Deeteacher's · Journal

 

This is my second to the last week and my schoolwork is piling up.  I only have one school day to report on in this post.  I taught lightening fast language arts again. When I had the kids write answers to comprehension questions they were writing nonsense.  It’s obvious that they haven’t had their work checked in a while.  I walked around and checked the papers and started to correct one by one.  I announced to the whole class that I would be checking their work and they need to make sense.  The answers started to get better.  I still had to go to each child and correct.  Even then I had to revisit to make sure they made the changes that I expected.  It was very frustrating.  The day went by very quickly because it was a minimum day.  We got a few minutes for social studies but not enough to answer questions that I had ready.  I feel like I’m always on a speeding train.  Well I jump off in a week.

 

Testing begins this week.  The kids tested two full days, Monday and Tuesday.  The state gives the teachers two weeks to spread the testing and my teacher wanted to get it over with in the first two days.  She was going out of town, and wanted to make sure it wasn’t hanging over anyones’s head.  It was pretty tough on the kids, but at least it was over quick.  I was finally able to have the class to myself and enjoyed it.  The kids were chatty but wel behaved.  We got a lot done and were able to start the social studies unit on Friday.  They liked the powerpoint presentation but not the realia.  I brought in some items that had been mothballed., that my husband used for Civil war reenactments.  It still had the moth ball smell on it and the kids went crazy.  They were throwing it around, refused to touch it, pulled their shirts over their faces, and one girl had to go to the nurse.  I was in shock.  It seems that if this class does anything besides sit in their chairs and get talked at they go bonkers.  I try to introduce interesting things but they keep overreacting and it gets very hard.  They did ok with the art lesson.  They like to draw and it was a lesson to make a quilt of different lines.  They are going to use these folders to hold their social studies papers.

 Week 5

I had   

I had watched the forecast and knew that it would be too hot for outdoor activity.  The school announced that outdoor P.E. was cancelled for the rest of the day.  I was prepared with a classroom activity on healthy food choices.  I brought in magazines and newspaper ads (grocery flyers).  I printed the attached handouts from the American Heart Association website, which is an excellent resource for healthy materials.  I led a discussion about healthy choices and asked the students if they knew what made foods healthy or not.  We talked a little about fatty or sugary foods.  I passed out the materials and asked them to choose healthy foods and make a collage with their choices.  I was very surprised that all but one of the collages was entirely healthy foods.  One of the collages had cookies and sugary snacks, so one table group was a little off.  We talked about why they thought they were healthy and they said they just wanted more pictures on the collage, because they didn’t have that much.  Apparantly they thought the objective was to fill the page rather than select healthy food.  Next time I will be more clear.  Also, I didn’t have enough material for all of the table groups.  I thought I had brought a lot, but it was spread pretty thin.  I can understand how the students lost sight of the objective, because they were frustrated with only a few pictures on their paper.  Some of the groups settled for few and accurate.

            Since some of the collages were sparse, I decided to cut the letters S M A R T with them and post that on the bulletin board.  It looks cute.  I had to cut the R backward, though (like in Toys R us).                        The students did a good job cutting and finding items.  They were well behaved and on task.  Except for the few students who were frustrated by a lack of pictures to choose from, the class behaved very well.  Next time I will make sure I have plenty of magazine and newspaper ads.

 

 

