Semèn disèt (Week 17)

minggu enam belas (week 16)

            Monday was a very interesting day. MAP testing has been going last week, this week, and next week and it was during our library time so we couldn't go to that. Since it was Earth day Mrs. Z. had this whole school wide Earth day curriculum planned out and since she planned everything I pretty much just let her teach it. She did everything for the entire school so I figured I would let her do her thing. She passed out an Earth day math activity which was pretty much just higher level thinking questions that were all problem solving and the students again just didn't understand. They are smart enough, know the material, and are plenty capable of doing the work it just felt like they didn't really want to. So she did some reading comprehension with them and we decided we would come back to the math the next day.

            Tuesday we started the day with our MAP test. We had reading comprehension and our kids showed so much growth it was unbelievable. Normally with gifted students you don’t see that much growth because they are already at such a high level but these kids raised their scores so much. Mrs. Zientek couldn’t believe it, the principal couldn’t believe it, the other teachers couldn’t believe it, it was crazy. Tuesday for our Earth day activity we did another math activity where they have to read an essay about volunteering and then answer some questions about it. Then finally got to the last thing in math I wanted to teach for that unit and that was the end of the day.

           

            Wednesday we started out by doing a math activity where they had to answer the math questions then cut and paste the pictures to form a picture about recycling as part of the Earth week unit. Then gym, bathroom break, kept working on their math, they came back from lunch and we finished up their math, then wrote an essay about whether or not it’s a good thing to volunteer that tied into their article they read the day before, and finished off the day with a nature scavenger hunt outside.

           

            Thursday we started by doing some science that worked really well connecting the Earth week unit and the unit we had previously been working on so I had them write an essay connecting the 2. We had a fact scavenger hunt where they had to go through the classroom and find the fact cards and write the corresponding answers to the Earth week questions, it was a really cool activity that they also got to learn random facts about the Earth. Then after all our specials and those two things I reviewed with them for the math test and that was the day.

           

            Friday since it was my last day of full time teaching Zientek wanted it to just be a really relaxed day (more so because they did so well on the MAP test she wanted to reward them). So we started out with their spelling test and math test to get them out of the way. That brought us up to gym, bathroom break, lunch. Then after lunch we did a combination of a couple different things. We started with writing letters to the classmate that moved to Texas and then played Bingo. They could also do a couple different Earth day activities that were going to be hung up around the school and that concluded my last week of teaching full time. It’s so weird to be at this point. I feel really hesitant about handing the reigns back over because I’ve been in charge for so long.

saptamana cincisprezece (Week 15)

            Monday we started our poetry unit. I introduced it by reading some of my favorite poems from Silverstein, both short and long, and then I read one from Robert Frost, and the Raven by Poe just to give them a little bit of everything from all different genres. We are going to do a different poem each day until the end of April. The first poem we did was a simple acrostic poem. Between that, library in the morning, and social studies presentations in the afternoon it was a pretty slow day.

            Tuesday we did ABC poems, I figured we would start with the easiest poems and wok our way into the more complex from there. So instead of just making an alphabet book I made them actually have a theme to it. I had them write it in the morning, or at least start on it, then we went to gym, the kids went to lunch, we did some before music, then had computers and I had them type up and finish their alphabet poems, then math before we went home and that was our day.

            Tuesday night was our social studies fair and that was something that was really cool to see. It’s still weird to be on the other side of all these things. I remember all my science fairs and projects like that and it’s weird to be a teacher now on this side of the fence. All the projects turned out really well. Some kids who normally aren’t the best students really put a lot into them and did a great job. I was also very proud considering I was on the committee for this and to see the kids step up for it was awesome.

            Wednesday morning went by pretty fast. We did some science until gym, then bathroom break to lunch. Then in the afternoon we kept going with the probability unit I started Tuesday. The homework Tuesday was really confusing. The directions weren’t clear and even after explaining it, it still didn’t go well, the problem was they understood the content and material, just not the instructions on the homework. So we did more practice with it so that they could practice the skills without the confusing instructions and not only get them repetition but also build their confidence. After that we did our poetry, we did haiku’s which the kids liked, and we worked on those until they went home.

            Thursday we kept going with probability and did some more practice to make sure the kids understand it. We did that until we went to gym and lunch. We did a science game before music, the students have a tendency to read the chapter and not pay any attention to the important information in the illustrations and charts. So I gave them 15 minutes to look at and read the chapter’s charts, illustrations, and other things they don’t normally read, then asked them each 2 questions from it and if they got them right they got a panther paw. We went to music and then finished the day with autobiographical poems.

            Friday was another bust. We did a science jigsaw in the morning with the next section in the book which took us up to gym. Then we cleaned out our desks between gym and lunch. After lunch Mrs. Z. decided that we would watch a movie with another class and they did a taxonomy sheet with it, then they went to library with the librarian, then we played math bingo to finish off the day. And I can’t believe next week is my last week of full time teaching.

Classroom Confidential

            In Schmidt’s chapter 7 her topic is all about community in the classroom. I love the idea of bringing community into the classroom because then I think it makes the learning more real for the kids. I know when I was younger I would learn in school and then go home and didn’t think anything would translate. By bringing the community in or bringing your kids out into the community they get a sense for how the learning can be made real and I think it’s one of the most valuable things you can do.

            Unfortunately in today’s world classrooms are test driven, whether we like it or not they are. It’s how schools are assessed and it’s how we are assessed as teacher on our ability to do our job. So one of the concerns that is brought up and Schmidt addresses is how community based learning is actually quite rigorous and in cases can be harder than a classroom curriculum. She lists 8 great reasons as to why this is; Community based projects put kids in the drivers seat, community based projects are academically and socially rigorous, the learning requires different types of knowing, it is active, teaching and learning are shared, life and learning are fused, student work has meaning in the world and beyond, and projects take on a life of their own. I especially like that last one because I like most if not all of my classmates enjoy and believe in alternative assessments. I’m a firm believer in projects and this is what Schmidt says about the potential of a community project; “A single project may unfold over an entire year, as students assess their progress, refine strategies, and ask ‘what do we do now?’” (pg 143). This is exactly the kind of thing I want and hope for in my future classroom, and she mentions why right before that quote; “Next thing you know, you’re in the thick of it and your classroom will never be the same”. I love the potential of getting the community involved, no matter what community it is.  Wealthier communities are sometimes more willing to get involved and higher needs communities when involved can be more rewarding and good for both the community and the kids. For instance I’m in a lower income community now and we have a project going that involves the community, and to get everyone involved and for the kids to see the potential is so good for them. To know that the community is a safe place that cares about them and their education is HUGE for them. That is why no matter what community my school is in I will always try and get it involved.

week quattuordecim (week 14)

            Monday was our field trip to the children’s farm. It was a great field trip for the kids because they got to see all of the little baby animals and learn about them. Part of the reason we had such a good time was because we had a really good guide. Some of the guides weren’t very good so their groups didn’t get as much out of the trip. The kids not only got to learn about the animals but pet and hold them which is something these kids don’t always get to do. On the trip we had a couple chaperones tell us that they had brought their kids their before so they were not only familiar with the farms but the animals, how to hold them, how to pet them, and very responsible. On the other hand some kids had never even seen some animals before so it was a great opportunity for those kids. The weather was a little bad. It was good enough were we could still go and have a good time and not get wet, but this is Illinois so the wind of course picked up and it was too windy to eat there so we went back instead and ate in the cafeteria for an extra 45 minutes they would have gotten otherwise. All in all it was a really good experience and would definitely take my class there again.

