Lesson #1 – 3/13/2007
Coming back from Spring Break on the beach and going into the classroom to teach was a struggle – I guess this is what it will be like to come back to teaching after the long summer break. We still don’t have all of our lessons written out completely for the entire unit so this is still frustrating, I hope the unit goes well…
I was nervous about our lesson because it had been a while since I had taught in Ms. A’s class and her expectations are so high from everyone. Today we taught about economic responsibility and making good choices. I am so amazed at student responses and they never cease to amaze me. I should have anticipated their ability to answer the questions and in turn ask me complicated questions. When we discussed chores and asked the students to illustrate a chore that they do and write about it, some students responded that they don’t do chores…only if they had been raised in my house! This has to be a completely different generation from mine where the students don’t even make up their own beds or know what it’s like to clean their room. On the other extreme, many of the students had many responsibilities in their homes, the range was wide.
Overall the lesson went well, and after meeting with Ms. A, I was confident in our success. She had nothing but compliments and loved our incorporation of literature into the lesson. It felt good to have her mark of approval!
Lesson #2 – 3/15/2007
(My partner taught this lesson on her own)
Lesson #3 – 3/16/2007
Nervousness…again…I had to teach by myself! Surprisingly, it went well and I once again I underestimated student ability. Today I did a lesson on budgeting and helped students to create a mock budget of limited “tickets” that they would be able to use for their Market Day where they sell and buy items that they created with the rest of the first grade. Because of the different levels of math abilities, I was concerned as to if all the students would be able to create and work with this “budget”. Before actually creating the budget, I used a website that I learned about in a past class and it was really successful with the students. When it came to creating the budgets, I was able to further my lesson and actually have the students create math problems on the board to illustrate the purchases they would make. This was a “last minute” incorporation into the lesson but it worked well and I was able to implement something that can be used to make the lesson “cross curriculum.
Lesson #4 – 3/20/2007
I can’t get this book out of my head – “Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Saturday”. After I purchased a copy of it and used it in our first lesson, I happened to be browsing through the selection of children’s books I purchased from book orders and received as gifts from my mother (my mom mails me random books to start building a collection for her “grandchildren” – eek scary thought!), I realized I already had the book. Maybe next time I should browse what’s on my shelf. I have a problem of going out to buy new “pretty” things and resources each time I have a project or a lesson to teach. I have to snap out of that habit, teacher salaries and budgets will not allow me to do this every time I want to teach a lesson…lesson learned: use available resources before spending money! Back to getting this book out of my head, we walked in today to teach our fourth lesson and Ms. A was using the book to teach a math lesson. I am glad my choice in literature was useful in another lesson.
Anyway, once again, I was nervous again because Jen was coming to observe, I wanted our lesson to be superior J Of course, Jen didn’t get to observe the whole time because our lesson started late. And of course, on the day that Jen comes to observe, we have our first problem with classroom management. Kids like games, but kids have a hard time calming down and paying attention to directions at times too…it turned out to be okay, but still a bit frustrating. Ms. A ended up stepping in to get the children calm, thank goodness.
Once again, I am definitely an advocate of using technology – YAY for it. We used the Smart Board to have the students manipulate between jobs that provided goods and jobs that provided services. This part of the activity went well and the students had calmed down from the earlier game chaos. It was still a bit of a struggle when helping children learn the difference between goods and services because as one child put it, they were convinced that something is a good “when you can hold it in your hands” – therefore, a policeman can’t be a good. I realized that I take certain learning for granted and explaining words that I can use in common conversation to a six year old is difficult.
Lesson #5 – 3/22/2007
It’s all over…I was sad to leave the students but today was our last lesson. The stress has been alleviated and no more planning…but now onto product creating and paper writing, the not so fun part! Stress was also alleviated to see how students participated in the final discussions about the unit, as well as looking at the final assessments. I think we were successful and the students were able to make connections between our lessons and what Ms. A was teaching when we weren’t there. One thing I would have liked to change would be to make the lessons more fluid so students could make connections between each lesson to see how they all connect to economics, as opposed to separate lessons. We pulled a few of the students into a small group to complete the assessment which also proved successful. This seems to be hard to do in a real classroom with just one teacher but Ms. A has herself, an assistant, and last semester, had a student teacher. With the addition of us and occasional parent volunteers, she has a real advantage.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Observation Posts...
