September 19 – September 23
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by helping individuals and small groups of students complete their writing assignments. The students have been working on personal narratives for a while now and the ultimate goal is to have the stories published on an app called Book Creator. This week, we worked on many different specific details in the stories, including finding and developing the heart of the story and adding dialogue to the story. I was able to go around the room and make sure the students understood the assignment as well as offer suggestions about how to add details and answer any questions the students had.
Routine
One routine established in Miss Kline’s classroom is the bathroom policy. The students do not have to ask to use the restroom as long as they are not leaving at a time that would disrupt the rest of the class, i.e. during a lesson. This is a strategy I would theoretically like to incorporate into my own classroom because it takes away some of the arbitrary limits and regulations placed on students for no reason other than to make them obedient and establish control, when in the “real world” for which they are being prepared they would never have to ask permission to use the restroom at an appropriate time.
Difficult Situation
One problem we came across this week was that there is one student in the class who has a terribly hard time staying focused and on task during the assignments when left alone. I worked with him personally during most days here, and he seemed to be able to keep up with his work while I was there, but while I wasn’t in the classroom or sitting with him, he would often fall behind. I was working with him this week on what we could do to make sure that he got the work done on time, including finding a place to sit with limited distractions and setting goals for how much he should have done by the next time I got to class.
Routine Disruption
A disruption in the regular schedule this week was when, on Thursday and Friday, there was a substitute teacher. Miss Kline was out during these two days and it really threw off the classroom dynamic. I could tell that there was a different feel in the air on these days and I think it was because the substitute was a bit stricter than Miss Kline and the students were thrown off their regular routine. The substitute gave them an assignment to work on in writing, and as I was going around to help the students, I found that many more of them needed extra instructions than normal.
September 26 – September 30
Participation
Much like last week, my main role in the classroom was mainly to help individuals and small groups of students complete their assignments and answer any lasting questions they might have had about the lesson.
Behavioral Issues
Many students in Miss Kline’s classroom are very easily distracted, which becomes exceptionally difficult to handle when dealing with technology. When they are sent to the carpet to await instruction, they often find themselves getting wrapped up in their iPads. Miss Kline combats this very effectively by establishing tech-free lessons, days, or even weeks when the problem seems to be getting to a point where it could easily get out of hand, i.e. when they get too comfortable with using their devices for reasons other that to work on activities needed for school.
Routine Disruption
On Friday, the class was quite restless, a fact which I noticed right away after walking in. I quickly learned that they had had indoor recess in light of the storm. Miss Kline decided after their writing block that they needed some time to get everything out of their systems so she issued a 15 minute recess out on the playground before they began their reading block. This was a very fun day for everyone in the class. In addition to canceling the outdoor recess, the storm returned and brought with it an early dismissal. This caused a bit of panic among the students but I think they handled it all very well.
Topics Previously Discussed
While reading the novel Stone Fox aloud to the class, Miss Kline had the students utilize the questioning techniques we discussed in class. Quite honestly, I think the third grade class completely understood what they were meant to do and probably had a better grasp of the overall goal than the entire class of senior cadet teachers.
October 3 – October 5
Participation
Once again, I helped individual students and small groups in understanding the assignments. I have found certain students with whom I am able to work the best and who most need my help and I work more closely with them, however I still try to get around the room to make sure I develop relationships with each of the students.
Behavioral Issue
There is one (non-disclosed) student in particular who has a severe emotional disability, and though this student has been doing very well most days, on Tuesday of this week the student had a bit of a melt down when told to bring the behavioral chart to Miss Kline for messing with a device during instruction and disrupting the class. The problem was handled quickly and efficiently by Miss Kline, who had the student use coping strategies after being told to pick up the mess created in the fit.
Idea for My Own Classroom
Every time Miss Kline teaches a lesson, she asks many questions to keep them thinking and focused on what she is talking about. Not only that, but she has them discuss this with someone sitting next to them to make sure that they are truly taking in the lesson. This way, she can look around and be able to tell which students understand it and which ones need extra support. I find this to be a very beneficial technique because as a teacher, you can be sure that every student is where he or she is supposed to be in understanding the lesson or assignment.