            Tuesday was a SIP day so no kids but we got SO much done. We figured out the school wide behavior policy and homework policy for next year and came up with some awesome ideas. We think this might be the pilot for the whole district but that’s just a hunch.

            Wednesday we got through a lot of material again. We had to deal with a minor incident that actually happened last week but due to certain circumstances we couldn’t get to deal with it until today. Other than that the kids were good and we just kept on keeping on. I love these kids and they are such a good group. I have all the staff in the building continually tell me how lucky I got with the group I’m teaching and it’s the best group of kids any have seen come through this building and from what I can tell it’s the truth.

            Thursday and Friday were both practically complete busts. Thursday we had the morning to get through some math and it didn’t really go so well. The kids were so unbelievably quiet I thought they didn’t understand it. It ended up being that they didn’t THINK they understood it but they really did. They thought they kept making mistakes but they weren’t. That was probably the most frustrating thing because they were doing well but weren’t sure of themselves. The rest of the day was gym, lunch, music, and then they had a rehearsal for the concert that was that night. Holy smokes two of my girls had solos, the only solos in the whole thing, and they were AMAZING. I was so proud of them. Even the rest of my kids did great.

            Friday we had a collaboration meeting while the kids were at an awards “ceremony” for the third quarter rewards. Then they went right to gym, the bathroom break and lunch, then they worked on their social studies project until library which took us until the end of the day when we had our fun Friday and that was the week. All in all it was a really good week.

Hafta oniki (Week 13)

Compared to last week Friday I could have one of the worst weeks ever and it still wouldn’t be as bad as that day. Fortunately for me the kids were amazing this week.

            Monday we were still off so when we started back on Tuesday I expected they would be off the wall. I started them off on their morning work and they were dead quiet and working hard. I gave them spelling words, handwriting, we did math and language arts. Then for the first time since ISAT prep we actually did some social studies and science. I love teaching math but it was so nice to be able to pull back the reigns and do some other types of work. The funniest part was at the end of the day when we were going over their homework. I didn’t give them any during ISAT week, they didn’t get a whole lot during the week after, then last week over spring break the only thing they had to do was write a rough draft of their social studies project. It seemed like they forgot that they had to do homework when they were in school. It was only a 10 second “you’re in school, you get homework” and that was it.

            Wednesday was a blur. Again the kids were extremely well behaved and we got through a lot of material. We did math in the morning, we started some social studies before gym, did a math minute during bathroom break and corrected their math homework before lunch. Then we finished social studies before music, after that we read the main story of their language arts unit, we did some writing, and then finished with science. It was probably the most productive day I’ve had all semester and it was fantastic.

            Thursday was just another normal day. The biggest thing we’ve been dealing with over the last few weeks is a few students have problems with unstructured times and their interactions with other students. For instance in gym when they aren’t working independently or pre-planned groups, they have time to practice or play the learned content with each other there are a lot of instances with picking on one another. The issue is that they come to us about it and we have no idea what happened because it wasn’t in our classroom. Whether it’s art, music, or gym they come to us (which is understandable, it’s not as if I’m upset about it) and ask us to mediate or help and we have no idea what happened. We’ve told them that if it happens in a certain class it has to stay in that class. There was a minor incident with a couple kids saying something to a third student just to bug him. They came to me and it was just a mess of “he said this” but only because “he said that” and “they were doing this” and we couldn’t get to a complete story so I just told them to stay as far away from each other as possible and that if I have to talk to them again about it they will get referrals and we didn’t have another problem with it the rest of the day.

            Friday was a day we got next to nothing done. I gave their spelling test in the morning and then was doing some fraction review with them and that took much longer than expected. They had gym and a bathroom break then kept working on their math review. Then they went to lunch and afterwards we played jeopardy review of everything they learned this week. Then they went to library and straight to a recital for their concert coming up that went to the end of the day.

Classroom Confidential

              In chapter 10 Schmidt talks about social justice. Social justice is the belief that every child has the right to be educated which I agree with 100%.  In today’s world you have to prepare students for what’s ahead, what the world is like. One of the best things I think was said in this chapter was “school must be about more than worksheets and recess. It needs to be about their world and their lives.” Schmidt talked about a class who learned about the child slaves working the cocoa fields on the Ivory Coast. Kids who would work 12 hour days, underpaid (if paid at all), and malnourished all so people could get their chocolate fix. They ended up writing the president of M&M/Mars and saying they won’t eat any chocolate but fair trade chocolate and sent back all their Halloween candy. On top of learning about all the social justice topics you can, what this does is also teaches other important skills like application of knowledge to real life problems, a lot of critical thinking on how to resolve the issues, realistic ideas about the world, and since social justice applies much closer to home than most people think it gives students awareness of community needs.

            As a Christian educator, teaching about social justice is something that is extremely important. I believe not only as a person we need to teach what is going on in the world, but as a Christian we need to teach and do what we can to make a difference. We are all missionaries and we have to teach our students to be the same, so teaching them about the important issues and what they can do to change them is equally as important as doing mission work yourself. For instance, the class that sent letters to the president of M&M, as third graders that didn’t take a lot of effort or any money other than postage, but they were making a difference to the cruel treatment of God’s children, that’s the important part. Social justice is something that we absolutely need to teach our kids in today’s world and is more important as Christians because we are on this Earth to protect God’s creation and be missionaries.

Onze Setmana (Week eleven)

            Overall the beginning of the week was pretty cut and dry. Monday I gave out spelling words, we did math, gym, lunch, computer time I let them research their social studies projects, then James and the Giant Peach to finish the day. Tuesday was much the same, Math, gym, lunch, music, computers for social studies, James and the Giant Peach to end the day again. Nothing very eventful happened either day.