This week the math continues to go very well, the teacher gives me plenty of time and I am able to add activities.  I have also made the time to come up with some ways to make the social studies more interesting but time is a problem.  The daily schedule is a little fluid.  If language arts runs over into math, then math runs over into social studies and the time is squeezed.  I need to start my unit but I need to finish this unit for the teacher first.  I’m trying to find a way to consolidate the big ideas from the lessons and make a couple of consolidated lessons, but she wants each lesson assessed individually. So, muddling on.  I started using the Elmo to teach math and it is helpful. The class is set up for transparencies on overhead so it is a little awkward to use the Elmo projector.  The kids really liked it especially it being dark in the room.  The kids could write on the board on the projection and it worked pretty well.  I used a technique I heard at Rick Morris’ seminar on Thursday.  When I called on the students about their homework, I just said thank you and took about 6 answers each time.  Since the teacher only gave me 5 minutes to introduce a new topic before recess, I decided all we could do was look at the homework from the night before, which was a check what you now.  So it was the perfect time to try the technique.  They were confused a little, but almost everyone’s hand started to shoot up to volunteer an answer.  It was great. When they finally asked what was right, I said we would talk about it after recess.  I will also use the cards and squeaky toy from the seminar. I loved the seminar. Morris is great and so inspiring.

 

The teacher recommended making two copies of the lesson’s assessment (from the book).  As we discuss the lesson the students fill in the assessment as a study guide.  They then take home the study guide and we give them the assessment in class.  So they have already filled it in and studied it.  Even still only about half of the class are proficient at this.  I will start to dig a little more and find out where the issues are.  I would think that an average fourth grader who participates in class, makes correct entries on the form, and studies the form at home, would pass the test.  I feel badly that this is the progression.  However, I take some responsibility here as well.  The lessons are boring. I’m trying to make them interesting but since I am designing my units for social studies, art and PE, I don’t have time to trick out all the lessons I am teaching until my unit begins.  California history is not my strong suit, either. When I design my unit, it makes me very aware that the students need activities that are interesting.  I do feel like I am getting a sense of what strategies work and what doesn’t.  We read the text together and I tried to lead a discussion on it.  It was like dragging a horse.  They just couldn’t answer questions from the reading and weren’t even into the discussion.  I tried to be mindful of not doing all the talking but there was too much dead time. I am trying to make time to look ahead to come up with some interesting lessons. Chronologically I have to get through these next lessons until I start my unit.  The teacher suggests I play a Jeopardy style quiz game to review facts with the kids.  They love the points. But it’s a few students doing all the work.  I want to make sure that I am reaching all the kids.

            On the other hand math is going really well.  The teacher also is letting me teach math.  Since I know the material so well, it’s easy to come up with interesting activities to boost the curriculum.  During the lesson on metric measurement I brought in all sorts of ways to measure length, capacity, and mass.  Each of the three table groups made measurements in each area capacity, mass, and length.  They all experimented with equivalents and what they could measure in the classroom with their systems.  They all came back and wrote on the board the units they used and the samples they took.  They did very well on their assessment.  I can see how being proficient in a subject makes it easier to come up with activities on the spur of the moment to enhance the lesson, whereas in other areas it takes longer planning.

 

This is a fourth grade class which has had two long term substitute teachers for four months.  Their regular teacher is just returning this week. The class is very well behaved.  They have been very respectful of the subs, their teacher and me.  The teacher had back surgery and is still in pain and moderate loss of motion.  The students are curious about her surgery and she is forthcoming with details. 

            Within the class there is a wide range of abilities from gifted to two years below grade level.  The teacher has great rapport with the students.  She has a lot of enthusiasm and clearly loves what she does.  She maintains high expectations and wants the students to have fun while learning.

            At first the teacher was reluctant to give me time teaching because she wanted to reestablish herself in the classroom first.  She wanted the students to adjust to her before they consider me.  I respect her position. She is deeply concerned for the students and that is admirable.  She actually let me teach one lesson on her second day back so she feels comfortable with me. 

            I taught social studies on Wednesday and Friday.  I followed the Scott Foresman curriculum pretty closely.  She didn’t let me know that I was teaching until that morning so I wasn’t prepared.  I reviewed the material while the teacher was teaching Language Arts. 

