Keeping Kids Focused in Math

Today I spent first period in math with the Yellow Class. I was able to go over the homework from last night and today's warm-up with them which was a serious relief because I need a lot of practice with teaching math. Although I was comfortable with the material, I felt really frazzled and uncomfortable because I was teaching while keeping an extremely close eye on everything that happens in the classroom continues to be a difficult adjustment for me.

After the warm-up, the objective for the day was introduced which involved simplifying fractions and writing equivalent fractions. As soon as she said the word, "fraction," there was a general moan from the class and a few cries of "I HATE FRACTIONS!" I feel like this is a common sentiment across elementary students because fractions are difficult to conceptualize and master. I also feel like math instruction can be pretty boring and combining a boring lesson with difficult material is never good. This really motivated me to come up with an engaging and relevant lesson for when I teach Least Common Multiples in a few weeks. I hope to be able to find some way to present the necessary information without boring them to tears or overwhelming them.

I have seen some great ideas to help keep kids focused in this classroom. One of those is the use of post-it notes in the students' math notes journals. Each student is given a post-it note to write vocabulary words and their definitions on so that they stand out. I think this is fabulous and really gives students guidance as to where they should be looking when they study and review the material. Unfortunately, she has decided that bright or dark colors are inappropriate and has started passing out WHITE post-its... If they're going to write on white post-its to stick on white paper, then what is the purpose?!

Another idea she shared with me today was the use of team folders. Each folder is pre-loaded with all of the materials that the students will need for the day so that instructional time is not spent on distributing papers and supplies. I loved this idea and it seemed to really work today. This means a little extra planning time for the teacher, but the amount of time that can be spent on passing out papers and the distractions that students can become involved in while you do it can be very frustrating.

Micro-Managing the Classroom and Lost Causes

Today, I spent two out of three periods in the math classroom with the other fifth grade intern's mentor teacher, I'll refer to her as LH. We have started to establish a routine where we switch more regularly so that we can ensure that we are meeting all of the standards for the PBA and for graduation. This has been quite the challenge with the controversy surrounding the Science/Social Studies teacher and the task of collaborating with multiple teachers to address the needs of 90+ students.

I had a brief conference with one of my mentors this morning so that we would both know what to expect. She has a very structured classroom and teaching style that I have not quite mastered yet. All students are expected to sit in learning position for the duration of the class, they must walk in a certain direction to reach their destination, even if that means they have to walk farther to get there, they can never leave their seats without permission, etc. There is very little opportunity for student freedom or choice in this room and there are so many rules that it sometimes seems that students are so focused on how they are supposed to behave than on what they are supposed to be learning. During our conference, she made the comment that she really hoped to help me strengthen my classroom management skills because I don't enforce her rules as closely as she would like. How do I address this issue of competing styles without being disrespectful or sounding like a know-it-all? Am I really allowed to have "style" at this point in my education? The point of the matter is, that I don't think the way she does and reprimanding students for not sitting in the learning position is not something that I am interested in at all. I believe that the purpose of teaching is to prepare students to become independent and to take responsibility for themselves and I'm not quite sure that is happening in this classroom. Perhaps it's too early in the year to tell.

I also learned that this teacher believes in lost causes - children who are too lazy, stupid, neglected, etc. to learn anything. Several students are struggling but they are systematically ignored because "they aren't going to learn" or "they don't want to learn" or "they have nasty parents." I believe that all students can and want to learn but I'm being told to ignore those students?! What's the point of teaching if we give up on students who struggle? Especially at this early point in the year! It is so disheartening to work with a teacher with that attitude.

Supervisor Journal #2 - Engaging and Maintaining Student Attention

For my observation, I taught a lesson to launch the new reading unit, Nature’s Fury. Students seemed to be really interested in the topic and were highly motivated by the activities that I presented because they were new and very emotionally charged.

I started with a warm-up asking students to write about a time when the weather had changed their plans. This got them thinking about environmental events and how they impact humans while also making connections with the students’ own personal experiences. Students were eager to share their responses with the class and I had to cut off sharing time even though not all students got a chance to respond. They were very excited to be able to use their own lives as learning experiences.

