The Week of October 1

I cannot believe that I've been at my placement for over a complete month now. It seems like just yesterday I was at orientation, preparing for the unexpected. However, I guess the saying is right, "time flies when you're having fun!" 

For this week I took four-fifths of the class. I must say, it's pretty exhausting! Teachers are the real deal! A glance into my day starts off at 8:15ish, when I usually arrive at school. Once I'm there I plug in my flash drive to the SMARTBoard, the morning assignment goes up, my lessons are ready to be opened at the right time and my desk is in order. The students come in at 8:40, put their backpacks away and start on the assignment. During this time, I take attendance and lunch count. At 8:50 we stand up and say The Pledge of Allegiance with the rest of the school and we're off to start our day!

Social Studies
The unit we've been covering has to do with Native Americans, their tribes, regions, and cultures. It's been a really great topic to teach since many of the students have a typical view of "an indian." It has really been great to see them change their opinion as to what a Native Indian looks like or behaves like. The most successful lesson I had included four groups of students researching a specific Native Indian tribe. They became the experts and on Thursday we had a video producer (played by yours truly) come to the classroom and cast roles for a documentary she was filming. In every "interview" she would bring up certain stereotypes and ask them if it were true. They gave all the information they learned: what men did, what jobs women had, different foods they would eat, what kind of house they lived in ect. Their assignment for that was to write a letter to a director telling her why making assumptions of people was so wrong. It was great! 

Math
In Math we've been learning about Geometry. The topics vary from how many sides does this shape have to how many degrees are in this shape. We're a bit all over the place! Geometry is a review to them and they let me know it all the time. I use that to my advantage. When I post their objectives for the day it starts off, "Today is October 2 and you will be experts at:" They recept very well to this. I also use that phrase as noise control. When they start chatting, I just say, "I'd move on, but it sounds like some students don't want to be experts." They have been doing well. 

Science
Of all the subjects this one has brought the most controversy (and my most favorite)! We are doing our Chapter about Reproduction and Change. A touchy subject, if you will. On Monday we read through how cells replicate and divide. I had a student stand up and say, "Teacher, the cells make babies?" I my response was a no and I explained how cells are like copies not babies. Well, this one question turned into daily tormenting that cells make babies. I'm personally glad that they want to argue because that gives more room for instruction and guiding. It allows me to give them assignments that involve research and ways to explore the world. I had a few students tell me that when they become scientists they were going to prove me wrong. :) No complaints from me! 

Reading
Reading single handedly is the most difficult subject to teach. The curriculum calls for a daily, uninterrupted 90 minutes of Reading. Within these 90 minutes, the students receive a 20 minute mini-lesson on a skill like how to summarize. We go into guided reading groups and everyone is to read silently. My teacher has established that the students can only read silently for 20 minutes and then they need to do one of the group assignments. It was only my first week, but I felt soooo unprepared. Hopefully, I'll feel more comfortable with this subject in the upcoming weeks.

So there ends my day. Quite cookie-cutter perfect, huh? Please don't be deceived! I know I've talked a lot about how classroom management has been an issue. Well, I've found something that works quiet well for me.. 

Yes! it is my very own Noise-O-Meter! I found the idea on a website and decided to make it my own. The students were a bit caught off guard when I explained this to them. I told them that this was my expectation of them and it was something I should have to continually remind them about. It is really nice to just say, "ladies and gentlemen, level 0 please" and they diligently obey. 

As for my "troublemaker," he had a fabulous week. We decided that he needs more positive reinforcement than the rest of the students. He responded very well to it and he got to move his desk back to his group. He was pretty pumped about it.