On my last release day, I covered for Mrs. Fox, a special educator. She works with between one and six students at a time. I found that her organization system for her students was something that was very nice for the students. She had folders for each student with their work in them in different locations in the classroom. One student had a space in the corner with his own desk and materials. I think that if students are being pulled out for minutes, this is something that they need and is very special to them in general. It seemed to make the students that I worked with more comfortable as well. In the future, when I have students with special needs in my classroom, I will take this into account!
During this time, I dealt with a student that she prepared me for explaining his on and off days meaning sometimes he just shuts down and doesn't want to do anything. Today for this student was an off day. He completely was against doing anything for math. But, when it came to it, i was able to get him to solve an alphabet puzzle by identifying letters and sounds in the alphabet. Granted, we were supposed to be working on math, this was something that I found to work and keep him from sitting and doing nothing to miss precious minutes.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Release April 16 Tate
On this day, I released Mrs. Tate in third grade again. I was able to work students on morning work in relation to work and letter changes to create new words or change the meaning of words. I also collected a lunch count before the students switched for math.
I hadn't even collected homework before my group was called to the gymnasium. This was a day that Chinese acrobats came to the school to put on a performance. It was nice and enjoyable for the program itself, but I also had the opportunity to see how to keep order of the students when they are outside of the classroom. I took with me her class list, a pencil, and some student reminders. I thought that it would be a good idea to have these materials just in case the students got out of control. But, the students behaved very nicely and respectfully to the performers. They were excited to see the performance and refrained from any mischievous behaviors. I think when I have my own classroom, this is something that I will do again during assemblies in order to keep track of students and their behaviors.
I hadn't even collected homework before my group was called to the gymnasium. This was a day that Chinese acrobats came to the school to put on a performance. It was nice and enjoyable for the program itself, but I also had the opportunity to see how to keep order of the students when they are outside of the classroom. I took with me her class list, a pencil, and some student reminders. I thought that it would be a good idea to have these materials just in case the students got out of control. But, the students behaved very nicely and respectfully to the performers. They were excited to see the performance and refrained from any mischievous behaviors. I think when I have my own classroom, this is something that I will do again during assemblies in order to keep track of students and their behaviors.
Release March 16 and April 13 Kate Teeter
Another classroom that I really enjoyed completing my release hours in was Mrs. Teeter's second grade classroom. I found that I really like her classroom setup of group desk arrangements. I feel that at a young age and in the primary grades, students work and learn best when they are cooperatively learning. Another thing that I really liked about her classroom was her organization for stations. For each group of learners in stations, the students were separated based on ability level, but Mrs. Teeter had identified these leveled groups based on color.
For example, I worked with the red group of low level learners. This group consisted of two students with special needs and one at risk student. These students were very low readers, but they were a joy to work with for the fifteen minutes that I was able to work with them.
I believe in my future classroom when putting together collaborative groups, I will use this color system because I think it is something that the students like because colors are fun, but at the same time the students varying ability levels go unnoticed.
For example, I worked with the red group of low level learners. This group consisted of two students with special needs and one at risk student. These students were very low readers, but they were a joy to work with for the fifteen minutes that I was able to work with them.
I believe in my future classroom when putting together collaborative groups, I will use this color system because I think it is something that the students like because colors are fun, but at the same time the students varying ability levels go unnoticed.
Release March 15 and April 12 Morris
I really enjoyed releasing Mrs. Morris because I am familiar with her classroom and the students. I believe that because the students know who I am, they are also more comfortable with me. During her release times, I covered math. One day, she was teaching integers and adding positive and negative numbers. This is something that I am fairly good at compared to my other math knowledge and background. I worked with students throughout the time on three different math pages in their math journals. Mrs. Morris didn't use any special teaching strategies with this lesson except for a number line, which is generally used to teach integers.
On the next day that I released Mrs. Morris, she was giving a test. But, this was a take home test that the students had been given to take home on Friday and they were finishing it in class on Monday. This test also had to do with integers as well as exponents. The only thing that I was instructed to was to review the directions for the test and remind students that in class, they were not going to be allowed to use a calculator. While the students were testing, I answered a few questions as to how to go about solving problems. I also graded several papers that had been turned in for makeup work.
During these two release days in Mrs. Morris's classroom, I found that I am more comfortable in teaching math than I initially thought. I am not sure if it was because I was teaching integers and I was comfortable with them or it it was because I was familiar with the classroom and the students. Either way, it was a great feeling!
On the next day that I released Mrs. Morris, she was giving a test. But, this was a take home test that the students had been given to take home on Friday and they were finishing it in class on Monday. This test also had to do with integers as well as exponents. The only thing that I was instructed to was to review the directions for the test and remind students that in class, they were not going to be allowed to use a calculator. While the students were testing, I answered a few questions as to how to go about solving problems. I also graded several papers that had been turned in for makeup work.
During these two release days in Mrs. Morris's classroom, I found that I am more comfortable in teaching math than I initially thought. I am not sure if it was because I was teaching integers and I was comfortable with them or it it was because I was familiar with the classroom and the students. Either way, it was a great feeling!
