Monday was the big day, the Midterm Evaluation. This is the meeting where my supervisor fills out a paper and this paper gets sent to the Department of Education, so it's kinda important! I was very nervous, and not too sure why. I know that I have been progressing well, and have been getting lots of positive feedback, but I was still nervous since it is such a crucial point in my experience. Well the meeting went really well! I received "superior" in all areas! Here is a preview of what went on:
Planning and Preparation: Superior; well planned and prepared for lessons. Had all materials ready, and has lessons timed well.
Classroom Environment: Superior; effective classroom procedures and routines. Clear standards of conduct, has an awareness of behavior.
Instructional Delivery: Superior; Use of questioning and discussion strategies that encourage students participation. Great rapport with students.
Professionalism: Superior: integrity and ethical behavior; professional conduct
Additional Notes: Teaches in a logical, sequential manner. Has a very natural and relaxed manner.
I am very happy about my evaluation. I can only strive to strengthen these qualities, and aim for "Exemplary" on my final eval!
The rest of the week was pretty normal, though I am starting to feel overwhelmed. I am currently teaching all subjects, and handling all classroom routines. It is becoming a lot of work, and I am exhausted at the end of the day, but it is still such an amazing experience, and I can't imagine doing anything else.
This week was my first week teaching Social Studies. In my school, they split the afternoon block between social studies and science. We have been working on science the past two weeks to finish up the unit on measurement, so this was my first experience with teaching social studies. In third grade they learn about 4 Indian tribes, and the new tribe I introduced was the Haida, which are Northwest Indiands from areas of Alaska and Canada. The first day was an introduction where I introduced some background knowledge of the tribe, watched a short video, and read a story called "Storm Boy". We took a picture walk through the book to point out any things they saw that they mentioned in the video.
On Tuesday, we started our "notes". Social studies is the time where the third grades takes the opportunity to practice note taking. Usually, Ms. M writes the notes on the overheard projector, but I decided to make it a little different. I made a power point on the Haida. After each section of information (clothes, food, hunting, activities, etc) I had a picture to help illustrate that particular section. The students really enjoyed this. It was nice for them to see a picture that related the whatever section they were taking notes on.
On Thursday, we worked on "Totem Poles" using symmetry. The students were to fold a piece of construction paper in half, and draw half of the animal or person they wanted. Then, they cut it, and when they unfolded it, it was a whole image. It was really cool, and the students really enjoyed it. Next week we will attach the images to brown construction paper to create poles outside of the classroom!
The picture below is the image Ms. M created a few years back. I always tell her she should have became an art teacher! She makes really great stuff!
We also did Readers Theater on Monday and Tuesday. This is where the students get into groups with other students who are on their level of reading, and practice a "play" that revolves around the theme from Story Town for that week. The students really enjoy doing this.
Since this was my first week completely taking over all areas of the day, I wanted to change the way classroom management was handled. Ms. M did not really have any type of visual or routine to managing the class. Do not get me wrong, the kids behave well for her, and she knows when to give punishments and such, but she had no type of system. Just verbal warnings, and eventually a punishment. I asked her if I could implement something that I thought of. She told me that I could do whatever I pleased. I really appreciate the trust she has in me, especially in allowing me to change the routine of classroom management. I decided to make behavior charts. Each student will get their own individual chart on their desk each day. It is a reward and punishment system. The top three boxes are their 3 "warnings". The bottom three are the punishments. If a student gets no boxes checked, they get 3 tickets, which is part of a school wide lottery system. If any of the three top boxes get checked, that's how many tickets the lose. They get up to 3 chances to lose tickets.After that, its punishment time. The first consequence is losing recess, then contact home, and finally a visit with the principal.
The system really worked this week. I only had one student lose a recess. Not all students received all 3 tickets, but some did. I even started marking the "good students" if they acted a certain way. The trend I have started to see in the classroom is that the "behavior" children are constantly getting corrected for behaviors, but if a "good" student who rarely misbehaves does the same action as the other student, they get no type of correction. I wanted to make sure I am fairly treating all students when it comes to discipline. An example of this is when I was going over Haida notes. A student, who is constantly misbehaving and is an attention seeker, got up from his desk in the middle of me speaking to get a drink. I told the student to sit down and to wait until I am done lecturing. A few minutes later, a girl who is never in trouble and is that "perfect" student, got up from her seat and headed over to her cubby. I would usually let it go, but I was trying to be more aware of this so I asked her what she was doing. She said she was getting her water bottle. I told her she needed to sit down and wait until I was done. She was pretty shocked, but I just didn't think it would have been fair to not correct her when not even five minutes ago I corrected another student for the same behavior. I was pretty proud of this move, and Ms. M even complimented me, saying that ever she tends to overlook the "good" students wrong doings.
I am looking forward to my final 7 weeks, 6 if you do not count spring break which is the first week of April, YAY! I know May 11th will be here before I know it, and I am getting a little sad. But I need to stop thinking about it, and just go day by day.
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