“Anticipation”
Observation #1 – February 22, 2007
I always feel so good walking into Ms. A’s classroom because of the greeting I get from the students. Regardless of what they are doing, they always stop what they are doing and turn around to say “GOOD MORNING MS. RICHARDSON!” The feeling is so good and so different than going into the fifth grade classroom for Reading Bloc class…the greeting is non-existent and it’s more of a stare than a smile. The student’s in Ms. A’s class are young and excited about learning and today, kept asking when I would be coming back – gotta love it!
While observing the classroom today, I was reminded of how much I admire Ms. A and her ability to maintain a stable classroom environment. She rarely has problems with classroom management, as the students are used to routine and a system set in stone for everything, so there is no question about anything. Clear management is even more apparent from last semester, as students have had more time to get adjusted. Even with the loss of a student teacher to help with teaching and assisting, management is still not a problem. A lot of this has to do with Ms. A’s “no tolerance” kind of policy, and the many years of experience she has had as a teacher. I wonder how long it really takes to have this management thing under the belt.
Meeting with Ms. A after class kinda changed my mood from feeling so loved from the student anticipation to having us back. It’s so stressful to take six classes this semester and have to find five days to teach lessons that also work out with my partner’s class schedule! We weren’t quite sure what unit topic we were going to be assigned but tried to remain flexible with her schedule and how we would fit into things. We went into the meeting thinking we were going to be teaching about women’s studies but for some reason, it was changed to economics, which Ms. A didn’t seem to be a fan of assigning us to teach. I think this had to do with wariness about it being taught in a particular way for so long, and then having to allow us to come in to teach five of the lessons. I have to say, as the teacher, I might have felt the same way. If something has worked for so long, who really wants someone else coming in to change it? I hope we can impress her and come up with some great ideas – now its my turn to be filled with anticipation, but I can’t figure out if it’s a good or bad feeling?
“My Mother?”
Observation #2 – February 23, 2007
Today I paid a lot of attention to Ms. A and everything about how she runs her classroom, how she speaks, how she teaches, how she interacts with other people, and came to the conclusion that she reminds me of my mother in all elements, scary though eh? As if both the women don’t look almost alike, they are close to the same age, and have identical personality traits that make them so similar.
Ms. A is what you could call an “old school” kind of teacher. Her voice is stern yet strong and her students take her very seriously. She is hard on her students as well as with us and our planning, but in my opinion, it’s better to have someone tell you the truth so that you can grow from it. Ms. A doesn’t play around! My mom is the same kind of teacher, and well…the same kind of mother for that matter. Her students always complain about the difficulty in her assignments and grading and she is known around the school as one of the hardest professors. But what makes a better teacher anyway – someone who is easy and nice to you all the time and doesn’t make you work hard?...I think not. I would much rather have a teacher who is hard on me and makes me work hard and utilize the skills that I know I have, or else I would never know I have them! As long as the teacher uses the right methods and tone of voice, a little chastisement and stringent policies will never hurt anyone. On the rare occasion that Ms. A has a discipline problem, the student seems to know they are “in for it” because there is absolutely no violation of Ms. A’s policies! She has high expectations which I also like, because it holds them accountable and makes them responsible on many levels.
One thing that I noticed about the students today was a slight sense of what I like to call “jitterbug syndrome”. I’ve never been to the classroom on a Friday before and the students are old enough to know what Friday means – it’s the beginning of the weekend. The energy is high and in not necessarily a positive light by all means. Anticipation on this day was not excitement about seeing Ms. Richardson – the student’s already knew what time it was…
“It’s Almost Time!”
Observation #3 & Preassessment – March 1, 2007
Today I noticed some change in the classroom in regards to decorations. Ms. A’s classroom is very supportive and conducive to the topic being taught and the room has been set up to prepare for our economics unit! There are pictures and definitions and charts everywhere, the literacy support is amazing. She always has books on display that showcase the current topics as well for students to browse through. It makes me feel happy and confident to know how supported our unit will be. At the same time, I am nervous about not knowing what Ms. A is going to be teaching about economics that will coordinate with our lessons. I hope we don’t have a lot of overlap and I hope we can stay consistent.
