Week 3: Nervous for it to be Just Me...

Monday, January 21

Today was bitter cold = indoor recess = both morning and afternoon = crazy, rowdy kids! The students seemed to be all over the place today. They were excited, then sad, then engaged, then lost, then… all day long, the first graders seemed to be a roller coaster! I still enjoyed the day though; it was one where I get to see how intense days can be in the younger grades. A previous cooperating teacher I worked with explained a huge difference between being a teacher in the upper grades vs. the lower grades. In the younger grades, teachers are constantly on their toes, trying to keep the younger kids engaged; their school days are intense, but they are able to relax when they get home because most of the grading goes relatively quick. Teachers of the upper grades experience their school days much differently; they are able to assign work to the students that can last twenty minutes while they set up for another class. When the bell rings at the end of the day however, their school day isn’t over; there will generally be lots of homework that will take a solid chunk of the night to grade. In summary: younger grades teachers have very intense days but can leave school at school; upper grades teachers’ days aren’t quite so intense, but work after school is almost always a guarantee. I have seen this ring true in many placements and have yet to decide what grade is my ideal. Maybe at the end of the semester I’ll have a better idea!

Tuesday, January 22

Yesterday was my first day teaching math. It was a struggle. The focus was Fact Families, and introducing this concept to first graders was no easy feat. I used dominoes to explain the members of a Fact Family, but it did not help. We wrote the Fact Family math problems down together, but it did not help. We ended up going longer than the time that’s set aside for math, yet I still felt like the students did not grasp the material. I was even more distressed about them not getting it because today’s math lesson was on Fact Triangles, which are based off of Fact Families, and I was being observed today for math. Talk about a bundle of nerves!

 

When math rolled around, the students were loud and excited due to yet another day of indoor recesses. Working with the small groups, I used the Fact Triangles to explain what makes up a Fact Family. I explained that you subtract down the triangle, and add up; and that the biggest number is always the one under the dot. After awhile, some began to grasp the concept. I practiced with them figuring out the missing number of a Fact Triangle if one is covered up, and the majority began to understand what was going on. I was thankful they got it, but felt like we had to rush so that math did not take up as much time today as it did yesterday.

 

Something that should be noted is that the class is divided up into three level-based groups for math time. Elaine models Performance Indicator 4M perfectly (creates multiple learning activities that allow for variation in students' learning styles and performance modes). Each day in math, the class does three stations: independent work, math games and a small group session with the teacher. My cooperating teacher generally starts with the lower-level students in the small group session with her, and then ends with the higher-level students. While talking to my supervisor after the lesson, I realized that I gained more confidence each time I taught the lesson, so by the time the higher-level students came to me, I had a much better idea of what would help make sense to the students, and what wouldn’t. Seeing this, my supervisor wondered if it would make more sense to start with the higher-level students, and then end with the lower-level; this way, I would have more confidence teaching the lesson, and would better understand what key terms/strategies are beneficial. I later suggested this to Elaine, and she said she had wondered about that herself also. We agreed that on Thursday, I will try working with the higher-level students first. Hopefully this change will not only help me better teach the lower-level students, but also have a better grasp on time management.

**Update: the math groups on Thursday went much better! Not only did all the groups grasp the material better, but I think switching the order of the smal groups made a large difference. I was able to see what worked and made sense with the higher-evel students, and then modify my lesson accordingly for the lower-level groups. I felt much better with how the lessons went. I'm extremely thankful that my supervisor noticed this; I think I will do future lessons in the same fashion!

