe it is because she respects the students and expects respect in return. I really hope to gain many of her techniques and skills throughout my experience in her classroom regarding classroom management.
There is always conversations within the classroom that extend the students learning. During lunch, it is served family style with the teachers sitting at the table with the students. This allows for great conversations between the adults and children. Today, for example, I was sitting down with six of the students and we were having a great conversation about dinosaurs, which led us into talking about the museum and the different things you can find in a museum. It really was a great conversation!
I'm both excited and nervous for tomorrow. Mrs. G will be out for the day, so I will be taking charge of the classroom for most of the day (besides when the teacher's aide is doing circle time). My mentor teacher went through the various tasks and procedures that I will be doing tomorrow and I definitely feel ready. I'm just a little bit nervous about my classroom management skills. I think this will definitely be a great experience however and I'm very anxious for tomorrow to come!
January 6, 2012
I am so excited to get back in the class tomorrow. I really missed the kids! The past week has gone really well and I feel as if I'm really starting to get to know the students. This past week I did the transitions between centers which consists of a mini lesson, activity, or just a discussion. I decided that integrating physical activities into this time frame would be great for the kids, especially because they can't go outside and run some steam off. The kids really seemed to enjoy doing exercises and it went really smoothly. Because exercising went so well, I am thinking of incorporating yoga into transitons as well. I also used this time to discuss with the students what they did in their centers. Other times, I do a quick review of what they did in circle time. This week, I'm going to be making their circle time lessons into quick games for them to do for practice. This week I will also be doing morning meetings on top of transitions. Last week because the teacher was not there, I did morning meeting. I didn't do things in the exact order that the kids are used to so they definitely didn't forget to remind me what came next! I loved seeing that though because it definitely made me realize how important routine is for kids. Having a structured environment really does make the kids feel safe and if there's something that breaks that structure, they are not afraid to make that known! Hopefully tomorrow I will make them proud and keep everything in order!
January 23, 2012
I took the picture above off of Miss Katie's blog. I saw this picture and realized just how fitting it was for the day that I had today. The day started out great, however! All of the students were right on track in the morning. I was so proud of them and kept commenting on how great they were listening to the teachers and one another. However, 3rd grade came in to read to them and then as soon as they left, my preschoolers did too. Obviously, not literally, but they were definitely not the same kids that were there in the morning! This was the first time that I honestly felt like I did not know what to do and I felt like running to my cooperating teacher and yelling, "HELP!". Thankfully I didn't. I tried my very hardest to get them to quiet down and they did. Before lunch, I did a few exercises with them thinking that it would do them good to get out some of that extra energy. They did great with the exercises! However, when I asked them to sit down, I lost them. They became so loud that by the time I sat down to say, "1,2,3 eyes on me," only ONE student heard me and responded. I do not yell at my students and I don't believe in just getting louder than them to get their attention. I gave them time and waited and then finally put up my "peace and quiet" sign. Thankfully a few students saw and followed along. Pretty soon the class was able to quiet down enough that I could talk. It was definitely a defining moment for me as a future teacher because I knew at that moment I had lost control and I had to get them back. I definitely took too long thinking of something to do to quiet them down though and I know now thinking back I should have immediately turned off the lights and put up my peace and quiet sign. Even now thinking about what happened, I get very frustrated at myself. I definitely am going to try a different transition to get them to sit down. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to try asking students to sit down based on a color they are wearing.
I'm also working on small group activities this week. Today I did a sink and float activity that I think went well. I definitely need to change the end of the activity though. I have the kids all pick an object they would like to put in the water and then predict what will happen. After they place it in the water, they observe the object and what happens to it. At the end when everyone has had a turn, I had them each pick an item and then put it under either the word, "sink" or "float." This did not work out well at all. They did not care about placing it under the correct category because they were far too worried about the water. I think that tomorrow when I do the activity, I'll have them directly take the object out of the water after observing it and put it under the correct sign. I also need to work on making my small groups shorter in time. By the end, they were getting to anxious so if I can make it a little bit shorter for them, it will definitely be more effective.
