Today's observation post connection is "What is the most important thing I think I have learned in my observations this semester".
There have been a couple of things I have really enjoyed observing this semester. I think my aha moment, is the foundation that will lead to lots of other things being able to happen. That idea is "being prepared." It sounds so simple and easy... but I think it is the starting point for success in my classroom.
I think you have to prepare to have good classroom management. You need to plan what your management style will be and have it ready to go. Not a spur of the moment or reaction to classroom issues.
You have to prepare for all the different learning styles in your students. In your lesson plans have a few ideas of different styles to present the information.
You have to prepare for the assessments and exceptional students in your room.
There are a lot of things I want to implement in my classroom, but in order to be able to do those things I have realized it all starts with being prepared. I realize there will be surprises, and unforeseen issues... but if the basics are covered, those will hopefully go as smoothly as possible.
In order to have fun with our classroom, I realize you have to be prepared well enough in all these areas, so you are not wasting time looking for things, thinking about what's next or giving "busy work" so you can figure out what's next.
There is a ton of little things and ideas that I have from my observations and I look forward to trying some of them out, but overall, preparation is where it will all start!
Monday, December 1, 2014
Monday, November 17, 2014
Observation Blog#7
Blog post#7 asks about class rules and how they are enforced. In Ms Sede's 4th grade class the rules are posted on the wall. Simple rules: Respect others, respect yourselves, etc. They are placed in an obvious area where they can be readily seen by everyone. Ms Sede has good systems in place for recognizing good behavior. They have the "clip up" system. She will often tell kids, "Thank you for being on task, clip up." Or "Good work on following directions, clip up." If the whole class is on the right track she has a treasure jar they are trying to fill for a "class prize" ie extra recess, gum chewing day, etc.
I haven't seen her need to stop any "rule-breaking" behavior, just staying on task reminders mostly. But I do know the class has certain steps that co-ordinate to when they have to "clip down". If they get to the lower levels, they loose recess, or have to send a note home, etc.
A few of the procedures that I have seen that make the class run smoothly are: The clip system and incentive jar. The routine of their day. They go over the main points for the day, which I think gives the students comfort to know what is coming next. She has organized the room with a good flow of where things are turned in and the kids know where those areas are. She also has a few actions that have meaning to them - like sign language. When she taps her head with her fingertips, it means "Everyone be thinking of an answer and I am going to ask for one in just a minute, be ready!"
In kindergarten, the rules are enforced by constant vocal reminders. But they are almost always worded the same way - I think the consistant wording helps them to know what the expectation is. For example, ""Childs name", check your hands." This is what the teacher asks when the students need to make sure they are doing what they should be doing. In this example, maybe they are grabbing their neighbor or something - this ss a way to let them figure out they need to keep their hands to themselves.
I haven't seen her need to stop any "rule-breaking" behavior, just staying on task reminders mostly. But I do know the class has certain steps that co-ordinate to when they have to "clip down". If they get to the lower levels, they loose recess, or have to send a note home, etc.
A few of the procedures that I have seen that make the class run smoothly are: The clip system and incentive jar. The routine of their day. They go over the main points for the day, which I think gives the students comfort to know what is coming next. She has organized the room with a good flow of where things are turned in and the kids know where those areas are. She also has a few actions that have meaning to them - like sign language. When she taps her head with her fingertips, it means "Everyone be thinking of an answer and I am going to ask for one in just a minute, be ready!"
In kindergarten, the rules are enforced by constant vocal reminders. But they are almost always worded the same way - I think the consistant wording helps them to know what the expectation is. For example, ""Childs name", check your hands." This is what the teacher asks when the students need to make sure they are doing what they should be doing. In this example, maybe they are grabbing their neighbor or something - this ss a way to let them figure out they need to keep their hands to themselves.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Observation Blog #6
I observed in 4th grade. The classroom had been rearranged since the last time I was there. The teacher mentioned she was trying something new to get the classes attention, by walking on the desks. So she moved the desks. I kept calling it her "catwalk". She said it is fun for the class and yes...it does get their attention!
