My first goal was about initiating conversation with my CT about any aspect of teaching I had questions about or wanted to learn more about. I have been extremely lucky this semester to have developed a close relationship with my CT. She has been open to answering any and every question I have had about teaching. I have learned to voice my questions because it will only help me in the future. Any question I had about her teaching, her classroom, or anything else I was wondering about was always answered. She also supplied me with some great resources and awesome materials. Anytime she felt like I could benefit from worksheets, activities, etc. she would make a copy for me as well.
Unfortunatly, I did not incorporate any attention getters into the classroom that we have learned at ISU, however, I used some of the attention getters that she would occassionally use in the classroom.
I accomplished using my classmates, CT, and other resources to help me throughout the semester. As I said before, my CT was awesome, so she was very helpful whenever I had questions on lessons I was preparing for or questions about the classroom in general. Also, asking my fellow classmates was helpful as well because we were all going through the same thing, so we could help each other and guide each other through this process.
After this semester, I can definitely say that my lesson plan writing skills has improved greatly. They are obviously not perfect and they never will be, but I have learned a lot from writing them this semester and how to make them stronger!
Knowing that I was able to accomplish 3/4 of my goals, will only help me next semester for student teaching. I know that I will be more confident in communicating with my CT, I will continue to write strong lesson plans, and I will use all of the resources that are available to me. Also, I will feel much more comfortable next semester incorporating everything I can from ISU, such as the attention getters. Once I know that I am taking over the class, I will incorporate more of the aspects to teaching that I feel strongly about.
I want to continue working on incorporating more aspects of teaching I have learned from ISU into the classroom. My biggest struggle with all of my clinical experiences was bringing in the things I learned at ISU because it is not my classroom or students. I want to have my own classroom where I can impliment all of the things I have learned at ISU!
Overall, this has been an amazing semester in third grade because my students were amazing and my CT was so helpful and caring. My students really made me feel welcomed into the classroom and my CT allowed me to help and teach throughout the entire day. I was petrified to go into a third grade classroom and now I have come out of this experience opened to any grade between kindergarten and third!
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Monday, November 4, 2013
Post #4: Science Focus
Sadly, I see really poor science instruction in my classroom. My students do 1 week of science with my CT and 1 week of social studies with Lauren Kellar's CT. Anytime I have seen science in my classroom, it consists of my CT reading out of the science book and the students follow in their books and then they work with a partner on a worksheet. This is what I have seen every other week with my CT. The only way she assesses them is by grading the worksheets they complete and giving them an end of the unit test.
Science usually takes place in the morning. They all get their textbooks and sit on the carpet and follow along with my CT. I have noticed as I watch the students, many of them are not even paying attention and I have caught many of them following along on the wrong page, which my CT never realizes. My CT solely reads out of the book and then asks them the (boring) questions that are in the teacher edition textbook.
The students are never too interested unless it is something that really intrigues them which I have not seen too often. There is never any fun experiments or any activity that they do as a class or in a group. I have talked to my CT about it and she said she doesn't like to do experiments, so that is why I never see them in her class.
I do not agree with this because I think students learn well with hands on experiments and they always enjoy the experiments in science. That was always my favorite part about science and I know kids love it. I taught science one day and read a children's book on fossils and then we made our own fossils and the students were really into the book and they loved making the fossils. Something as simple as that makes it more fun for the students instead of reading out of a textbook.
This is more science than I have seen in past clinical settings because in all of my other settings they didn't do any science. It is just unfortunate that this is how my CT does science in her classroom. Dr. Osorio explains every single week that it is important to do hands-on experiments with them because it triggers their learning.
I will for sure use hands-on experiments and more interesting activities in my own classroom someday.
Science usually takes place in the morning. They all get their textbooks and sit on the carpet and follow along with my CT. I have noticed as I watch the students, many of them are not even paying attention and I have caught many of them following along on the wrong page, which my CT never realizes. My CT solely reads out of the book and then asks them the (boring) questions that are in the teacher edition textbook.
The students are never too interested unless it is something that really intrigues them which I have not seen too often. There is never any fun experiments or any activity that they do as a class or in a group. I have talked to my CT about it and she said she doesn't like to do experiments, so that is why I never see them in her class.
I do not agree with this because I think students learn well with hands on experiments and they always enjoy the experiments in science. That was always my favorite part about science and I know kids love it. I taught science one day and read a children's book on fossils and then we made our own fossils and the students were really into the book and they loved making the fossils. Something as simple as that makes it more fun for the students instead of reading out of a textbook.