            Wednesday was where things started to go a little off the tracks. We had our 3^rd quarter reward celebration at the end of the day. I was observed in the morning and the students were great. I passed out the handout for the reading we did the day before and had them work on that before the reward because after the math lesson between gym, lunch, and art that was all we had time for.

            Thursday was going along fine, nothing uneventful until after art. Then the train started going more off the tracks. We were on our way back and about to go on the bathroom break. I had a student who wasn’t doing anything all day and so I was asking the teacher how he was in art while Mrs. Z. was taking them. I could hear the guys all the way on the other end of the building. I walked back and took all the guys into the classroom and had it out with them. I had to put the fear of the Lord in them again. I told them that just because spring break was around the corner we were still in school and if they were that loud that they were disrupting the whole school from being able to learn. I asked them that if I had to send a note home or call their mom or dad and tell them that their child is disrupting the whole school if they would be happy? I have never heard a group of guys so quiet in my life. So for the rest of the week they do not get a group bathroom break, they are sent out one at a time. We finished the day by reading James and the Giant Peach.

            Friday was the epitome of a train wreck. If we continue to use the train metaphor, It’s off the tracks, on its side, on fire, blowing up, with another train about to crash into it and blow it up further.  We started the day and took our spelling test. That was normal. Then they went to gym and that started out normal. During gym we had a meeting with the principal about a parent who is giving us some trouble. Then the classroom just turned upside down. They came back from gym and I saw 2 kids sort of going at it in what looked like a pretty heated argument and these 2 have had problems inn the past. I pulled them outside to talk to them and it turns out another student was calling them names and hitting them in the head with dodge balls. I pulled him out and it turned out to be this big hoopla involving 7 guys all ticked off at each other for the most part.   So I pulled them all to the front of the class while the rest were working (not to make an example out of them just to have a talk by my desk) and as I was going to inform Mrs. Z. of what was going on and while I was doing that one of the female students told me she was moving to Texas during spring break, and she is one of the best kids in class both academically, socially, and overall a really nice girl. Then I told Mrs. Z. what was happening just to keep her in the loop and she said she wanted to handle it because this sort of thing has been happening all year. Then after she had finished we were having what we call “talk time” which is just something once or twice a week where the students can just talk to us about random things related to school. They were complaining about a certain lunch lady who is either eating off their plates, pinching kids, pushing kids, yelling at them to be quiet for no reason, it was bad. So we said we would talk to the principal about it. Mrs. Z. has also been in the principal’s office laying on his couch twice so far because she’s extremely light headed, felt like she was going to pass out, and had no color in her face. Turns out he had talked to the lunch monitor about these things that very morning. This is ALL BEFORE LUNCH! During lunch we find out that a teacher from another school in the district was walked out of the building. Then after lunch I was running up money to the office for some poster boards and I see Mrs. Z. walking in to the principal’s office with one of the sweetest girls in the class. Apparently the lunch lady had heard her yelling from all the way across the loud lunch room with over 150 kids in it (this is the girl who sits 7 feet away from me and I can’t hear). She made her stand in the corner of the lunch room with her nose against the wall in front of everyone. So she was walked out. Then Mrs. Z. stayed up there because she was feeling sick again. I had them clean out their desks while I graded the first part of their social studies project and one of my guys started having a meltdown right as we were about to go to the movie (the whole school was watching it before spring break). Turn out he was extremely upset about the girl moving to Texas because out of all the girls in the class she’s the nicest to him and his best friend in the class who’s a girl. Then once we got him good to go we had a meeting with the social worker about the child and his parent we’ve been having problems with, then met with the principal about the parent again, then one of our students who is a diabetic had his sugar CRASH, then finally we got a class that one girl’s mother was going into labor so she had to go about an hour early. Then after school we were talking to a teacher who didn’t have his class there because he never got the permission slips (which out students were in charge of passing out) because they didn’t want to go in there when there was no teacher there. The problem was they didn’t tell us and they didn’t have more than 5 left over so we had no idea. And then finally, it was spring break…

Seachtain deich (Week ten in Irish for St. Patty's day!)

            Today (Monday) we were supposed to have a day to review because we originally didn’t want to test them on Mondays, however… the snow day last week keeps coming back to bite us in the butt.  We were worried that we might have run out of time to test the students because Mrs. Z. might have to administer a test to another class because a teacher is out so we wouldn’t be able to test that day because I can’t administer them. We could get the tests in within the week but if someone misses we wouldn’t have any time to do make up tests.  So this was my day today, morning work was handed out then after 5 minutes we went to library for an hour and a half for them to research their social studies projects. Then we actually had a few minutes where I taught comparing and ordering decimals and fractions which went well. Then we went to gym, then 10 minutes to work on their assignment because we don’t give out homework during ISAT week, then they went to lunch and that was our morning. After that we had to get in 2 tests before an assembly addressing the social studies fair that ran to the end of the day. Then they left and I felt like I got next to nothing done.

            One thing I forgot to mention next week is that one of my students with an IEP is having an extremely difficult time with the math project that is due today. So I gave him a completely different assignment (which wasn’t a big deal because he hadn’t done anything on the first one anyways) and I’m hoping he will understand this better but he desperately needed the differentiation.

            Tuesday was another day that seemed like I didn’t have more than a minute with them, and what few minutes I did have I had to either take care of some housekeeping business or put out fires. If it wasn’t making up and copying a parent note it was “this person pushed me” or “this person said this”. It was constantly one thing after another all day. Then I had 15 full minutes and I had to go through everyone and pick the students so they could choose Native American tribes for their Social Studies Fair projects. I am really excited about this project because I am actually on the committee for it so it’s nice to see both sides of something big like this and I’m taking a little extra pride in it. We also had to make a permission slip for them to watch a movie Friday, then I had to get both permission slips translated into Spanish, it just seemed like one thing after another after another. I’m really starting to hate ISATs for more reasons than just the basic premise of them. 

            Wednesday we finally finished our last ISAT test! I was so happy when we finished. We have been learning and talking about these tests for the last few years and sometimes we were aiding in a school when the students were taking them but this was the first time I really saw the full effect of them. It was so hard on our students and emotionally taxing that by the time they were all over even I was drained. The rest of the week we are honestly just doing mindless activities that aren’t hard on the students. Plus there are still students who have to do make up tests right above us in the conference room so we can’t be too loud anyways. We did a lot of silent sustained reading or coloring the rest of the day in between specials. Then at the end of the day I started the James and the Giant Peach unit. I like reading to the kids but I really have to work on the voices I use for the characters, and even the ones I have I feel sort of dumb using them. But at the same time I really don’t care because the kids love it and if that means making a fool of myself using funny voices then so be it I don’t have a problem with it.