Our observation connections this week are about engaging the students - I think the "catwalk" definitely engages the class! ;o)
Connections: There were a couple of engaging activities I observed: The choral answers, while also working in their notebooks. The small group time, and individual activities that were reinforcing concepts. Attention getting activities - like the walking on the desks. The assessment was looking for feedback so far in division. The teacher is very good at withitness, she observes and walks the class regularly.
We spent a lot of time on math when I was there. They are learning long division. It is a new concept and they have only been working on it for a short period of time. She did almost a centers idea. Where the whole class had certain activities they were working on - and she took small groups of 4-5 kids and they went over the process of long division as a group, working on a worksheet together. Then we came back together as a large group and did some problems using the SMART board and they worked through them in their math journals. It was mostly "choral" answers. "What's the next step?" and the class would respond. I could tell her goal during this part of the teaching was to train them on the steps of long division. They weren't 100% sure what to do on each step (yet), but they were getting really good at knowing what the steps were they needed to do. I can see this where she was going with it. After our together time they took an assessment to see how they were doing so far. The 4th grade team will use these assessments to break the kids into different groups to continue working on division with other 4th graders who are at the same learning level as they are. This was interesting to watch, because these 4th graders were getting really frustrated with trying to put into work the things we learned. I shared with the teacher that the class is learning something TOTALLY foreign to them.. it would be like me learning a new language! Just a good reminder.
Our observation connections this week are about engaging the students - I think the "catwalk" definitely engages the class! ;o)
Connections: There were a couple of engaging activities I observed: The choral answers, while also working in their notebooks. The small group time, and individual activities that were reinforcing concepts. Attention getting activities - like the walking on the desks. The assessment was looking for feedback so far in division. The teacher is very good at withitness, she observes and walks the class regularly.
We spent a lot of time on math when I was there. They are learning long division. It is a new concept and they have only been working on it for a short period of time. She did almost a centers idea. Where the whole class had certain activities they were working on - and she took small groups of 4-5 kids and they went over the process of long division as a group, working on a worksheet together. Then we came back together as a large group and did some problems using the SMART board and they worked through them in their math journals. It was mostly "choral" answers. "What's the next step?" and the class would respond. I could tell her goal during this part of the teaching was to train them on the steps of long division. They weren't 100% sure what to do on each step (yet), but they were getting really good at knowing what the steps were they needed to do. I can see this where she was going with it. After our together time they took an assessment to see how they were doing so far. The 4th grade team will use these assessments to break the kids into different groups to continue working on division with other 4th graders who are at the same learning level as they are. This was interesting to watch, because these 4th graders were getting really frustrated with trying to put into work the things we learned. I shared with the teacher that the class is learning something TOTALLY foreign to them.. it would be like me learning a new language! Just a good reminder.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Observation Blog #5
My observation time for this blog was very short. But I will be back in the class this week so I am sure my next post will have more info. I was in the Kindergarten class. I brought the kids in for the morning and tried to give them instructions on how to start their day. It was a challenge to give them the instructions for entering the classroom with the wind blowing, the kids chatting and anxious to get into the room. I also noticed no matter how specific I thought I was... one or two totally missed the instructions, even when I know I told them. Ohhh 5 year olds! I also shared a story with them, they loved it and we had a good time reading it together.
Addressing the topic: Important/challenging roles of a teacher.
Specifically in the Kindergarten classroom there is a lot of refereeing and teaching social skills. There are many kids who haven't had a lot of classroom experience and need help knowing what is acceptable and what is not acceptable among their classroom friends. There are lots of reminders to use kind words, please and thank you, asking for things from our friends - not just taking things, etc.
I think this is both an important and challenging role.
Being a patient teacher and being willing to repeat directions for the few who are just going to miss it the first time, is also a challenging and important part of the teaching process. I know I told the students exactly what was expected coming into the classroom, but some just missed it! I think some of these younger kids have something specific on their mind, something they want to tell a friend or tell the teacher, and until they can get that out of their head - they struggle to "absorb" any direction that is given to them. It was interesting to see.
