Book Club Reflections

I am so glad to get back to my students this week.  It seems all the teacher workdays and holidays have made the last few weeks so choppy.  They now have a full four weeks before winter break to learn many exciting new things.  I am beginning to realize that I am nearing the end of my time with them. 

In writing all the many papers that I needed to complete this weekend, I realized just how much my Book Club impacted the students I have been working with.  When I received all their evaluations pre and post my meetings with them, they each had increased their lexile and STAR scores.  I am not saying that my time with them made all the difference, but I have to conclude that the time spent was worthwhile.   Not only did they begin to really blossom through the Book Club, but they each mastered some hurdles and obstacles that they have battled for some time.

For one, she just needed to learn to try without giving up or crying when it got a little more difficult.  As of today, I can proudly say that we have gone 3 weeks without one tear or one tantrum.  You may say this is not a step in the right direction, academically, but how will she thrive academically if she can’t push herself through the frustrations of possible failing?  I have become so proud of her small accomplishments over the last few weeks and she is beginning to see just how valuable her reading is becoming in the classroom.  She is even showing how she can control her frustrations in the classroom and, for that, I am so grateful.  It makes her day (and her teacher's day) go so much smoother.

For the boy in my group, along with finally reading for a challenge, he is beginning to find his confidence.  I listen to him read aloud, and in the beginning there were just words, but now there is expression and feeling.  This is a huge part to reading…to understand the words even before you speak them, to show the expression that the author wants you to feel while reading.  He has come a long way with his reading, and I have become so intrigued with the stories he’s reading because of the way he reads.  He is so expressive now and that takes practice.

I have been so impressed with these 2 students over the last couple months, and I hope that they continue to flourish after I am no longer there.  I know I didn’t make an enormous impact on their reading abilities, but I definitely made an impact on them.  And, even better, they made an impact on me, and I have learned so much from them!  I am truly going to miss my small Book Club, but I am so thankful for this opportunity with them.

Food for Thought...

Okay, so while driving home this evening after hearing about our student teaching requirements and our Lesson 3 requirements, it dawned on me that I have been less than encouraging to myself and others.  I know that we all feel overwhelmed, but rather than indulge in negative talk that only makes us feel more overwhelmed, I have decided to be more encouraging to myself and all those I come in contact with. 

We all know people that shed light on the negatives in their lives, but forget to exalt the positives.  I don’t want to be that person…not as a wife, not as a mother, and definitely, not as a teacher.  We have all been “called” to be teachers.  There is something in each of us that has driven us to complete this journey.  Yes, it is hard, but aren’t the rewards worth it?  Yes, it is a huge commitment, but would you want your child’s teacher to be less committed to their success?  Yes, I miss my family, but they know and I know that this part of the journey does not last forever.   I will not always be in school, working full time, and interning.  One day soon, I will be Ms. Adams, teacher extraordinaire.  That is all of our goals, right?  So why not be excited about what lays ahead rather than worried, stressed, and scared?  We have each other to lean on through all of this.

I have asked myself over the last few weeks, “Why be a teacher?”  I have come to realize it is because I have something that I can give to others.  Something that I want to share with others.  Some days I know that I have knowledge that can be shared, other days it’s experience that I can share, and then there are those days when it is just a smile or kind word.  Regardless of what the gifts are that I might share, the most important thing is that I continue to share.

We will all have those students that no one seems to know how to reach.  They get pushed to the side as “behavior problems”, “unteachable”, and “just a bad kid.”  Well, guess what?  These are the very students that need our gifts the most.  They need our commitment, our time, and our encouragement.  Yes, they may be a challenge for us, but aren’t these the very children we think of when we think of making a difference? 

Just food for thought this week while we ponder the upcoming commitments and goals that we are setting for ourselves on our journey to become teachers.

So Blessed...

            This week we lost another student.  My heart was broken because she was part of my Book Club, and she was finally getting to the point where she was comfortable enough to ask for help when she needed it.  We, my cooperating teacher and I, were not even aware that she would be leaving us until the withdraw notice came yesterday.  Monday was her last day.  I hope that she will excel in her new school.  She will be sorely missed!

            Yesterday, during the teacher workday, I was able to sit in on the team planning meeting.  The three 5^th grade teachers planned the next units for the remainder of the 2^nd nine weeks and the beginning of the 3^rd.  It was so comforting to see how they struggled and worked with one another to make the lesson plans (outlines really) come together.  It made me feel more at ease knowing that I have great sources to help me in my endeavors.  It also made me feel as if I was not alone in my own struggles to make a clear and concise lesson plan. 