Wednesday, January 23

I have mentioned before how indoor recess has been happening regularly lately due to the cold weather. I’d like to explain how indoor recess is done in Elaine’s classroom because I really like it! It varies up, but the majority of the time the students give suggestions for what activity they would like to do during recess, and then they all put their heads on their desks with eyes shut. Elaine will call out each activity one by one, and the students (with heads still down) raise their hands for the one activity that they would like to do. The options usually include games like the Winking Game, Silent Ball, Heads-Up 7-Up, Four Square, or they’ll suggest free time. Silent Ball is frequently picked—the kids love it! For the game, the students sit on their desks with pockets on the top and toss a beach ball to one another. The catch is that they cannot talk at all. They must throw good to one another because if their bad toss isn’t caught, then they are out and have to sit in their chair; if the toss is good but not caught, the receiver sits down. The entire game is silent, except for when the ref (Elaine) calls someone one due to the ball being dropped. No arguing with the ref is allowed either—that’s an automatic out. It is a fabulous indoor activity! The students love it, and yet the room stays quiet. Definitely one I will keep in mind for my future classrooms if I teach younger grades!

 

After school today, all 3 first grade teachers met together to discuss next week. They usually do this every Wednesday but the first week, Elaine had the orientation at Trinity, and last week was the all-staff meeting, so this was my first time going to the team meeting. I have collaborated with the other first grade teachers and have borrowed some of their materials for my lessons, so I knew that the three teachers worked well together. Today though, I got to see the teamwork in action. It was great to hear them bounce ideas off each other, and try to remember what they did last year—three minds are definitely better than one, especially in this case! Meeting with them made me feel like I was part of a team; though each teacher has their own classroom, their missions are obviously similar so the classes run in a comparable manner; this enables the teachers to work together and truly helps make each class so great. Having this support system is huge too. One of the first grade teachers is currently moving homes, and for the last month, problem after problem has occurred with the buyers. Finally today, she was told that it would close tomorrow—an answer of prayer to both her and the other first grade teachers; all the teachers celebrated with her. I loved seeing that the teachers are not just colleagues, but also confidants. I think a large basis of this is being in a Christian school, but I have seen this in public schools also. It is so important to have that feeling of support and teamwork with teachers in one’s buildings, and I pray that I will feel that same sense of partnership in my future school home.

Thursday, January 24

I felt like a true teacher today. I stayed at school from 7:30 am till 8:30 pm. The reason for this was the Winter Jubilee, the concert put on by the whole school. It was an incredible performance—the kids all did so well. It was fun to be a part of, and hear all the children’s voices. Just under 600 kids were in it, and the grand finale was absolutely beautiful. All the students came in and sang the Hallelujah Chorus together. Never before has that song sounded more glorious; I literally had chills and tears in my eyes.

 

However, my excitement and thrill ended rather quickly when I arrived home and had to do lesson plans for the next day and upcoming week. This week has been the most tiring week by far, and the biggest reason for this is all the lesson plans that need to be made for each day. I completely understand the reasoning behind them—to get us thinking through each step of every lesson so that we are fully prepared. However, it is extremely tedious and pointless when we are literally copying points directly from the teacher’s manual. It is impractical and honestly, an interruption to my teaching. Every day I get home from school around 4:45, and then spend the next 4-5 hours writing lesson plans. Throw in eating dinner, and squeezing a workout in, and my day is over and it’s time for bed so I can be well rested for the next day. I am unable to simply browse the internet for good ideas to complement my lessons; my time is shot. And the reasoning is not because of poor time management; I work on lesson plans and the additional assignments from our class every day for a decent amount of time. My cooperating teacher has commented on how impractical and worthless these lesson plans are. I think through each lesson when I talk over the lessons with her, and then later on when I look through the book myself. I would love to come up with new ideas to add to the curriculum, but time is of essence, and rather than spending time looking up creative elements, I am forced to write 3-4 page lesson plans for a 20 minute lesson.

 

I would say I apologize for this ranting, but honestly, I can’t—I needed to get it off my chest. I see the reasoning behind the lesson plans, but I cannot say the reasoning justifies us having to write 15-20 lesson plans for each week (which is about 45 pages each week—well, actually 90 pieces of paper because we have to print the lesson plans twice: first, so they are available while teaching and then again after our reflection has been added and they can be put into a binder).

 

I understand my saying this is not going to change any requirements for me. I am simply throwing this thought out there in hope that future student teachers will be able to spend more time coming up with new ideas to implement in their classroom rather than copying points from a teacher’s manual. As we all know, time is a valuable resource, and I would love to use my time benefitting my classroom and my teaching.

