Week Five

 

02.13.12

I lead more of our lessons today. Mary sort of threw me into our math lesson on making fractions from a whole. It was great! I had an idea of my objectives and why we were teaching this concept. Good flow and questions for the students. It is great that in real teaching you do not have to have a strict lesson format for everything. LOVE IT!! Today Mary and I really clicked. We have been becoming more and more efficient, to the point we stumble over each other a bit, but not in a bad way. More like we both grade something or are overly organized. Today, however, we clicked and were able to flow really well. It was co-teaching at its greatest and it felt really good. I am also understanding how the planning works and feel confident, finally, to contribute to the planning process. This took longer than I had expected. It was all the small time frames we have and how the schedule can change on a daily basis. I am excite for the coming weeks.

02.14.12

Mass chaos today with all the sugar and excitement of Valentines day. Whew, I survived. It was a lot of fun. The students were all very kind and loving to each other. One student who has it fairly rough is coming around to me and the other students. Today was a big deal for her, to have friends and her peers acknowledge her in a positive way was so special. And we seem to have bonded. She wrote me a complement/thank you note today. It’s these moments and impacts that make it worth it, and all the sticky hugs. Mary had to head to the dentist for a quick check so I covered our reading/writing lesson in the afternoon. The lesson went well. It is still my transitions into the lesson that are shaky. The students take a while to realize that I am serious about the activity. But it went well. My flow and timing are getting worked out.

02.15.12

Early out this afternoon so our schedule was all mixed up. On top of that we had to cram in class pictures. I’m not really sure what we even did today, it seemed so scattered. Mostly it was make-up work or finishing small projects that were started a while back. Once the students left we had a staff meeting. It’s always nice to see everyone together. We talked about the levy, class size and potential new school, and planning for CRT weeks. That was a tedious process. I felt lost because I do not have as much history with the students and their ability level/who they work well/not well with. After two and a half hours we did get our groups hashed out and a classroom schedule in place. Bring it on CRT, we are ready.

02.16.12

Another miscellaneous day, this time we went ice fishing. The weather was perfect, all the kids packed warm clothing, and we had a surplus of parent helpers so each group of four or five kids had an adult. Things went really smooth for the most part, only two legs fell through holes and a lot of kids caught fish. But, a few girls got bored and wandered where they shouldn’t be. Mary went on bathroom patrol and found the girls playing basketball in the common area and one little guy had an accident in the washroom. So things on the ice were fine on my watch but I learned to predict the danger/trouble areas and patrol those often. When we got back to school everyone was pooped, including Mary and I so we read aloud and had an easy last hour. It’s great having two of us to grade or prep and read aloud during these mellow times.

02.17.12

Friday was an easy one for us. We played catch up and review in reading and math. It seemed a little pointless to start anything new right before a long weekend and after having such a busy week. We had our spelling test and CRT constructed response writing. I took over the CRT lesson for the first time today. It went really well. Things are flowing well and comfortable. The students give me much more respect than a few weeks ago. Our lunch picnic with one student has really taken off. In the month I’ve been at Hedges she has made huge social strides. She still doesn’t have any close friends but she is getting closer with most of her classmates. It’s been amazing to watch and help her grow. Next week I’ll film one or two of my lessons and review them. Mary and I are still trying to plan what my next observation lesson will be. Prep and planning was lost this week. It was great to see how to wing it and go with the flow. I did not feel lost or confused with all the changes which was good but darn tired after this week. Ready for a long weekend.