There's so much that I want to work on tomorrow! My transitions, classroom management, and small group activity are some things that I will be paying special close attention to. I'm hoping that my changes will make a difference for the students!
January 31, 2012
Last week, I made a few changes to my sink and float activity and it went very smoothly. Just a small change that I implemented completely changed the experience for the better. The first time that I did the sink/float activity, I had the students take all of the objects at the end and put them (physically) under the correct category (sink or float). They did it, however, they did not seem interested and I actually lost a few students' attention. The next day, I decided to shorten my intro to sink and float to allow more time for them to experiment. I then had them individually pick and object, predict if it would sink and float, put it in the water, observe it, and then put it directly under the correct category. This lesson went so well and I could tell that they were still engaged so I told them they could either chose to go back to centers or stay at the activity and have a small "free play" with the objects and water. I simply sat back and watched them and it was so interesting! They loved it and they even took the objects and categorized them independently. I was extremely happy with the outcome of this lesson. I'm also really pleased that the lesson initially had a few "kinks" in it because I was then able to fix them and see just how much a small change can create such a huge difference.
I also did small groups with the children and created an obstacle course for them. I was not able to get to all the students last week so I will still be working on it with them this week. It actually went very well, especially for my bodily/kinesthetic learners (there's quite a few in this class). The obstacle course was set up to include jumping, rocking in a boat, riding on a tricycle, and at the end, they were to search through a small bin for a small transportation vehicle (their current theme is transportation). To go back to their center they must name the type of vehicle it is. They really seemed to enjoy this and they wehttp://carlow2012studentteaching.wikispaces.com/Samantha%27s+WikiSpace+Pagere so proud of the vehicle they found! During the day, I have them talk to the class about what type of vehicle they found and they seemed to really enjoy being able to tell the others what they did in the obstacle and what they were able to find.
This week I will also be working on gross motor. Hopefully the weather cooperates for one of the days this week because I want to take the students outside for some fresh air and exercise. I'm hoping I can take them on a walk and we can talk about the different types of vehicles they see around the neighborhood. Fingers crossed!
Samantha - Here are some resources for you that may help with transition times:
I thought of you with this youtube clip!
February 10, 2012
This week has been a very exhausting, yet exciting one. This was my first full week of "taking over the classroom." I didn't realize just how many things need to be taken into consideration to have the day go on smoothly. Little things like: washing hands, putting the mats out, getting the tables set all have to be done at the right time so the students aren't waiting and have enough time to get out of hand. This was also my first week of doing circle time. I did a human graph on Monday and Tuesday and the students loved it! They had so much fun just getting up out of their seats and actually being able to be a part of a graph rather than just drawing a circle or star to represent themselves. Today, we worked on moving our bodies and self-regulation by dancing to fast and slow music. I then switched it up a bit and added a freeze game into it where when the music paused they had to freeze and stand like a statue. They seemed to really like this. It took a few of the students to warm up and get moving, but eventually the whole class was dancing and laughing together. The music that I decided to use was from "Yo Gabba Gabba!" because I noticed that many of them sing some of the songs throughout the day. It definitely worked because as soon as they heard the first song they got so excited. At the end of circle time, to get them to calm back down, I had them dance to a slow song and move down until they were sitting criss-cross. I then through in meditation and had them close their eye, hold their stomachs, and breathe in through their nose and out through their mouths. This really worked so when I had them choose centers, they weren't jumping around and still in "dance mode."
Today, both the head teacher and the teacher's aide were out so I was in the room with two subs. They were both familiar with the children and the classroom procedures so it helped the day go on smoothly. I was in charge of the classroom, however, so I definitely felt less pressured and I could have a little bit more freedom to get creative and try out some things for myself. I was a little nervous because I thought that the students would get out of hand with two subs in the room, but it actually went great! This was definitely a confidence booster because I feel really prepared now that I was able to take charge of the classroom and have it run smoothly.