            The lesson was about early California history.  This particular section talked about the mission’s purpose, location, and operations.  First I had the students close their eyes and imagine it was 1700’s early California.  I described the scenery and features of the time.  Then I asked them if they had to move, how would they choose where to go.  We talked about resources at the time.  The students came up with the same conclusions as the Spanish settling their missions, with the exceptions of being close to Native American populations to provide labor. Then we started talking about the Spanish. The students were engaged and their assessment showed that about half the class understood the material and about half didn’t.  Pacing is my biggest challenge. The Social studies part of the day gets squeezed so I have less that the planned time to deliver the lesson. I am trying to focus on the main idea and not get lost in the details.  Coincidentally, in my Masters course we are learning about “backward planning”.  This idea includes lesson development based on objectives and desired outcomes and then planning the activities to bring about those objectives.  I’ll use this style in my unit, but for the time being, it’s frustrating because the Foresman lessons are so scripted and focus on details.  The teacher still wants me to use their assessments, so it’s frustrating.  I think adding a daily journal entry for the students will be beneficial, and their prompt will be a question that frames the big idea from the lesson the day before.  This will reinforce the objectives from the day before.

 Post #8
This week went by fast. It was the first week I didn't have to go in on Friday for several weeks.  We started fractions which I thought would be difficult but the kids really did quite well with them.  I found pie shaped manipulatives in the class room that illustrated different equal parts of a whole.  I let the kids use them to see the size difference between the parts.  They neede to learn that the larger the denominator the smaller the size and this was a tough one.  Also, I conducted this lesson outside. The A/C in our room wasn't working and it was uncomfortably hot. So I had each student take their chair and carry it outside and circle around me.  I conducted the lesson on our laps. It actually came out quite well.  The science lesson was pretty straightforward.  I subscribe to EnchantedLearnning.com for $20.00 and get wonderful printables.  I printed a frog life cycle easy read book.  The kids can color it, fill-in a term, and take it home to read. It's shaped like an egg.  We did a similar one on the life cycle of a butterfly shaped like a butterfly.  I highly recommend this website. Getting buried under all the end of the quarter paperwork. Only two more weeks!!!

Good luck to all f you with your PACT and units. It was a tough quarter but we almost made it. Hang in there!!

 Week 5 Reflection

This was a long week for me I have to make up Friday for the Monday holiday so I'm here 4 days and seminar 1. We made the paper clocks with bobby pins and he went over very well.  They use them as manipualtives for their lessons. We judged the science fair this week.  I was very impressed with the quality of many of the projects.  It was a fun morning.  I checked books out of the library for the kids to do research for an animal report but they were over their heads.  They loved looking through and exploring the pictures but when they had to actually read and record facts they were overwhelmed. i am trying to find simpler references.  They only have to write one paragraph, but I want it to be a good one with a lot of facts. they took the chapter test and the second grade team agreed at the beginning of the year on the free response form of the assessment.  The problem is that this format has so much language they are bombing the tests.  I gave the standard form which is bubble in but much simpler language and straight forward math problems.  The teacher let me give the kids the better of the two tests.  For the lower kids the second format increased their scores from 0 to 40-50%.  The last chapter test I gave orally and they did pretty well. It at least is an accurate picture of their abilities.  They started "Meet the Masters" art project. It was very good and the kids made some very nice pictures.

 Week 6 Reflection

This was a short week but very stressful.  The class work is building up (mine).  I'm trying to make sure my lessons are thoughtful and engaging, and that takes time.  I am finding that I am getting caught short on my class work.  Like doing these reflections.  Doing the best I can.  I really felt like the first quarter I spent more energy on my school work and shafted the kids on their lessons.  This quarter I'm doing the opposite bu it's biting me in the butt. I missed a deadline this week and it stinks.  My teacher is cool about it but I don't like feeling like I'm letting her and me down. All the vacations days don't help since we have to make them up and my kids are home on all my off days. I planned on having every Friday off with them in school so I can do a lot of my work.  But there's like three Mondays that we have to make up and I'm losing my quiet time. Any way, all of our caterpillars have turned into chrysalis' and the kids are very excited about the changes.  They have been making observations and adding them to their journals.  I introduced a research report to the class.  I brought a stack of books bout animals and they loved flipping through them.  They were a little overwhelmed when they had to extract facts from them. The books are above their reading level. I have to try to get some more at their level. In math we looked at A.M. and P.M. This went pretty well.  I am getting better at pacing my lessons and getting the work sheets done. I brought in a worksheet where they colored in the halves of two clocks that show all twelve hours.  I wanted them to see that it's dark for part of the A.M. and light in the P.M.  It went well and they did their worksheets in five minutes.