Routine
One other routine established in Miss Kline’s room is that whenever the phone rings, it is always a student who answers the phone rather than Miss Kline. I think this is an awesome idea because it not only allows Miss Kline to continue teaching the lesson without being interrupted, but it also helps students develop communication skills and forces them to advocate for themselves if they happen to be in a situation where they cannot clearly understand the person on the other end of the line.
October 10 – October 14
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by acting as a practice audience and critic for the students who were presenting their projects which they had been working on during inquiry.
Favourite Part of the Week
I loved hearing all about the inquiry project presentations the students did. In many cases, I had been present for much of the work they did on the projects and it was awesome to see it all come together and have them show it and explain the significance to the rest of the class. It was so cool to see the level of interest involved when they got to do their projects over any subject which they themselves chose (for reference, there were projects done over a variety of subjects, including the brain, penguins, Crayola crayons, and knitting).
Positive Impact
For her inquiry project, there was one student having difficulty pronouncing and remembering the names of all nine of Leonardo di Vinci’s brothers and all three of his sisters. I worked with her during class on strategies of how we could figure out how to say the names, even if we couldn’t sound them out since they are Italian and phonetically different than they would be said as English names, as well as ways to remember them or tools we could use to help if we couldn’t just keep them in our minds.
Behavioral Issue
One of the students we have in our classroom who is in the E.D. program had a bit of a meltdown one day, which was not completely out of character but still not how we expect him to act. After the initial explosion, he did a good job using his coping strategies to calm himself back down and avoid any further outbursts.
October 17 – October 21
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by completing my first lesson plan! I did my lesson on Friday over Figurative Language and I can tell that the students have already gotten a firm grasp on the concept of similes, metaphors, and idioms.
Idea I want to Take
One strategy which Miss Kline currently employs and which I would hope to one day take to a classroom of my own is partnerships for different lessons. Miss Kline has the students paired up into different partnerships for different classes that they have, and a students writing partner is typically different from his or her reading partner. I think this is a great idea because they can use each other as the first resource for help or advice.
Positive Impact
One way in which I was able to have a positive impact was by incorporating a sort of hands-on learning style into helping a student use descriptive details in writing. He was trying to describe how a hallway looked so we stepped out of the room while looking for decisive features which made the hallway unique from others and descriptive words we could use to strengthen his writing. This not only helped him better his current story, but it also showed him that writing good stories requires you to do more than just sit at a desk and look at a piece of paper.
Routine Disruption
A disruption in the regular schedule this week was when one student who was taken to an E.D. classroom full time before I started coming to cadet began to make a gradual return to the general education classroom. Although he deliberately makes attempts at distracting the other students from their work, they are doing a great job taking it in stride, and ignoring the outbursts and working around them.
October 24 – October 28
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by once again helping with individuals and groups in completing their assignments and answering any questions they might have. In reading, we are working on comprehending nonfiction and discussing how you would read a piece of nonfiction literature differently then you would a fiction story, and in writing we are composing realistic fiction stories.
Routine
One routine established in Miss Kline’s classroom is that whenever students are transitioning between lessons, they are expected to meet on the carpet with the necessary materials for the next lesson. That in and of itself helps to make the transitions smooth because the students already know and have everything they need for the next lesson, but on top of that they know that their devices are to be “Apple side up,” which is a phrase they use to emphasize that their iPads should be face down whenever they meet for a lesson which presents less of a distraction.
Idea I Want to Take
One thing I would likely utilize in my classroom in the future would be the “Friday cleaning days,” which is fairly self explanatory. I really like this idea because it limits the work that has to be done by the teacher as well as the custodial staff. Every student is required to do something for the betterment of the room, and they typically enjoy it because there is music being played and they get to sing and dance while they clean. Quick and efficient cleaning days are often rewarded with an extra recess.
Idea I Want to Take
Another strategy I find extremely helpful and would likely take with me to put to use in my own classroom is the app Seesaw. This is, in my opinion, almost like an academic-based social media where she can share things with the entire class and students can post their assignments as well as comment on the work of their classmates. For anyone to post anything, though, Miss Kline must approve it from her own account, which ensures that everything posted is done for an educational purpose, not that that has been an issue at all.
October 31 – November 4
Participation
To be involved in the classroom this week, I continued to speak with many individual students as well as small groups and helped them with comprehension with their reading and writing assignments.
