Welcome to Week 7

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all having a good week.

I am having such wonderful experiences in the classroom this week including teaching task 2 lesson plans, going on a field trip, and observing a fire department presentation at school.

I was able to teach my first task 1 lesson on Monday. Unfortunately, the one lesson will be divided up into two days because there was too much content to cram into one day. I was able to see how the daily schedule can get so messed up. We had to interrupt our morning work to see a skit the firemen performed for the kids. When we came back I had approximately twenty minutes to start my lesson which was Picture and Text Clues. Students learn to identify what the meaning of the story is by looking at pictures clues, text clues, and background knowledge. I had to finish the lesson in the afternoon because after the twenty minutes my CE had groups come in from different classrooms for the reading lesson. Unfortunately, I had several classroom management issues for the second part of my lesson in the afternoon.The students sat on the rug and after a few minutes, they did not keep still. I like how Ms. Henderson told the class after my lesson about clipping down. Her new rule is that she will point a finger to students who are misbehaving that they need to stop whatever they are doing or not doing. The next warning will be teacher consequences. Students must clip down on the clip chart. This will help with student management so that everyone is listening and paying attention.  She gave me some critical feedback for my lesson. We are not supposed to say keep your mouth shut which is what I said. Using the shut word is wrong because it could sound like shut up. However, we can say close your mouth and hush. I am so glad I learned this now instead of later. My CE is also trying a new technique of classroom management. When students have the wiggles on the floor, she will have them stand up for a small period of time. I think this is a great demonstration of how teachers will find other methods if students still have behavior issues. Every time I am in my CE's classroom, I am constantly watching her methods so I may incorporate them into my classroom and when I teach lessons. For my lessons from now on, I will make sure everyone is watching me. Ms. Henderson has taught them when she says "eyes on me" they are supposed to say "eyes on you." Because the student's eyes are on me, I can have their full attention. Also, another important way to make sure students understand the instruction is to ask them to repeat it. This way the teacher knows for certain that they understand what she has just said.

For content outside of the classroom, I purchased a Chicka Chicka Boom booklet. It included an alphabet poster and alphabet letter flash cards. The Rutherford County Schools lesson plan incorporates Chicka Chicka Boom for the first-grade lesson plan. If I do get the first grade or even Kindergarten, I will have this resource.

To connect my work with NCTCS standards, teachers must be a leader inside of the classroom standard 1e. The more the expectations of the teacher has toward the students, the more students will try to reach those expectations. My CE will not tolerate any form of misbehavior which will interrupt instructional time. She has the reputation of being more strict, but her purpose is to erase any type of disturbance so that it does not conflict with time management. For example, students wiggling on the floor distracts other students. She deals with the issue quickly instead of letting that be a distraction to her teaching and to the other students. Also, the standard which addresses my outside learning about "Chicka Chicka Boom" is 3b. Teachers understand the importance of using different materials to bring a variety of experiences into the classroom. The package will be a good tool to use for teaching ABC's and when reading the delightful stories of all the alphabet letters in the coconut tree.

On one final note, I have enjoyed this semester more than any other one in college. I feel sure I will love student teaching even more. Why? Now being in the classroom is personal to me. I know all of my students by name, and they know me by my name. There is nothing like being a teacher. I look forward to spending time with the students in seeing them learn and grow.

I hope all of you have a great week.