My first week of school

I had a good time at my school. On the first day, my associate and I didn't have much time to sit down and talk to go over the important things because she was really busy. I did my observations and I took the initiative to involve myself with the students by helping them with their seat work and reading with them. I did notice that some students understood the math concepts and some did not. My associate showed me on the second day how she assess the children. On the sheet with the student's name on them, such as the attendance list, she would check off the student's name under a the coloumn 'sorting' if they understood the concept and did their work right, if not, she would draw a circle so she knows that they need help. Her strategy is to group the children who did not understand and to explain and teach the concept again.

In the morning period, students manipulate playdough to form the letter they had just learned, then they do their printing and their scribble art which is another name for their personal dictionary where they need to draw pictures that began with the letter they learned that day. While students are working, the teacher calls up one person at a time to do conference reading which she tries to assess 5 children per day. The purpose of the reading conference is to see which level the student is at and she would teach them to use reading strategies to help them read better such as "look at the pictures", "point under each word" and "to stretch out the word". She then gives them books that are at their reading level to take home to read with their families.

I particularly payed more attention on her class management techniques. To get the students' attention she would say these phrases:

• While the students are working and she needs them stop she would say "1, 2, 3" and the students would respond "Eyes on me", or sometimes she would clap out a pattern and students would copy her
  
• After recess, the students are to sit on the carpet. To get students to hurry up, she would say "1, 2, 3, 4, everyone on the floor. 5, 6, 7, 8, if you're not there, you're TOOOO late"
  
• To get the children to line up quietly, the teacher says, "Hands on knees, hands on head, hands on shoulders, hands on hips, hands on lips."
  
• During a lesson when the teacher is teaching, if the students start to get chatty, she would do hand movements in a pattern and children will then follow. She makes it interesting by telling the students to do a patter behind. For example, the teachers will touch her head 4 times, then when she taps her shoulders 4 times, the students would start tapping their heads.
  

A behaviour technique that the teacher uses is the bead jug. Everyday if the students are good, they are able to put in 2 beads in. If however a student has earned himself a yellow or a red card which means that they have not been behaving well, they are not able to put in beads. If the class is not bahaving well, the teacher will take out some or all of the beads out. What is neat is that the jug has 3 strips of color indicating the different levels. If the beads reach to the first line, then the children are able to have activity time such as playing with the manipulatives. When the beads reach 2nd second line, they are able to leave 5 minutes early for recess. When the beads reach to the top of the jug where the last line is, the class will get a popcorn party. Also, every Friday, students are able to pick out an object from the treasure chest.

Something else that is also very interesting, the teacher has a butterfly net cage. The students were able to see the egg turn into a caterpillar, then into a cacoon, and see them hatch. The teacher will release the butterflies by October 12 so that they can migrate to Mexico. She taught me that most eggs are layed on the Milkweed plant. An interesting fact is that the caterpillar once hatched from the egg, will eat it's on egg because it contains nutrients.

IMPORTANT READ!!!

I was sitting here reading my foundation methods when it occured to be that my blog is not professional like when the requirements for the blog was--to be strictly school/learning and or school/intership experiences based. The solution was, to make another blog.

To summarize my first week of school:

I was nervous when I walked into each class not knowing who I would sit with. I was nervous about making friends, who to talk to, would people sit with me, etc. I do not understand why I felt the way I did. However, my "homeroom" was the only class that helped me feel like I belonged. Perhaps because the counsellors were all very nice, and I was closer to the people in this particular class even though I only spoke a few words to possibly half the class. I do not think I'm shy, but when it comes to meeting new people, I become very quiet.

My favourite classes so far are science, art, and health. I particularly like these classes because either I'm interested in that subject area and or because the professors were really enthusiastic about what they teach and they made class fun and interesting. My counselling group is different from the rest because it is a support group where there's free food. I love free food... and the supportive atmosphere.

I bought all my books and they costed me a fortune. I told myself that because they were so expensive, I would not highlight them because I wanted them to be nice and new for the rest of their lifetime. I tried taking notes instead of highlighting, but that took me forever. I gave in and took out my yellow flourescent highlighter.

I am reading the foundational methods text book which looked terribly boring from the outside, but so far, it has been a fantastic read for me. It taught me how to be an authentic teacher. I hope that it will help me in all areas of my teaching career. What stuck out was the word 'reflection'. It always talks about reflecting on experiences. In my undergrad where I went to Ryerson for my Early Childhood Education, we were told to keep a log for placement. Everyday we needed to reflect and record down our experiences and what we learned. Now, for school, we are told to do the same. I suppose our learning log of reflections and experiences will be never ending.

This post wasn't exactly an important read, it was to just catch your attention.

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