In conversations with the teachers I have been observing, they have shared some of the challenging parts of their jobs. The number one challenge I have heard is working with parents. Some of the things they have mentioned are: getting help from home with students who are struggling, parents who are not willing to accept their child is having classroom behavior problems, etc. They also say it's hard to sometimes see the hard lives some of these kids have. I think that will be tough.
The other thing I have heard for challenges is the amount of time that goes into their jobs. While every single teacher has said it is worth it... they all agree that a lot of after school time goes into getting things done.
Addressing the topic: Important/challenging roles of a teacher.
Specifically in the Kindergarten classroom there is a lot of refereeing and teaching social skills. There are many kids who haven't had a lot of classroom experience and need help knowing what is acceptable and what is not acceptable among their classroom friends. There are lots of reminders to use kind words, please and thank you, asking for things from our friends - not just taking things, etc.
I think this is both an important and challenging role.
Being a patient teacher and being willing to repeat directions for the few who are just going to miss it the first time, is also a challenging and important part of the teaching process. I know I told the students exactly what was expected coming into the classroom, but some just missed it! I think some of these younger kids have something specific on their mind, something they want to tell a friend or tell the teacher, and until they can get that out of their head - they struggle to "absorb" any direction that is given to them. It was interesting to see.
In conversations with the teachers I have been observing, they have shared some of the challenging parts of their jobs. The number one challenge I have heard is working with parents. Some of the things they have mentioned are: getting help from home with students who are struggling, parents who are not willing to accept their child is having classroom behavior problems, etc. They also say it's hard to sometimes see the hard lives some of these kids have. I think that will be tough.
The other thing I have heard for challenges is the amount of time that goes into their jobs. While every single teacher has said it is worth it... they all agree that a lot of after school time goes into getting things done.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Observation Blog#4
I did an observation in Kindergarten
last week. My 4th grade class was unavailable – so I
went to my son's kindergarten class, it was fun to be in there with
him. I know the teacher pretty well, and she shared with me that this
class has been a challenge. There are lots of high energy little boys
in this class. Some are still working on “being good friends”. So I
was curious to be in there. I spent three hours with them from 9-12, phew... there was a lot of energy in the room!
A few things are very different from
4th grade to KG. Those KG teachers have to be going every
minute. They do not have any down time. It is one 10 minute activity
to the next all day long. Whereas the 4th grade teachers
can give the class assignments to do on their own. She doesn't always
need to be in the front entertaining the class. One of the pro's for
KG is that they get to do FUN things. Art projects, centers, lots of
in class reading together. It is a tough exchange. Luckily there is
good in all grades.
The connections for this blog posting
are in regards to assessment and clerical/preparation
responsibilities.
While I was in Kindergarten they did
centers. She had each table designated a color, and that color had
multiple bins that matched their color. They would do the task in the
bin for 10 minutes and then when they heard the bell, put it away and
go get the next bin. They had 3 rotations for a 30 minute center
time. I helped with the preparation AFTER the centers were done –
planning for the next center rotations. Just making sure the bins
were put back together, pieces in the correct bags, etc. The teacher
was very good at expecting the students to clean up, take care and
organize the pieces... but they are still just 5 year olds.
I have actually substitute taught in
the past in classrooms for teachers who were doing assessments during
their class day. Mostly in the Kindergarten class. I remember talking
to the teacher about going through all 28-30 of her kids in her 3
hour block trying to get the testing all done. It made for a long day
for her, but she liked to just get it done vs. stretching it over a
longer period of time. I know the kids were really good and actually
thought it was fun to have some one on one time with their teacher.
This teacher always presented it to her class as “playing some
games” together. They always were anxious for their turn!
Friday, October 3, 2014
Observation #3 September 19th & 26th
I have been going to Ms. Seeds 4th grade class every Friday morning. So I will go ahead and post this for the last two Fridays that I have gone.
I also noticed a few friends with IEP's and they leave the classroom during certain times to be with the other teacher (resource teacher - I am not sure her exact title).
And now some of my observation notes:
On the 19th: We finished up some training for the STAR tutoring program the class is getting ready for. I hope they will be able to do this on Friday mornings when I am there, I look forward to watching them work with the first graders. We did some more practice and question and answers with Ms. Anderson.