Friday, January 25

School had a late start today because of Winter Jubilee, which I was extremely thankful for due to writing lessons the night before. Last night, the students were so pumped to perform and we expected that their excitement would die down a little bit and today they would be less chatty and rambunctious. We were completely wrong! They were just as thrilled to do the two performances today as they were to do last nights. They truly sang their hearts out and loved the show. Because of the late start, and one of the performances being at 1:30, our time teaching was limited today. I was excited though because math took much shorter than what I was anticipating so it gave us plenty of time to do Bible, which otherwise would not have happened probably. Overall, this week was great and I cannot believe I am already done with my third week at Crown Point Christian. Next week I take over full-time and though I am already drained thinking about all the lesson plans that will need to be written, I am excited to take over! Anxious, nervous, and scared too-- but excited :)

Classroom Confidential

Reading through chapter four, it stuck out to me how passionate Schmidt was about the benefits of having various cultures in one’s classroom. She states that there are two takes teachers can have on their students’ cultures: 1) view their culture as an asset or 2) view their cultures as a deficit. During my fall placement last year, I was placed in an extremely diverse room. Some of the students were first- or second-generation immigrants to America. Of my 29 students, only 6 of them spoke English at home. The rest of the class spoke Lithuanian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, and some others I cannot recall. Needless to say, the culture diversity of the classroom was huge! I saw though how much it added to the lessons. In social studies, students loved talking about where they came from, and the students liked learning about different places around the globe from one another. During spelling, students loved showing off their knowledge of multiple languages and would write the answer in English, and then the word in their primary language. They would then show off to the other students that they knew two languages, and they all learned from each other various words in a mixture of languages. The diversity truly added to the classroom. Schmidt points out that being color-blind is not a virtue because you can alienate yourself from students without even realizing it; my cooperating teacher that semester was certainly not color-blind—she used the students’ cultures to advance lessons. Seeing this was great for me; her classroom is one of my favorites from my aiding experiences, and I believe that her reaction to culture differences in the classroom is one huge reason why I loved her class so much.

Week 2: Starting to get a Clue!

Monday, January 14

Today was pretty hectic for some reason! The kids had a ton of energy, and just seemed to be bouncing off the walls. Elaine and I attributed that to having two indoor recesses due to the weather. Overall, it was a great day though. The students were able to focus during the math and reading times, and truly tried their hardest for their first spelling pre-quiz. I taught my first official lessons today: a Bible story on David and Goliath, and a science lesson on plants.

 

The Bible lesson went good. I began the lesson by telling the students that we were going to act out the story of David and Goliath. I drew names for who would play the major roles, and managed to find a role for everyone. They were so excited to act! Their energy today made it a great day to “perform”. Because they were so eager, it was a little hard to keep their attention and help them focus on the actual play part. Once I did get them to calm down, I started reading the story, and they had to have their best listening ears on in order to hear if their role required any movement. The kids got really into their acting and did a great job with it. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would change my introduction. I would make it more serious and make sure the kids understood that though this is a fun activity, they still need to listen well and pay attention to my words. We finished the lesson by talking about how David showed faith in God and how his courage was a testimony to others. Their answers during this discussion time allowed me to see that they understood the story well.

 

Continuing the excitement, the first graders’ had their very first science lesson today. During the first half of the school year, they had social studies, so this switch was something they were extremely pumped about. I started the lesson by asking the kids what they knew about plants, and what characteristics plants have. We then talked about what plants need to survive, and how we know that plants are living. I then told the class that on Wednesday we will be planting our own seeds and keeping track of their growth on a calendar; thrilled does not even describe their reactions. To finish the lesson, we reviewed how we will use the calendar to help us keep data. The students understood the material, and when I asked them some review questions at the end, they did a great job answering, so I was pleased they grasped the material.