            The high point of my day, which almost made me late to class, was listening to the curriculum facilitator and the 3 teachers come together to reform the guided reading groups.  It was reassuring to know that the teachers had some input in forming these groups and that it wasn’t just about EOG’s, lexile scores and SRI assessments.  I have seen in many schools where the teachers’ voices are not heard, and I am glad that this is not the case here.  The students are first listed by lexile and SRI scores, but then the teachers can say, “This one reads at a much higher level than the scores on paper.”  That way the student gets placed in the correct guided reading group, and there is room for them to grow or if they need to be placed in a lower group, that can happen as well.  The groups are not set for the whole year, as I have seen in other schools, and I think that is very important for the students to be able to move up or down as they need to, based on scores and performance.

            This week has been full of joys and sorrows, but, as my students have learned the past few weeks, we can persevere through the tough times to make it to the happier times.  If it were not for my love for these children and the passion I feel for helping them learn and learning new things myself from them, I do not think I would have made it this far into this semester.  I am just so blessed with this great group of children, fabulous cooperating teacher, and supportive colleagues.

           

Class Arrangements

I had a great couple of days with my class this week.  They got to tell me all about their field trip that I wasn’t able to go on, but they made sure I heard all about it so I could feel like I had been there.  My book club is coming along and the 3 students I am working with are making progress.  One in particular is really beginning to excel in all the tasks that I have given them.  Another one is finally beginning to see that she is capable of so much more than she thought she could accomplish.  The last one is still whining when asked to do the tasks, but she is doing them now instead of just stopping and crying.  I am so proud of how hard they are working!

 Yesterday, my cooperating teacher asked me to rearrange the students’ desks into groups of four.  I was excited that she would put so much trust in me to arrange them.   I realized that a lot goes into trying to plan the classroom and place the students into groups that will benefit the student and the class as a whole.  Do you look at what personalities get along best?  Do you try to make them work with classmates that they might not choose to work with otherwise?  Does it flow with the class dynamics?  It can be daunting and easy to over analyze the best layout.

  It took a little while for me to think about what I thought would work best for them.  She has moved them at least twice since I have been in the classroom, paying close attention to personalities and how they get along.  I tried to not look at their personalities as much and instead look at their work habits and academic levels.  We have 4 strong academic students who I used as “core” students for the groups, and then I placed students around them that were not as strong academically.  My thinking was that the “core” students could help the others by modeling their work habits.  To my surprise, after we moved the desks all around, most of the students were excited about the groupings.

 I will attest to the fact that it was not an easy task to figure the arrangement out, but it was a great task for me to try my hand at.  It was nice that, when I explained my thought process to my teacher, she said that she had not thought about grouping them in the groups that I came up with.  The best thing about arranging the class is that if something does not work out you can always try it another way.    

Words of Encouragement...

          Brief note before I begin…I taught my second lesson this week with an ELA lesson.  Unfortunately, it did not go as planned and that was my fault.  I forgot to follow my plan to a tee, thinking that because the lesson was something I loved, I would be able to improvise as needed.  I was wrong…lesson learned.  Improvisation comes with experience not passion or a love of something.  I realized that I needed to have my notes in front of me because, once I got off on my “tangent”, it was really hard for me to find the focus of my lesson and objective.  So, note to self (and anyone else who may need this):  keep your notes handy and follow your lesson plan (why did you spend all that time writing it).

          On another note, though, I wanted to say how important it is to praise and encourage our students.  We have moments all day long where our students may drive us crazy with the talking or not listening, and we get on to them for doing these things.  But do we equally praise them for the behaviors that they do correctly such as working in groups well or writing neatly in their notebooks.  It doesn’t have to be some outstanding achievement for them to hear “Job well done.”  We may be the only encouragement our children hear in a day’s time.  As teachers, we cannot know everything that goes on in our students’ lives, but we can show them a little compassion and love that is much needed regardless how their home life may be.

          I have heard, “It’s not my job to encourage them.  I just need to make sure they learn something” from more than one teacher in my years as a parent and as a student.  Why is it not my job to lift up a child with words of encouragement?  Does it take so much effort for some to be kind that they feel it a chore to inspire their students with kind words? 

I don’t think it is a chore or even a duty.  I look at the children in my class, and I genuinely care for them.  I am not there every day and yet, I have fallen in love with them and love to praise them for things they do right.  I listen to my cooperating teacher and hear her doing the same thing.  She praises them when she can and if she needs to discipline she does that too, but never in a shameful way.  I applaud her for that because I know it is hard.  Some days our fifth graders are too talkative and just disengaged.  As a mother of a fifth grader that talks entirely too much, I have learned how important it is to still praise the child and not always discipline.  They need to hear more from us than, “be quiet” or “stay in your seat”.  We need to offer, “I was so proud when you did…” or “when you did this, it made me think of our school pledge and how you exemplified…” 

Just think about this when you are in your class with your students…be an encourager and ignite in them the passion that you have for learning!!

