Week 7

     Wow. Just when I'm starting to get used to everything and really starting to get it, the first placement is over with. Excuse me while I have a sappy moment, but we all knew it was bound to happen. :) This whole past week has been a bittersweet experience. Knowing that this was about to end, but feeling blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know my students and work at Calvin made for an interesting week. It was nice to be able to have some catch-up time as the week passed though. On Thursday my principal gave me a gift, a book that was his and he wrote me a note in it. That made me tear up. Friday we had a going away party and it was so sweet. I was getting hugs all day, getting asked not to leave, being asked to babysit, and finally the end of the day where a few students (and me) were crying as we said goodbye. I'm going to miss them all so much, but I hope to stay in touch. :)
      We did not have school on Monday, which gave me some time to do crafty, creative things. I made a story map poster to use in Language Arts the next day. On Tuesday, Mrs. Hysell came for my last observation. It's been a blessing and encouragement to have her for a supervisor. Thanks for all your comments and offers of continued help Mrs. Hysell, I appreciate it. I like having the students look up the vocabulary words for the story of the week and writing the definition and coming up with a sentence using the word. We had our normal pretest and self-correct for spelling, did our vocabulary, and then we used our story map poster. It was something different for the students and I think they enjoyed it. I had planned on giving each group a fairy tale and having them create their own story maps, but as time was going by, I realized that we would not have enough time, so I cut that out.
     This week was the week for tests. We had a test in Bible, Science, and Social Studies. I thought that was a lot of tests, so Sally and I worked out a schedule so that they were all on different days. I made review sheets for all but the social studies test. I did make Science and Social Studies open note, so that made it somewhat easier for the students. Bible was an open note quiz, since we have been taking a few notes during that time. I decided to try something different with the Bible test and I made it short answer essay. They had 4 questions and they could use their notes. Their notes had a lot of the information, but they did not have straight answers to the test questions. They would have to think about it a little and they definitely rose to the challenge! It was very encouraging to see them do so well on all of their tests!!! Although they had their books, they had limited time and could not look up every question, so it was very encouraging to see that I did teach them something while I was there. :) I also made a review jeopardy game for Science. That was a lot of fun and they did well. It was also nice to be able to give Sally something to use that she did not know how to do before. Needless to say, there was not a ton of teaching this week. It was mostly reviews and tests.
     I had to redo my TPA this week. It was on division. Woof. Just when you think they're getting it, we moved on to dividing 3 digit numbers and then they got all confused again. It was nerve-racking to be teaching it just because division is so high-stakes. The first lesson, we worked through the worksheet together and I could tell that most of them were starting to grasp it towards the end. On Wednesday we had centers and Sally continued working with them on that and I did "Interpreting Remainders." It's funny to look back and see how as each group came to me, I got progressively better at teaching it.
    I was feeling much better this week and you could definitely see that the students respond to how the teacher is feeling. Last week when I was sick, I was very chill and low-key and they responded to that by being quiet and calm. Now that I had my energy back, they seemed to get theirs back too and were talkative and excited and everything. This week was more work for classroom management than last week. :)
    As the week went by, I dropped more and more classes, until Friday where I had none. It was weird. What do I do with myself?!! Oh, but I found stuff to do. I made a bulletin board, graded, came up with tests, review sheets, the jeopardy game, and did random things around the school. On Thursday, Sally kicked me out of the classroom for the morning so the kids could work on a project (for me), and I went to go visit the pre-school room. They have 9 kids in the pre-school room and it was so awesome to get observe them. They have such an excitement and curiosity for EVERYTHING! I know that I want to teach the younger students and my visit helped make that more clear to me. I really liked how soft-spoken Jenn was as she was teaching them and doing things with them. They were great listeners and she is a great model for them.
    All-in-all, it was a great week and an even better placement. Although there is still a lot to learn and grow in, I feel that I did a lot of growing at Calvin and that will help a lot as I move on to becoming an official teacher. :)
Schmidt

     Reading Schmidt at the end of every week is a great way to bring it all back to why I am going for teaching. Prof. Snoeyink said at the beginning of the year that this book was an "idealist" book, but that it had a lot of good ideas in it. Schmidt has tons of good ideas and a passion for teaching. The thing to remember though, is to not discouraged when you don't do things the way Schmidt describes them. I love the idea of taking students to cemeteries to learn, and to involve them in solving a mystery. Make History/Social Studies come alive. What she said about History is true, History itself is not boring, but the way that it is taught is. Now, I'm not saying that we should throw out our textbooks, but we shouldn't rely on them as much as we do. Because I love reading, I am all for taking trade books or first-hand documents and using them in the place of the textbook. You need to find a way to get the students emotionally involved and help them to understand not only the facts, but the people, their feelings, the events...anything that will make it real for them. Obviously it is not always realistic or money-feasible, but taking students on field trips to museums or other historical places is a great way to make History interesting and real. 