            Thursday I checked out a bunch of books on Native American tribes for them to read. First I went through their textbook with them and showed them how to look through books to find information so they don’t spend hours reading a book with nothing to get out of it. Then I had them go through on their own and find just 5 useful pieces of information and write them down with the page number as a reference. Then in the 15 minutes before lunch I had half the students silent read their own books while the other half read the books on the Native American tribes, the after 5 minutes they switched, and then they lined up for lunch. I went through the grade book and found all of the missing work and had students try and find them while the others read. I taught them adding and subtracting decimals because it’s absolutely no different from adding and subtracting regular numbers except the decimal point itself. As soon as I told them they started moaning and groaning, but once I showed them an example their attitude completely changed and they handed it well. Then they worked on their assignments while they were trying to find their missing ones. Then we finished the day with James and the Giant Peach.

            Friday we started with reading and working on the writing follow up. That took us to gym, and then I had a math minute for them to do during the bathroom break. They had some more math follow up on what we covered yesterday. We went to lunch, we switched library times with another class so we went to library immediately after lunch, and then finished the day watching Despicable Me.

            Next week I have to figure out what to teach the week before spring break, after they are wiped out from ISATs, I’m going to try and teach like normal, using multiple different techniques that are engaging and fun for them to try and keep them interested while having them retain the information. I just remember when I was their age the week before spring break was the worst so I’m going to do everything I can to change that.

Naoi seachtaine (Week nine)

            Monday we had off for Casmir Pulaski day and Tuesday was a snow day so it made for a nice 4 day weekend.

            Wednesday instead of starting our ISAT tests we decided to have our review day and try and cram everything we couldn’t get to with decimals and fractions in one day which was very difficult considering our specials for that day and the time we actually had to work with. Obviously I am not a fan of worksheets, I tried to teach them out of their books, I tried giving instruction on the board, I tried giving them examples from the real world and tried using money (fake of course), I tried having them get up in front of the class to represent turning a fraction into a decimal, I felt like I tried everything and none of it worked. Finally they were in gym and I was looking at the supplemental math book and they had some worksheets with instructions at the top that were laid out very simply for them and so I printed them out and gave them a whirl and after that they really seemed to start to grasp it. I don’t necessarily think it was the worksheets that were the trick, what I really think that happened was that I was making it much too complicated. I think I was over explaining things and on the first day back after a 4 day weekend I just think it was too much. So when I got the worksheets it laid out what they were supposed to do at a level that was perfect for them and practice problems that were the same level. Once I figured that out we really flew through everything. We got through the equivalent of 3 whole lessons in the time it would normally take to do about half of that. All we did was math on Monday and by the end of it the kids were really burnt out so I had them wind down the day with some silent sustained reading and discussion time so that way they would have somewhat of a break.

            Now that ISATs are here my days are really dull. We do an hour of testing in the morning, then straight to gym, then to lunch after 15 minutes when you factor in bathroom break, then we have a half hour until art then another test and then they go home. While they were in the room they were just silent sustained reading so they would be quiet and give their minds a break. They said the math test was basically all a review which was a good thing because of the review day on Wednesday I was worried how much would stick. So all in all it was a really uneventful day. The best thing about today was when Matthew walked in he had a scowl on his face and looked extremely mad. This is typically what happens before he has a colossal meltdown and we couldn’t have that when he was starting an ISAT test within 20 minutes. So instead of sending him up to the social worker and making this whole ordeal out of it and wasting time I just had him come over to my desk and tried something I’m not sure some teachers have…talking to him. I just asked what was going on and why he looked so mad and he just said “everyone in my house is dumb”. Whatever that meant I don’t know but I just told him that’s not true and just started talking to him and within 5 minutes he was smiling and happy. All it took was talking and some coaxing and he was fine. So that was my biggest accomplishment for the day, taking that kid who has started the day sometimes on the ground literally kicking and screaming and making turning his morning around and starting him off on the right track.

            Friday started the same day with Matthew, he came in all scowled and looked ticked off at the world and again all I did was call him over to my desk and tell him to stop. I said yesterday we had the same problem and we took care of it so that’s what we were going to do again. Again it seemed to work and he was fine in the span of about 3 minutes. Again it was a good feeling and if we can do this whenever he is off to a bad start then the rest of the school year gets a whole lot easier. They took their third ISAT test and that was the last one for the week. Then gym, lunch, and library took up the rest of the day. One thing I noticed was that the 3 days I was in school felt like 2 full weeks and what the other teachers said became so true for me, the shortest weeks are the longest weeks.  I know there isn’t much but that’s because there wasn’t much done. Other than Wednesday when they weren’t testing they were silent reading and that was it.

Vika átta (Week eight)

            Monday was a rough day knowing that Tuesday we weren’t going to have the kids. It was trying to figure out what to introduce knowing they won’t have any follow up the next day. So I used the day to keep going on fractions and do a lot of review on previously learned language arts subjects. One thing I was pretty excited about was a lesson about roots and affixes. I was having them make flashcards with the roots or affixes on one side and then the definition, examples, and a sentence using it on the other side. I was going to have them do each section in groups at stations and then afterwards they would have note cards to study from. Then I found these stencils online of a small tree and leaves and I was going to put the root or affix and its definition on the tree and then on the leaves write the words. Unfortunately they didn’t understand how to make the note cards. I walked them through it step by step, I drew them a diagram and even made an example for them. They still couldn’t understand it so instead of centers we just did it as a class. Then we ran out of time so for their homework I had them write the examples and sentences and didn’t get to the trees.

            Tuesday was a SIP day which consisted of three different conferences. One of which was a review of something we learned in novice, we talked about close reading which the woman said is something you would only do maybe twice a year, and then a conference about reading centers that the school doesn’t have the money to pay for but was a really good idea.

            Wednesday just felt like another Monday which made the whole school seem a bit off. Everyone was out of whack but we got through it. Although the staff seems like they’re dragging a bit the kids seem fine. We had a collaboration meeting to go over some evaluations of the school and principal and we passed out our ISAT booklet. In reading some of the things for the ISAT we discovered that I’m not allowed to have prefixes and suffixes up on the wall. So the cool follow up activity that I was going to hang on the wall I now can’t do until after ISATs and by that time I don’t know how effective it will be. I’ll probably still end up doing it because I think it could be helpful but I was hoping they would have them up for reference during ISATs.