A Little Random...

     This week’s blog is a little random, but that is how I am feeling.  My mind has been racing a thousand miles a minute, and I cannot seem to keep one clear thought in my head.  So, I hope you understand when my writings are a little haphazard.
    
     I truly love the students that I am working with in my classroom.  They are teaching me just how fun and challenging fifth graders can be.  Tuesday was a sad day for us, though, because we lost one of our students who will be returning to her homeland of Ghana.  I was so sad to say goodbye to her yesterday.  She has been a light in the classroom. 

     We had a few moments in class to share snacks while she told us about how her life will be different and similar in Ghana to that of her life here.  We (the students and I) were all so interested to hear her stories of children shaving their heads before going to school (boys and girls), being whipped with a cane by her principal if she were to get into trouble (highly doubt that that will happen to her), and having to wear uniforms with only black socks.  Mostly, she said, the schools are similar except they expect more from you in Ghana.  I thought that was interesting because many of the students feel their academics are so hard.

     The students have been learning about a couple of different cultures this week for a class presentation.  They have amazed me at how interested they are in how other children learn in their countries.  A few have astonished me with the “googling” abilities to find information.  I am so proud how hard they worked on their presentation, and I am really bummed that I can’t see their finished product.

     Another thought from this week…

     Now that I have written one lesson plan, taught that lesson, and had to revise the lesson plan, I am quite sure that I have A LOT to learn about lesson planning.  I have never spent as much time on any paper that I have written for school as I did on my lesson plan.  

     In writing the lessons, you need to be sure to include as many possible scenarios that can play out during that lesson, make sure you include questions you intend to ask your students, and interventions for those students that just need the extra help.  I admire more the teacher that writes these lessons (and teaches them) with confidence and grace because I am hoping that one day I can be that type of teacher.

     I know that eventually lesson planning will become like second nature to me, but right now, it is overwhelming.  I enjoy thinking up new ideas, but then I get a little bogged down in how to reach all my students in one lesson.  I am in the process now of writing my second lesson plan for reading.  I am looking forward to teaching this lesson, because reading is my passion, and I want to give students the tools that make reading enjoyable.

First Lesson Taught Today!!

I got to teach my first lesson today to my fifth graders.  I went in to it extremely nervous.  I over worried about many things:  was my lesson plan complete, does it make sense, will I fumble over my words or will I pull this off (remember I had to not only teach but I had my professor and co-op teacher watching as well).  I would guess that most teachers, even the great ones that have been teaching for years, get a little nervous when teaching something new.  You hope that the students “get” what you want them to get, but every teacher has at least one lesson that just doesn’t go well.  I think keeping this in mind made it easier to do my first lesson (thanks Julie and Caryl).

Once I started the lesson, most of my apprehensions fell away.  I enjoyed being at the front of the class.  I loved walking around during their group work to assess whether or not they understood the concept.  I was so proud of how my students listened, did not give up, and worked so well in their groups (and all of this right after P.E. without their usual bathroom/water break).  I have 16 students in my class, and everyone did well with the lesson.  I had 4 students that I believe will need a little more one on one work, and I will get to go over the process of multiplication with them again. 

I think the hardest part of the lesson, and maybe every lesson, is to make sure that you don’t leave those students behind that don’t get it easily but also to not make it so easy that you lose the ones that do get it quickly.  I had some extensions and interventions in place, but I realized quickly that these were hard to put into place and hard to do with the time allotted.  I felt confident that my lesson would last 30 minutes, maybe a few minutes longer, but it lasted 45 minutes.  I am glad that I am as organized (OCD) as I am, because otherwise I fear that I would have gone over my time very easily. 

Time management in the classroom is so important.  We have all been in the classroom where they have a well laid out schedule posted on the wall.  We know exactly how much time we have for instruction, guided practice, assessment and evaluation.  The problem comes in when you start a really tough lesson they might not grasp quickly or just the opposite, they grasp it really quickly so you begin to discuss it and don’t want to interrupt a great discussion.  I did not think that time management would be my issue because I am so conscious of it, but after today, I realized that I do need to think about it in a little more depth to keep me (and my students) on task.

These are my thoughts for this week…I don’t know if I mentioned it, but teaching today was amazing!!  I wish everyday could be as much fun (even with the stress)!!