Week 8

2/26-3/2

What Happened

The second trimester ended this past Thursday. Therefore, this week consisted of wrapping things up and fitting in assessments. I began point of view with the students and we had some fun with the topic. First, we created an anchor chart about different points of view. I thought this went well as students were using their prior knowledge to help fill out the chart. I then showed a video on Point of View that had a nice beat to it, which got the students' attention. Technology wasn't my friend this week as this was the first mishap I had with it in the week. The video stopped half way through, but thankfully I got it to work so the kids could see the rest of the video! I continued point of view later in the week by reading "The Day the Crayons Quit" aloud to the class. Initially, I was a little unsure how the students would respond to me reading a children's book like this to them. They ended up absolutely loving it, and even some students asked if they could borrow it to read during independent reading. This taught me that they are still kids and children's books can still be a great instruction tool even in upper elementary. I had them fill out a chart for a few of the crayons on what they thought their point of view was and they reasons the crayon felt that way. I think the chart brought the book to more of a fifth grade level of thinking. 

The second time technology was not my friend this week was when I had the students participate in a Kahoot Quiz for adverbs. I even had my dad practice take the quiz the night before to make sure it worked. However, during class it didn't have the class take it together, but instead it individually challenged them separately so they took it on their own. This ended up being okay, but I really would have preferred it worked as a class so we could have discussed each question and answer. The results portion of Kahoot also didn't give me everyone's results so I will have to use a different activity as their assessment of adverbs. Overall, this week was definitely evidence that technology is not something you can count on, even if you test it the night before.  This helped me to think on my feet and adapt the lesson. 

Since I was taught math with a more "this is just how you do it" approach, I had been struggling more with the conceptual piece that the math curriculum pushes. However, this week I feel like I am starting to get the hang of using the visuals and explaining why we do the things we do in math. This demonstrates IPTS 1, which states, "The teacher understands the central concepts, methods of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) and creates learning experiences that make the content meaningful to all students." I also believe I have gotten a better balance of whole class instruction, partner practice, and independent practice. This week was the week we changed up our math centers a little bit as well. Before, the students completed all the stations in a day. This week we did one center at the end of the block for four of the days. Then, by the end of week each group had gone to each station. I thought this strategy went well. However, the independent stations I think would be better if they were more technology based because the task cards seemed to be harder for some students to stay focused or were distracted by others. 

In Science we had a lot of fun exploring shadows and discussing them. I split students into small groups and gave each group a flashlight and toy car. They followed the steps in discovering different things about shadows, such as changing their shape and size. This hands on activity was refreshing for both myself and the students compared to the normal science reading and discussion.

Previously I had not had an issue with classroom management. However, this week the students were definitely trying to push the limit. They earned 3 strikes on Friday. Normally, they have Friday earned free choice time. However, during Science they were not listening or responding to the fact they had gotten three strikes. After Science, I had a talk with them about how I know I am a Student Teacher, but they doesn't give them the right to talk when I am talking or not show me respect. I explained that when they are talking, I am not talking as a sign of respect and that I expect the same respect from them. My cooperating teacher and I had them each write about what they can do differently, suggestions for how they can be more respectful, and goals they have for their behavior. As I was reading the responses over, I saw that students are often times harder on themselves than teachers can be. Many of them suggested some great ideas that I will put into consideration as we move forward. 

What I learned 

This week I feel like I learned a lot about managing my time. There was quite a bit of students absent. Therefore, I was able to figure out how to balance my time of filling out their work while teaching the rest of the day in order to have it ready by the end of the day. I also feel like I am really learning how to gage how long different activities and lessons will take. 

I also learned this week that when I incorporate a lot of hands on and interactive activities sometimes the class becomes more difficult to manage. I want to continue to have engaging activities, but set clearer expectations for the activities.

This week also taught me about communication. I am more independent and like to keep to myself, but I realize the need and the benefits that come from communicating my thoughts with others. I learned that I need to be more open about what I am thinking and not be afraid to ask questions. I also learned that I tend to be a little too sensitive and need to not take everything so personal. Even though I am learning a lot about teaching and methods, I am also learning many things about myself too. 

Goals

Thinking about the goals I set for last week, I am pretty happy with the progress I am making towards them. I have been using the sticky note method to remember the routine things, such as assignment notebooks and that has been really helping. I was able to briefly work on EdTPA throughout the week, but it can be challenging to balance with lesson planning. I will continue to work on this goal. One of my goals was to arrange the Literacy block so that the activities were ordered in such a way that students weren't sitting for long periods. I looked at my activities each day and adjusted them accordingly to meet this goal. I did implement 15 minute centers at the end of math each day and found this to be very beneficial for breaking up the large math block. A goal I have for next week is to be more open with the line of communication with others. My other goal is to improve the classroom management by discussing students suggestions and coming up with a plan of action together.