 Week 4 Reflection
I was really happy with the Science unit this week.  I gave the students coloring pages of parent and baby animals.  They colored the page and glued it to an 11 X 14 colored page.  On the right side they glued a chart on which they noted the likenesses and differences of babies and their parents.  The kids did a very good job. They were engaged, on task and produced great projects.  I posted several around the room and on the science bulletin board.  What most impressed me was one of the students (who is so far behind so that he never produces any work), asked if he could draw the pictures instead of writing. I said yes, and he did a beautiful job and really nailed the lesson.  He's the subject of an SST and they are testing him for learning disabilities.  I was very pleased, as was he, that he did such a good job.  He was very proud of himself.  The math lesson was a bomb.  The textbook, which I have to follow, wanted them to make lists of possible combinations of coins in a bag. I explained it six ways from Sunday and just couldn't get through. I feel bad. I ran out of time and had to do the worksheets. The next math lesson we made paper clocks for them to use as manipulatives.  They enjoyed it.  We used bobby pins for hands, and a picture with the grouchy lady bug photo from the book.  The teacher had given them the chapter test on coins. it did not go well.  The test is so laden with words that most of the class (ELL's)m did poorly.  There was another version with less writing that the teacher let me give them.  Most did better. We took the better of the two tests for each student and that's the grade they got.  The second time lesson they worked with partners and the school schedule. It's perfect for time lessons because so many of the times are :55, :20, etc.  The teacher took away their paper clocks because they were annoying her.  I stapled them to my bulletin board and made a big clock with them.  Each of twelve clocks were set to different times of the school day.  I have labeled them with the HR:MN format and the activity (eg. 11:20 Lunch) There is a large hour hand and minute hand that the kids can move around to different times.

 Week 2 Reflection
This week was great.  This class is so pleasant. The noise level is so much less than the older larger class. It's very mellow.  There isn't as much helplessness in this class as my last.  The kids like to work with me but don't ask me to do everything for them.  We had a fun math lesson on Wednesday which my first lesson that I taught. It's not my unit but I planned some fun activities. It was a blast. The students really enjoyed counting the money.  "We read Alexander who used to be rich last Sunday" and counted out the money.  The kids were very interested in the story and worried about him as he wasted all his money.  After about 30 minutes into the lesson one of the students asked"Does this mean we are not having math today?". I was flattered that they were having so much fun. My unit is on money and then time for second grade. If anyone has great ideas I'd love to hear them.

 Week 1 and we're back in the saddle again.  it's so nice to be around the kids again.  I have a really cool DCT and very organized. She's totally cooperative and happy to help me anyway she can. She won't even have me grade papers so I have time for my work. Very nice!! I have 2nd graders, great age.  No strong personalities yet very well behaved class. I'm not used to such a low level of noise in a classroom. Also there's only 18 so it's almost half of last quarter's class.  The DCT taught mostly from teaher's guide according to pacing guide which I believe is a requirement, for math and language arts.  For Social Studies they watched  a video from the Scott Foresman program (their adoption) and then she guided them through a little newspaper style worksheet that they could take home. The subject was Consumers and Producers. how people make and buy and sell things. I would think the subject is a little advanced for second grade, especially with vocab like consumer, producer, and manufacturer.  The kids liked the video and knew the song in the intro. The language arts period is 90 mins. and the kids got antsy after about 30 minutes of teacher led instruction.  After that the day is so broken up with recess and lunch that it's easier to keep their attention.  Overall a very nice week. Am looking forward to working with this class.