PLTs

Today, I was able to participate in my first PLT meeting. After learning about PLT/PLCs in my classes this semester, it was wonderful to be able to be a functioning member in one. As a member of a Professional Learning Team, preparedness is incredibly important. Each teacher was able to bring different teaching strategies and techniques to the table. This “meeting of the minds” really helped me to get a viewpoint of instruction from an entirely different angle. Through my PLT meeting, I was able to see the variety of creativity and strength each teacher offers. It was wonderful to be able to discuss with other professionals in the content area of Language Arts.

In today’s meeting, the practice NC Writing Test was of utmost concern. With the date soon approaching, it was incredibly important that we hammered out the details of how we were going to prepare our students for the Writing Test.

In looking back at the meeting, I noticed that all of the teachers called the seventh graders “our students.” During the meeting, it did not matter if the student was a Lion, Panther, or Falcon. We are ALL teachers, and they are all OUR students. It was such a relief as a student teacher to know that I have so many colleagues that are there to support me and provide ideas.

Respect

Over the past few days, my cooperating teacher and I have noticed a problem with students disrespecting one another. It started out small enough – gossip. Soon, however, gossip in the cafeteria turned into gossip in the hallways, and gossip in the hallways turned into a major distraction in the classroom. Students are unable to check their emotions in at the door, so to speak. Before long, it became necessary to bring about a classroom discussion on the issue of respect.

Friday, during Social Studies, we came together as a class and had a discussion. My cooperating teacher led a discussion about changes that needed to be made in the classroom. The students brought up interesting points about restlessness after lunch, the seating arrangement, the time of day, and gossip. After we put our “deltas” on the board, I had the students eliminate the reasons that were out of our control – such as afternoon classes, gym at the end of the day, and time constraints. By revising our list, I helped the students to see that we need to adapt to our environment. After the “non-negoitables” were erased from the board, I noticed a common theme with the issues remaining – respect, or lack thereof. The remaining issues included complaints about students speaking out of turn, insults in the lunch room, etc. With these issues, I led the students in a discussion about the meaning of the word respect. After I gave each student time to think about the word respect, each student had to voice his/her personal definition of the word respect. In doing this activity, I felt that the students were able to understand what respect “looked like.” It was also interesting for me to see how students viewed the issue of respect. While going around the room, one bold student voiced that she does not respect anyone. Although I was slightly offended by her remark, I was not entirely surprised. Looking back, I am sure that she may represent the views of some of her other classmates. Of course, her comment led to some snarky comments in the classroom.

In order to solidify the concepts we discussed in class, my cooperating teacher had the students write a letter to the Lions team teachers about their opinions about the word respect. Tomorrow we will be collecting the letters. I am very interested to read what they say. Hopefully, by having the insight of the students we will all be able to become more respectful.

Organization

Through my student teaching so far, I am becoming increasingly aware of the importance of organization. After seeing students struggle with locating assignments amidst a tornado of papers, I have seen that organization is crucial for success. It is not enough for the teacher herself to be organized;; the classroom itself has to be an organized environment. Children perform much better when there are set rules, routines, and procedures. By having an organized classroom, strong classroom management is achievable.

Each day, my cooperating teacher and I draw out what is to be done for the week. Objectives and a lesson outline are written on the board. By having these items written on the board, both the students and the teacher know what to expect. In order to help the students become organized, with each sheet of paper we hand out, we tell the students exactly where the paper should be filed in their binder.

Post-It Praise

Today I began "Post-it Praise." Whenever I see that a student could benefit from a few words of encouragement, I write a little note on a Post-It note. So simple, yet so beneficial!

Wednesday revolution

Wednesday, September 9th was quite a day. I had my first taste of teaching a class for the entire period. It didn’t even happen on purpose, which was interesting. For the first two periods of the day, I lead the students through their settle-in activity: analogies. During third period, I began the class and ended up continuing through the whole period. I lead the students through the RLP (reading log project). In this week-long project, students are required to read for twenty minutes nightly. Each day, there is a different literature activity to complete: character analysis, analogy, vocabulary, and literary devices. In order to model this for the students, we read the short story “A Day’s Wait” and completed the RLP. The students had already read “A Day’s Wait” the day before, so we were able to jump right in to “Monday’s” activity. This portion of the project instructed students to do a character analysis; I modeled an example on the overhead while asking for student input. Then, the students were to work independently to complete another character analysis. As the student were working, I walked around the room, scaffolding the assignment as needed. The class was then brought together to fill out the remaining character analysis on the overhead. “Tuesday’s” assignment had the students create two analogies based on the story. Once again, I modeled an analogy then had the students work. In order to get the students out of their seats, I used active learning. The students were to write their analogy on the board; when I pointed to their analogy, they had to explain the connection to the class. It took me by surprise when the bell rang. It felt as though the class period moved in hyper-time; I had no idea it was time for the students to be dismissed.

Looking back at Wednesday, I was nervous that when I asked a question, a hush would fall over the crowd. In fact, it had quite the opposite effect: it was such a rush to see eager hands raise with the answer. It was so incredibly satisfying to know that I was making sense and explaining things clearly. After I taught third period, I had a brief conversation with my cooperating teacher. She opened with only three words, but those three words made me feel an immense sense of pride:

“You are ready.”

Quick thought

Because I have been mainly observing for the first few days of school, I have been using my time in the periphery of the classroom to form relationships with the students. The first assignment for the Language Arts students was to create a bio-poem. After observing my cooperating teacher instruct the first two periods of Language Arts, I helped her to explain the instructions to the third period. When I was put on the spot, I felt as though I needed immediate feedback from my students. It seemed that as soon as a sentence came out of my mouth, I looked to my students for feedback or, at the very least, a nod. It was reaffirming to see the look of understanding appear on their faces as I went through the poem’s instructions line by line. At first, I was afraid that my delivery would seem stilted, but, in fact, I was able to speak fluidly. As we went through the poem, I asked students to provide examples of traits (adjectives).

Second Day!

So today was my second day at WMMS. Walking through the halls, I was definitely feeling more comfortable with being in the school. It was so nice hearing the students say, “Good morning Ms. Astor” as they passed me in the hall. A simple “hello” is a small gesture, but it is definitely reassuring.

Even though it’s only the second day of school, I am already familiarizing myself with the daily routine of the classroom: settle in, reading/writing connection, mini-lesson, and wrap-up. Because the school year has just started, the first few days are spent teaching student about proper behavior and classroom management. Today I had the opportunity to “teach” two mini-lessons to class. As the students begin the year, they are taught the proper code of conduct through the CATS matrix. Today, I was able to teach the students about the procedure for entering and exiting the cafeteria. Although this was a small task, it was my first time in front of all of the students. Already, I’m looking forward to what’s to hold this year!