Week 13

4/2-4/6

Classroom Confidential

The big deal about social justice is that there may have been cases like Plessy vs. Fergeson, but there are still areas where social action needs to be taken. Many kids are hearing the social issues that occurring in society. As teachers, it is our job to address and discuss them instead of leaving students to ponder them alone. We often try to create real world experiences for our students related to the curriculum. It is important that we do this will social issues as well. I thought the book gave some great ideas for incorporating this in the classroom through projects, primary sources, and images. I think that it is important for a Christian teacher to include ideas like the ones mentioned in Chapter 10 to help students be able to discuss and try to understand the social issues in today's society. It also helps them understand how they can become apart of social justice and as their teachers we can help guide them towards action from a Christian perspective. 

What Happened

Spring break has come and gone! This week was our first week back and also the first week of PARCC testing. Weeks of preparation have led up to this week. Teaching the kids strategies for testing and trying to provide them with tools to be successful. Also, encouraging them to do their best. Fulton offers each student a mint and a piece of gum (which they are not allowed to have the rest of the year) because research shows that mint can be beneficial for students testing. Our class also was able to take their choose off and use some of the alternative seating available if they choose too. I was so impressed with the class and how hard they were working as I walked around. Many of the students took the entire block of time for the tests to take their time and then go back to check their answers. 

The chapter we are currently working on for Science is pretty lengthy and dry for the students. Therefore, twice this week we did centers in Science. The kids really loved them in Math so my CT and I figured they'd love them in Science. Also, it is beneficial for the students to have that small group atmosphere to discuss topics rather than in the whole class setting. Kids tend to be more open to adding to discussion and seem more engaged. My CT, the paraprofessional, the LBS, and I each ran a station. I think the class enjoyed this aspect of the centers too because they got to interact with the different staff members that come in and out of the class. After each day of centers I had the students write on an exit slip one thing they learned or one interesting fact from each station they were at. This helped me to assess what each student learned in my station as well as the other stations, which addresses IPTS standard 8. 

I was very excited to start doing plays with my class this week! We are focusing on the genre of Drama/Plays. To address this each student was assigned to one of three groups and each group was given a StoryWorks play. Throughout the week we discussed the different factors in a play such as speaking with expression, creating backgrounds, bringing in props, scene changes, and cooperative group learning. The class was very excited to start practicing and it was a great activity to follow up with after PARCC testing. I did find that the groups did pretty well with their lines and performing. However, there were a dew groups that were struggling with working as a group to brainstorm ideas together and listen to each others ideas. I worked with each group on what they were doing well and what they need to improve on. Therefore, this activity is more beneficial to just the learning of Literacy, but also social skills. 

What I learned

I learned this week that the class does well when they have small group attention. I also enjoy this format too because I feel like I can check in with each student and make sure they are receiving what they need to understand the concepts. Centers were also a great way to chunk up what would have been a long whole-class read and discuss lesson. 

I learned that sometimes the most important lessons that are taught aren't always about academics. Some of the students are struggling to work with their group. Some members are taking over, some are just stepping aside and letting others do all the work. The plays have already led to some great discussion about how each group can better work together and what that will look like. I also plan on provided students with a sheet so that they can assign who will bring what for the props and scenery so that the work is divided evenly amongst them. 

This week there was a couple students that had been absent before spring break and this week a few days. Therefore, there was quite a bit of missing work and some no name papers. I realized that keeping up with missing work and no names can be tricky on top of teaching full time and you don't exactly learn about that kind of stuff in school. 

Goals

My goal before spring break was to try out Science centers, which I did and they went very well! After realizing how much absent work students are piling up, one of my goals for the next coming weeks is to be more on top of keeping up with missing work/no name papers by coming up with a better system. This way it will make it easier for me to know what I still need from each student if they don't hand it in on their own.