            Thursday kept working on fractions and I don’t know if it was the Tuesday off or not but it just seemed to throw everything out of whack. We started with math first thing in the morning because that’s when we had the biggest time slot and the kids just seemed glazed over. Everything we reviewed from the day before went right past them and what I tried to teach just wasn’t getting through. I tried a couple different methods a few activities and it was just like the kids weren’t mentally there. So we moved on to some language arts hoping that the reading would just be less strenuous then math and it seemed to be doing the trick. So we were able to get something done before gym even if it wasn’t what I wanted or as much as I wanted. In the afternoon I was going to teach/review voice, tone, and some other reading parts of a story. Mrs. Z. found a really cool book about a hippo and a turtle becoming friends called Owen and Mzee, I asked if she wanted to read it to them because the students love it when she reads to them and since she hasn’t been teaching for the last 4 weeks she said she has been feeling a little left out in a way. So she read the story to them and went through all of the literary elements we had planned and that gave me a chance to do some much needed grading.

            Friday was pretty much a bust. We had our spelling test first thing in the morning then Read Across America after that which was pretty cool. It was an hour where the whole school was reading and they could have either a parent or grandparent come in and read a book to the class. It was a really good experience for them. We immediately went to gym and then after gym we had a bathroom break then 15 minutes before lunch, which we worked on the math hat we started Thursday and then lunch. After lunch we had an hour and a half to work on our math projects. Then library at 1:00 and from there we went straight to the student vs. staff volleyball game until the end of the day. I appreciate days like this to give the students a break, give them a chance to have some different kinds of fun that doesn’t involve learning. Unfortunately it’s the Friday before ISAT’s and I really could have used that time to either review or teach the last couple things before ISAT’s. We don’t have school Monday so obviously that’s not going to work and then we have Tuesday to teach and we haven’t gotten through nearly enough. But what really is going to stick the day before ISAT’s when we have so much to get through?

            Here is one of the biggest things I saw come into fruition that I have learned, you can have the best plans in the world but the biggest variable in the classroom is the kids. If they don’t understand the material then your plans don’t exactly matter. Whether it’s plans for the week, plans for a lesson, or plans for an assignment, if the kids don’t get it then your plans go out the window.

Classroom Confidential

            In Schmidt’s chapter 6 one thing she talks about is reading a novel aloud to the students. This is something I have wanted to do with the kids and haven’t gotten a chance to yet. I hadn’t seen Mrs. Z. read out loud to the class with anything other than the stories in their reading books or other short stories. So I asked her if I could and she said I was more than able to and she loved it. So I grabbed James and the Giant Peach and she said her and another teacher actually had a listening unit that went along with the book so she found that for me and I am going to start it next week. The timing works really well so that way they can just sit there and listen to give themselves a break between ISAT tests and it’s quiet so we don’t disturb any other classes while they are testing.

            I also like the “Skinny to Steroids” activity she talked about. It’s where you take an absurdly  simple sentence like “The cat ate” and you write the 3 words on the board with massive spaces in between. Then you have students either tell you or come up and write in details. Things like what color the cat is, what the cat ate, where the cat ate, why the cat ate, all sorts of details to beef up the sentence. The great thing about this activity is you can do it in less than 2 minutes. So this is something I can do before we go to gym after our bathroom break where I’m torn between deciding if I should start something new in 5 minutes or not.

            Journaling is the other thing I would like to do with them. It seems like we have the most time on Mondays and Fridays in the afternoons so that’s when I would do them. She gives us 13 jumpstart topics to give the kids to write about because sometimes getting started is the hardest part about journaling. This gives the gives to just write about themselves, their likes, and their interests, which is something that they normally don’t get to do. The other thing I could do with this is on Mondays have them write about either their weekend or free write, then on Fridays I could have them write about something during the week in school, like their favorite activity or what they wish maybe I could do better. That way they are still writing which is the important part but I’m also getting their feedback in order to make the classroom a better place for them. 

Java e shtatë (Week 7)

            Monday I started my TPA unit. It went pretty well. The lesson went well but you can only make fractions so exciting. I went through the day and got through everything I had. Monday’s we have a 3 hour slot at the end of the day and I felt like I was scrambling at the end of the day and unprepared. I had that feeling that I didn’t want to move on with anything but I didn’t have enough supplemental activities for them to do. We sent home a note that was explaining to the parents that in the two weeks coming up before ISAT’s we are going to be going over a little more review of some language arts concepts and so their homework might go up a little bit, it was saying now that I’m full time teaching they may have a “new teacher” but the routines are all the same. The students have been going home and telling their parents that they don’t have any spelling homework and no spelling tests, then progress reports went home and all of a sudden they’re failing spelling and we’re getting calls thinking they didn’t have any spelling. So the note said that nothing has changed and they are told every day to study their spelling (because I verbally tell them and write it on the assignment board every day). It had some important dates on it and a part about a change in the handwriting. Because the school is almost out of the budget we are running out of paper, so instead of printing out whole handwriting packets we are having them write paragraphs on a separate sheet of paper. It ends up being MUCH less than the original handwriting packet so we said it was due the next day (it was only one paragraph) and Luke started to cry when we passed it out. He thought it was too much and didn’t want to do it. But we just kept explaining it and pretty much ignored him. He does this so often it’s either just a cry for attention (literally) or he’s trying to manipulate us into pulling back on the work.

            Tuesday I came heavily prepared, I absolutely hated the feeling of scrambling and being crunched for time so I came with around 12 different things we could get done and move on to if we had extra time, and of course didn’t. One thing I am planning on doing though is some reading with them. They do a lot of reading in their textbooks and then silent sustained reading when they have some extra time, but I am going to start reading them a fiction book because you can do so much with it and for the kids who don’t get all their work done on time they never have that opportunity to read in school. I was going through the books and Mrs. Z. said she had a unit made up for James and the Giant Peach that I could do and that was the book I was thinking about anyways so now we just have to find it and I’m going to start doing that. One of the things we did in my TPA unit was an equivalent fractions game where they each got a fraction and they had to find their equivalent fraction partner. They don’t really get to do a whole lot of activities like this so it was really fun for them. A couple students who constantly ask me questions the second they start working on anything were having trouble being confident with it. They wanted to just come up to me and ask if it was right rather than do the math on their own to double check. We had a lot of specials so it was a pretty uneventful day.