This is more science than I have seen in past clinical settings because in all of my other settings they didn't do any science. It is just unfortunate that this is how my CT does science in her classroom. Dr. Osorio explains every single week that it is important to do hands-on experiments with them because it triggers their learning.
I will for sure use hands-on experiments and more interesting activities in my own classroom someday.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Post #3
Social Studies Focus:
Unfortunately, social studies does not actually take place in my classroom. They leave my classroom every other week to go to Mrs. Wolfe's room (Lauren Kellar's CT) to do social studies. My CT teaches science, so I only see that being taught as an actual lesson. However, that does not mean my students are not hitting social studies at all. It is integrated into many other subjects they do throughout the day. For example, on September 11th they spent the whole afternoon talking about what happened, watching videos, and doing activities. Last week during language arts, they were all reading a story out of their reading textbook about the Jewish culture. So, they are still getting small social studies lessons integrated into other subjects throughout the day.
Since I never see an actual social studies lesson being taught, I do not get to see how they are taught the information and how they respond to it. When it is integrated though depending on the subject they will discuss it. Unfortunately when they read the story from their reading textbook, they did a worksheet, turned it in, and did not have a discussion on what they read. My CT could have used that as a really good learning time on social studies and the Jewish culture.
I listen to some of my students talk throughout the day and there are some students in my class that are really intelligent and know a lot about history events, etc. It is unfortunate that my teacher does not take the extra time to go over some events or history with them throughout the day, more often. I think these students should be exposed to more social studies topics throughout the day and there are so many ways my CT could incorporate them into her lessons.
What I see in this classroom is similar to what I have seen in my other clinical experiences. As we all know, they are pushing math and literacy over all the other subjects so science and social studies are getting pushed aside. Many of the CT's I have been with take this seriously and usually push science and social studies aside completely. There are so many ways teachers can integrate them into their math and literacy lessons and then this way they are not taking it out of the curriculum. I personally want to integrate them into my lessons when I am a teacher if I am not able to spend 20-30 minutes on it during the week. I hope I see more in my student teaching setting and if not, I hope I can integrate them into my lessons, so the students are not getting any type of science or social studies.
Social studies and science were a part of my every day life when I was in elementary school and we all turned out just fine and with the same knowledge as students today. I don't understand why they have to push math and literacy so much.
Unfortunately, social studies does not actually take place in my classroom. They leave my classroom every other week to go to Mrs. Wolfe's room (Lauren Kellar's CT) to do social studies. My CT teaches science, so I only see that being taught as an actual lesson. However, that does not mean my students are not hitting social studies at all. It is integrated into many other subjects they do throughout the day. For example, on September 11th they spent the whole afternoon talking about what happened, watching videos, and doing activities. Last week during language arts, they were all reading a story out of their reading textbook about the Jewish culture. So, they are still getting small social studies lessons integrated into other subjects throughout the day.
Since I never see an actual social studies lesson being taught, I do not get to see how they are taught the information and how they respond to it. When it is integrated though depending on the subject they will discuss it. Unfortunately when they read the story from their reading textbook, they did a worksheet, turned it in, and did not have a discussion on what they read. My CT could have used that as a really good learning time on social studies and the Jewish culture.
I listen to some of my students talk throughout the day and there are some students in my class that are really intelligent and know a lot about history events, etc. It is unfortunate that my teacher does not take the extra time to go over some events or history with them throughout the day, more often. I think these students should be exposed to more social studies topics throughout the day and there are so many ways my CT could incorporate them into her lessons.
What I see in this classroom is similar to what I have seen in my other clinical experiences. As we all know, they are pushing math and literacy over all the other subjects so science and social studies are getting pushed aside. Many of the CT's I have been with take this seriously and usually push science and social studies aside completely. There are so many ways teachers can integrate them into their math and literacy lessons and then this way they are not taking it out of the curriculum. I personally want to integrate them into my lessons when I am a teacher if I am not able to spend 20-30 minutes on it during the week. I hope I see more in my student teaching setting and if not, I hope I can integrate them into my lessons, so the students are not getting any type of science or social studies.