They had a reward today for having some high reading minutes for the week and were able to "move their desks anywhere for the day". WOW... what a brave reward on Ms. Seed's part! The kids loved it.
On the 26th: Ms. Seed had a substitute and was not in her class today, so I took the opportunity to visit a few different teachers at the school. I spent an hour with Ms. Tarr (she is my 5th grader's teacher - my daughter has been begging me to come to her class...so I did today!) I was there for journal time and sharing. The prompt was one the kids got very excited about, "What was your favorite toy from your childhood." She expects them to write 15 sentences for their prompts. They were very excited at the idea of sharing. A couple of things she did well during the share time:
I then went to Ms. Dean's classroom (4th grade), (Ms. Tarr's class went to specialty, so I didn't go with them). They were in the process of setting up their login accounts on a school set of chrome books. It was a challenge because of some internal IT issues. Only part of the class was set up and Ms. Dean and I spent the whole time we had the chrome books making our way sround the room to try and login her class. It was a good reminder that technology is awesome when it works... but when it doesn't it can sure be frustrating! I gave the class their spelling test, while Ms. Dean took the computers back into the school. It was fun to be with her class.
Topic connections: ESL learners and/or exceptional learners adaptations. IDEA law adaptions.
Not many ESL students in the classrooms I observed, but a few exceptional learners so I will add some highlights about them.
In Ms. Seed's class, one little friend (I will call him A) is an exceptional need student. She allows him to be in an area where he can move and wiggle and it doesn't distract the rest of the class. She has also given him a chance to interact with good classmates who are patient and kind with him. This week during the spelling test, "A" got
upset at his neighbor. He is emotionally a little behind the
rest of the class - he is very smart, but his social and emotional
skills are a low. I was impressed by Ms. Seed and she reminded the class
they didn't need to watch and while she addressed this classmate,
quickly with kindness. I think it kept him from loosing his control. She
mentioned this is one of his challenges.
I also noticed a few friends with IEP's and they leave the classroom during certain times to be with the other teacher (resource teacher - I am not sure her exact title).
And now some of my observation notes:
On the 19th: We finished up some training for the STAR tutoring program the class is getting ready for. I hope they will be able to do this on Friday mornings when I am there, I look forward to watching them work with the first graders. We did some more practice and question and answers with Ms. Anderson.
They had a reward today for having some high reading minutes for the week and were able to "move their desks anywhere for the day". WOW... what a brave reward on Ms. Seed's part! The kids loved it.
On the 26th: Ms. Seed had a substitute and was not in her class today, so I took the opportunity to visit a few different teachers at the school. I spent an hour with Ms. Tarr (she is my 5th grader's teacher - my daughter has been begging me to come to her class...so I did today!) I was there for journal time and sharing. The prompt was one the kids got very excited about, "What was your favorite toy from your childhood." She expects them to write 15 sentences for their prompts. They were very excited at the idea of sharing. A couple of things she did well during the share time:
- She reminded them to use confident speaking voices
- She pointed out good points in their writing, "Did you see how she had a closing sentence at the end, good job."
I then went to Ms. Dean's classroom (4th grade), (Ms. Tarr's class went to specialty, so I didn't go with them). They were in the process of setting up their login accounts on a school set of chrome books. It was a challenge because of some internal IT issues. Only part of the class was set up and Ms. Dean and I spent the whole time we had the chrome books making our way sround the room to try and login her class. It was a good reminder that technology is awesome when it works... but when it doesn't it can sure be frustrating! I gave the class their spelling test, while Ms. Dean took the computers back into the school. It was fun to be with her class.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Observation day #2 September 12, 2014
I am continuing my observing in Ms. Sederholm's 4th grade class.
The prompt that I will address for this observation was the chance to work one on one. It was actually me with 2 students. The kids are working on getting prepared/trained to be "buddy readers". The 4th graders will be working one on one (or sometimes 2 depending on how the numbers work out), with first graders and tutoring them in reading. It's a great program and lots of fun to see how the 4th graders enjoy working with and teaching the 1st graders. We had Ms. Anderson come into the classroom, she is the Star Tutoring specialist. She talked to the kids about phonics, teaching them so they could teach the 1st graders the same lesson. Then she had them break into groups of 2 and re-enact, being the "tutor" and the "tutee". This was where I had the chance to walk around and help out some of the groups.