After the warm-up, the students did the graffiti activity where they basically got to “dump” everything they knew about natural disasters using pictures and words. Students were excited to do this because the material was of high interest and because it gave them an opportunity to do something new. This was the first time we had used this activity and many of the artists in the classroom were excited to have a chance to use their talents for an assignment. They were also sharing a piece of poster paper with their table so although they weren’t allowed to talk to each other during the activity, they were still able to work together. It was also helpful to me because it gave me an idea of what the students already knew about natural disasters. We displayed the posters on the board for everybody to see and briefly described them.

Next came the video that showed clips of several disasters as they happened. There were no words which was really powerful because it encouraged the students to use the images and their own imaginations to create an emotionally charged experienced. Students were very engaged by this activity because it gave them an authentic image of what a natural disaster can do. Many of them have heard of them happening or seen the aftermath on the news, but most had not actually seen any footage of one as it happened. This set the stage very nicely for the rest of the unit. It also got them concerned about what they could do if they ever found themselves in that situation.

This set up was very helpful because the next part of this lesson asked students to become an expert on one natural disaster and then to create a poster describing it and at least two safety tips that people can use. Students were concerned about what would happen if they ever encountered a hurricane or an earthquake so they were eager to read about how to stay safe. Allowing them to create a poster using pictures and words was also more motivating to them than just writing another BCR. They write BCRs all the time and have been for several years so giving them an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in a different way was exciting for them. It also appealed to different learning styles. There are several students in the class who doodle all the time and they are often reprimanded for being off task. This activity gave them a chance to use their talents in a useful way.

I think that the use of a timer really helped me keep the pace of the lesson. I was prepared for the lesson so there was no time where students were waiting for me to give directions as I tried to figure out what came next. As they came in from recess, the materials they needed were listed on the board and I gave directions ahead of time so that students knew what they were going to be doing next. In an earlier period when I taught this lesson, we finished much earlier because the students worked faster. I’m not sure how to get students to work faster yet, but that is something I want to look into for future lessons. The TAG class spends a lot of time thinking about what they want to do before they do it, which takes up a significant amount of class time. I also found that their work was very creative but that they did not really address all of the information that I told them they needed to include. This was frustrating because I provided an example, I posted the rubric for them to see, and I discussed the assignment verbally.

Off task behavior was not particularly problematic during this lesson because students were highly interested in the material. There were some side conversations but I was able to pull those students back in either with an engaging activity (graffiti or the video), by moving closer to them, or by calling on them to answer a question. I also reminded them that they would be given checks for poor behavior and at the end of class, passed out Charactergrams to those students who were demonstrating exceptional behavior. I also can credit their respectful and attentive behavior to the fact that my mentor teacher has presented me as an “actual teacher” from the beginning of the year. The students did not even know that I was a student until recently and they have treated me with the same amount of respect that they give to their regular classroom teachers.

Assessment was used throughout the lesson. At the beginning, I assessed student knowledge of the environment’s impact on human life and they shared their responses. I also asked them to take notes on what they saw in the videos and what they read about to make sure that all students were on task and engaging in the lesson. I also asked questions as necessary to ensure that students were paying attention. Because this was the launch for a larger unit about natural disasters and the point was to get them prepared for what is to come, much of the assessment was to assure that they were paying attention rather than to assess what they knew. The assessment kept them accountable throughout the learning experience.

In future lessons, I hope to be able to use more group activities and to continue to introduce innovative resources and assignments. The students seemed to enjoy the different resources and the technology that we used and I hope to be able to expose them to more that in the future. I also want to work on my time management. Although we finished in time for dismissal, we did not have time to take our spelling test. I want to learn how to motivate students to work faster without compromising the quality of their work.

Reflecting on Nature's Fury Launch

My second Directed Teaching Activity focused on the launch for Nature’s Fury. In this activity, students were given activities to pre-assess their knowledge of natural disasters and engage them. They were also asked to use non-fiction texts to create safety posters. This lesson was taught to the entire class and was extremely successful.

The content was of high interest to students. It is something that have all heard about and they are excited to start a unit about this topic. The video was also highly engaging because it gave students a window into what it might be like to experience such a tragic event. They were very excited to discuss what they saw.