Social studies and science were a part of my every day life when I was in elementary school and we all turned out just fine and with the same knowledge as students today. I don't understand why they have to push math and literacy so much.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Post #2
Literacy Focus:
Literacy takes place after lunch basically until the end of the school day. Once they get back from lunch sometimes she has them do a little bit of science, but if they don't do that then they go straight into daily 5. Currently my students have only been introduced to read alone and read with a partner. Last week she allowed them to do word work, which was a worksheet where they played battleship with a partner using their spelling words. Unfortunately, I noticed that they all had the same spelling list and there were 2 bonus words. After each student finishes a book they take a quiz on it on a website. I have yet to find more information out on that, but it has to do with their reading levels.
Lately, my CT has been talking with me and explaining different things about the classroom or daily 5 during the time, but last week I was able to work one on one with a student that needed close attention. On normal days, my CT said she will usually pull students aside and have them read to her and work one on one with them.
Students have been showing their love for reading and they all seem to love taking the quizzes on their books when they are done. I am amazed at how quickly these students finish books. She allows them to pick what they want to do during daily 5, but if they have picked the same thing day after day, she makes them do something they have not done yet.
Even though I have not seen all of daily 5, I like the idea of it so far. They all seem to love reading and it does not make them uninterested in reading. Some of them were a little less excited about having to do the word work. However, I think if she had more engaging activities for word work then it would not be so boring for the students.
We have learned a lot about daily 5 at ISU and I have learned how well it works in many classrooms and it is starting to become popular in many school settings. I think this is something that I would like to use in my classroom one day. It gives the students a choice and it does not force them to read, so hopefully they will enjoy reading instead of looking at it as a chore.
I think having daily 5 in the classroom allows a teacher to do a lot of assessment because the students are all in different groups and she/he can walk around and assess the students. She can sit with a student and listen to them read, take anecdotal records, etc. This gives the teacher/me an opportunity to work wtih smaller groups of students as well and assess their ability levels.
Literacy takes place after lunch basically until the end of the school day. Once they get back from lunch sometimes she has them do a little bit of science, but if they don't do that then they go straight into daily 5. Currently my students have only been introduced to read alone and read with a partner. Last week she allowed them to do word work, which was a worksheet where they played battleship with a partner using their spelling words. Unfortunately, I noticed that they all had the same spelling list and there were 2 bonus words. After each student finishes a book they take a quiz on it on a website. I have yet to find more information out on that, but it has to do with their reading levels.
Lately, my CT has been talking with me and explaining different things about the classroom or daily 5 during the time, but last week I was able to work one on one with a student that needed close attention. On normal days, my CT said she will usually pull students aside and have them read to her and work one on one with them.
Students have been showing their love for reading and they all seem to love taking the quizzes on their books when they are done. I am amazed at how quickly these students finish books. She allows them to pick what they want to do during daily 5, but if they have picked the same thing day after day, she makes them do something they have not done yet.
Even though I have not seen all of daily 5, I like the idea of it so far. They all seem to love reading and it does not make them uninterested in reading. Some of them were a little less excited about having to do the word work. However, I think if she had more engaging activities for word work then it would not be so boring for the students.
We have learned a lot about daily 5 at ISU and I have learned how well it works in many classrooms and it is starting to become popular in many school settings. I think this is something that I would like to use in my classroom one day. It gives the students a choice and it does not force them to read, so hopefully they will enjoy reading instead of looking at it as a chore.
I think having daily 5 in the classroom allows a teacher to do a lot of assessment because the students are all in different groups and she/he can walk around and assess the students. She can sit with a student and listen to them read, take anecdotal records, etc. This gives the teacher/me an opportunity to work wtih smaller groups of students as well and assess their ability levels.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Course Goals
1. I would like to take the initiative to talk to my CT about teaching as much as possible in the classroom. In order to fufill this goal, I will talk to my CT about what she is comfortable allowing me to take control of throughout the day. I will offer my help to her whenever she needs it as well, so that I am never standing around unless necessary.
2. I want to incorporate some classroom management techniques we have learned throughout our teaching experience at ISU. Mainly, I would like to teach and use attention getters with my students. My CT last semester used them and it worked really well with the students, so I would love to teach older kids them as well because I think they would enjoy it.
3. I want to use my classmates, CT, and other resources more often for help throughout the semester. It is important now and for the future to learn how to bounce ideas off of each other, so that I can come up with more creative and different lesson ideas. It will also help me learn to work with others and seek out help when needed.
4. I would like to improve my lesson plan writing skills. I sometimes write detailed lesson plans, but I would like to know how to write a detailed, accurate lesson plan. I think with the help of you and my classmates, I could improve in this area throughout the semester.
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