I also want to note just how great this school is! The janitor comes after school everyday to clean the classroom while the teachers and I get things ready for the next day. He knew that both of the teachers would be out today so he stopped by in the morning to give me his number incase I needed him for an emergency. It was something so small, but I appreciated it so much. Now, I really understand why its so vital to create a good relationship with the staff members within the school.
February 17, 2012
This week in small groups, we worked on ordinal numbers. I didn't realize just how hard this was going to be! I believe I changed the lesson about 3 or 4 times. I think that I finally found the best way to do it though with the students. There were many students who completely got the lesson and then some who couldn't even identify numbers which made it extremely hard. However, I now know who needs to work on identifying numbers which makes it easier because instead of focusing on ordinal numbers with them, we can practice just knowing the numbers and eventually they can move on. The first time that I taught the lesson, I did it without connecting first to 1, second to 2, etc. The lesson went okay, but I decided to add the connection of cardinal numbers to ordinal numbers. The next time that I did that, it seemed to help the students. Obviously the students having trouble identifying cardinal numbers still did not completely get it, but the students who now needed to move on to ordinal numbers started to get the connection and it began to click. I thought it was so cool to see that! Unfortunately, I won't have enough time to work on cardinal numbers with the students having trouble. When I leave, my teacher will be focusing on that with the students who need it, but I wish I could. I would LOVE to see the progression that the students make. This was definitely an eye opening experience for me. It definitely was really motivation for me though to continually change the lesson until it was the best it could be for the students. I'm also VERY thankful that I had the time to do it as well. It is so important to give the students and the teacher enough time to work on a subject and to change it until the students are ready to move on. Unfortunately, not all teachers are lucky enough to be given enough time to focus on a subject or topic for as much time as the students need and I'm sure that that it very frustrating.
February 24, 2012
I can't believe that I'm done with my first placement already! Time has flown by and I'm really sad at how fast it went. I was only with the kids for 8 weeks and I was so upset to leave them! I can't imagine what I would be like after a whole year, or two! I'm so happy that I had this experience though. I am so very thankful to have had such an amazing mentor teacher, students, school, and just pretty much everything that went along with this placement. I have learned so much from this! I went in not looking forward to preschool and came out LOVING it! There were frustrating times and some days were not always the best, but I realized that is teaching; nothing is going to go perfect, no matter how much I plan and practice. One of the most important things that I have to do is reflect and just think and know what is going wrong with the lesson, day, activity, or whatever it may be and focus on how I can fix it or make it better for the students as best as I can. Another thing that I realized is that this field is not just about teaching the students, it's about caring about them as well. Calling them by name, talking about interests, listening to them, and just giving them a warm and welcoming environment to come into is fundamental. They need to feel wanted, welcome, and loved to be able to learn. I really look forward to creating a classroom of my own that brings all of this together to make the children love coming to school and parents to feel safe and confident in my abilities to give their children this right.
Now it's time to move on to kindergarten! I look forward to observing this class for the first week to see the similarities and differences between them and preschool.
March 3, 2012
My first week with the kindergarteners is over and I'm actually in shock at how different it is than what I thought it would be like. My mentor teacher is really great! She's very helpful and kind and I'm so thankful for that. The kids are great as well! The atmosphere is extremely different from the preschool. The preschool is play-based while the kindergarten is a lot more academic. There is definitely structure and routine in the preschool, but in the kindergarten it is more intense. The students begin their day by having math routines where the calendar, weather, attendance, and days of school are done. It is very structured and very academic. The students usually then move on to their "special" class (science, gym, or art). When they come back, usually we do reading for a period or two and then the students split up into various groups for focus time. Focus time is school-wide (I believe district-wide as well). All three of the K teachers, plus 3 outside assistants take a group of students (6 groups altogether) based on their reading abilities. My teacher and I have students who are struggling in reading and need a lot of support with identifying letters and the sounds that they make. It's very interesting that the school does this. There is a part of me that likes it, but a part of me that does not. The students know (even in Kindergarten) which groups are the advanced groups and which ones are not. I think that it would be more effective to have students that are proficient to help the struggling students. This may not be effective to do every day during focus time, but once in a while it may work. I also think that labeling the groups differently would help as well. They are currently labeling the groups based on color. By attaching a more "positive" name on the groups, it may help the students feel more positive as well.