The graffiti activity at the beginning was also highly engaging. This was the first time students had done this and they seemed to really enjoy it. I would have liked to give them a few more minutes for this activity because they spent a lot of time thinking before they started writing and drawing and their posters were mostly empty.

This time through, my classroom management strategies had improved. I think part of this is due to the fact that students were very interested in the material so I did not need to spend a lot of time keeping them on task. The students have also had more time to adjust to the idea that I am a teacher and that they need to listen to me. They were very respectful and well behaved.

Successful Small Group Attempt

Yesterday, I discussed with my mentor teacher the possibility of making another attempt at the small group instruction for the students who are pulled out for reading services. She agreed and I immediately began clearing off the reading table so that we could actually use it. We worked out a plan where I would wait to assemble my group until the rest of the class had been given directions and were working at their seats so that we wouldn't be talking over each other.

The students that I was working with had several incomplete assignments that they needed to work on so I called them to the table and started passing out their work. Once they finished one assignment, I gave them the next until they were caught up. This went really well and most students were able to get all of their incomplete work finished and turned in. They were pretty chatty but I was still able to keep their attention focused on their work. One of the students has been identified as a child who has master the learned helplessness routine. He tried to work his charm on me a few times, but quickly realized that I would not feed into his games and settled in to work on his own.

Failed Small Group Attempt

Several students from the Blue Class are pulled out of Reading/Language Arts during first period for reading services provided by the reading specialist. Often, they come back with less than half an hour left in class and absolutely no idea about what they are supposed to be doing. Generally, my mentor teacher gives them what everybody else is working on expects them to catch up. Occasionally, she gives them extra time to work but that is not guaranteed. We decided that today, I would take them aside and work in a small group to get them up to speed. I was very excited about this because it was something that I had been hoping to do since the first day of school. Unfortunately, the "reading group table" was completely covered with posters and papers and a bunch of random stuff - pretty typical for this rather unorganized classroom. Instead, we commandeered Table 3 to work.

This was an absolute disaster. Not only did I have more students than I had desks and chairs, but I felt as though I couldn't even talk to them because my mentor teacher was lecturing the rest of the class so loudly. If I tried to speak, either they couldn't hear me over her, or I was yelling to compete with her. Next time, we need to communicate better about how and where I can work with these students so that they are getting the instruction that they need and deserve. I am also making it my personal mission to clear off the reading table so that it can be used for its actual purpose.

Reflecting on Sequence of Events Lesson

My first Directed Teaching Activity focused on sequence of events in a non-fiction text. Because we are departmentalized and students are already grouped based on ability, I decided that I would teach my lesson to the entire class. At first, I was concerned that I would not be able to maintain control of all twenty-seven students, but they were able to engage in the activities and work to complete the tasks I had set for them.

I thought that the discussions went really well. I was able to give them opportunities to speak and work with their groups which is not something that are able to do when the regular teacher is in charge. They seemed to really enjoy this and thrived off of the interaction. I also thought that my use of questioning to lead students to answers rather than flat out telling them was done well. Obviously, there is always room for improvement, but I thought that part went well.

The main area where I need improvement was my classroom management. I did not circulate the room enough and the students who are always the “trouble makers” were off task. The other problem was that during the before-reading activity, I had students writing on a timeline on the board and I was not monitoring it closely as we were talking. One student decided not to follow directions and wrote way too much and was off topic. That confused students who were trying to contribute to the time line after him. I need to find a way to monitor what students are doing on the board while I am facilitating discussion.

Time management was also an issue. I overestimated the speed at which my students would be able to read the text so I was not able to complete everything that I had planned because they took so much time to read. I realized after the lesson that the text I selected was not necessarily too difficult, but it was way too long for the amount of time that I had and that the lesson would have been much more successful if it had been shorter.

A Rainy Trip to Camp Schmidt

The other fifth grade intern and I were invited on the overnight trip to Camp Schmidt with our students. We were extremely excited until we saw that it was forecasted to rain the entire time - and, boy, did it rain! Although the weather was less than desirable, it was an experience that I am so glad to have been a part of and one that I will never forget.