After observing this morning, we did our preassessment and the students were of course “all abuzz” wanting to know why we were doing this and when would we be coming back. I have to amid the preassessment wasn’t as successful as I had hoped it would be. First, we didn’t have a written copy of the lesson and now I understand why we have so much practice with writing lessons! Also, I didn’t feel like we put as much effort and planning into it, as it only covered want and needs and that’s not all the economics encompasses…guess we should get to work on writing out each lesson! Lastly, when we showed pictures of different objects for students to decipher between which were wants and which were needs. I wish my partner and I would have communicated more on this one because a picture was shown of a car and of course hands shot up in the air to argue this one out. The truth is that the only “needs” we have are food, shelter, and clothing. I was reminded that cars are not things that every family has, and there are other means of getting around. Not all of my students will have the same experiences and “luxuries” that I might have had growing up and this shows up in the classroom. I also realized that I don’t know everything, and my students will be VERY quick to correct me…
Observation #1 – February 22, 2007
I always feel so good walking into Ms. A’s classroom because of the greeting I get from the students. Regardless of what they are doing, they always stop what they are doing and turn around to say “GOOD MORNING MS. RICHARDSON!” The feeling is so good and so different than going into the fifth grade classroom for Reading Bloc class…the greeting is non-existent and it’s more of a stare than a smile. The student’s in Ms. A’s class are young and excited about learning and today, kept asking when I would be coming back – gotta love it!
While observing the classroom today, I was reminded of how much I admire Ms. A and her ability to maintain a stable classroom environment. She rarely has problems with classroom management, as the students are used to routine and a system set in stone for everything, so there is no question about anything. Clear management is even more apparent from last semester, as students have had more time to get adjusted. Even with the loss of a student teacher to help with teaching and assisting, management is still not a problem. A lot of this has to do with Ms. A’s “no tolerance” kind of policy, and the many years of experience she has had as a teacher. I wonder how long it really takes to have this management thing under the belt.
Meeting with Ms. A after class kinda changed my mood from feeling so loved from the student anticipation to having us back. It’s so stressful to take six classes this semester and have to find five days to teach lessons that also work out with my partner’s class schedule! We weren’t quite sure what unit topic we were going to be assigned but tried to remain flexible with her schedule and how we would fit into things. We went into the meeting thinking we were going to be teaching about women’s studies but for some reason, it was changed to economics, which Ms. A didn’t seem to be a fan of assigning us to teach. I think this had to do with wariness about it being taught in a particular way for so long, and then having to allow us to come in to teach five of the lessons. I have to say, as the teacher, I might have felt the same way. If something has worked for so long, who really wants someone else coming in to change it? I hope we can impress her and come up with some great ideas – now its my turn to be filled with anticipation, but I can’t figure out if it’s a good or bad feeling?
“My Mother?”
Observation #2 – February 23, 2007
Today I paid a lot of attention to Ms. A and everything about how she runs her classroom, how she speaks, how she teaches, how she interacts with other people, and came to the conclusion that she reminds me of my mother in all elements, scary though eh? As if both the women don’t look almost alike, they are close to the same age, and have identical personality traits that make them so similar.
Ms. A is what you could call an “old school” kind of teacher. Her voice is stern yet strong and her students take her very seriously. She is hard on her students as well as with us and our planning, but in my opinion, it’s better to have someone tell you the truth so that you can grow from it. Ms. A doesn’t play around! My mom is the same kind of teacher, and well…the same kind of mother for that matter. Her students always complain about the difficulty in her assignments and grading and she is known around the school as one of the hardest professors. But what makes a better teacher anyway – someone who is easy and nice to you all the time and doesn’t make you work hard?...I think not. I would much rather have a teacher who is hard on me and makes me work hard and utilize the skills that I know I have, or else I would never know I have them! As long as the teacher uses the right methods and tone of voice, a little chastisement and stringent policies will never hurt anyone. On the rare occasion that Ms. A has a discipline problem, the student seems to know they are “in for it” because there is absolutely no violation of Ms. A’s policies! She has high expectations which I also like, because it holds them accountable and makes them responsible on many levels.
One thing that I noticed about the students today was a slight sense of what I like to call “jitterbug syndrome”. I’ve never been to the classroom on a Friday before and the students are old enough to know what Friday means – it’s the beginning of the weekend. The energy is high and in not necessarily a positive light by all means. Anticipation on this day was not excitement about seeing Ms. Richardson – the student’s already knew what time it was…
“It’s Almost Time!”