Favourite Part of the Week
Students uploaded pictures of their Halloween costumes onto Seesaw and I definitely enjoyed seeing everything they had come up with. It was also cool to see how many of them were out trick-or-treating together.
Behavioral Issues
With Monday being Halloween, students were all fairly on edge for the entire day. It was a bit difficult to deal with and took many reminders to get the students to stay on track and without losing focus and talking about other things such as their plans for the night.
Student who Surprised Me
With the election coming up, we all went down to the Media Centre, where the librarian read us the book Duck for President and spoke to everyone about the election process. It was not just one but many students who continues to surprise and impress me with the depth of their knowledge and understanding about the American electoral system, which I did not understand nearly as much as they seem to at the same stage during my life.
November 7 – November 11
Participation
I spent a lot of time working individually with a student who requires that extra support. Unfortunately, I did end up making his cry a bit when I had him redo some work, but it did get completed after the incident.
Favourite Part of the Week
Friday was the Veteran’s Day convocation / tribute, which I have been told is always insanity. I ended up having to park about a block away from the school due to the fact that cars were parked everywhere It was truly an enjoyable experience in which the entire school was involved and I got to hear one of my students read aloud a letter which he wrote to veterans and vocalized in front of the entire school.
Student who Surprised Me
After I had said how much I loved the Zoobooks magazines when I was younger, one student searched the entire school and classroom libraries looking for Zoobooks until she found one hidden in the back so that I could read it.
Behavioral Issues
One student who is generally high-wired most of the time as it is was having a particularly bad day, and having serious trouble following basic instruction one day this week. It was somewhat out of character because while she is normally a little wild, she could not focus at all on any directions and her parents eventually had to be contacted.
November 14 – November 18
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by helping students work on their inquiry projects for the international festival. They are coming up with ideas on topics such as food, clothing, and sports in specific countries around the world and I helped them do things like finding their country on a map.
Favourite Part of the Week
My favourite part of the week this week was hearing them come up with all of their creative ideas for subjects they want to cover for their international festival inquiry projects.
Idea for My Own Classroom
My teacher does an awesome job incorporating technology into the daily lessons for the students. I hope to one day use some of the educational and kid-friendly apps and programs which she utilizes now. I also hope to be as flexible as she is in adapting the
lessons to fit the updated technology.
Routine Established
Ever day at dismissal, there are a few students in charge of certain clean up activities. Monday-Thursday there are just simple tasks such as picking pencils up off the floor, putting chairs up, or turning off the lamps. As I’ve said, Friday is the major clean up day every week. This procedure helps everything go smoothly because it allows the students and teacher to exit the room on time without having to worry that something was lost or forgotten.
November 21 – November 25
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by leading my lesson plan on root words. The roots I used in this lesson were “dict,” “act,” “astro,” and “inter.”
Routine Disruption
The monthly fire drill was conducted this week, which caused a disruption in the typical day to day routine. The students handled this disruption very smoothly and didn’t let it take away from their learning or distract from the rest of their day.
Behavioral Issues
One behavioral issue was actually resolved this week when a student who had previously had many issues paying attention in class had a behavior chart created for him. This is definitely a useful tool for keeping him on track with everything he is supposed to be doing in class and making sure that he is not getting distracted by people and thing around him.
Positive Impact
I made a positive impact this week just by offering help to students with the lesson on root words. It brought a smile to my face to see the excitement in theirs when they put everything together on their own and found out which parts the words had in common, what those common parts meant, and how they brought similar meanings to the words themselves.
November 28 – December 2
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by putting together the progress board for the students’ community projects. I enjoyed putting it together and taking a closer look at all of the amazing ideas the students came up with for how they could personally help to make the school, community, and world a better place.
Student Who Surprised Me
The student who had recently had a behavioral chart drawn up for him got a 100% on his chart two days in a row and it was extremely exciting for him. It was great to see him get so happy about doing well and we talked together about how he was improving so much so quickly and how he could raise his goal since he could clearly reach it.
Favourite Part of the Week
My favourite part of the week this week was seeing the selfless ideas which the students came up with to help the world become a better place. It’s so refreshing to see that kind of unbiased and untainted image of the world and I think that is the kind of view so many people need to be able to see. I loved seeing their passion about helping others across the globe.