Release Hours April 8th
On this day, I released Mrs. Stewart in the third grade. Since I have previously been placed with Mrs. Steward, I am familiar with her routine and behavioral management system. I did learn something new though. She is using a three finger system for having students to raise their hand. She asks the students raise their hand and one finger if they need to tell her something. Then, raise their hand and two fingers if they need to ask a question. Then, the third finger to ask to leave the room for some reason. For example, restroom or drink at the water fountain. I found that I really like this system. It allows for more instructional time and more time on task. Students know that they cannot (well should not) get out of their seat before raising their hand and using the finger system. I believe the only exception to this system is when the students are taking a test.
I also had to give students check marks for not following directions, talking our, or being disrespectful. In this classroom, there seems to be a great deal of special needs and differing learning levels. Some of the students were talking out and being disrespectful in questioning why when asked to do simple tasks like put their library book away, because it was time for social studies. I learned that you have to be firm because some of the students became very upset and one even started crying after I had given her checks, but it was a necessary because of her behavior.
The last thing about this classroom and something that I really liked was the system of helpers. Each morning, Mrs. Steward selects a helper by going alphabetically through the class roster. I feel that this is something that I would use in my classroom in the future. I think that it is a good system because if you have a student helper for the entire week, the student may by one that isn't enthusiastic or someone that goes to deliver the lunch count only to return 20 minutes later. I think that having one helper everyday is something that would be good to prevent this problem, at least for a week's period of time.
I also had to give students check marks for not following directions, talking our, or being disrespectful. In this classroom, there seems to be a great deal of special needs and differing learning levels. Some of the students were talking out and being disrespectful in questioning why when asked to do simple tasks like put their library book away, because it was time for social studies. I learned that you have to be firm because some of the students became very upset and one even started crying after I had given her checks, but it was a necessary because of her behavior.
The last thing about this classroom and something that I really liked was the system of helpers. Each morning, Mrs. Steward selects a helper by going alphabetically through the class roster. I feel that this is something that I would use in my classroom in the future. I think that it is a good system because if you have a student helper for the entire week, the student may by one that isn't enthusiastic or someone that goes to deliver the lunch count only to return 20 minutes later. I think that having one helper everyday is something that would be good to prevent this problem, at least for a week's period of time.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Release Time-Day Two
Today, I again released Ms. Tate, a third grade teacher. This time, I had even more fun with the class. The students are great and the environment makes anyone feel welcome. I had the opportunity to see how the routine is different at a different time. Although the morning seemed like it was going to be long and take forever, it flew by!
In this third grade classroom, I had the opportunity to teach Math, Science, and English. The activities that I did were relating to review in Math and Science. But I was able to share some of my own personal strategies with some of the students that were struggling, with Math and multiplication facts, as well as tricks to learning and remembering new vocabulary terms, which was really neat.
Then, before lunch, I had the students ready and lined up early so I decided to have each of the students tell me something that they learned or something fun that they did today. My favorite thing was that several of the students were really excited to say that they learned the little tricks or strategies from me. This makes me feel really excited! Also, I think that this is something that I like doing just to see if the students were paying attention and can recall information that they learned throughout the morning.
In this third grade classroom, I had the opportunity to teach Math, Science, and English. The activities that I did were relating to review in Math and Science. But I was able to share some of my own personal strategies with some of the students that were struggling, with Math and multiplication facts, as well as tricks to learning and remembering new vocabulary terms, which was really neat.
Then, before lunch, I had the students ready and lined up early so I decided to have each of the students tell me something that they learned or something fun that they did today. My favorite thing was that several of the students were really excited to say that they learned the little tricks or strategies from me. This makes me feel really excited! Also, I think that this is something that I like doing just to see if the students were paying attention and can recall information that they learned throughout the morning.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Release Time-Day One
As I approach my second day of release time, I am very excited, especially to be releasing the same teacher again! During my first day of release time, I was placed with Angie Tate at North Elementary. She is a third grade teacher. I really liked the way that she had her classroom set up. She has her students placed in groups of four to five students/desks. I believe that she does this to have a large open area and mat for oral reading time.
My favorite thing about her classroom and teaching strategies was that of her routine for stations. For each student, there is a folder that travels with them to each station. I find this to be very nice for tracking students' work without having to collect it everyday and have mounds of paperwork. Also, I believe that she uses this system to keep track of which stations various groups have been to during the week and which ones that they need to go to in the event that there would be any confusion.
Lastly, I really liked the system that Mrs. Tate used for the station rotation. She has note cards with all of the students' names on a card and then a magnet is glued to the back. She groups the students together and sticks the magnets on the board writing that group's rotation next to it. She does this for each group. Also, in the groups, she uses a post-it to symbolize who will be the group leader for the day's stations.
I really like this teaching strategy for reading and language arts instruction relating to ability levels. This is something that I would look into using and molding into my own system in my future classroom.
My favorite thing about her classroom and teaching strategies was that of her routine for stations. For each student, there is a folder that travels with them to each station. I find this to be very nice for tracking students' work without having to collect it everyday and have mounds of paperwork. Also, I believe that she uses this system to keep track of which stations various groups have been to during the week and which ones that they need to go to in the event that there would be any confusion.
Lastly, I really liked the system that Mrs. Tate used for the station rotation. She has note cards with all of the students' names on a card and then a magnet is glued to the back. She groups the students together and sticks the magnets on the board writing that group's rotation next to it. She does this for each group. Also, in the groups, she uses a post-it to symbolize who will be the group leader for the day's stations.
I really like this teaching strategy for reading and language arts instruction relating to ability levels. This is something that I would look into using and molding into my own system in my future classroom.
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