The Beginning of the End

So this past week marked the final week of my full time teaching. It also marked week 15, which means one more to go. I know it's coming, and so do my third graders. They are already getting really clingy, which I do not mind, and keep asking me why I have to leave. I can feel the tears building up already.

For my final week of teaching, I wanted to make sure I used the smart board as much as I could. We theme tested in reading Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. For Monday and Tuesday,I made review games on the smart board. I used power point since I have no idea how to use any other software, but it still served it purpose, and the students really enjoyed it. I made different games for all the different topics covered in the theme. I think it really helped them remember things from the beginning of the theme, and hopefully they will all do well on their test.

Math was also review week since we had out unit test on Friday. Monday I finished the last lesson on Partial Products with 2 digit numbers. I uploaded the worksheets onto the smart board, and we did all of the problems together. Tuesday we didn't have math because we had an Author visit from Kay Winters. It was great, and the students really enjoyed it. Kay asked me to be her "helper" which was a bit embarrassing since I am not a regular teacher, but enjoyed participating and I think the kids enjoyed it too.

In science this week, we wrapped up seeds and crayfish. Monday we explored seeds more, and built our hydroponics station. We out the seeds into our station on Monday, and they have already grown so much when I took a picture on Friday! It is amazing seeing the transformation day to day. Tuesday we took our seed quiz, which the kids all did great on! We had to sit and talk with them about how if they did not pay attention during class while we discussed the facts of things, then they could no participate in hands on activities anymore. (They were getting pretty rowdy). So, I think this motivated them to actually pay attention and study their facts on the seeds.

Wednesday, I re-introduced the cray fish. We examined them already, but never actually talked about them. We read 'Science Stories" (FOSS) on crayfish. Then, I found this great website from BYU all about crayfish. Apparently they have a whole crayfish study program. This website was great for the class. We explored all different types of crayfish, and there was a great diagram that showed all the structures of a crayfish. They really enjoyed this. It was a good way to do the boring stuff in a fun way.

Thursday I did a lesson on crayfish behaviors. The students had a checklist, and had to write what behaviors the crayfish showed when they did certain things like touch its tail, pick it up, etc. My P.Stef also came for this lesson as my final observation. I think he enjoyed seeing such a hands on activity. At one point, a student dropped a crayfish on the ground and it started running away. Inside I was dying, but i stayed calm, handled the kids well,and fixed the situation. I was pretty proud of myself.

Thursday was also the final conference between Molly, P.Stef and myself. I was nervous, but not like I was before. I was nervous because I know I had accomplished so much in the 16 weeks, and I was excited to talk about it and hear feedback. P. Stef gave me "exemplary" on everything! I was really excited, because this shows that he believes in me. When discussing my time, Molly said great things about me also, things she has never said before. This made me feel good because I know she also believes in me, and it was nice to hear it.

To end an amazing day, Thursday was my last Classroom Management class! This class had been more painful than any class I have ever had. Taking it while student teaching was probably the biggest mistake of my life, but I pushed through it. Our final project was due this night, something I had been working on since week 1, the Classroom Management Handbook. This contained 15 sections of procedures, activities, and standards for all aspects of classroom management. It was a killer. But I finished it, and it felt like a million pounds were lifted off my shoulders. This binder was bigger than my student teaching binder. To be finished feels great, and marks the beginning of the end.

Next week is the final four days. I am excited to spend the last few days stress free, but I know it will be hard come 3:40 Thursday afternoon.

Personal Problems Arise

Week 14 was short for me, but not for a good reason. Due to a family emergency, I was out for 2 days. Molly was more that understanding, and stepped in for my lessons. Again, another time that she has showed so much confidence and understanding.

Monday was a good day. We were finally working with the crayfish! I was nervous, but I know the kids were really excited. When they came in from lunch, I made them sit quietly. I began to whisper. They looked confused, but I continued to tell them that crayfish are scared, tiny creatures. When we use loud voices, we are really scaring them. We need to make sure to whisper, and made no sudden screams. We also needed to stay in our groups, because all the movement can also scare them. The students really felt for the poor crayfish, and I have never seen them so quiet or still. They really enjoyed observing the crayfish, answering questions like how many eyes, legs, etc. They knew terminology like exoskeleton and antennae from Friday, which made me proud. Finally, it became time to show the students how to pick up the crayfish. Inside I was freaking out, but I knew I had to fake being okay with touching them, for the kids sakes. I didn't enjoy it, and immediately put it down, but I know modeling needed to be done in order for the students to pick them up the right way.

Like I said, the week was short for me. When I came back on Friday, Molly gave me complete control again. She told me it was funny because her throat was hurting due to talking so much, something she hasn't done for the past 10 weeks.  She told me it was an eye opener, reminding herself I would be gone in 2 short weeks, and had to get back into gear. This is when the discussion of my final two weeks arose. We decided that next week would be my final week of full day teaching, and my last week(only 4 days) I would let her take things over while I co-taught.

I cannot believe it is almost here. May 10th is going to be here before I know it, and I wish this could last forever.