Idea for My Own Classroom
I will definitely use the idea of assigning students with different jobs to lighten my own workload and help them establish independence. Not just things like line leader, but things like “doorman” or someone who answers the phone for me. This not only allows me to have more time with what I’m doing, but it also allows the students to develop those social skills and acquire more independence earlier on in life. Third grade students are more than capable of doing things like answering the phone or checking out their own library books.
December 5 – December 9
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by standing in as an audience for students who wanted to practice giving their presentations for the international festival.
Favourite Part of the Week
My favourite part of the week was definitely the international festival. I’m lucky in my position of being the principal’s daughter that I get to just sort of hang out after school if I don’t want to leave, and on Thursday I stayed after until about 8:00 to see the international festival put together by the third grade students and teachers. It was awesome to see it all come together, listen to the presentations and try all of the sample foods students brought for their countries.
Behavioral Issues
For whatever reason, there was one day this week when students were extremely wired all day. Maybe it was because of the cold temperatures keeping them from going outside for recess, but they were practically going crazy all day and it was hard to keep them under control. Miss Kline described using her “sternest teacher voice” to get them back under control after one student started dancing on the desks. This event reminded me why recess is such a crucial part of the day for younger students.
Positive Impact
Because the students had no idea that I was going to be able to make it to the international festival (I typically leave at 3:00 to go to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays), I was able to make a positive impact on each of their days when I showed up and went to each of their stations to learn about their countries, as well as take pictures of a few of them for the Harrison Parkway Elementary school newsletter.
January 9-January 13
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by working one-on-one with a
student who tends to require more direct attention from the teacher.
Favorite Part
My favorite part of the week this week was when a student had the
opportunity to do a free-write and she chose to write a biography about me. It was very well
thought out and she even did an impromptu interview to learn all about me, bringing up topics I
had mentioned weeks ago, when I was showing my shoe box.
Difficult Situation
One student in the class who is in the Emotional Disabilities Program was
choosing to sit and read rather than do any classwork one day when there was a substitute
teacher, and the teacher told me she had been allowing him to do so all day. The fact that he
had been allowed to avoid his work all day with no consequences made it particularly difficult
for me to get him to begin his work to prevent him from falling further behind.
Student Who Surprised Me
A student who typically does not get much done independently
made great progress this week in working on his own with limited guidance and individualized
instruction. He got nearly completely caught up with the rest of the class and allowed me to
walk around the room to offer help to other students, rather than requiring one-on-one
support for the entirety of the class.
Routine Established
Something Miss Kline does occasionally to get the class to settle down, she
begins to snap repeatedly with both hands until someone notices her. There is a snowball effect
of students snapping until the entire class is snapping, creating a really cool sound effect, and
watching Miss Kline until she stops snapping, and they all follow suit.
January 17-January 20
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by helping different groups of
students as they worked on their PBL (Project-Based Learning) activities for the school-wide
unit of kindness.
Favorite Part
Monday this week was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and my favourite part of the
week was listening to MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which I don’t think I was ever given the
opportunity to do as a third grader. The students were all surprisingly engaged in the speech,
asking questions and showing great active listening skills.
Disruption in the Schedule
A disruption in the schedule this week occurred on Thursday, when
the school was performing ISTEP stress tests. This changed their schedules significantly, moving
the “specials” time slot to the end of the day. This was definitely weird for everyone, but the
students handled it and adjusted very well.
Routine Established
A routine established in Miss Kline’s class is that, whenever the class is
meeting on the carpet, Miss Kline will count backwards from a certain number. However, she
never counts by ones. She will do a pattern such as “On the carpet in 60… 45… 30… 15… 0.” By
this point, everyone is on the carpet. All the students have the choice to join in counting with
her, which the vast majority takes advantage of. This keeps them thinking while they are
gathering their things, and it keeps them from chatting too much on the side. The class also
goes one number into the negatives, i.e. “15… 0… -15,” which teaches them to think broader
for the future, so that in their minds the number line doesn’t just end with zero.
January 23- January 27
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by helping one student work
on his persuasive writing. He is writing a paper persuading people to go to SkyZone Trampoline
Park and using me as an “expert” since I used to work there.