     The Arts: something that is a dying breed in schools around America, maybe even the world. Programs are being cut every year for the Arts and classes are being taken away. You have to focus more on academics. I think that's bologna. The arts can be a wonderful tool for stimulating student's minds, helping them to remember, and to express themselves. Teachers who incorporate the Arts into their classrooms, are often the classrooms who's students feel inspired to learn and who really understand, not just throw out the facts. My favorite idea that I took away from Schmidt is going outside with chalk to learn your letters. That is so awesome. Most kids would rather be outside, than cooped up in a building.  This way, they have a huge canvas to do their work and they can learn while enjoying the beautiful outside. In my past placement, I used creative writing to get my student's creative juices flowing. I gave them a picture of something interesting, often funny, and told them to tell me a story about it. My favorite one to read about was the baby dressed in a lobster costume, sitting in a big pot. The students got really creative. Some wrote from the baby's perspective, others wrote from the perspective of the pot.  Creative writing, not something we had time for in class, but the students were excited to do it at home and when they had some extra time. They were always excited to know when they were going to get the next picture.

     There are many types of authentic assessment I have seen. Portfolios are a wonderful one to use. Students can they actually see their progress and what they have learned. I also love making collages. Taking what you know and using pictures to express that, is way more interesting that taking a test. Writing stories can also be a good tool. Giving students an hour to write from the perspective from a pioneer moving west and telling them to include 10-15 facts that they have learned is a great way for them to get creative and show what they know. Something as simple as drawing a picture to show they were paying attention and understanding is also a good assessment. There are so many ways besides taking a test to assess students. The problem is, these ways are often much more work for the teacher. Be realistic, it's probably not going to work out to have a form of authentic assessment that is not a test every time, but it's a good option to have and take advantage of on occasion.

Week 6

     This was my second week of full-time teaching and it went well. I was very sick and hardly functioning this week. I lost my voice a few times and Sally had to take over on occasion, because I could not talk. On a happy note, I am now feeling much better after being on antibiotics, which will make this week a lot easier. :).
     Over the past couple of weeks I have been giving the students a funny/interesting picture. They are to use the picture throughout the week to write a creative writing story. The students are loving it!!! It is so much fun reading their stories and to see their creativity. Some of the students have really taken this project and run with it. A lot of them have worked really hard and done a lot of research for some of their stories. Sally has loved this idea so much, she said she was going to steal it from me and continue on after I leave.
     Reading is a lot of the same routine. Worksheets, mini-lecturing, partner work, silent reading, listening to the story on cd, and taking tests. This week we read Encantado, which is about the pink dolphins. I thought it would be a good idea to show a video from National Geographic Kids about pink dolphins. It was short and sweet, but it helped to bring everything together.
     Math has been a little bit challenging to teach the past couple of lessons. We are working on diving, leading into long division. On Friday, we started off the lesson by using the smartboard. We used pennies and dimes on the board to demonstrate place value and did some grouping and dividing. That went very well, but then when we started doing some division without the visual, they were confused. I had them take out their worksheets, and instead of them doing it on their own, we went through it together. Towards the end, they were starting to pick up on it, but I'm going to continue with teaching it on Tuesday, because it leads into the next lesson perfectly.
     Social Studies has been really interesting to teach. We are working with the Midwest Region right now and the students really seem to be enjoying it, because that's where they live. We had discussion and question time, silent reading, group reading,  and partner work with worksheets.
     In Science, we do a lot of group reading and discussing as we go through it. The students always have a lot of stories to tell and a few students usually have something interesting to add to the discussion. Again their are some worksheets that the students have done on their own or with a partner.
    For Bible this week, I tried something a little different. We would read the bible story and then take some notes after. I would write them on the board and they would copy them down. It's not a lot of notes, but enough so that they would have the basics of the story to jog their memory. I plan on letting them use their notes for an open note Bible quiz for next week.
    I have also been showing brainpop videos every once in awhile in science and social studies. The students love them and it's a good way of reviewing what they just talked about. The brainpop videos also have information that is a little bit of a higher level for the students who pick up on more. This is an easy way to differentiate between students.
    I have been learning so much over the past couple weeks. 1) DON'T GET SICK!!! (haha) It really makes everything a lot more difficult and hectic. There was one night where I didn't grade and I felt kind of behind. 2) Don't get behind on grading.  Of course there are many other things, but this is what I mainly learned this past week with being sick.
    On Friday, we had off school, but we were given the opportunity to attend an in-service at my old high school, Illiana Christian. I thought it was kind of weird to be going back to my high school as a teacher with my old teachers. It was very interesting. Prof. BC came to talk about backwards design and truth be told, I understood it more in that 2 and a half hours than I did the whole last semester of novice. That was exciting! As always, Prof. BC was very interesting. The rest of the day was spent looking at a study done about Christian schools. How they impact students and the world negatively and positively. There was a lot of time to discuss with our groups and it was a great time to get to know and build relationships with the faculty at Calvin.