 

Tuesday, January 15

Today was my first teacher luncheon! At CPCS, the teachers have a special lunch where they all eat together while parents cover the classrooms for an hour. I enjoyed meeting more teachers and getting to know others deeper. Because this is my first time being in a private school as a teacher, it has been really interesting to see the differences between public and private schools. One of the biggest distinctions is how lunch works. In all of the public schools that I have aided at in the past, the students would go to the cafeteria to eat lunch. At CPCS, there is no cafeteria, so the students primarily eat lunch in their classrooms with their teachers. Within the past couple years, Elaine said they have worked out a system so that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the students eat lunch in the atrium—their large hallways where some meetings can be held. This allows the teachers to eat lunch in the teacher’s lounge, enabling them to connect with one another throughout the day. It seems to be uncommon to see and talk with other adults otherwise; besides passing one another in the hall, little time exists for communication between the teachers. Having the Tuesday/Thursday atrium lunches, and the luncheons once a month has really better enabled the teachers to collaborate together, Elaine said. It’s also great because you talk to teachers from other grades and hear what they’re doing, which might not happen otherwise.

 

All the teachers in the school though are now practicing the Love and Logic philosophy; CPCS adopted it this year so all teachers need to integrate it into their classrooms. I had never heard of this ideology, so I looked up the Love and Logic ideology online at their website. Here I found the basis of the philosophy: “Love and logic is a way of working with children that puts parents and teachers back in control, teaches children to be responsible, and prepares young people to live in the real world, with its many choices and consequences”. From talking with Elaine, I learned that it basically encourages children to work through their problems together without necessarily going to the teacher right away. The desire is that they will learn that their actions have consequences, both on themselves and others, so the goal is that they will think through their actions before actually acting. It was interesting to hear about from Elaine, and seeing the website helped it make more sense. I think the ideology is great; it is important for kids to understand their actions have consequences, and I think having them work things out by themselves is a terrific goal. It would encourage more responsibility and hopefully prepare them better for the “real-world”. I’m very interested to see this philosophy in practice while at CPCS!

 

Wednesday, January 16

Yesterday I mentioned that CPCS has adopted the Love and Logic ideology. Today I got to see it in action. While walking around during writing time, I noticed that one of the kids was writing an inappropriate note. I took the note to Elaine and told her about it, and then continued walking around the classroom, so as not to make the other students pay attention to Elaine talking to him. I listened to the conversation though, and basically she explained to him why the note was inappropriate and then asked him what he thought he should have to do. His answer was to write a new, nice note so he did that, and then had to show it to Elaine. I saw the Love and Logic philosophy behind it; because the basis of the ideology is for the students to become more responsible and see the good/bad in their actions, having the student acknowledge his wrongdoing and then having to decide on his own punishment makes sense. I liked the way Elaine handled it; she made it clear that the note was inappropriate, but did not demoralize the child in any way. Instead, she allowed him to correct himself. Seeing the Love and Logic ideas in action made me like the philosophy even more.

 

Today was my first staff meeting; on the first Wednesday of each month, the entire staff meets together after school. The agenda of each meeting varies, but tonight’s highlights were technology, the school safety, and the upcoming Winter Jubilee. Winter Jubilee is a Christmas show that gets put on each year which many people look forward it. It is a big deal for all the students and families; next week there will be three performances so many people attend the event. Tonight the staff went over some basics together and explained how the night would work. For school safety, they brought up something I thought was very interesting. Due to the Connecticut shooting, many schools have obviously been re-vamping their safety procedures. One thing that CPCS is looking into is getting locks on the insides of the classrooms; as of now, all the doors lock, but only from the outside. I thought this was crazy simply because I assumed all schools always had the classrooms lock from the outside. Apparently this was not the case though, so CPCS is looking into changing it.