Favorite Part
A fun moment this week was when someone in the class discovered that I was
formerly a party host at SkyZone, and through talking we actually realized that I had hosted one
of the student’s parties last year, which many of the students in the class attended.
Disruption in the schedule: A disruption in the schedule occurred when the students met with
the second grade class they are working with to complete their Kindness PBL projects. This took
time out of the day from writers’ workshop as well as readers’ workshop, but the students
always enjoy this time and it is always fun to see the ideas they have to make the school,
community, and world a better place.
Idea I want to Take
Miss Kline’s room is decorated with many natural things, like tree branches
tied to the ceiling and earthy tones like dark brown or tan. I really like this color scheme and
design because it makes me personally feel more comfortable and I believe it helps the kids do
the same. She also never has the main lights on, and instead has lamps in various places around
the room. The absence of harsh lighting makes the classroom feel more safe and homey.
January 30-February 2
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by creating a lesson plan and
teaching the class about dictionary skills, i.e. how to look up unknown words and determine the
correct definition in context as well as determine accurate pronunciations for each unknown
word.
Disruption in the Schedule
On Wednesday this week, there was a disruption in the schedule
when a few teachers came from another elementary school in the district to observe Miss
Kline’s teaching methods during math workshop. Math workshop is typically at the beginning of
the day, but they were coming over in the afternoon, so Miss Kline had to alter her class’s
schedule to adhere to theirs. This was strange for the students as well as for myself, but
everyone did a good job taking it in stride and going along with it.
Difficult Situation
Due to the alteration in the schedule, I was there during math workshop on
Wednesday. This was a difficult thing for me personally because I have never been there for
math before, and I didn’t know what the students knew. It was difficult for me to help them
without talking above their heads by relating the work they had to math they had never
learned. I helped them by having one student who finished the work teach me how to do it so I
could distribute their knowledge to other students. This also solidified the knowledge in that
student’s head because she had to know it really well to be able to relay it to someone else.
Difficult Situation
Another difficult situation I encountered this week was during my lesson
plan. There was a substitute that day, and she continually interrupted me during my lesson. It
was a strange thing that happened, but I had to walk the fine line of setting a good example for
the students by showing her respect, and maintaining my authority in the classroom by not
letting her take over my lesson.
February 6-February 10
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by helping individual students
as well as small groups of students in their classwork, including writing their persuasive
speeches and continuing work on their group inquiry projects.
Favourite part: This week, the students were working on persuasive writing about things,
places, or people whom they thought deserved more recognition. My favourite part of the
week was hearing all of their ideas about things which they think go underappreciated, and I
am rather partial to the persuasive essay somebody wrote about why I deserve more
recognition 😊.
Difficult Situation
This week, the students worked quite a bit on their inquiry projects about
how they can make the school, community, and world a better place. Miss Kline’s third grade
class has been working with a second grade class in the building to complete these projects,
and they split up into different groups based on their topics. The groups go their separate ways
once allowed, and some groups meet in Miss Kline’s classroom, some in the second grade
classroom, and some in the library. During this time when all of the students were somewhat
scattered about the school, there was a fire drill. We were somewhat worried that not
everybody would make it out of the school, but the students did a great job in getting out and
finding a teacher announce on the radio that they had made it out safely.
Idea I Want to Take
Using the app SeeSaw, Miss Kline’s students post book recommendations
for books they feel others should get to experience. These recommendations are usually videos,
and consist of “plot teasers,” as well as suggestions as to who might enjoy the book, i.e. “if you
enjoy fiction stories containing lots of action and adventure, you would love this book.”
February 13-February 17
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by adding something to
everyone’s heart on Valentine’s Day! I loved getting to go around the room and write
something kind on each student’s Valentine’s Day card bag.
Favorite Part
Tuesday this week was Valentine’s Day, and the students all decorated bags for
Valentines with a red heart which everyone in the class wrote something on. My favorite part
of the week was seeing all of the thoughtful things people wrote on their friends’ bags, because
they really seemed to think hard about what to write, rather than just saying “funny” or “nice.”
I also loved seeing the things that the students wrote on my heart!
Idea I Want to Take
One thing I hadn’t noticed before, since I am not around during their math
workshop, is that Miss Kline has all of the students do the math in pen, which seemed odd to
me at first, but after some thought I realized that this is actually a great strategy. Rather than
erasing their incorrect work and simply getting the right answer written down, the students
circle what they did wrong so that when they look back later, they know what their common
mistakes are and what to look out for.
