Week 13

I know week 13 was 2 weeks ago, but the stress of student teaching has finally hit me. I lucked out because it hasn't been that bad, but now with the weeks dwindling down, it seems to be becoming more stressful.

Week 13 was a good week. We finally got our smart board! We came in on Wednesday morning to be greeted by the electricians in the classroom. Unfortunately, they were not finished, so we had to make a sudden move to the LGI (large group room). Yes, it was very surprising, but it gave me a chance to see a time when flexibility is key when teaching. We had G-MADES that morning, so it wasn't a big deal. They told us they would be ready by 11:00, so the students didn't even need to bring anything with them. They have the test and go right to prep, so no instruction was affected.

During prep, me and Molly went to the class to "play" with our new toy. It amazed me how much she let me try things out, and watched me work with it. I know if I was the teacher, I would be so excited and want to work on it right away, but she let me take control, which was pretty cool. I decided to switch things around for Reading that day since we got the smart board. We were supposed to do Vocabulary, but I decided to read our weekly story from the anthology. We use StoryTown, and ThinkCentral.com allows us to pull up the story for the smart board. I thought it would be a cool way to introduce the smart board by reading the story through the smart board. This was a pleasant surprise for the students as well.

Wednesday afternoon, I decided to take a chance and ask Molly is she minded  me changing seats around. She told me that she thought it was a great idea, and they could use a change of scenery. I asked her how she would like me to do it, and she told me it was my idea, so I was in charge. Again, to have the trust from her is a great feeling, and shows what kind of cooperating teacher she is. She left for the day, and I saw for a while thinking how I wanted them to sit. They were sitting in rows, so I decided to make a U. I wanted a layout that would make my mobility easier and more natural. Having a U allows me to walk in the middle, having attention to all students at all times.

The students were getting very anxious about working with the crayfish and beetles. They were constantly asking when we could finally work with them. I told them to be patient, and once we finish seeds we will go into crayfish. Well, we finally finished up seeds on Thursday (skipping a few lessons). Background information is definitely needed before jumping right into touching the crayfish, so on Friday we read Science Stories on the crayfish. Students learned a lot of background knowledge that would help them investigate later. They were sad they didn't get to actually observe them yet, but Monday will be the big day. I won't lie, I am nervous myself, as I do not like critters.

3 more weeks :( I am starting to mentally prepare myself for the last day, I know it will be here before I know it.