Grace Furlong's Student Teaching

3/19-3/23 Classroom Confidential Chapter 6 gave some great ideas for writing that I can see myself using. I especially liked the idea to utilize read aloud to enforce writing. I often thought of a read aloud being mainly helpful for students to hear my expression in my voice being modeled and hear the vocabulary. However, it makes so much sense to use a read aloud for writing discussion. I plan to use this strategy in the future to have students see certain aspects of writing, such as how an author picks certain words and his purpose for writing. I also really liked the self-praise activity for my group of students. Sometimes the class struggles with confidence in their work. I think it would be great for them to go through their writing and assess their work to find something they think they did well to boost their confidence. The more confident they become in their work, I think that their writing will become better as well.  What Happened T...

3/12-3/16 Classroom Confidential I do teach social studies and loved the idea that chapter 8 gave about using images to get the class talking. We have many images in our social studies textbook and try to talk about them as much as possible because the kids are always interested in them. The pictures help them visualize what they are reading about. However, the possible questions that the chapter offered will be really useful in our next conversation about a painting or photo. Some of the questions I really liked were what does the mood of the group seem to be? What's the message? and what do you think the photographer was trying to tell us? I think these questions would really engage students in the image and the topic we are discussing to make the text more meaning.  I specifically liked the idea of using masks to incorporate the arts. My class is a artistic class and enjoys creating things. I can see them loving this activity. It could be beneficial...

3/5-3/9 What Happened This week was not a normal one. There were many special events that changed up the schedule for the week so many adjustments were made. It was great experience to be able to adjust lessons and use flexibility to adapt the week. Some of the events this week included Robert Crown (health education lesson for all fifth graders), Accelerated Reader movie viewing, PARCC practice, and a Chorus field trip/assembly.  The fifth graders were visited by a Robert Crown teacher who presented to the students on puberty and the reproductive system. Many of the students were very nervous prior to the presentation. My class is pretty quiet and reserved. Therefore, this type of thing is pretty far out of their comfort zone. I was impressed at how the presenter handled the situation. She was very relaxed and comforting to the students. She reassured them that it is okay to feel uncomfortable or awkward, but it is a part of life so there is no need to stress abou...

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 stude...

2/20-2/23 What Happened  This week was a little more back to routine than previous weeks. In phonics we were working with the final schwa + r words. This set of phonics words helped me to build of students answers and have peers build on one another responses. Some students were able to see that all the words ended in r. Then another student realized that they all rhyme or have the same ending sound (example: cougar and flavor). Another student noticed there were ar words, which led to other students seeing the er and or words too. With all these conversations and building on one another we got to the pattern and it was a much more meaningful process than if I just explained the pattern to them. As we discussed in many of my courses, it is very powerful to have students construct their own knowledge.  The students moved on from the comprehension skill of determining importance to the skill of inferencing. Students struggle with this comprehension skill especial...

2/12-2/16 What Happened This week was a busy one. I did my EdTPA taping this week. I was originally supposed to finish this week. However, I assessed how my class was doing and decided to shift the learning segment from 4 days to 5 days. Due to an institute day on Friday, I will teach the 5th lesson this coming Tuesday. I did order of operations for my EdTPA lessons. Throughout the segment, students were at varying levels of understanding. Therefore, I determined that it would be most beneficial for the class to be split into small groups. I chose to do this because I had a mix of students who understood and were bored, but I also had students who were unsure of what was going on. I found that things went much better once we split into small groups. I was able to guide more practice with those who needed extra support and those who were understanding were able to have further independent practice. The lessons definitely didn't go as planned. However, I definitely think it w...

2/5-2/8 Classroom Confidential ` This chapter caused me to see my relationship with parents as similar to a teammate. We are working together to help their student do their best and thrive. It helped me to see that parent communication is not just me shooting information and events at parents. Parents are a necessary resource to reaching my students. They have important information that I do not see in the classroom. They can communicate with me things about their students that may or may not work from what they have noticed at home. I also learned that like students, not every parent is the same. Therefore, communication with each parents is not going to be a one size fits all. It is important that I individualize communication with each parent.  In Novice Teaching we discussed parent-teacher conferences. However, I feel that I learned some more helpful tips from this chapter. I feel better prepared in that I know that it is a good idea to send out an information sheet....