            Wednesday was an interesting day. We had finished out TPA unit content; it’s just working on the final assessment from here. They have to take the data I collected from the whole fourth grade and make fractions out of all the categories. I asked them what their favorites were in categories like candy, sports, baseball teams, and other things. Then they have to simplify all the fractions and put it on a poster which we are going to hang in the hall. I had to go out and buy the posters because the budget is almost all tapped out and I didn’t want to ask the principal to do it. The biggest change I made with this project from my last one is that I’m making it completely in class. We have a problem with one student whose mother is doing work for him (but I’m not going to get into that) so in order to make sure that it’s completely their own work I collect everything at the end of the day and pass it out the next time we work on it. When I told them this the particular student started freaking out, breaking down, and crying. Then later when I reiterated the fact that it was completely in class he asked “except for me right?” To which I replied absolutely not. Then when I was coming back from dropping the kids off at gym I walked into the classroom and Mrs. Z. had fallen and was sitting on the floor kind of in shock. While she was trying to hang posters she fell and hit her head so she went home for the second part of the day. The principal wanted to just let me be in the class and said I didn’t need another teacher or a sub in there and I was fine on my own but rules were rules. So we had the reading specialist just come in and sit at the desk and do her own work. That was a huge boost of confidence to hear that the principal trusted me in the classroom without another adult in there and if it weren’t for the legal aspects of it I could have just been on my own.

            Thursday I was completely on my own for the whole day! Mrs. Z. was out all day and so it was truly my classroom without her presence. The sub just sat in the chair and read or did Sudoku’s all day which was fine with me. She was really nice and has been subbing in the district for almost 30 years so she knew the kids from when she subbed for their class in kindergarten. She said she loved being a sub because of that reason; she’s subbed for some 8^th graders before and said she tied their shoes when they were little. She loves being able to see the kids all throughout their lives and this was something I didn’t even think of. The day went really well, the kids were great, they were pretty much better than when Mrs. Z. is there which is an amazing sign for me because they truly do respond to me and respect me as their teacher. I had a problem with Job all day though, but just him. It got to the point I was going to send a note home with him but unfortunately didn’t know where Mrs. Z. keeps them so I just had a talk with him. I told him that the only reason he’s not getting a note was because of that and if he were to get another note home he’d have an in school suspension. I asked him if there was something going on because the first 5 weeks I was here we never had a problem and all of a sudden in the last 2 weeks he’s been out of control. He said he didn’t know what was going on but he did say he was going to be better. We also started our final assessment for my TPA unit. After they did so well on the review and were so confident they really struggled with the simplifying.

            Friday Mrs. Z came back but was really sore. She has a bruised clavicle so she was just sitting in her chair and going through a bunch of boxes that she’s been meaning to for the last few years. So she was just sort of chilling in the corner and I felt like she wasn’t even there, which again was perfectly fine with me. It’s weird to think that as of this point I have the minimum requirement of full time teaching. This is weird for me because I feel like I have just started to hit my stride as a teacher and if I were just finishing I feel like I wouldn’t have gotten enough out of it. Anyways, we were working on our final assessment and they told me they had never learned greatest common factor. So I went over factor trees which they had indeed learned and then went through how to find the GCF with factor trees. Once they remembered that then everything went much better for them. Fun Friday was great, I had them make comics because we have been working on predicting, one way to work on predicting is through comics because there are no words. So they had to make their own comics, I let them work in groups and on the floor and it was a lot of fun for them. It was a really good week overall.

Classroom Confidential

            In chapters 8 and 9 in Schmidt’s Classroom Confidential, she talks about social studies and art in the classroom. I love teaching social studies and one thing I haven’t been very good about is bringing in outside sources. For instance I have generally stuck to the book or just the facts and haven’t done a good job about bringing in the things she talks about like primary sources, visual images, artifacts, literature, or bringing in the architectural element. This might be easier for me if we had a projector somewhere other than the computer lab which is always booked, and my renderings of architecture on the blackboard don’t exactly cut it. She talks about how pictures are “perfect tools for getting to the past – fast” (pg 173) which is somewhat what we did at the art institute last week. We looked at multiple different types of paintings and that let the students see the different styles of clothing and other basics about that time period or place, then lets them infer about the rest. It works on both the historical aspect of a subject and inferring. It was also weird to read about the books that offer a different view of a time period, the one she started with was time traveling books, which usually consist of two kids getting stuck in a time machine and going to a different time and learning something (not exactly Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure). A couple weeks ago we actually watched a movie about two kids who time traveled back to different aspects of Dr. King’s life. So it was cool to read that and have already done something like it.

            The two things Schmidt says are the biggest benefits to putting drama in the classroom are: Drama brings stories to life, enriching literature, poetry, history, and social science and it is a vehicle to convey ideas and emotions, strengthening oral and written expression, thinking, and social skills. I try to incorporate things like readers theatre and other methods into the classroom that use the arts because with reasons like that I don’t see why you shouldn’t try and do it. Mrs. Z. likes to play classical music in the classroom when the students are having a good day behavior wise which is something I really like. Having music in the classroom not only benefits the learning environment but you can play so many different types of music which is very beneficial to the students because they can learn about different cultures through it. I love the African culture and I think the music is so unique and can bring so much to the table, I like being able to have the freedom to be able to play that in class. It gives them a chance ot explore not only the different musical aspects like beat or rhythm, but questions like “Why do you think they use mostly drums instead of string instruments?” and other questions like that can open up so many doors into learning about a particular culture, all through a couple songs.

            I love what she says about if there are different ways of knowing then there are different ways of showing. There are so many different ways of assessing students than with tests, which is something I love to do if you haven’t figured out already. I’ve been in the class for 7 weeks now and the only tests I’ve given are spelling tests and a single math test (and that’s because I didn’t teach the first half of the unit). I love alternative assessments! I love to use debates and am trying to find the best place to implement one, we are actually having a social studies fair at the end of next month, instead of picture books I had them do a comic as a small assessment, I had them write a short story of a piece of art after the field trip to the art institute, these are all things she talked about that I have done or am planning on doing. She does bring up some other things that I really want to try as well like making a mural, having them do a dramatic performance would be fun with some of the personalities we have in our class, or re-creating the past with models. These are all great ideas that I would love to try and implement in my classroom and hopefully I can find the perfect place to do it.

Semaine six (Week 6)

            Monday was a field trip to the Art Institute. It was the first time I got to go on the field trip as a chaperone so that was a pretty cool experience. It was a colossal mess. One teacher who was sort of organizing the whole thing didn’t show up because she was sick, we got there almost an hour and a half early so we had to find a way to kill the time, half the fourth grade went to the park and the other half went to the bean, we didn’t get back at the same time so we started at different places and different times, that meant that some of the teachers who were supposed to talk about a few pieces of art weren’t there to do it, it was just a mess. As a kid field trips are always so much fun but now I understand how stressful it is as a teacher. Constantly making sure we have all the kids, double checking every room to make sure we aren’t missing a straggler, not only trying to teach them about the art but trying to make sure they stay far enough away and don’t touch anything, I swear it was going to give me a coronary. We have been talking about how paintings or art can tell a story without using any words in the couple days leading up to it. As a follow up assignment I had them pick their favorite piece of art and write their own story about it.  Despite all the chaos it was actually a really good field trip.