Schmidt
     Schmidt, as usual, has a lot of good information to share. She really puts a lot of emphasis on how important communication is between teacher and parents. You think your job as a teacher is just about teaching the students, but you need to be in constant communication with the parents in order to establish a good relationship. The better the relationship with the parents, the further you will get with your students.
     This really helped me to realize how important it is to be in constant communication. Weekly bulletins are extremely helpful to keep the parents informed. I have also picked up something from Sally that I really like. She signs her students planners at the end of the day to make sure they have everything written down. At night, the students have to get a parent signature in their planner. This allows for Sally to write a note to the parents and for Sally to look for comments or questions in the morning. I really love the part about staying positive. Parents should look forward to getting a note home at the beginning of the week and hearing about all of the exciting things their children will be learning about in the coming week.
    Parent-teacher conferences can be intimidating and stressful. I really liked the idea of sending home a parent packet and giving them something to do to prepare for the conference. Having a student portfolio available for parents to look at is a great positive way to start off the conference. Choosing a table that puts everyone on the same level keeps parents at ease and less like they are about to be lectured. Also, Schmidt says to be prepared! Being prepared is probably one the most important things to do when having a parent teacher conference.

Week 5

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Week 4

     This week was a learning experience. I took over all but 1 subject and Sally stayed out of the room for a  few subjects on Friday. This was my first week teaching the Language Arts block and it was by far the most confusing thing so far. It's one big block and there is no specific set schedule. A bunch of different things are happening every day. Sally was really nice and helped me by writing out what to do for every day. By Friday, I felt that I had a better hang of it.
     In Language Arts, we spend a couple of days reading and doing vocabulary and working on grammar skills. I start Mondays by giving a pre-test in spelling and then a test again on Friday. I have been having the students do some partner work in Reading this week to break it up a little. In Math I spend about 15 minutes teaching the lesson and having the students doing some work along with me. If I feel that they are not understanding and we need more time together, I cut out the assignment and continue working with them until they get it. Because math is so short and Sally does not allow them to have math homework, it is a little bit difficult to fit everything in. In Science we read through the lesson for the day, I ask questions that connect to what they already know, and then they have a worksheet they are working through. We also did an experiment this week to show how currents move and how cold water is more dense than warm water. I also showed a brainpop video on currents. I am running out of emails to use for my free trials!!!  Bible is usally spent going through the memory verse, hearing a Bible story, and on occasion doing a worksheet.
     Wednesday I did not go into school, because I had the flu. I felt a little bit unprepared when I came back on Thursday as I was not able to collaborate with Sally to find out what the plan for the day was. It really showed me how important it is to be prepared.
     On Thursday, Sally told me that although the kids loved me, they were not showing proper respect for me as a teacher. Some of them not paying attention at all and talking out of turn. That was really discouraging to hear, even though it was something I was thinking myself.  I did not know what to do and at that point, I just wanted to give up. Sally was really encouraging and I spent a lot of time talking to my support system (parents). Friday I went back and had a talk with the students. I had to show them I meant business and their previous behavior was not acceptable. It went a lot better, and although I have a few students losing their recess on Monday, I am hoping that they will realize how important it is to respect each other and me. I want them to succeed and they are not going to do that if they are not participating in class.
     I am still in the process of learning how to work with students at all different ability levels. We have one student who tests out of every chapter, so I am supplying him with challenge material. There are some students that catch on really fast and sometimes get bored. I am trying to come up with different ways to engage them. I have some interesting things planned for this week though! I'm really excited to get through my lessons.
     This next week will be my first week taking over the entire day all week. It is very nerve-racking and exciting at the same time. I hope it goes well!

Schmidt
     There are 2 motivations behind every behavior. 1) to seek pleasure and 2) to avoid pain. This makes sense. If they are bored they want to do something to entertain themselves. If they are engaged, they will continue to have fun and be engaged in the learning. If students don't understand the material, they will zone out or act out to avoid doing the thing that they don't get.
     From Schmidt and from student teaching, I have learned that student behavior is mostly connected with being engaged. When students are engaged, they are less likely to act up and display behaviors that are unsatisfactory. When students have that time where they do not have something to do, that is when things start to get out of hand. Students also act out sometimes when they are frustrated and do not understand the material.
     It is important to encourage students to learn and be involved in the material. When they are doing good, give encouragement to continue. If they are doing poorly, give them a reason to do better. Let them know that you care. Get to know your students and take time to find out why they're doing what they are doing. I have one student that often cries because she takes longer to do things. She feels like she does not have enough time. I have told her multiple times that instead of crying she needs to come talk to me so we can find a solution. I often tell her that she can bring her work home or that we can find some time somewhere for her to work on it. If students are displaying behaviors on the outside, it can often be hiding something going on inside or outside of the classroom. Point being: GET TO KNOW YOUR STUDENTS!!!