Overall, Kindergarten is a lot different from pre-k mainly because of the structure and academic demands put on the students. I really feel as though I will enjoy teaching Kindergarten and look forward to a great time with my teacher and students!
March 8, 20112
Getting to know this bunch of kids is so rewarding! I'm so thankful to get to know all of them because they really are a great group. I'm really excited to start doing more lessons and getting to see their likes and dislikes. This first week I did math routines in the morning. It's very structured and it's part of the curriculum for the district so it all has to be done. They seem to really take pride in their jobs when doing the various tasks. I also have an assessment checklist that I use and I find it very useful because I can then look at it and see who needs more work on what. During math routines this week, I was able to see real growth in a student this week during her job and it was very cool! I can't wait until I start teaching more lessons and being able to see the students' progress and growth throughout the weeks that I'll be there. It's such a great feeling seeing them excel after seeing the struggles that they had to go through to get there.
After math routines there's usually another 20 minutes or so for an activity. Tomorrow, I'm going to work on first, second, third with the students during that time because they were having a lot of difficulties with that today. Since the students love singing and dancing, I'm incorporating the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" song into the lesson. I also have pictures of smashing peanuts, grapes, spreading the peanut butter and jelly, and eating it for them to put in order. I thought this was a cool way to do it for them since they really just love to move around and sing. I'm really excited to see how it goes tomorrow. I actually have another math lesson that I will be teaching in the afternoon. I'll be doing a human clock with them so I'm also excited about that. I'm a little nervous because they are very used to work sheets and work books and I'm trying to stay away from those as much as possible so hopefully it will go as smoothly as possible!
March 15, 2012
The topic that was given at yesterday's seminar is very fitting for today! A teacher from another grade had to borrow my teacher's classroom so we switched classrooms for a period. It was my period to teach so I thought that it wouldn't be too big of a deal to do this. We went upstairs into the different classroom and got settled in. PSSA's were going on next door so I made sure to tell them to be extra quiet in this classroom to show respect for the other students. They were doing a seasonal collage so I had them get into 4 groups of 4 or 5 and they had pictures of themselves and out of magazines to include on the collage. They were very excited to do this so it got very loud. I made sure to redirect them and to tell them to quiet down, but eventually it got very out of hand. There were some students coming up to me because their friends were not sharing, others arguing over what pictures to put on, and it just felt very loud and unorganized. I was very flustered and by showing that, I feel like I made the situation even worse. I know that in their own comfortable environment, they would not have gotten as loud as they did and because they were out of their element, it made it worse. However, I feel as though if I had been more organized and prepared in the environment, it would have went over better. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take my things up into that classroom and set up so it was a little unorganized. Being flexible is a part of being a teacher so I'm a little upset with myself with how things went. Hopefully, I'll be able to get control of the classroom more easily from now on or have a set technique to get them to pay attention to me and to actually listen to what I'm saying when they start getting too loud.
The collages actually came out wonderfully despite the curcumstances! Later in the afternoon, we made a graph as a class on what our favorite season is and it's now hanging in the hallway with our collages. Overall, the results came out great, but the process of the lesson did not go as well as I intended.
March 23, 2012
This week has gone pretty good for the most part. I have picked up reading and it's actually a really enjoyable subject to teach. I'm having fun integrating other subjects into it, especially science. I think integrating the science is so easy for right now because the theme of the unit is on plants. We're having a ton of fun with it though! We went on a nature walk and picked up item found in nature like tree bark, sticks, seeds, and flowers. They are really interested in plants so it makes it even more exciting!