Observation #3 & Preassessment – March 1, 2007
Today I noticed some change in the classroom in regards to decorations. Ms. A’s classroom is very supportive and conducive to the topic being taught and the room has been set up to prepare for our economics unit! There are pictures and definitions and charts everywhere, the literacy support is amazing. She always has books on display that showcase the current topics as well for students to browse through. It makes me feel happy and confident to know how supported our unit will be. At the same time, I am nervous about not knowing what Ms. A is going to be teaching about economics that will coordinate with our lessons. I hope we don’t have a lot of overlap and I hope we can stay consistent.
After observing this morning, we did our preassessment and the students were of course “all abuzz” wanting to know why we were doing this and when would we be coming back. I have to amid the preassessment wasn’t as successful as I had hoped it would be. First, we didn’t have a written copy of the lesson and now I understand why we have so much practice with writing lessons! Also, I didn’t feel like we put as much effort and planning into it, as it only covered want and needs and that’s not all the economics encompasses…guess we should get to work on writing out each lesson! Lastly, when we showed pictures of different objects for students to decipher between which were wants and which were needs. I wish my partner and I would have communicated more on this one because a picture was shown of a car and of course hands shot up in the air to argue this one out. The truth is that the only “needs” we have are food, shelter, and clothing. I was reminded that cars are not things that every family has, and there are other means of getting around. Not all of my students will have the same experiences and “luxuries” that I might have had growing up and this shows up in the classroom. I also realized that I don’t know everything, and my students will be VERY quick to correct me…
Monday, January 29, 2007
Teaching Metaphor
If I had to create a teaching metaphor, I would consider myself to be the maestro of a band or the director of a chorus. As the leader of this band or chorus, I hold the power to creat beautiful music, or to be the one to blame for an ear wrenching awful sounding performance. I hold the power to create something wonderful, yet can also be the downfall.
As the director, I would hold the controlling force as the "glue to hold it all together", but it would be up to band or chorus whether or not they choose to follow my directions or if they would play in their own way or style. Similarly, it is up to students how much of what I teach or say they actually internalize and use for their own understanding. As a teacher, I feel as though I am there to instruct, direct, and guide student learning, but they should have some choice in their learning as well. A chorus can still sing and a band can still play, but without a director their is chaos. In the same way, a student can still learn from their environment but need a stable figure who fosters and supports their learning and understanding. A student should, to a certain degree, have control over their learning experiences.
As a band is comprised of various instruments and a chorus of varying singing tones, a classroom is comprised of various types of students who have different attributes, abilities, and thoughts that they can contribute to the classroom. It is up to the teacher to figure out a way to blend all of these together to make the most positive experience possible for those both in the classroom, and outside the classroom. As a maestro or director selects the piece of music to be played, the teacher is responsible for presenting content material, but finding an approriate "arrangement" for this material.
Speaking in reference to both the teacher and students, both become better in their roles through practice and reinforcement, as a band or chorus does, and as the director of these does. Teachers become better as time goes on and as the develop new understanding for what is and is not effective in the classroom and students become better at their learning through homework and other forms of practice.
As the director, I would hold the controlling force as the "glue to hold it all together", but it would be up to band or chorus whether or not they choose to follow my directions or if they would play in their own way or style. Similarly, it is up to students how much of what I teach or say they actually internalize and use for their own understanding. As a teacher, I feel as though I am there to instruct, direct, and guide student learning, but they should have some choice in their learning as well. A chorus can still sing and a band can still play, but without a director their is chaos. In the same way, a student can still learn from their environment but need a stable figure who fosters and supports their learning and understanding. A student should, to a certain degree, have control over their learning experiences.
As a band is comprised of various instruments and a chorus of varying singing tones, a classroom is comprised of various types of students who have different attributes, abilities, and thoughts that they can contribute to the classroom. It is up to the teacher to figure out a way to blend all of these together to make the most positive experience possible for those both in the classroom, and outside the classroom. As a maestro or director selects the piece of music to be played, the teacher is responsible for presenting content material, but finding an approriate "arrangement" for this material.
Speaking in reference to both the teacher and students, both become better in their roles through practice and reinforcement, as a band or chorus does, and as the director of these does. Teachers become better as time goes on and as the develop new understanding for what is and is not effective in the classroom and students become better at their learning through homework and other forms of practice.
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