This week started off nicely. MissTeacher started off the day by having the children sit on the rug and asking them to "sit where they could listen and learn." One of the girls was still chatting with her friend, so MissTeacher made her move across the rug, "Please move quickly." Then we started the day off as we always do, with a proper good morning (in sign language) and a request for a peaceful day. Then we all took a deep breath, let it out, and "spelled P-E-A-C-E in our heads." This is something that we return to at many points throughout the day. I love this, spelling peace in our heads. It's a very simply assignment, and it generally works. Later in the morning, MissTeacher pulled Dynamo (one of the 'naughty' boys) aside to remind him to behave throughout the day. She spoke directly into his ear, like she was sharing a secret with him, and reminded him that if she had any problems with him throughout the day, she was going to send him directly to PEAK. She had been pretty lenient with him thus far, and today she was going to try something different so that he wouldn't be such a distraction to the other children.
The next activity (and the activity for the rest of the morning) was to make the children responsible for checking their unit folders to make sure that they had all the work that had been amassed so far and that it was all complete. I liked the way the children were made responsible for this.
Wednesday was kind of a hectic day because of the open house on Wednesday night for the parents. Some of the comments that MissTeacher made throughout the day really caught my attention. She uses language like "you need to be here to learn" and "your job is to..." "I'm waiting on __________ to do what I said." She is very direct in her comments, whether or not she names the offending party. I wrote down early on in the day that she seems to only call on kids who have their hands up, and I wanted to ask her about that. Immediately after that, she called on a boy that she knew wasn't listening. We talked about that later, and she explained her rationale for who she called on. Sometimes if she knows that someone knows the answer, and she doesn't have a lot of time, she'll call on them to speed along the process. She also notices who doesn't put up their hand very often and makes sure that if they do, she calls on them. That made sense to me, and I was glad I asked her, because I didn't notice that until she pointed it out.
Today there was some problems with transition, which is something that the students have been working on. MissTeacher simply reminded the students, "Transition" with a smile. That seemed to speed along the process. The students are really starting to respond with minimal prompting. I am amazed at the difference between these kids and the kids I met my first day.
Wednesday evening, MissTeacher and I had our first planning session for my using drama in the classroom. We picked out a book, Goose Moon, that I will incorporate into it. Each student is going to pick a student that migrates and learn about that animal. They are going to come up with questions about the animals and find answers to their questions. We're going to use the book, which chronicles a season in the lives of a family while the geese are gone off at their migration sites, to start the kids thinking about how long the animals are gone when they migrate. We might do some tableaux of the day in the life of the people in the story and we're still planning some other things. Then she said we should always do a reflection, maybe in this case writing about what their lives are like while their monarchs are travelling. We're going to have another planning session next week and then we'll do the drama the week after. I'll keep you updated to see how it goes.
Something else I did this week was take one hour and mark down all of the times that MissTeacher spoke to each individual student during that time span. She and I went over the data, and she was quite surprised by what I found. I'm not quite sure what I should be taking away from the exercise, but as soon as I talk to Storyman to find out why, I'm sure I'll understand. Until next week!
The next activity (and the activity for the rest of the morning) was to make the children responsible for checking their unit folders to make sure that they had all the work that had been amassed so far and that it was all complete. I liked the way the children were made responsible for this.
Wednesday was kind of a hectic day because of the open house on Wednesday night for the parents. Some of the comments that MissTeacher made throughout the day really caught my attention. She uses language like "you need to be here to learn" and "your job is to..." "I'm waiting on __________ to do what I said." She is very direct in her comments, whether or not she names the offending party. I wrote down early on in the day that she seems to only call on kids who have their hands up, and I wanted to ask her about that. Immediately after that, she called on a boy that she knew wasn't listening. We talked about that later, and she explained her rationale for who she called on. Sometimes if she knows that someone knows the answer, and she doesn't have a lot of time, she'll call on them to speed along the process. She also notices who doesn't put up their hand very often and makes sure that if they do, she calls on them. That made sense to me, and I was glad I asked her, because I didn't notice that until she pointed it out.
Today there was some problems with transition, which is something that the students have been working on. MissTeacher simply reminded the students, "Transition" with a smile. That seemed to speed along the process. The students are really starting to respond with minimal prompting. I am amazed at the difference between these kids and the kids I met my first day.
Wednesday evening, MissTeacher and I had our first planning session for my using drama in the classroom. We picked out a book, Goose Moon, that I will incorporate into it. Each student is going to pick a student that migrates and learn about that animal. They are going to come up with questions about the animals and find answers to their questions. We're going to use the book, which chronicles a season in the lives of a family while the geese are gone off at their migration sites, to start the kids thinking about how long the animals are gone when they migrate. We might do some tableaux of the day in the life of the people in the story and we're still planning some other things. Then she said we should always do a reflection, maybe in this case writing about what their lives are like while their monarchs are travelling. We're going to have another planning session next week and then we'll do the drama the week after. I'll keep you updated to see how it goes.
Something else I did this week was take one hour and mark down all of the times that MissTeacher spoke to each individual student during that time span. She and I went over the data, and she was quite surprised by what I found. I'm not quite sure what I should be taking away from the exercise, but as soon as I talk to Storyman to find out why, I'm sure I'll understand. Until next week!
posted by Jennifer Martin at 7:33 PM
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