BEDUC 406 Day Four

There are multiple ways to transition in a classroom with students or get from place to place as well as multiple ways of classroom management. It seems though that the most important thing is to know your students and yourself in order to use what works best for EVERYONE!

I am a detail person; I like to have details. I am anxious to meet my dyad placement teacher since I will be meeting her and her students at the same time for the first time in little over a week.

I am excited to see how a dual language classroom works!

Can I come back in January, to my main placement and pick up where I left off with students in rm 402? Errr... with only seeing them maybe once a week, if at all, maybe not so easy to do?

Book Reports Made Fun!

My master teacher has a great system for book reports. Each student does three a trimester but each book report has to be a different genre. The genre coincides with what assignment they do for their report. For example if a student reads a fantasy book they would write five things that support it being a fantasy book but if a student reads a mystery book they would need to interview the main character about events in the story with at least five questions. All they would rate their books on a 1 to 5 star system and provide reasoning for the rating. My master teacher also emphasized that the report can be as pretty as possible but if details are not given enough so that it seems the student has read the book... Wrong, no credit!

I like this because it enables students to be more creative in their assignment AND writing. Also students end up reading a type of book they might not normally choose to read. This could broaden their horizons and open up new interest in types of book to read!

Drum roll please!

HAHA! The simplest thing can make part of an activity fun. Today Room 402 started on a new country for their caravan unit. Each group was assigned a different country. The group name would be called with a drum roll. Students would drum on their desks, all thirty of them, with huge 6th grade grins; the biggest smiles I've ever seen on some of these students thus far in the year. A drum roll can be more than just noise and interruption it can be a way for students to take a more active way in desicion making. Though yes, this may not work with all students, with this group at the end of assigning groups countries, attention was brought back to the teacher and learning commenced!

Juggling

Perhaps a prerequisite for being a teacher is taking a juggling class because man oh man does a teacher have to multi-task! Between administration meetings, extra community building jobs (social chair...), parents, own family and friends, and oh yeah teaching students how to learn... phew, teachers need to be organized. We could give Santa a run for his money when it comes to making a list and checking it twice.

One thing that I found useful when observing my master teacher is she is really good at knowing what is something she should put on her plate and what is not. For example an email from a parent commenting on how she wants her child in high-cap because her feeling of boredom she has now is not helping with her depression, Erin knew that she couldn't help her if her child had already taken the test or missed the test date. She then forwarded the email to the high-cap teacher and the building principal. She responded by thanking the parent for the useful information and how this new awareness would help her in the classroom as well as confirming that the steps the parent has taken to place her daughter in high-cap are all the right ones. My master teacher also recommended not responding right away, giving herself time to digest and think helps, especially if the email from a parent is not positive. Though I'll have to juggle when I'm teaching I hope I can realize when to delegate and when to charge head on with an issue!

Classroom Map

Room 402 is one of the biggest rooms in the building, big enough that weekly administration meetings are help in it. I like the set up for a couple of reasons. Groups are close together to create easy discussion for major group project that students start the year out with. Secondly it creates a welcoming and social environment at the begining of the school year so students feel comfortable in their new classroom. My master teacher also moves them as groups every two weeks while working on their group project in the fall. Then, I think, in the winter and spring they switch groups every two weeks. Awesome!

P.S. "Your file is corrupt or unreadable." This is over due from tech difficulties. Just be smarter than the computer.

What I know About Students in Rm 402

The students in Rm 402 have similarities and differences from when I was in 6th grade. Overall they are all children on their way to becoming adults.

Some students do not have an easy home-life, varying from abuse, depression to single parents and English not being spoken at home. This was discovered through a variety of ways; past teacher in put, parent meetings and student comments.

On a happier note most love some kind of sport, music, or have a favorite movie/television show and are in the beginning of preadolescence. We passed out a student information sheet and an about-me-sheet to gain general information from student's favorite sports and who is in their family.

Talking to students during transitions, and before and after school also provides great insight. The students aren't that different from myself in worries and things that make them happy. I always look forward to lunch (yum) and enjoy a good football game. I also, like students in rm 402, worry about my family and homework time.

At the end of my teaching day I want to be able to remember this similarities and difference and the big picture of their being more similarities than differences!

BEDUC 406 Day Four

I'm nervous about how I will know if ALL students have learned or not.

I'm excited to create lessons that I think will be engaging for students. And to get to know students so I can create engaging lessons for them.

A lesson plan seems to be a more structured and simple plan of learning. As I teacher I need to first know what they know, then what students need to know and if they do (ealrs). Then I need to figure out how to get them to know the stuff they need to (lesson plan). Finally I will need to know if they got it(assessment). Then repeat repeat repeat the cycle all over again starting with what students know.

When lesson plans don't work out (and I realize this in the middle of the lesson) what kind of things should I have in my "bag of tricks" to supplement my own mistakes and still have the time be constructive to student learning?