Week 4

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Classroom Confidential Chapter 2

I didn't have any prior knowledge about eptness. Therefore, I learned a lot. Mainly this chapter caused me to realize that each class truly does have its own culture. Often times the classroom can become a room full of routines and going through the motions. When I think about my student teaching I realize that morning work, reading logs, problems of the day, and other similar routines take the unpredictably and excitement out of learning. Eptness caused me to reassess how I think about the school day. I find that often times I forget that I am not the only one capable of making decisions in the classroom. My students deserve responsibility and voice in the classroom. Students then see school as something they are apart of instead of just a bystander. A culture of emptiness in the classroom also rids the classroom of mindless activities and routines by replacing them with meaningful activities that students see a purpose for and connection to their lives.  

The first behavior that I plan on putting to test is approximation. As I read this section, I realized I am guilty of being on the look out for misbehaviors more than positive behaviors. When I think about myself, I respond much better to my positive behavior being reinforced rather than my flaws being highlighted the majority of the time. Therefore, I plan on being on the look out for students' positive behaviors and not bring the bad behaviors as much attention. I believe that if students see that their positive behaviors receive more attention than the bad ones, that the bad behaviors are bound to decrease. 

I am finding it hard to pick just three behaviors, but the next behavior I will use is challenging old habits. I find that it is easy to fall into a routine and stick with what is comfortable. However, true learning occurs when we challenge ourselves, exit our comfort zones, and allow ourselves to grow. I was drawn to this behavior because she described the spelling test scenario and I just gave a similar test not too long ago. As I was reading, I realized how robotic such an activity is. Her strategy of having students write the words they remember allows them to feel empowered and intelligent rather than just feeling like robots spitting back information. I plan on assessing activities that may just be time fillers and routines and replacing them with meaningful activities.

The last behavior that I plan do use is doing nothing that students can do themselves. I think this behavior can be a struggle because often times teachers have efficiency in mind and are concerned about getting through everything. However, it is important that students see their abilities and are able to use them. If teachers do too much for students they will become over reliant. We are there as support, but should not be their crutch. The areas I can tell that I can improve on this is not completing students sentences or correcting a misread word. I want to be more conscious of not overstepping and decreasing student learning by doing too much for them.

What Happened

This week I taught phonics, science, did morning work, and part of the math block. In phonics I tried out a new activity this week. We were continuing are homophones unit. In order to review meanings I thought we would play vocabulary bingo. This activity definitely did not go as planned, but it was a wonderful learning experience for me. The students had to write the words on their board before beginning and this took a large chunk of time. My cooperating teacher suggested to have students complete this as a simple homework assignment the night before to free up some time in the lesson the next day. I think that is a good idea that I plan on using. The students didn't know the meanings that well yet so they found it challenging to find the word on their board just from me saying a definition. Therefore, I modified this by allowing them time to try to find the word on their own, then we reviewed the words to make sure they matched the definition to the right word. This experience helped me to think on my feet and use informal assessment to adjust the lesson accordingly. This use of informal assessment also addresses IPTS standard 8, which states, "The teacher understands various formal and informal assessment strategies and uses them to support the continuous development of all students." By informally assessing my students, I was able to support their development of the vocabulary. The next day the students tried out a new activity and played "headbands" with their vocabulary words. One students put a word on their head without looking and the other partner had to describe to them.  This activity went well and the students got in some great practice with knowing the differing meanings and spellings of homophones. 

In Math, the students were working with comparing fractions and ordering them on a number line. My cooperating teacher did an engaging activity with the students where they cut out fractions that fell on the number line between 0, 1/2, and 1. They then placed them on the sentence strip in the correct order as whole class. I think this was a good activity that allowed for students to work through finding the correct order while still ensuring they ended with the right order. She then followed this the next day with independent ordering of the fractions. This process follows the idea of shifting from modeling to independent work, which many of my courses have discussed.

We had a lot of fun in science this week. We discussed contact force, friction, non-contact force, gravity, electric forces, and magnetic forces. I used the interactive science book this week, but realized that students would benefit from further explanation and activities. Therefore, I used a few power points, an article on static electricity with a comic strip drawing activity, and magnet exploration to further student learning. We completed a KWL chart for magnets which was successful. My cooperating teacher and I were discussing how I could improve at wrapping up a lesson and having students reflect on what they learned more so I think the KWL chart helped with that. The students created some great comic strips of static electricity and this activity helped break down the concept more. I have learned about the strategy of KWL charts in many of classes so it was good experience to actually try it out! 

We changed up the arrangement of the classroom earlier in the week. We were in straight rows due to MAP testing. We changed it up by moving the desks into 4 tables of 4 and one table of 5. We switch around the back tables as well to make the room more suitable for small group activities. This change was an adjustment for both the students and us as the teachers. The students are now able to engage in more academic and social conversations with more ease. We discussed that we want to be able to keep this arrangement, but along with it comes the responsibility to be at a level 1 when they are asked. Between the arrangement switch and some fun activities the classroom got rather noisy in the beginning of the week. I had previously never had to give the students a strike (the classroom management strategy of my cooperating teacher). However, this week I gave them a strike. It was amazing to see how quickly they stopped talking. I believe that I earned more respect from them and they are seeing me more as a teacher since I transitioned from just being there twice a week during novice teaching. 

What I learned

I learned more about transitioning and closing lessons this week. My cooperating teacher gave me some great tips on how to do so. It important to not abruptly change from activity to activity, but to instead allow them some time to prepare to switch. My cooperating teacher and I have also been working with the dynamic of switching off between us for subjects. 

I learned how important it is to supplement some extended activities when it comes to science especially. The material can be challenging and sometimes the text is not enough for student understanding. This week the students responded very well to the different activities and discovery activities. 

I learned that I really enjoy having the students in tables so that they can engage in conversations with their peers. At first I was concerned that this would make classroom management much more challenging. However, I explained to them that we want to keep the arrangement this way, but if they prove that they cannot handle it and get 20 tallies on the board we are going to have to change it back. They haven't gotten a single tally this week! They are handling the formation very maturely and taking advantage of the educational purposes. 

The student in our class with a paraprofessional parents met with the principal and assistant principal. They were concerned with some negative self thoughts he was having and lack of talk about positive things at school when at home. I was able to sit in on the meeting and listen to the conversation about next steps. The LBS' team, principal, and my cooperating teacher were all in attendance. I learned from this experience how important communicating with parents is to help students. There was things that staff didn't know that the parents were concerned about. 

Goals

One of my goals last week was to help my students stay motivated by using hands on activities. I worked toward this goal by doing vocabulary bingo, "headbands" vocabulary review, magnet discovery, and electricity drawing. I found that these activities really excited students about their learning. I also got the chance to give my students a survey for math about their attitudes. This information is useful for me as I continue to plan my math lessons for the EdTPA and math lessons in general. 

One of my goals for next week is to make sure they I don't forget to fully close a lesson and have students think back to what we talked about and why it is important. Another goal is that I want take full advantage of the table arrangement by doing small group activities to increase peer interaction and discussion.