Well this week was filled with observations of other classes, hugs, 'don't go's', and mentally preparing to leave my third graders. It was my last week with my third grade class. Eight weeks sure flew by quickly!
On Monday we were supposed to have a professional development day but because of all the snow, we had a SNOW DAY!! This was nice to have because I was not feeling so well that day so it gave me time to recover from my cold. We returned to school on Tuesday not very well prepared for the day. We had planned on having half of Monday to prepare for Tuesday and the rest of the week. My teacher quickly decided what we would be doing that day. It was nice not having to stress about it as much because I wasn't teaching the class anymore. Instead, this week I went to other classrooms to observe different teachers and grade levels. Tuesday, I went to my cousin's Kindergarten class to surprise her in the morning. It was fun to see her at school and watch her learn. I learned that she is a very smart little girl! I couldn't believe how much she knew! As I observed the Kindergarteners, I noticed how well they paid attention to their teacher as they sat on the rug. They listened better than my third graders! It was also a very fast paced environment. Since their attention spans are very short all the lessons have to be short as well. Their math lesson was a max of 10 minutes! It was short but they learned what they how to count pennies and nickels in that amount of time. I was impressed that they were learning about money in Kindergarten also!
Later on Tuesday I went to the fourth grade room. This is a unique room. It is a large room with two 4th grade classes in it. I'm not sure how I would like having to teach in the same room as another teacher but they work with it really well. They teacher together and separately. It was fun to see what the 4th graders were working on. They were doing more advanced writing but also reviewing reading strategies that I had taught my third graders but the strategies made more sense to the 4th graders. The most interesting part of this observation was watching the relationship between the teacher and the students. He is a very sarcastic teacher but knows when to be serious and caring. The students respond really well to this personality. I think it makes him seem more human and relatable.
Wednesday I observed a second grade room and the third 3rd grade teacher's morning meeting. The second grade teacher didn't have much control over his students. He let's them run the classroom and whatever they want to do is what they do. He spent a lot of time letting them share stories with the class, which is a waster of time after 2 stories! The third grade room was interesting because literally no students get along in this room. The classroom chemistry is awful! The teacher has been working really hard during morning meeting to try team building activities. The one I observed seemed to work really well, but she said that was the third day they had tried it and the first two days they had to stop in the middle of it because the students were arguing and being disrespectful to each other. It is just so sad that a whole class can't get along!
Throughout the week I observed and helped in the low level third grade math class. It was amazing to see how low the students actually are and range of ability between the students in this class and the higher level class. The low level students still have a difficult time with simple multiplication facts like 3 x 4 and adding 3-digit numbers together. It is so sad to see and makes me wonder how this happens! How do they get passed up through 3 years of school to get to the point that they can't add?
Friday, I observed two ESL sessions. ESL in this school is mainly pull-out, which means that students are taken out of class to go work with the ESL teacher for 1/2 an hour. I saw a group of first graders and some 4th and 5th graders. The first grade group is more what I visualize ESL to look like. They were working on English grammar (contractions) and reading a story that used contractions. This makes sense to me for them to be working on their grammar skills in English as they are different from their native languages. The older grades were a little different. The teacher was working on map skills and vocabulary with them. I didn't know if it was an extension of what they were learning in their homeroom class or just to build their content vocabulary. The lesson they were learning seemed to be like one you could use in a regular classroom, so I was unsure. I guess I will have to wait and see what it is like when I do middle school ESL!
Overall, Friday was a great day! The kids were giving me lots of hugs all day and the staff was so nice! I had made two types of dessert bars for the staff as a 'Thank you', which the staff loved and wanted the recipes for! All day I was being thanked for bringing in the treats. The third grade team surprised me with a gift and dessert during lunch. My teacher had put together a binder full of worksheets, activities, and fun pages for my students to do in the future. It's a great resource to have as a new teacher! I also received a 3-hole punch from my teacher because I always asked where hers was for me to borrow, now I have my own! I was a given a children's book and also a bell like the ones we used in the classroom for different signals. The gifts were great and they all meant something to my teacher experience! At the end of the day we had a little 'party' with the two third classes. My teacher brought cupcakes for everyone and the students finished watching a civil rights movie that we had started last week. During this time students were showering me with cards and hugs. Some things included in the cards are: two used, but sharpened pencils, one paper fan, one used valentine, many drawings of Swiss cheese, pictures of me driving away in a car, and pop up pictures or pieces of paper. The students kept telling me they didn't want me to leave and that they would miss me. There is no better way to end a student teaching experience. I definitely know that I was appreciated by the teachers and the students and felt like part of the team. I know that I can always go back for advice to anyone that I worked with at the school and they would help me in any way they could. I love this feeling.
I will leave you with some of my favorite card sayings from my students!
"Have a good 2011."
"I hope you get a job as a teacher."
"I hope you like your new school."
"I'm sorry if I've been bad. I wish in the past I could be good!!" (She was not a bad student!)
"Have a good time teaching. I hope you have a good time."
"I hope you have a good day."
"Please come back on the last day of school."
Thanks for all of your support during these past 8 weeks! Now on to my new adventure in 1st grade next week!
Dana
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