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.

It's Over Already?

I cannot believe how fast Spring Break went! When Monday came around, I was in complete shock, and I won't lie, I was totally wishing for an extra day.

My Spring Break wasn't very eventful. I went back to work at the daycare I am employed at. It was weird going from third grade teacher mode back to baby talk and changing diapers.

The best part about my Spring Break, however, was that I passed my CIA! This is the final test to get certified in PA. I had failed by a couple of points the first time I took it, so I was really nervous, but I passed with an amazing score! I was so happy when I saw it, and just seeing that number gave me a whole new confidence that I was lacking before. I can honestly say being in the classroom totally helped me through the test, because I found myself thinking for like a teacher, when the first time I took it I was thinking like a student.

In my preparation and planning for the week after Spring Break, I gave a lot of extra attention to the Math blocks. The students didn't do so well on the unit on fractions, so I wanted to make sure I spent as much time as I could on each mini lesson, paced carefully, and had many manipulatives and visuals. The first day back was Partial Products. On Pinterest, I found this great idea for place value, and decided to use it for this lesson since they have to find the place value in order to solve partial products. I bought Styrofoam cups and stacked them by threes. I wrote the numbers 0-9 on the edges of them. Then, in the first layer I put two zeros next to each number. The second layer I put one zero next to each number, and the last layer was left alone. The point of this is so children could make any three digit number they want, and then pull out the layers to see what place value the number is. For example, if the number is 365, students will make it so their cups read 365. When they pull the 3 out, it really says 300. SO they know the number they are multiplying is 300. Then the 6 is 60, and the 5 is just 5. The kids really seemed to enjoy it, and it was helping them see the place values of numbers when multiplying 3 digit numbers by 1 digit numbers.

P. Stef came for another observation this week. It was spur of the moment, and I didn't know he was coming until the night before. Luckily, my plans for the day he came for a Reading lesson was "Angry Verbs". The students grammar portion of the week was "helping verbs". (was, will, is, etc.) I decided to incorporate something fun, I would have students write about "Angry Birds" using helping verbs. The students had to write a sentence that included a main verb and a helping verb. The sentences were so cute, and they really enjoyed it. It was such an easy lesson, and I'm glad P. Stef got to see something a little less formal than the lessons he has seen already. The majority of the lesson was the kids coloring their pictures and talking to neighbors about their sentences, but I didn;t mind it and I don't think P. Stef did either. I am currently making a bulletin board with the pictures, so here is an example I created.

Science was a fun week. We are starting "Life Structures" which is a very hands on activity. The first part of Life Structures is life of a seed. For the introduction lesson, students cut open fruits and examined the seeds inside. Then, we talked about how anything with a seed is considered a fruit, even tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, etc. Even though most of us call them vegetables, in science they are fruits. Students examined size of seeds, shapes, colors and how many. It was a really fun activity, and the room smelled so good from the lemons, tomatoes, peppers, limes, oranges and apples.

The next part of "Life Structures" which will happen in a week or so, are the Crayfish and Beetles. (ewww). We received our critters on Wednesday, and had to set up their homes. I am so not looking forward to doing experiments with these hideous creatures, but the kids are really excited, so we'll see how it goes.

The week was very busy, and I am surprised at how fast it went. Only four more weeks until I am done!

"Myers is the place for me..."

Yay! It's finally spring break. I am so excited for the week long break, even though I will be working at the day care I am employed at. It will be nice to take a little break form the planning and preperation though.

Week 10 was very stressful, and the fact that I was losing my voice did not help at all. The weather has been crazy here, hot, cold, then hot, then cold again, and it is really playing with my sinus'. Monday I woke up feeling like a golf ball was in my throat. It was really hard to explain myself during lessons when I could barely speak, and sneezing every three seconds. Ms. M let me take a break and sent me home early on Tuesday to rest up. I really needed to get myself together since P. Stef was coming for an observation on Thursday.

Monday afternoon me and Ms. M put together the students' totem poles. They turned out really cute, and when the kids came in on Tuesday they were so excited to see them displayed in front of the class. They kept calling themselves a "clan" all day, since they had totem poles to prove it :)

The students had a math test on Wednesday.The test was on Unit 8 which was fractions. I was really worried because I already felt like I didn't teach all of the materials needed for them to do well on the test. The fact that some of the lessons were being taught during PSSA did not help ease my worry either. I am truly afraid the students were not prepared. The test was originally supposed to be on Tuesday, but I asked Ms. M if we could move it back a day to better prepare them. I still didn't think the students were prepared, and I was right. The majority of the tests were C's, which is not the normalcy of the class. There were a few B's and a couple D's. Absolutely no A's. I am really upset because I knew they were not prepared because we didn't have enough time to cover everything. I really felt like I was rushed through, and it really difficult to rush through fractions without making sure the students understand,. Ms. M said that she wanted to stay on pace with the other third grade classes, but they all struggled in their scores too. I think it was just a mix of PSSA craziness, and a lack of time. Planning for the next unit, I am making sure to fight to be able to have enough time to cover everything, all while making sure the students understand.

