Where did Monday go??

Well I have added math to my language arts and morning meeting. Now I have almost the entire day. Our school alternates a unit of social studies with a unit of science, so the only thing I have left to add is science/social studies. Monday is our busy day anyway, but yesterday I had my first observation and we had vision screening. I don't even know where the day went!! The observation went pretty well. I was a little frustrated because I had been trying to use the SMART board instead of the overhead. However, I couldn't get all of them to work and then I couldn't find one. It was maybe not the best day to try that differently. Oh well.

Now our school counselor is doing a character lesson with the kids. She is an interesting lady. One of the first days I was here, she had on a dress that was far too revealing in the chest area. She also does these presentations for the kids. I think she tries to make them interesting, but they are pretty juvenile-below their level even. She reminds me of someone presenting a character lesson that was required in freshman year of college. She also calls them "guys" all the time, which drives me nuts!

I am feeling much more comfortable in the school. I have some teachers that I usually eat lunch with and we chat about lessons and students. It is a nice time of the day. I can't wait to have my very own classroom!

Assessment asseschmeshment

All week we have been reading a story about a girl who is deaf. We have had vocabulary words like deaf, signing, language, cultures, and celebrate. They can parrot the meanings back to me and use them in a sentence, however they cannot seem to circle the definition on a piece of paper. We have been concentrating on the main idea and details of the story. Not only did we practice this strategy on another piece of writing, but we have done it (together) twice. However, today on our selection test about 40% of the class still did not know what the main idea of the story was-even though I flat out told them as a reminder before the test!!! ARGH. It is so frustrating to try to be a reflective practitioner when you know that you have given them all the tools to be successful and they decided to go out to lunch instead. Maybe tomorrow I will have to try beating it into them. :)

My teacher had to leave early today for an appointment. We had our fifth grade reading buddies, so there was still another teacher in the room. But I did them ready, sang their goodbye song, and sent them out the door all by myself. Now I have as much time as I need, alone, in an empty classroom with technology at my disposal. I can't wait to have my own classroom!

Weary Bleary

What a day! I have worked the last two nights and I am getting stretched. It was a little rough getting out of bed this morning. However, I was revived when I was doing our morning meeting this morning and one of the girls said, "Mrs. (teacher) I think Miss Smith is ready to just be a teacher now." That pretty much made my day.
Yesterday I had to break out the tough love when we had a conversation about rules on the playground. One of them that we discussed in detail was the fact that when the bell rings, you run for the line. There is no stopping for any more playing, just get to the line. So lunch recess yesterday I was waiting at the door when the bell rang. I gave a five minute penalty (from our fun activity every Friday) to six kids! I was so mad, they know better. Then today coming in from recess we had another type of incident. Two of our students were caught holding hands during reading today. Then we were told that they were kissing on the playground. My teacher pulled them out into the hall to discuss with them the fact that kissing is just not something that is appropriate in school. She asked them what they had been doing and the girl looked at the boy and said, "Do you remember what we were doing??" Then the boy said to her, "Ok, I'll be the one to tell her." I don't know how she could even keep a straight face...haha!
We have a new student which I cannot quite put my finger on. She came to our classroom on the same Monday that I did. She is an ELL student. However, I honestly believe that she functions at a higher level than she prefers to reveal or work at. At times you give her directions and she will just stare at you like she has no idea. I do believe that she knows much more than she shows. It is quite frustrating. Today I tested her on sight words and out of 72 words, she missed 40! I just don't know where to start with her because I am having a difficult time diagnosing what would benefit her the most. Hmm...

Solo Monday

I am so excited about today! Although it is too bad that my teacher has to be gone for medical reasons, I got to pick the kids up by myself this morning. I got them from outside, did our warm up and attendance and then took them to music. It may seem small, but it was a very big step for me. Also, this afternoon there is a grade level meeting to set goals for the next school year. The principal has agreed that I do not need to be there, but still insists on hiring a sub for my teacher, even though she will still be in the building. So I will be teaching all afternoon while she is at that. I do feel bad for the sub though, they will just be sitting and watching while I teach.

Taking the reins

Well starting Monday I will finally be teaching something! I will start with spelling and then work my way up to teaching all of the subjects. Next week spelling is mine! My supervising teaching is a crazy organizer though, so I will probably drive her crazy! She has her lesson plans finished up through the next unit!! It is probably just driving her bonkers that she doesn't have my lesson plans for next week yet. hehe. For the remainder of the week I will be working on finishing the individual reading assessments. The first few were much easier because as the students reading level progresses, the evaluation also gets progressively more difficult. However, to save time we have the students dictate and I scribe. Well I am getting tired of reading these little stories with no point and writing all of the students answers. I am a little over half way done.
Last night I experienced my first staff meeting. I am not sure if this is a practice that is district-wide or just within my school, but every month one of the grades is to prepare a presentation on a topic that is important to current education. I felt like I was back in freshman year speech class. The kindergarten teachers prepared a presentation on communication. I didn't learn much. I have a feeling that they will continue to be much of the same. Oh well. Then I got to be a part of setting the two main goals for this academic year for our school's impovement plan. That was pretty exciting. We will be working on who, what, where, why question and comparing and contrasting for reading. For math our focus will be telling time and creating and solving an equation for a story problem.

Tonight I am so excited to be getting together with my cohorts from my final education class. We spent nine hours a day together all last spring and now we have been separated since then. We shall have a beer and tell stories of our student teaching time thus far!

Student teaching here I come!

Well I have officially begun student teaching. I will be in this placement for appoximately 12 weeks. I am in second grade at Cleveland Elementary. I will use this blog site to document, vent, and invent my student teaching experience. Although I will discuss my students, their identities (and those of fellow teachers) will be protected.
Today is day two of my student teaching and I am bored! For about the first week or so I will only be observing. This is frustrating due to the fact that I have been observing teachers for four years now. I am ready to jump in and teach a class! Today is especially strange because my teacher has a substitute. He is from England and he talks funny! :) At least he is actually an educator with a degree though. It is strange for me to sit back and not lead the class with a sub. Hopefully soon I will be able to begin actual teaching and planning lessons!