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.