 

The agenda item that got many people talking was the technology piece. One of the first grade teachers found an idea on Pinterest of how to make your own SMARTBoard. In a nutshell, this is how it works: point a Wii remote onto a projector screen, and then use a pen with infrared light to “click” on whatever you want to do/move. Wii-motes can track sources of infrared light, so it reads where you click the pen and works the exact same way as a SMARTBoard. All SMARTBoard apps and games can be used with this method; the only difference is that you cannot type onto the board. You can type at your computer, and it will come up, but you cannot type on the actual SMARTBoard. It was extremely interesting! The best part about this idea? The amount of money schools could save—rather than spending about $4000 for the SMARTBoard system, this Wii-mote system could be used for about $200. I had never heard of this before so I thought it was really interesting. The drawback I can see is that it isn’t quite as interactive as an actual SMARTBoard. Because you just “click” with the infrared pen rather than actually touching the screen and doing things, the students do not touch the screen (which could be a negative or a positive I guess!) One advantage to this system would be that nothing is permanently installed onto the whiteboard/walls. It just uses the pull-down projection screen and the projector hooked onto the ceiling. It honestly could even be put right onto the white board. Teachers were very interested in how it works, and I am too. It was overall a very fascinating staff meeting; I enjoyed it!

 

Thursday, January 17

Yesterday was my first science experiment, and the first graders’ first. The students got to plant brassica seeds, so for the next couple weeks we will be observing their growth. I was nervous to be in charge simply because it was potentially a very, very messy project. It ended up going great. The kids listened so well to my directions and carefully handled the dirt—we only had a little spill on one desk, so no big deal at all! Today we did a KWL chart on plants. This was the first time the students a KWL chart had been introduced to them so it was a little shaky. I explained that we were going to write 2 things today: what we know about plants and what we want to know about plants; and at later at the end of the unit, we would write what we learned. I showed our poster boards and explained that I would glue our responses onto them later. Most of the students understood the first part, and were able to write something they knew about plants. The second part, almost everybody struggled with. It took a long time for them to understand that they just needed to write a question about plants. But by the end of class, all of them had answered what they knew about plants, and only 4 of the 22 students did not have something they hoped to learn; I was proud of them for the work they did with their first KWL chart ever. Some of their responses were hilarious—one girl wanted to know if she ate a plant, how many calories would that be? Overall, it was a very great day planting yesterday, and the kids did awesome for it being their first KWL exposure.

 

Today I got to observe the kids in choir class; because of Winter Jubilee being next week, all the first graders had choir class together to practice, so the first grade teachers sat in so the student-teach ratio wouldn’t be quite so crazy. I loved being able to see them in a different setting; some of the kids that normally are quieter in the classroom were singing loud and clear. They sang great but I definitely had to hold in my laughter at some of their “singing”! Yelling might be a more appropriate word, but that’s okay—they were praising God none the less!

 

Friday, January 18

It is hard to believe that I already have two weeks under my belt with only five to go at CPCS! I have felt so incredibly blessed throughout my experience thus far. Every day I am learning more and gaining more experience, which is fantastic. Today started as a pretty typical day. I have led the morning routine each day this week, and I frequently get the order mixed up; the kids are sticklers for details though and make sure to tell me when I am forgetting to do something. I love it because not only does it show that they are paying attention to me, but it also shows how remarkable Elaine is. She has been such an incredible example of what it means to have routines and structures in the classroom, but also how to be flexible. Each day I see the routines and how much she yearns to reach each student. I think she meets performance indicator 4m from the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards perfectly: creates multiple learning activities that allow for variation in students’ learning styles and performance modes.

 

For example, during reading time, she uses a system called the Daily Five. There are five options that students can choose for reading: listen to a book via the computer or a CD player, read alone, read with a partner, practice writing or do a Word-Work activity, which in and of itself, has five different options such as Scrabble or Boggle. Every day, the students do two to three of these activities; they are allowed to pick whichever strategy they want, except for the ones they chose yesterday, or already did today. So for example, one student may pick to read by himself and listen to a story on Monday; Tuesday he has to choose between read with someone, writing or Word-Work; after two days, the students can pick whatever they want, so Wednesday he could choose anything. I love this system because it gets the kids reading, but enables them to make choices of how they do it. Giving the students options allows them to feel more in control of their learning, and going back to the performance indicator, allows them to work in a way that fits their learning style. I think the entire system is awesome; I would definitely love to incorporate this into my future classroom depending on the grade I am teaching.