P. Stef came on Thursday for a formal observation. It was a math lesson, which P. Stef hadn't seen be teach yet. I was introducing the new unit. My goal was to stay slow and steady, and make sure the students were soaking up all the information that would be vital for the rest of the unit. I used individual white boards, which they always enjoy, and the students actually handle them well without many problems. During my lesson, which I thought was going smoothly, Ms. M was interrupting me a lot. For example, I had called on a student to explain how he had solved a problem I asked. He explained it to me, but I knew half of the class either didn't hear him, didn't understand him, or just weren't listening. So, as I always do when a student explains something, I repeated it. I was saying things like "OK, so J's first step was to think about what number multiplied by 7 gives me 42. Everyone see that?" and then i would wait for them to tell me they saw that. Then I repeated the next step. "Okay, now just thought about it and he knew he had to think 7 times blank gives me 42. Well what does 7 times blank give him?". This is where Ms. M interrupted and said "Well I think J was about to give you that answer." I am not sure if she was even paying attention or not, but J had already given me the answer, and I was repeating the process for the rest of the class. I find Ms. M doing this a lot, interrupting me on things to tell me to explain something important in the lesson, when I already have the intention on explaining it, I just have not got to that step yet. It can be very distracting, and I feel that just because something pops up in her head doesn't mean that I am not thinking about it either, and that I know I need to talk about it, I just haven't gotten to it yet. During my conference with P. Stef, I was talking about this a lot. He reassured me and said that sometimes teachers who have working a while in the classroom have trouble letting go of all the control, and its hard for them to not chime in when they think of something. He told me I should try to discuss it with her, but I said I'm too much of a chicken, and I will just have to live with it. It just annoys me because it is in my plans what I am covering for the lesson, so why not just have faith that I will do what my lessons say, like always?

Wednesday night was "Barnes and Nobles Night". B&N was hosting a night for Myers, and 10 percent of all purchases went to the school (I think). It was really fun. I got to meet a lot of parents. Mr. K (The Principal) came, and he read aloud to the kids which was really cute. The school choir also came to sing for the parents and shoppers. It was a good fun night, but I was exhausted my the time I got home.

I am looking forward to the week break, but I know April 9th will be here before I know it! After that, it will be the final weeks of my experience, something I am not looking forward to.

Halfway There!

I cannot believe I just finished my ninth week of Student Teaching! It seems like only yesterday I walked into the classroom for the first time. I know the end is coming, and will come sooner than later, and I am trying not to think about it, since I know I will be a complete mess.

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.

"Everyday I'm Shuffling.."

The title of this post has been stuck in my head all week! Why? Well, because the teachers had a flash mob at the PSSA pep rally!

We had a pep rally on Monday to get the students excited for the PSSA, the PA state testing. We had words of inspiration, and PSSA man, who was a senior from the high school. He came in and put on an amazing performance that got the kids really pumped. Then, before closing the rally, the teachers rushed the stage to dance to the song "Party Rock Anthem". Then, the students were so excited it became a huge mosh pit of dancing and jumping. It was so much fun, and a memory that I will forever keep.

The weather has been so nice, and since PSSA takes a lot out of the students, we were not doing too many formal lessons. On Wednesday, we went on a Haiku Hike. Ms. M and I took the kiddies out for a walk around the building to make observations on what they saw.

Then, we went inside and students created Haiku's about what they saw. They were really good! We created a board outside to show off our Haikus and other spring crafts.

I had another formal observation on Wednesday. Let's say it didn't go as well as my others. Not that it was bad, but the kids were so excited and out of their element due to PSSA, it was hard to get their attention to try and teach them a science lesson. When it came to the actual experiment, it was fine, but just getting them to listen to the directions and procedures was difficult. I wish I would have came up for a more creative, fun lesson for that day, but I guess we learn from our mistakes. P.Stef still gave me positive feedback and said my classroom management is great, just the circumstances of the week made the lesson difficult to teach.

I created PSSA good luck pencils for my students. This incentive got them really excited, and they were all happy and had confidence in themselves when using their pencils on the first day of testing.

Speaking of incentives, I received my first Parent "Concern" this week. Our school gave out rubber bracelets, similar to the LiveStrong Bracelets, that said encouraging words about the PSSA. Well, the kids spent more time playing with them, breaking them, and flinging them around the room then actually wearing them. We had to take a few from students, and I guess one particular student was upset over getting his taken away. His parent e-mailed not only Ms. M but also the Principal, saying that I took his bracelet away for no reason, and put it in my pocket and took it home. Ms. M replied to this, completely having my back. She said that I had put the bracelet on her desk after telling the student a number of times to stop playing with the bracelet. The principal even came to see me to make a joke about the situation which made me feel better. I knew that parent concerns or complaints cannot be avoided, and I am so glad that not only Ms. M, but the principal had my back in resolving the issue. I must say, it was a good learning experience.

Next week P.Stef is coming to conference with Ms. M and I about my Mid Term Evaluation! I am so nervous and excited!