            Tuesday we had off for Lincoln’s birthday.

            Because of the short choppy week a lot of what we did in math was just review of the last few weeks. We worked with mean, median, mode a lot and then did some more review of area and perimeter. The students are having some issues with area and perimeter still so I’m just having them do more and more review and giving them other ways to think about how to remember them. They seem to have difficulties understanding length x width and want to multiply all of the sides together and no matter how much I explain it or how nothing works. I taught a science lesson on the Sun, Earth, and Moon that went really well. I had them stand up and try to feel the speed of the Earth spinning which was a fun way to get them interested and ready for the lesson. Then there was a collaboration meeting so the superintendant could hear what we already spent 2 hours going over, but I’m not going to get started on that whole issue. Then the day was over before I knew it.

            Thursday was more math review. Grades for progress reports were due today so that was another whole mess. Between the field trip, the day off, focusing on getting observed twice this week, a whole mess with a certain parent, it meant grades were on the back burner until last night and today. Over the past week we have gone through the grade book with whatever we had been getting graded and we had so many students with missing work it was ridiculous. Mrs. Z. had printed out other copies twice already so she was livid about the whole thing. What we couldn’t understand is that we knew the students had done the work, we had seen them do most of it, they just couldn’t find it. So now we are starting a new system where they submit their work at a point whether or not they finish it or not and then they can work on it when they have an extra minute here or there because we can’t have situations where we have half the class missing assignments. So we are going to see how that goes and what progress we make with that.

            Finally it was Friday. I had them do a review test prep in science since we went through it pretty fast. I had them do it and told them it wasn’t a quiz but they were freaking out about it anyways, I even told them I wasn’t going to grade it and I was just doing it to see if they comprehended the material I taught. I know now not to preface anything with the word “quiz” regardless if you’re saying that it’s NOT a quiz. Gave them a spelling test which 3 were absent because of gifted art, then 3 more left to go see the reading specialist, so by the time we were ready to move on to something else we were missing over a quarter of our class. I didn’t want to move on to any content teaching with that many kids gone, so I had some of them read their stories from the art institute out loud in front of the class. We had a really good moment with one of the students. He started the year borderline depressed because of a family trauma over the summer. He didn’t want to do anything in class, never felt like doing any work, and never wanted to be in school. When I told them they were going to read them out loud and they could sit in the special reading chair he jumped up to be the first one to read. Then the rest of the time we were reading them he asked if he could read his again. It was great to see him be that enthusiastic about something, especially reading something he wrote to the class. The other thing I had them do today was earn Friday fun day. I keep forgetting to start this from Monday but I talked to Mrs. Z. about it and she’s completely on board. Anyways, they were extremely rowdy in the morning so I told them they had to earn it, every hour they had to earn a check and they had to get 4 to get Friday fun day. After I told them that they were the most quiet and hard working group I have ever seen. They earned it easily and if they acted that way every day we would get through so much more material. However, 3 students were just non-stop talking and distracting other students. This was a pattern that was going on all week so Mrs. Z. said she was going to have a talk with them, then changed her mind and said that I should do it instead, and told me to just lay down the law and pretty much put the fear of God in them. Which I did. I didn’t enjoy doing it but enough was enough and they needed to hear it, plus two of them are one strike away from having to spend all day up with the principal in an in school suspension. I also taught a lesson for some standardized writing preparation, it went well for it being an extremely dry and boring topic. The kids handled it well and we got through it without a problem. All in all it was a crazy, choppy, messy week but I got through it in one piece and can’t wait to start a new one. I also can’t believe ISAT’s are in 2 weeks already.

Woche fünf (Week 5)

            

             On Monday one thing I noticed is that I’m getting more in the swing of things. My “withitness” is getting better, or at least I feel like it is. For instance, I was teaching and was able to catch two students talking multiple times whereas last week I spent a lot of focus on the lesson and when I heard talking I would speak to the whole class. Now that I’m getting more comfortable being in charge and having it as my classroom I am able to pinpoint the students who are misbehaving. That also comes from being able to distinguish their voices from one another which comes from spending time with them. The students are also respecting me more, they are seeing me as more of an authority figure. The other factor with that is I’m reprimanding them more. I don’t like to reprimand kids for misbehaving but after Mrs. Z. being blatantly told that they were testing me and we had that heart to heart talk I can’t simply ask them to behave.

            Another thing I’m noticing is our new student doesn’t listen to instructions. Whenever I pass out an assignment I have the students read the instructions first. I’m not spoon feeding them the instructions anymore, I’m having them read them first. Then after that I have them restate the instructions back to me so I know they understand what to do. Then often I will go through them again so by that time the students are getting the instructions three times, three different ways. Then I often notice that she has to be told what to do again. It isn’t that she is doing it wrong every time, it’s the way she’s doing it. She always takes the shortcuts, or always leaves out details I specifically tell them to. Two occasions in particular stick out to me. First there was an assignment where the class had to make an object with a perimeter of 16 centimeters, the goal was to use the ruler and make it 16 centimeters. I noticed she was just drawing figures without the ruler and labeling them to add up to 16. I told her to re-do it correctly and she just used the ruler to draw lines but they weren’t measuring correctly, she was just using the ruler to make them straight. So I had her re-do it again and she finally did it right. The next day I had them do another assignment that had them same type of section but was more challenging for further practice, she did the same thing as the day before; she started without using a ruler again. Then I told her it was the same as the day before and she had to use the ruler to make them the shapes the correct lengths. She did the same thing again and used a ruler to make the lines straight but not the right lengths. Then today after telling them they needed to color an illustration for the water cycle multiple times (we’ve had a lot of problems with them not wanting to color) she didn’t want to do it. I don’t know if it’s a defiance issue or what but I’m going to keep an eye on it all week and see what happens after Mrs. Z. and I talk to her about it.

            Tuesday was a good day. Again it was one of those days where we don’t get a lot of time with them (but that’s not why it was a good day). We are doing something I’m really excited about with the water cycle. We are going one stage a day and then their assessment is to take a pre-made template (by yours truly) with the stage heading on top, write the definition underneath the heading, and then illustrate it. When it’s all done we will tape them together to make a complete cycle and we are going to hang them on our bulletin board in the hallway. This is the first day doing this project and the first stage turned out really well, some of the kids are amazing artists and in fourth grade already doing things better than some high school student’s art.