 

Classroom Confidential Reflection

When first defines, eptness is a “combination of capacities and meaningful activity” (page 25). Um, what? As I continued reading the chapter, I discovered that eptness refers to a classroom environment that encourages student learning in every possible way. In order for this to happen, the responsibility falls onto the shoulders of the teacher. Students should play the roles of the learner as well as the teacher; they should also share in making decisions concerning their learning. The students ought to understand how the material they’re learning connects to the real world, and should believe that they are an asset to the class. A comment I loved is that “great teachers consistently use strategies that convey their passionate belief that every child is capable of learning, teaching, leading and becoming an expert” (page 25). Having a culture of eptness in my future classroom is definitely a goal of mine because I believe that every student deserves to learn in a safe environment.

 

Throughout the chapter, it lists ten teacher behaviors that promote eptness. One of the behaviors is expectations. Many teachers form these in the very beginning of the year, and many times they are not based on academic ability. It is vital to truly understand and know your students before placing expectations for them. In my future classroom, I want to know who my students are first; once I understand who they really are, then I will be able to set expectations that they can meet.

 

Encouragement is another behavior addressed in the chapter. When encouraging students, nods and smiles are not enough; whole sentences should be used to show the students your pride in them. I have seen the power of encouragement in my own life, and will definitely encourage my future students. I hope that my students, knowing I believe in them, will have confidence in themselves; encouragement could be just what they need to begin believing that they are capable of so much. 

 

A third behavior Schmidt talks about is feedback. It is so important for teachers to give feedback to their students; without telling the students what they are doing right or wrong can leave them wondering what to do. Simply writing “Yes” or “No” does not help a student learn what was good or bad on that particular paper. I have seen in my student teaching placement how vital it is to give specific feedback on what the students are doing right, and what they are doing wrong. I hope to do the same in my future classroom, and give the students feedback that will help them dive deeper in their learning, and help them become more confident in their own abilities.

Week 1: The fun has begun!

Monday, January 7

Student teaching. How am I possibly already a senior in college, student teaching? I do not feel old enough to be doing this. Nor am I completely sure what it's all about. All of a sudden, I have this dual role: being both a teacher and a student. I feel a little bit like Spiderman with two identities that only come out at the appropriate times. Nevertheless, I am cannot wait to see how this semester goes.

Before going into my placement today, I was extremely nervous; excited, but very nervous. My stomach felt all tied up and I wasn’t sure I could do it. The moment I walked into the first grade classroom at Crown Point Christian School however, my nerves disappeared. My cooperating teaching, Elaine, had set up a desk for me with a name tag, and even some welcome gifts. She had put together a binder for me containing so much valuable information: the class schedule, class roster, office staff names, school calendar, which students were extremely helpful, which students need extra help, and great attention-grabber suggestions as well as helpful songs to get students lined up quickly and quietly. The entire binder showed evident thought and preparation, and I felt so extremely welcomed.

My class of 22 first graders was also extremely welcoming. They were all so excited to see me and had colored a huge banner that said “Welcome Miss DeVries!” and hung it in the hall. Their enthusiasm for school and life in general is absolutely contagious, and I cannot wait to start teaching. I have no doubt that each day will be thrilling and entertaining with this class!

Just looking around the classroom, I got more and more excited to be joining this class. Each bulletin board is covered with great strategies and techniques that I love. An awesome strategy that Elaine does with the class is bucket notes. In the very beginning of the school year, she read Carol McCloud’s book Have you filled a Bucket Today? The story explains how every person has an invisible bucket, and it is up to us to fill each other’s bucket through compliments and kindness. It also tells how we take out of people’s buckets when we use harsh words and mean actions. The book encourages readers to fill up each other’s buckets because when you fill up someone else’s bucket, you also fill up your own bucket. Going along with this story, Elaine put buckets on a bulletin board in the classroom. Each student has their own bucket, and almost every morning, Elaine gives them a “bucket note” piece of paper that they write a note on, and put in a classmate’s bucket. Every Friday the students get to take their notes out of their buckets and bring them home to read. I absolutely love this idea. I think the message of the story is awesome, and I love how Elaine incorporated it into her classroom. Elaine even put up a new bucket for me, and I already saw some notes in my bucket—I can’t wait to read them on Friday! 