We taught the problem-solving course. Students had to work collaboratively to figure out how to complete four tasks. The first was to swing across a pit of "quicksand" using a rope that was hanging directly in the middle of the pit. They had to figure out a.) how to get the rope without stepping in the quicksand and b.) the best technique to swing over the pit without touching. The second challenge was to fit the entire group (between 10 and 12 students) onto a tiny platform. Students struggled with this and not single group was successful. The third activity was the "electric fence" where students had to get through the holes in the fence without touching and part of it. And finally, they had to get over "THE WALL." The wall was almost 8 feet high and students had to work together to get over it. Almost every student was successful and the only ones who weren't refused to try. It was so interesting and entertaining to see how the students worked as a team to get over and through the various obstacles.

Although the activities were fun (students also went on a ropes course and a nature walk, worked on mapping skills, and explored the stream), there were several things that really had me concerned. For one, the walk to the dining hall was almost a mile away and we ate their three times during our stay. All three times, students and chaperones were left behind! I was left behind two out of three times! It was frustrating to see that the individuals in charge really had no idea who was missing from the group and were not concerned enough to wait for them.

I also was extremely bothered by the emphasis that was placed on scaring the students to the point that they were reduced to tears. The story is that Camp Schmidt was built on an old plantation owned by the Clutch family and that Old Man Clutch still haunted the grounds. Although these are "mature" fifth graders, many of the students were sobbing hysterically through the night, too terrified to sleep because of the stories. To increase their terror, one of the teachers and the other intern thought it would be funny to bang on the windows and doors of the cabins and further traumatize the students as they were trying to get to bed. For many students, this was their first night away from home in an unfamiliar environment and they were already scared based on that alone. I'm not sure what part of scaring children is funny, but, regardless, I felt that it was completely inappropriate, unnecessary, and cruel.

Oral Language Observations

For the purpose of this assignment, I observed my homeroom class during reading/language arts instruction. This is a ninety-minute period that lasts from 12:25 pm, when students return from lunch and recess, until 1:55 pm, when students are dismissed to go home. My observations took place on two separate days.

On my first day, September 13, 2010, I observed a lesson on text features found in non-fiction texts. Students were given a worksheet to complete independently. Students were constantly being told to quiet down by the teacher as they worked and after they finished. After they had been given time to work, the teacher went to the front of the room to call on students to provide answers to the questions. A few students were calling out in excitement to share their answers and they were consequently reprimanded. The only time students were permitted to speak was when the teacher called them on and their responses were limited to one or two word answers to the question on the worksheet. The teacher would then respond to say if the answer was correct or incorrect and then to point out the answer on the diagram on the worksheet.

At that point, the students were asked to discuss what they see in non-fiction texts with the people at their table. A timer was set giving students one minute to have their discussion. I was surprised to see that for the first thirty seconds, the students sat in silence as they tried to figure out what the question was asking or they read by themselves. As soon as they began to speak, the timer went off and they were asked to get quiet again. The students who did speak during discussion time supplied a few answers to the question (maps, pictures, bold text, etc.) but did not participate in any actual discussion with their peers. The teacher then asked a few students to share and then asked students to discuss what they thought those “things” were called. They were given thirty seconds, again timed, to talk with their table. Students were silent for the entire thirty seconds. Many of the students were writing down their ideas, but were not sharing them with the group. The teacher then called on one student to share their answer, “text features,” which she said was correct. From that time until dismissal, students work silently and independently on handouts concerning text features.

Student talk was only focused on the piece of writing on their handout. They were never given the opportunity to discuss books or their own experiences.

During the second observation, on Monday, September 20,2010, the situation was very similar. Students sat in silence as they completed worksheet after worksheet. Students were only permitted to speak when called on by the teacher to answer a question and their answers were restricted to only a few words. There was little discussion about why the answers were correct or only incorrect. Again, students were calling out answers without being called on and were disciplined each time.