I helped them figure out the lesson, where to find it and read through some of the directions. I also helped them with some language use, scripting of how to talk to the 1st graders, and gentle reminders to be positive. One little guy was so funny, when I said ,"He did it right, now what do you tell him?" "That was amazing!" he said. It was cute.
In observing in my classroom, I did think a little bit about some of the segregation issues we have been learning about in our modules. I know Utah is different than the southern states and the impact of segregation wasn't as deep. But it was still nice to notice that in this classroom with the few children who come from different ethnicity's, they were easily and comfortably included in the class. There was no evidence of discrimination among the students or the administration/teacher. It wasn't even something anyone seemed to think about. It was refreshing after reading some the challenging things that took place after Brown vs. Board of Education.
Ms. Sederholm likes to use her Smartboard. That is something I hope to learn from her. One of the other prompts was some of the other duties of the teachers. Ms. Sederholm is the Smartboard specialist for the school. She had some classes and did some training at the end of last year and over the summer, so she could bring it back to the school and pass on the informatin to the rest of the teachers. It is an amazing tool. I hope to have her give me some start up training on using it. I like that it can save info you have put on it from day to day, so you can bring something up that you wrote yesterday and continue with a lesson. Nice!
Additional things I found interesting:
The prompt that I will address for this observation was the chance to work one on one. It was actually me with 2 students. The kids are working on getting prepared/trained to be "buddy readers". The 4th graders will be working one on one (or sometimes 2 depending on how the numbers work out), with first graders and tutoring them in reading. It's a great program and lots of fun to see how the 4th graders enjoy working with and teaching the 1st graders. We had Ms. Anderson come into the classroom, she is the Star Tutoring specialist. She talked to the kids about phonics, teaching them so they could teach the 1st graders the same lesson. Then she had them break into groups of 2 and re-enact, being the "tutor" and the "tutee". This was where I had the chance to walk around and help out some of the groups.
I helped them figure out the lesson, where to find it and read through some of the directions. I also helped them with some language use, scripting of how to talk to the 1st graders, and gentle reminders to be positive. One little guy was so funny, when I said ,"He did it right, now what do you tell him?" "That was amazing!" he said. It was cute.
In observing in my classroom, I did think a little bit about some of the segregation issues we have been learning about in our modules. I know Utah is different than the southern states and the impact of segregation wasn't as deep. But it was still nice to notice that in this classroom with the few children who come from different ethnicity's, they were easily and comfortably included in the class. There was no evidence of discrimination among the students or the administration/teacher. It wasn't even something anyone seemed to think about. It was refreshing after reading some the challenging things that took place after Brown vs. Board of Education.
Ms. Sederholm likes to use her Smartboard. That is something I hope to learn from her. One of the other prompts was some of the other duties of the teachers. Ms. Sederholm is the Smartboard specialist for the school. She had some classes and did some training at the end of last year and over the summer, so she could bring it back to the school and pass on the informatin to the rest of the teachers. It is an amazing tool. I hope to have her give me some start up training on using it. I like that it can save info you have put on it from day to day, so you can bring something up that you wrote yesterday and continue with a lesson. Nice!
Additional things I found interesting:
- Ms Sederholm has a class theme about pirates, which is a lot of fun. She has different attention signals, incentives and pictures that go with the pirate theme. There are some very effective ideas that she uses for classroom management.
- I like how she will review the schedule for the day at the beginning of class, I think this helps those who need to know "what's next!?"
- She addressed September 11th, really casually. Telling the kids it is a topic to ask their parents about, but they could get more info on Nick.com if they want to look at that (with permission from their parents).
- At one point one of the kids said, "I hate Social Studies!" and Ms. Sederholm replied, "Ohhh, but Social Studies loves you!" I thought it was a fun and cute response.
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