            The other thing that I’m really proud of is their civil war projects I had them do off the “webquest” when I first started. All of the kids worked really hard on them and nobody got lower than an 85%. It was great to see some of the kids put this much effort into the project, especially some of the students who tend to blow off their work. For my first major project under my control and my ideas it feels great to have it be a success. It turns out positive reinforcement works for 21 year old student teachers and not just 10 year old 4^th graders.

            Wednesday was another really good day. The students are seeming to get better and better every day. The biggest problem we have at this point is the same student who was testing me. Whether he is still doing this to test me or not he REFUSES to stop talking. So I had to send him home with a note to his mother today. The system Mrs. Z. has in place is a pretty good one, even though I think it’s a school wide system that’s been implemented I really like it and have been thinking about using it myself in my future classroom. The way it works is you have 3 cards (green, yellow, red) and with the turn of a yellow card it’s a warning, and a red card gets a note home. That part is pretty standard what I like is the note that goes home. It’s a bright orange sheet so the parent can’t miss it, it has boxes to check and comment in order to describe what the student did wrong that I fill out, then the parent and student have to sign it and return it. On the back is the most important part, the student has to write why he got the note home and what he (or she) is going to do to change it/fix the problem. I really like that part because I can tell the kid what he did wrong all day and it might not stick but to have him write it out theoretically will get the point across and make it stick. Then to have him write what he is going to do to change it is good as well. So hopefully we will start to see a change in this student.

            This is the first time I didn’t get everything I had planned into one day. I didn’t get to the best part I was most excited for which was my science lesson! I’m planning on doing the experiment where you make a cloud in a pop bottle. I was going to do it last so that way I wouldn’t have to try and reign in the student’s attention after it. However the math lesson before took a lot longer than I thought it would and they couldn’t grasp the concept. I know that’s just how it goes with this job but I didn’t have the problem for the first week and a half and it gave me a sense of pride. But like I said that’s just how it goes. I’ll do the experiment right before gym on Thursday so they can get excited and then run it off.

            The water cycle experiment was awesome on Thursday. I taught about condensation then had them work on their picture for the part of the water cycle. When they were working I had 1/3 of the class come up and then I would show them the demonstration, then a different third, then the last third. I told them at the beginning that if they were all just staring at the demonstration then we couldn’t do it and they needed to be working and that worked really well with them. They all did their work and the third of the class was the only ones watching. The student who keeps trying to test me is much better. After the note home and talking to his mother he has really behaved himself. Moving the position of his seat has also worked. I moved it to the front of the class so he couldn’t sit next to anybody. The only downside is that he now know everybody can see him so he does things for attention so I’m thinking about where I’m going to put him now. He’s a really good kid he just likes to talk so I just have to find a seat where we can minimize the talking and take away his ability to draw attention to himself.

            Today was one of those days where you hear something you expected to hear eventually but didn’t think it was coming this soon…grades are due next week. With the transition between myself and Mrs. Z. we are still working on a grading system that works really well for the both of us. However we haven’t figured it out yet and so we have stacks and stacks of grades that need to be graded so that’s what I spend every free second doing. Like I said, I knew it was coming, I just didn’t expect it to be this soon.

            Friday was the day we finished our water cycle project! They turned out really well. I know the water cycle itself is a concept taught really early on and not necessarily in a fourth grade gifted class so I just want to make it clear, I didn’t just teach the water cycle. It was a more in depth look at each stage within it and how it affects and contributes to the water cycle as a whole. Then I got to hang them in the hall which is a big deal for our class apparently because Mrs. Z. hasn't had anything on our board all YEAR.

            I’ve been saying that this class is a really good class but never really explaining how so here’s one of the ways. We have been covering mean, median, and mode for the last few days and some seem to grasp it and some seem to be on the verge of grasping it. I was already planning on giving them some more practice but thought I would just ask them to see how they felt. So I told everyone to close their eyes and then asked them to give me a thumbs up, down, or middle if they were understanding it, not understanding it, or kind of understanding it. The good part is that nobody had a thumb down, the rest were about half and half. So I had them open there eyes and asked to raise their hands if they felt like they needed more practice to prepare for a test (I’m not saying that’s their assessment that’s just what I asked) and all of them raised their hands. These students don’t like this subject at all, but they know themselves well enough to know that they aren’t fully grasping the concept and need more practice. This is an awesome reinforcement for me because I know I can trust them to give me their honest opinion and not just want to move on because they don’t like it. I have also always been a believer in that students need to be a part in the decision making process. I’m not going to move on if they tell me they need more practice. Like I said, it was just an awesome reinforcement of my personal beliefs in students that was a great way to end my week.

Classroom Confidential

            In Schmidt’s chapter 11 she talks about communication. This is a topic that I enjoyed reading after this week. We have been having A LOT of problems with one Luke’s mom. Problems I haven’t mentioned because I don’t feel comfortable putting it on the internet and because it would be enough to make a whole blog post. Anyways it was good to hear some of her tips on communication with parents. It’s a little late because I’ve already sat in on 5 parent teacher conferences already but it was still good for me to read. One thing I knew that was reinforced right away in the chapter was that you have to learn as much as you can about the student. You may be there to discuss their performance or behavior in school but on top of informing the parent you can also try and learn what might be causing the conference topic.

            One thing I really liked and am more than willing to try is the student self-assessment survey before the conference. As a teacher i don’t feel like we take the time to talk to our students about what they like to learn and write about because there are so many things we have to have them do. These are the questions she lines up for us to have our students answer:

v  I am smart about

v  What I like about school

v  What I do best in school

v  What I have learned to do

v  How I’m doing in math

v  What I like to read

v  What I like to write

v  I’d like to learn more about

v  I’d like to be really good at

v  My best friends in school are

v  How I help my class

            I think it’s good for us to know that about our students anyway but to have them answer it for you and so their parents can see it is a really good idea. Then on the other hand the parents’ student profile she talks about is another really good think I would like to try if I thought it would work.

v  The most important thing to my child (passions, interests) is

v  My child is most sensitive about

v  My child has strengths or talents in

v  My child’s hobbies are

v  Issues that could affect attendance or learning are

v  The most important thing you should know about my child is

v  What I wonder about my child as a student is

            I’m not sure how many parents we could get to do this but I would love to try it. It is another way of learning things about the student that we might not be able to pick up on in school. Which, like she said early in the chapter, is one thing we should try and do as teachers; learn about our students.