The observations I made of the oral language in the reading classroom were very disappointing. Students are rarely ever given opportunities to talk with each other about anything. For the most part, the only times they are allowed to speak are when they are called on by the teacher to share an answer which is either deemed correct or incorrect. This is particularly frustrating to watch because most of the students in the class have been identified as Talented and Gifted (TAG) and, when given the chance to speak in other classes, they always stay on topic and make valuable contributions to the conversation. They are excited to share their thoughts with and learn from each other. Their opportunities to speak in reading/language arts are not particularly valuable to their learning. They are not learning any new communication skills by being called on to share a one or two word answer or sitting in silence for almost ninety minutes.

Academically, these students do not seem to really be suffering from the lack of oral communication they are experiencing in the reading/language arts classroom. These students are highly motivated on their own and are already several grades ahead of grade level. They are exceptional readers and writers and that has not changed yet this year. My concern is not that they will fall behind their peers, but that they are being held back from reaching their fullest potential. These students will continue to go above and beyond anything that is expected of them if given the chance. Unfortunately, they are largely being limited to silent work on handouts that provide neither an authentic or meaningful context for the information they are learning. Fortunately, although all but three of the students are African-American or African and many of them learned English as a second language, all students in the class are fluent in English and do seem to struggle with producing or understanding it.

Socially, on the other hand, several of the students are suffering. For many of them, their exceptional intelligence is accompanied by a deficiency in their social skills. Many are uncomfortable working with others and often isolate themselves from the group. Others are consumed by the need for perfection so they think for a long time before they say or write anything. They require more than thirty seconds to get their thoughts together so that they feel prepared to speak, but they are only given thirty seconds for discussion! For this reason, if not for any other, these students should be given more time to speak and work collaboratively with their peers. Their social skills are suffering and they need to be prepared for the “real world” where they are likely going to be required to work with others in a timely manner.

In my future classroom, I will provide many more oral language opportunities than I have observed in this classroom. Students benefit from working with their peers and learning how to participate in conversation. Giving students opportunities to discuss open-ended questions is a great way to do that. In the lesson I observed about non-fiction text features, students would have benefitted from having more time to discuss their ideas and even to create examples with their groups. It may also be beneficial to give students a short amount of time to think about their ideas and write them down, if necessary, before they share with their group like a think-pair-share type of scenario. This would have been beneficial for the perfectionist students in the class and it would also give ELL students time to think about the words they would like to use before they have to speak.

Supervisor Journal #1 - Transitions

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.

Bouncy Balls and Buttons

Today was my first day going to Science/Social Studies with my homeroom (Red Class). Science and Social Studies are taught by the same teacher during the same period. Generally, he teaches science three days a week and social studies two days a week. His classroom is completely different from anything else I have experienced. Each table has one exercise ball that students sit on. The ball is rotated to a different student each day. At first, I was really distracted by all of the bouncing bodies, but I soon realized that this was a great way for students to get their "wiggles" out while also paying attention to instruction.

They are beginning their study of life sciences and are focusing on classification systems using physical characteristics. Each table was given a handful of buttons of different sizes and shapes and asked to come up with at least two ways to classify or group their buttons. It was really awesome to see how the students worked together to come up with and justify their classification systems. This was also a great way to get them prepared for a lesson on the Linnaean Classfication system which has specific criteria and is much more technical than their button classification systems.

The demeanor of the class as a whole was dramatically different from what I have observed so far in Language Arts. They are much more engaged and full of life, likely because they are given more opportunities to move around and work collaboratively to complete hands on activities. It is amazing to see the difference that the teacher's style can have on the students. This single observation has really motivated me to create engaging lessons that allow students to participate more in their own learning rather than sitting and listening to lectures.

Not Collecting HW = Serious Waste of Instructional Time!

My mentor teacher does not collect homework because she believes that it should be used for practice and should be readily available to students at all times to review and use as a resource. When I first heard that, I agreed wholeheartedly. I don't think that homework should be graded for accuracy because the purpose is to have kids practice their skills. And who knows what is going at home? They could be getting answers from a parent or older sibling or looking answers up on the Internet! Unfortunately though, I'm finding that collecting homework may be a better alternative to what I'm observing. So many students are not bringing their work which means that a significant amount of class time is being spent on hunting down work and getting students to come have their agendas signed. The point of homework is that it is done at home, partially to save instructional time in the classroom. This is being completely cancelled out by the THIRTY MINUTES it took to see who did and did not have their homework today!