Tuesday, January 8

Today I got to see my classroom’s morning routine in action. Elaine had me put bucket notes on each desk, along with today’s math paper before the students arrived. When the students are coming in, they are expected to put their coats and backpacks in their lockers in the hall, put their B.E.E. (Bring Everything Everyday) binders in their assigned cubby, and hand in their homework. They are then allowed to talk with each other and write their bucket notes until the morning announcements begin on the intercom. During the announcements, the whole school does the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag and the Christian flag. I really like how they all do it together; it unifies the school and shows their loyalty as one.

After announcements, Elaine usually gives them a couple more minutes to finish their assignment and then math class starts. While going over the problems, the students all seemed to work pretty hard. There is one boy in my class, Steve, who is extremely tactile; he always has to be playing with something in his hands to help him stay calm and paying attention. The technique my teacher chose was to let him hold a small amount of Silly Putty that he can keep throughout the day, as long as things don’t get too messy. Elaine said this has drastically helped him be able to focus during the day; he forgot it at home today, so he did not pay as good of attention as normal. Throughout math, Steven kept moving his body and just squirming around. I stayed near him and helped him keep focused, which worked but it was still a struggle for him. We ended up going to the Discovery teacher (she is the resource teacher who works with those who need additional help) and she was able to find something similar to silly putty, so it worked okay in the long run. I like how Elaine has Steven hold something without it being too much of a disturbance to the other kids; she explained to him that he can have it only if he does not distract others from learning.

Another technique that Elaine has in the classroom is a tattle monster box. It’s a simple Kleenex box covered in construction paper that she added paper teeth onto and eyes from an egg container. It looks extremely easy to make but I just love how it’s a monster that the kids put their tattles into. First graders are always very concerned with others’ behavior, so this simple method is an awesome way to let them express their problems without taking up a lot of class time. 

 

Wednesday, January 9

Today was my first full day at CPCS and it was great. I noticed many more techniques and strategies that Elaine used that I really admire. One thing that stuck out to me was the writing she has them do. Her first couple years of teaching, she said she did not emphasize writing as much, so her goal this year was to incorporate a set time for writing every day. During this writing time, the students can write more bucket notes to their class members, write notes to other first graders, write in their journal, etc. The main point is to just get them writing more, so as long as they’re writing, it’s all good. The kids love it because they love writing and receiving notes from each other, so they go crazy with it. At lunch time, they can deliver notes to the first graders in other classrooms if they would like. All three first grade classrooms allow this, so many notes move back and forth between the rooms.

Today a girl came from another class to deliver four notes to one boy in my class. His face lit up when she walked in the room, and handed him the notes. Later, I was standing by his desk when he was reading them. All four notes had something written similar to this: “I love you so so so so so so so so so so so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” It was cute, but at the same time, kind of disappointing to see that this is the type of thing they spend their time writing. Later when I told Elaine that I had seen his note, she was a little disappointed also. She said the teachers normally do not read the notes and just let them give them to the kids, but lately she’s been wondering if they should start reading them. As of now, there have not been any problems with kids receiving mean notes, but Elaine said it’d be best to completely prevent anything like that from happening by reading the notes.  

Thursday, January 10
What stuck out to me today? Desks. First graders desks can be extremely messy. And sticky. And even smelly apparently. (Who knew?) To help combat this problem, Elaine does Clean-Up Thursdays after lunch time. During this time, the students are supposed to go through their desks and throw away whatever trash they had and basically just tidy it up. After lunch they go to gym class, and while they’re gone, the sneaky Desk Inspector (Elaine) goes through them and puts a little note in the clean desks. When the students come back, it’s always a big ordeal to see who has a clean desk. Because they class does not know who the Desk Inspector is, they love trying to guess who the notes are from.

