Week 2

     This week was great! I find it easier to get out of bed every day, because I know that I get to be with my class.  This week was short because of MLK and it went very fast. We were so busy every day! On Wednesday we got the opportunity to go with the 5th grade class to see a play at Governor State University. We saw 50 states in 60 minutes. It was fun and I think it helped the students to review the knowledge that they had been gaining during social studies. As a student, field trips were a blast, but nobody every told me how tolling it was as a teacher! You are taking these students out of a safe, predictable environment and bringing them to a place where there are so many unknowns. It could drive a person crazy. The day turned out well though, no lost or injured students. :) Last week I started reading a book for read aloud. I continue to do that every day after recess. This is a great technique that I plan on using in my own classroom. It gives the students the opportunity to come back from recess and prepare for the rest of the day before starting right up again. As I am beginning to do math more and more, it is becoming more clear to me how much of a challenge it is going to be to prepare for a gifted student. It is a blessing to be able to work with him though.
      One thing that I am finding difficult is dealing with classroom conflict. Tattle-tales have never been my thing and my first reaction is to want to say, "I don't want to hear it." Sooner or later it is something that is going to have to be dealt with though. I plan on talking to Sally (co-operating teacher), about it. Hopefully she will have some tips for me. As I was reading through Schmidt, I came across something that made me feel kind of ashamed. When she is talking about spelling and going around and saying the word, the sentence, and the word again, I realized that is exactly what I have been doing. When I am giving the spelling test, I feel like a robot. I hear myself talking and all I can think is, "boring!" I would like to see what Sally's thoughts are on trying to give a memory spelling test like suggested in the book.
      On Friday, I was given the opportunity to teach a Bible lesson. That was really hard for me. This was something I had never done before. I had no experience. You would think it would be easy. I have heard these stories my entire life and know them pretty well. Teaching Bible was probably my scariest experience so far (next to the field trip of course), and I am not so sure I taught it very effectively. That's okay though. I am trying again tomorrow!
     I am beginning to develop very good relationships with my students and my teacher. Developing these relationships is really a blessing. I can really tell a difference. Establishing a good rapport with students can really make a difference when asking them to do something and even when you're up there teaching.
Schmidt
      What I got out of the reading, is that Eptness, is synonymous with Great Teacher. The book says that," Eptness is a combination of capacities and meaningful activity. It resides in potential in all students, but it's unleashed through the deliberate efforts of their teacher." A teacher who possesses Eptness will create an environment that is safe for every student to be, learn and make mistakes. An ept teacher will not put limits on their students learning, but do everything they can to promote student learning. They will make every student feel their value and their worth and that they do have something to add to the classroom that other students can't. An ept teacher will make their classroom environment so that the students realize that they all need each other to learn and grow. They will make students realize that it takes working together to grow as a class and as a person. Ept teachers will make what they say meaningful to their students, whether that be to help make connections to the world around them or when giving feedback.
       My favorite teacher behavior listed in this book is "Never Too Late." This is kind of my life philosophy and something that I have incorporated into my philosophy of education. I believe that Never Too Late goes along with the belief that Every day is a new day, a clean slate. It is never too late to fix a mistake and learn from it. Ultimately, the goal in a classroom is learning and most often the most memorable learning happens when learning from mistakes made. I also plan on incorporating the behavior of encouragement. As a student myself, I can truly say that having someone there to be a constant encourager is imperative to growing and to keep trying. The teachers that stick out most in my mind are the teachers that took time to talk to me and encourage me if I was doing well or poorly. They specifically came to me or made their words specific to me. I plan on being a constant encourager for my students, because if I still need encouraging as an adult, how much more encouragement it will take for a child. The third teacher behavior I plan on incorporating in the future (and I believe I do this already), is Expectations. The worst feeling in the world for a student is when they can tell that their teacher already doesn't think they can do it. That gives them permission to believe that they really can't do it. It is important to go into a school year with all pre-concieved notions erased from your mind. Go into the year with the attitude that this is a new group of students with unlimited potential and you are the one being privileged enough to help them achieve it. No matter who a student is, or their ability, they are capable of learning something. Teach children that and they will exceed not only expectations you have for them, but the expectations they have for themselves. Exceeding their own expectations will give them pride in their abilities and really allow them to believe that they can do anything.