Classroom Management Journal - First Week of School

How does your teacher welcome students the first day of school? What kind of welcoming activities does your teacher do?

· Greets parents and students at the door

· Morning procedures posted and warm-up on desk

· All About Me warm-up – some students shared. All will share by the end of the week

· Not much introduction – students did not go around and say their names. Did not even take formal attendance. Saw that all desks were full and said that all students were present.

o One student had asked during the pre-service week to be called by a different name. I asked her to remind us when we took attendance on the first day, but that never happened. Some students go by a different name but they have not had the opportunity to share that except with their peers at lunch/recess.

How does your teacher get to know the students, their interests, their specific needs?

· All About Me warm-up asked students about home life, interests, favorite books, goals and dreams

· Short writing assignment about their goals for the year

· Postcard assignment – in the first one they discussed a memorable moment from their summer, in the second one they discussed something that made them special.

· I would have preferred more discussion and community building activities. All of these were given as assignments and completed silently and independently.

How does your teacher facilitate student interaction in order for students to get to know each other?

· Students are seated in tables of 4 or 5.

· Students shared their postcards and All About Me worksheet in front of the class – some were REALLY nervous. Everybody HAD to share.

· Students are not really allowed to speak unless they are called on by the teacher – not clear why they are seated in groups if they can’t work together!

· Name-O – Bingo where students had to use facts from All About Me presentations to figure out what name to cover.

How does your teacher create an enriched environment for learning?

· This has not been evident yet. Very little “learning” has occurred. Mostly getting to know each other activities and pre-assessments.

· Posters on the walls with important information – active listening, reading strategies, purposes for writing

How does your teacher “teach” her expectations? What are the expectations? Would you do it differently? How?

· Class rules, school rules, consequences, and rewards are posted on the wall

· Procedures were discussed at length and repeated several times

· Quiz on rules and procedures on Friday – true/false statements where false statements had to be corrected. Taken and discussed.

· Charactergrams are given to students who can repeat the procedures

· Most important rule = Active Listening

o Sit still

o Don’t talk

o Look at speaker

o Hands on lap/desk

· Warm-ups to have students explain rules and procedures: “Explain how we switch classes” “how do we enter the room?”

· Students attended an assembly about the Student Code of Conduct

o It was SO boring and long. Students were struggling to stay awake (I was too) and they were getting yelled at the whole time

o The goal of the assembly: to tell them not to bring weapons or cell phones – they know this already, why waste an hour of the day?

· Students enter room quietly

· No back-packs at desk

· Never turn in work to the teacher, always put it in the team folder

· Students are to be in their seats at all times except with permission

· Bring a water bottle – students are never permitted to leave the room to go to the water fountain

· Cell phones off and out of sight at all times

· I would have preferred to have students create a classroom bill of rights. These are TAG students, they probably could have handled it and the rules would have been more meaningful to them.

· I would also have to relax the no talking policy. During the first week of school especially, being able to talk to each other and the teachers is an important part of community building.

What is the discipline plan in this classroom? Is there a school wide discipline plan? How do children know what is expected of their behavior?

· Classroom and school rules, discipline, and rewards are posted on the wall

· School wide behavior initiative – a clipboard with a list of the names of the students follows the class wherever it goes. Students get checks if they are misbehaving. If they get more than 5 checks in one month they have not met their behavior initiative for the month and they miss a fun activity or reward.

o Seems to be somewhat effective but teachers threaten to give checks often without following through – “we don’t want to have to stay behind with one student”

o Students don’t get to see how many checks they have. The teacher is in charge of the clipboard so for a student to know how they are doing, they have to ask

o Would be more effective if the information on the clipboard was posted in a place that students had access to

· Consequences

o 1^st Offense: Warning

o 2^nd Offense: 10 min. timeout in classroom

o 3^rd Offense: 10 min. timeout in another room

o 4^th Offense: 10 min. off recess

o 5^th Offense: Complete a Think Sheet. No recess

o 6^th Offense: Parent Notification

· Seems like students have A LOT of chances to correct their behavior. Is that really necessary?

How does your teacher discover the ability levels of her children?