As I am getting to know all the students better, it has been a blast discovering their personalities. Even looking into each desk today helped me understand a little bit more about them. For example, it made sense that Reese’s desk was absolutely spotless; this perfectionist will erase and erase her writing until each letter is just right. It also made sense that Micah’s desk was a little disorganized; he is very easy going and just goes with the flow—a clean desk probably is not the biggest of his concerns. I absolutely love getting to know all their personalities; they are all special in their own way. 

Throughout this week, it has been extremely evident to me how great of a teacher I am working with. She works hard to provide the students with a good learning environment; the classroom is extremely organized (meeting Illinois Professional Teaching Standard performance indicator 5M). Every space in the room has a specific purpose: the computer are together in the corner, the rug where morning meetings take place is open to the room, the reading buckets are next to the rug, the buckets for bucket notes are accessible but off to a corner, and all the students’ desks are put together in groups. The classroom is clearly thought out and organized in a way that makes the most sense for usage.

Friday, January 11

First week in student teaching, and I got to go on my first field trip! Today we went to Governor’s State University to see the play Knuffle Bunny. It is based on a children’s book that the first grade classes read last week; in the story, a little girl, Tracy, goes to the laundromat with her dad and forgets her precious stuffed animal, Knuffle Bunny. Simple solution would be to go get it, right? One problem—Tracy can’t talk yet. Her dad goes through endless options trying to get Tracy to stop crying until finally they find Knuffle Bunny, and miraculously, Tracy learns to talk, with her first words being Knuffle Bunny. It was a good play that all the students loved. They were laughing hysterically at some parts, and were yelling at the actors that Tracy needed Knuffle Bunny during other scenes.

Being on the teacher side of field trips was a first for me. It was crazy how hectic things can get when you’re not on normal school property. Because it was a play, the only true movement that the classes needed to make was getting on the school bus, walking into the college’s theatre, watching the play, walking back out to the buses and then going inside the classroom again once we arrived back to school. Seems pretty easy, but I can see how field trips can be difficult for teachers! Overall, everything went well and all the students listened and stayed together, but I was glad it was not a field trip to the zoo or anything. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes things that need to take place before leaving for field trips. Something that I thought was really neat was that CPCS gave each teacher a backpack containing every student’s medical information. I never thought about that before, but it makes sense to have that information with.

My first week is already over and that is crazy to me. I am already sad that I only have six weeks to spend at CPCS. When looking back to Monday and thinking about how nervous I was, all I can do is simply laugh. I could not have picked a better classroom to be in, or a better cooperating teacher to work with. I am so thankful for my placement, so thank you Trinity education workers—my hat goes off to you! Oh, and you were probably wondering about my bucket notes? Well, let's just say that I absolutely love my students. Apparently I'm the best teacher ever yet, and I've only gone over one lesson with them-- I love first graders!

 

Classroom Confidential Reflection

In her book Classroom Confidential, Laurel Schmidt refers to multiple intelligences. “Simply put, people are word smart, picture smart, music smart, body smart, logic smart, nature smart, life smart, people smart and self smart” (page 5). Everybody has all of these intelligences; some are just more prominent than others. A big reason why some are more enhanced than others is simply because the individual uses that one more. It is my hope to incorporate activities that reach to all of the intelligences in the classroom. Using multiple kinds of strategies and approaches not only will help me reach each learner in their “best used” intelligence, but also helps the others students increase the intelligences that may not be their primary one.

Going along with using multiples intelligences, I also hope to incorporate Schmidt’s full brain learning. Hands-on activities are extremely important in first grade and I think they will definitely be well-received by my class. All the first grade classes do social studies the first semester and science during the second, so next week will be the first time the first graders have a science class. I will be teaching it, and we will start with the plant unit, so we will be planting brassica seeds. It would be easy to just pull up a video and show how plants grow, but letting the kids actually get to plant their own seeds and watch them grow throughout the next couple weeks will be much more fun for them. In my Bible lesson for Monday, we will be talking about David and Goliath and I am having them act out the story while I read it; the students will love this! I think these strategies will make the learning process much more fun and meaningful to the first graders. I am excited to see how these things go, and to incorporate other full brain learning activities into the classroom in the future.