In fifth grade at Montpelier Elementary School students switch classes for each subject so transitions had to be established rather quickly. The second day of school was spent listening to lectures about rules and procedures for entering the classroom, turning in work, and making transitions within the classroom and between subjects. For the first week, my mentor teacher had the routines and procedures for preparing for the day posted on the board at all times to tell students what to do. We also provided gentle reminders to students to make sure that everyone was on the same page. This was helpful because it reminded students to prepare for switching classes by putting all of the materials they would need into their tote that they carry from one room to the next. The idea behind this was to cut down on transition time as students would not need to search for and gather their belongings but could simply pick up their totes and go. In theory, this was a great idea. In practice, however, this has not been as successful as I would have hoped. Many students have not brought totes to school and instead pile all of their supplies on their desk until they go to another class where they often drop everything they have in the hallway. Once they have reached their destination, they spend a lot of time settling into their new class, restacking their piles and/or going through their totes to find what they need or asking to go back to another room to get things they forgot. It has been a pretty frustrating environment to work in as the teacher, and I feel that it is also frustrating for the students. The procedures for transitioning between subjects were explicitly discussed and laid out by the teacher, but transitions between activities within the classroom were not as clearly described. Students are still unsure what to do with their work when they are finished – sometimes they put it in their team folder, sometimes they give it to the teacher, sometimes they put it in a basket in the back of the room. This has also been frustrating for students because basically they have to sit in silence and wait for further instructions, which is very difficult for them to do. We have been in school for almost a month, and students are still being reprimanded for getting out of their seats to turn in work or asking what to do next.
During the first week of school, I was able to lead the class in the reading of a short story and the discussion that followed. Students were transitioning from going over their warm-up to going into a lesson about using the elements of a story to visualize what is happening. Initially, getting their attention was simple because they were already using active listening skills to discuss their warm-up. All I had to do was introduce the story and get started reading. During the reading of the text, I maintained their attention by periodically pausing to ask questions or ask them to complete a task like drawing a picture of a character based on a description I had just read. The fact that the story was entertaining was also helpful in maintaining student attention. They were engaged in listening and were excited to hear what was coming next.
Overall, I thought the lesson went well but I would change a few elements if I could do it again. The reading of the story would have been more beneficial if the students had a copy of the text to look at as I read. In the activity I stood in the front of the class and read to them. Although fifth graders do still enjoy being read to, they are more than capable of reading independently or in small groups and/or follow along in the written text as they listen. I would also have liked to better prepare myself for the discussion. I had thought about questions that I would like to ask but I didn’t really think about how I would guide the discussion where I wanted it to go or how to correct misconceptions. I had only thought about what the right answers were and assumed that students would be able to provide them. I found that it was a difficult skill to prompt and question students further to lead them to the correct answer rather than telling them the answer, accidentally or on purpose.