· On the first day of school, students were given a spelling inventory and a reading inventory to assess their abilities.

o It was REALLY hard and students did not do well

o This took the place of explaining rules and expectations. Most of the first day was spent in silence taking tests.

o The 4^th grade teacher had told her that the students were exceptionally bright so she was nervous that she would not have challenging enough material for them.

· Feeder cards from previous teachers with assessments of different abilities were provided

· Scholastic Reading Inventory scores and other assessment scores were passed on

· Writing samples over the first few days

· Discussions about the types of books students were reading – not exactly representative though because they could be reading at a much higher level but their parents were concerned about the content of more challenging books.

How are materials organized?

· The classroom materials are not well organized. It is not clear what the organizational system is. It is often a challenge to find things like a stapler or a dry erase marker. This makes it extremely difficult to work efficiently

o I would love to reorganize the classroom, but attempts have been pretty much shut down in favor of “more important” tasks.

o It is hard for me to concentrate in such a mess, I can only imagine how the students feel

· Students must have all of their supplies with them at all times. 5^th graders change classes for every subject so they are expected to carry their books, paper, pens, and any other supplies they need with them. The only things that should be left in their desks are the books they use in homeroom

· Students are not allowed to carry backpacks because the thought is that they have objects that are unrelated to school (cellphones, toys, electronic devices, etc.) in them – some students have totes that they carry from class to class but others don’t.

o This also creates a mess because as students change classes, they come in and sit at desks with the belongings of the homeroom students in them. They can’t put their supplies in the desk, but they also can’t put them in a bag, so they end up all over their desk and they work on the edge.

o This would drive me crazy and limit my productivity.

o I asked if it was at all possible to allow students to carry their backpacks, and the answer was no.

What surprised you the most about the first week of school? What did you enjoy the most? What didn’t you like about the first week of school?

· I was surprised by how much time was taken by pre-assessments. I was barely able to speak to the students because they were testing almost all week. I realize that they are necessary in some respects, but I would have liked to have more time for community building.

· I enjoyed seeing the differences between each of the three fifth grade classes. My homeroom is the TAG class so the students are extremely motivated, hard working, and intelligent. Their vocabularies are enormous and they love to read and learn. Meanwhile, the on and below grade level classes are less excited about learning and require more encouragement. It was great to be able to see what it takes to work with each level of student.

· I did not like the fact that nobody seemed to know what was going on. The first three days were filled with uncertainty about whether or not they would change classes, if students were going to specials, how they were getting home, how they were supposed to line up for lunch, etc. It seems that the teacher should have a better grasp of what is going on before it happens.

Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Chances

Behavior today was atrocious in all of the classes. I noticed that last week students were given several opportunities to correct their behavior with gentle reminders but that approach doesn't seem to have worked. How many chances should we give them in the beginning of the year to get their acts together? I've always heard that teachers, especially new ones, should be stricter and "meaner" at the beginning of the year than they are at any other time so that students know to take them seriously and adhere closely to the rules. That isn't what is happening here. I'm not sure if this outburst of disappointing behavior should be expected or if this is a product of our lax enforcement of the rules last week. Are we being taken seriously?

Homework Blues

It's the second week of school, and students are already failing to bring in their homework. And those who did, did not follow directions AT ALL! My mentor teacher has a policy that if students do not bring in their homework, they must write in their agenda books, in ink, that they did not submit their work. This is to be signed by the student and the teacher and shown to parents. This is supposed to motivate students to bring in their homework. It seems like it takes up an immense amount of class time and that more efficient way would be send notes home in the Friday Folder. We'll see if this works!

Trouble in Paradise... Already?

I was surprised to see that students were already straying from the morning routine as they came in today. I guess it should be expected - these are kids, not robots - but I found myself getting frustrated. What is so hard about coming in, unpacking, and doing the warm-up? It seems like it should come naturally, right?! Wrong. I repeat - these are kids, not robots. To encourage students to get on task, my teacher suggested walking around the room and putting stars on the papers of children who were doing what they were supposed to do. These stars indicated that the student would get a Charactergram (a school wide positive reinforcement tool) for doing what they were supposed to do. As the others realized what was going on, a ripple effect occurred and everybody quickly caught on to what they were supposed to be doing. I was shocked and impressed by this simple technique that allowed me to get the class under control without having to reprimand and remind students.