I'm trying my very hardest to stay away from worksheets and I was successful at it the first few weeks of teaching, however, there are many reading lessons where my mentor teacher wants me to use worksheets so I do. I used a worksheet today and they were so bored. It almost felt pointless as well. After the worksheet we did a hands-on activity with a treasure hunt finding objects bigger than the item showed. They really loved it and it made me so excited to see them loving the activity. It made such a huge difference in the atmosphere and they're learning period. I'm really happy that my mentor teacher is supportive with activities that are really hands-on, however.
I'm really going to try and get as creative as I can even with worksheets. Maybe having them partner up or work on them in groups will make it even more interesting and help with their social skills and partner skills.
March 30, 2012
This week was my full week of teaching. I had an absolute blast! It was so much fun taking over the class! It's a lot more work than I thought, however. Time management is a HUGE part of teaching that I didn't realize! Finding time for them to just take a break for the day, bathroom, get the coats for gym, lunch, or going home, etc. It all doesn't sound like a lot, but it really is!
I really feel comfortable in front of the students now. Looking back when I was nervous to student teach seems so silly! Yes, it's a lot of work, but it's totally worth it when you're in the front of the classroom! They are a lot of fun and I think that's a huge part of teaching...having fun WITH them. I try to do this as much as I can because I know that it will make my job enjoyable as well as their job.
We had a PD on the students' half day about equity. Many of my student teaching seminars within the district focused on equity. I believe that the way the principal went about this topic, however, really hit me more than the other presenters. She really presented the topic well. Yes, many teachers within this specific urban school district are white females, however, that cannot stop teachers from being effective. It's about NOT being color blind, it's about trying to understand yourself as an educator as well as your students and being aware of your practices. The only way to begin to take the steps toward eliminating the current achievement gap between African Americans and White students is by being aware of it and yourself. I really learned a lot about myself personally during all of these seminars, but specifically this PD. I'm truly grateful for this experience because even if I am not in an urban school district in my future, I will still find this information valuable and resourceful.
April 13, 2012
Today was my culminating event. It went really great! I set up various stations on our project (Plants). The first station was seeds and they could choose one and draw a picture of what they think it will look like when it is fully grown. The second station was on the plants that the students created. They observed the plants and drew a before and after picture (what it looked like when the seed was first planted and what it looks like now.) The next station was all of the books that were read during the project. They got to explore them independently and draw pictures of their favorite book in their journals. The fourth station was sunflower pictures. The students drew a sunflower and put actual sunflower seeds in the middle of the sunflower. A few even glued sunflower seeds blowing off the flower!! The final station was were students finished up their plant poems and their KWL charts. They finished drawing the border to their poem and added more of what they learned to their chart. After the whole group was finished, they were to read their poems to each other.
This culminating event was very successful! They had a blast and it was a lot of fun because the conversations heard during this time was truly amazing! I believe that just this time to even talk with one another about the things that were learned was beneficial for the students. I had a great time and really was able to see how rich projects can get. At the end of the stations, we gathered together and discussed everything that was learned throughout the project. More questions came up during this time so I was able to see how much further this project could have gone. It was truly a great experience for myself and the students!
April 20, 2012
I cannot believe that my last week is done and over with and I'm finished with student teaching. It's amazing how fast time flew by and I was actually really sad to see it go. These kids were amazing and I'm really lucky to have met them. They have touched my life and taught me so much and for that I'm am so thankful.
I'm also thankful that I was able to teach in an urban school district. I have learned so much from this experience. The main thing that I have learned is that teaching and being an effective teacher in an urban district does not mean "saving" the kids. They don't need saved! That is such a common misconception from others who have no experienced an urban school district. Yes, they deserve and need the best education possible, but many of the students come from loving homes where parents care and love their children. When I first told people I would be working in this particular district, they would make negative comments such as, "Better you than me" or "I don't know how you can do that." Some people did worse - they said nothing. It is such a shame that this kind of stigma is put on school district such as this one where many amazing teachers working with the most amazing students.
Although I'm excited to graduate and become an ACTUAL certified teacher, I'm going to miss student teaching. I would not have had such a great experience if it had not been for my supervisor, mentor teachers, and other staff at my placement and Carlow and I cannot thank them enough for all that they have done for me!