We spent most of the day going over more procedures for the class, mostly focusing on the nightly reading log that students will be working on every night (including Fridays!) this year. They were given explicit directions about the reading log was to be completed and how to choose appropriate reading material - no cartoons and baby books, lots of chapter books and Newbery winners.

Creating Our Learning Community

On the first day of school, we had students fill out a worksheet entitled "All About Me" which asked them to tell us about themselves - their interests and hobbies, strengths, weakness, and fears, and their home lives. Today we were finally able to have the students share their responses. All of the students were asked to take notes as presentations were made because we are playing "Name-O" on Friday - a modified version of Bing-O where students place their classmates names on the grid and cover them up when they hear a fact about that individual.

Although I think that this was a good idea, I really would have liked to see a more engaging activity. Students were not really motivated to pay attention as their classmates spoke. For some students, getting up and making a presentation during the first week of school was extremely stressful and it showed as they fumbled and trembled their way through. I understand the purpose, but it could have been done in a less threatening manner that would have done better to establish a comfortable learning environment.

We also introduced the "20 Questions" card game that the class can elect to play during down time. Each card has a person, place, or thing at the top and 20 clues that describe it. As clues are read, students try to determine what they are describing.

First Day Switching Classes

Today was the first day that the fifth graders are switching classes. My mentor is the Reading/Language Arts teacher and I could not be happier. Although I feel confident in all content areas, Reading and Language Arts are the ones that I enjoy the most. Our homeroom (the Red Class) has been identified as Talented and Gifted (TAG) or above grade level and goes to science and social studies first and then math until they come back to us for the third and final period of the day.

The Blue Class, which has been identified as below grade level, comes to us for first period. They are significantly different from the Red class. Most of them strongly dislike reading and, if they do read, choose books based on how short they are. They are also much less eager to share. We tried to get them engaged in reading short stories by reading a short story called "When Pete Bruce Came to Town" aloud from a book called Porch Lies by Patricia McKissack. The story was humorous but the discussion with this class was strained and it was difficult to get them to participate.

The Yellow Class (on or slightly below grade level) were very similar to the Blue Class - not very excited about reading and reluctant to participate.

The First Day of School!

The morning began somewhat hectically. I wasn't sure what to expect at all and I was combination of excitement and nerves. I was so excited to meet the students but I was also concerned with what they would think of me and how I would perform. Luckily, I had nothing to worry about. The students are wonderful and I am so excited to be their (student) teacher this year!

Many of the students were walked in by their parents, most of whom left immediately after shaking the hands of myself and my mentor teacher as we greeted them at the door. A few stayed until almost 9:30 am though, which had me pretty concerned! We wanted to get the day started and for some of the students, having parents in the back of the room was very distracting! Eventually, the straggling parents started making their way out but it seemed like they had been there for entirely too long. I asked my mentor what she would have done if they hadn't left on their own and she said that if fifteen more minutes had gone by she would have politely asked them to leave. It's hard for me to imagine doing anything like that at this point, but I guess that's a skill I'm going to have to learn soon.

We spent a lot of time going over classroom procedures for coming into the room, completing and handing in work, changing classes, going to lunch, and how to leave for the day. The kids seemed a little overwhelmed by everything that was being said and I was too. I feel like the room is still really unorganized and I'm not sure how we are going to be able to function with it in this state. I'm also pretty concerned about how these students are going to handle switching classes. This is their first experience with departmentalization and I am not convinced that this is what is best for the students. Time will tell and I am hopeful that, with practice, things will run smoothly.

Welcome!

And thank you for visiting my blog!

My name is Christyn Byrd and I am a senior in the Elementary Education program in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. I have been interning as a student teacher in a fifth grade team at a Prince George's County school starting in August of 2010 and ending in May of 2011. I plan to use this as an electronic version of the paper and pencil journal that I use to record my observations while in the field.

I hope you enjoy reading about my experiences as I work my way through this exciting, challenging, and, at times, overwhelming year.