Student Who Surprised Me
After finishing a certain step of their persuasive speeches that they
have been working on, the students were allowed to either free read or be the captain of their
own writing process, which is essentially just free writing. One student who surprised me this
week was one who has been working super hard on a fiction story which he absolutely loved to
write. This student finished his speech and, rather than continue to write like I knew he wanted
to do, offered help to a classmate who needed it as she was working on her speech. Her writing
partner was behind on the speech, so she didn’t have anyone to look through and edit hers,
and the student who loved writing offered to help her.
February 20-February 24
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by helping one inquiry group
in particular stay on task and work together as a team, rather than having one or two of them
take control while the others goof off instead of participating.
Favorite Part
My absolute favorite part of this week by far is when the sun came out and the
temperature began to rise, and it was finally warm enough to enjoy the fresh air outside. I got
to take the students out for extra recess at the end of the day and we were all glad to get out of
the classroom and be able to refresh outside in the sun.
Student Who Surprised Me
One student who surprised me this week was Sam, who has been
on a behavior chart for a few weeks. We have definitely been noticing a character shift ever
since we began this chart, and he has grown from getting 50%s and 60%s to 90%s and 100%s.
This week, after getting 100% on his chart for two weeks straight, we were finally able to take
him off of the chart and I’m so glad that he has progressed so much so quickly.
Difficult Situation
One difficult situation which I had to deal with this week is one of the
combined second and third grade inquiry project groups was having a terribly tough time
working together. On one occasion, we had to send one of the second graders back down to his
classroom for causing too much of a disruption. After what seemed like too much counseling,
and after splitting the group up into two smaller groups who conferred with each other, we
finally got somewhere and they were able to set up a date for a guest speaker to come in and
speak with the class.
February 2-March 3
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by helping the students
determine differences between different kinds of questions while Miss Kline was out of the
room to test students who had been absent for one or more of the days when they had taken
ISTEP+.
Disruption in the Schedule
On Friday this week, there was a disruption in the schedule when a
guest speaker came in. Her name is Nancy Chance and she is the founder of the Hamilton
County Good Samaritan Network. Her story was truly moving and I know that the students got
a lot out of it, just as I did. I am truly proud of the fact that it was an inquiry group who was
doing their project on how we can make a difference by donating to the Good Samaritan
Network who set up the time for her to come in by communicating with her directly via email.
Favorite Part
One of my favorite parts of this week was seeing all of the students connect
with people in our community by contacting them through emails and phone calls. It is so great
to see them get involved and I love the fact that so many of the groups of students are really
taking the initiative with this project and reaching out to organize guest speakers, food drives,
field trips, fundraisers and so much more.
Favorite part
I couldn’t choose just one favorite part this week though. ISTEP+ was this week
and I am so so so proud to report MAJOR SUCCESS by my students. We worked so hard to
prepare for the testing and they remained highly positive throughout the entire process, all the
way up until they took the tests, which they all did amazing on.
March 6-March 10
Participation
This week I was able to participate by presenting my lesson plan on how using
appropriate vocal expression when reading text out loud helps us understand the text better.
Disruption in the Schedule
This week, there was once again a disruption in the schedule when there was a fire
drill while we were working on inquiry so we had our class in the second grade class in the schedule
when there was a fire drill while we were working on inquiry so we had our class in the second
grade class whom we work with intermixed. Because the teachers had planned ahead just in
case, it was much easier this time to figure out where everybody was and make sure that they were all
safe and out of the building.
Favorite Part
My favorite part of the week this week was when everybody was brainstorming ideas for
goods and services to sell at the third and fourth grade marketplace. It was super cool to see them
talking about things that people might need and how much they might pay for them.
Routine Established
One routine established in the classroom that helps everything run more smoothly is
the transitions between workshops. Before every workshop, students all gather at the carpet
in front of the blackboard. When they arrive, they know to either sit down and begin reading,
or sit and begin writing, depending on which workshop is about to start. This helps everything
go more smoothly because there is not much downtime in between different workshops so
everything is continuously moving forward.
March 13-March 17
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by helping one group of
students prepare for the marketplace. They were making stress balls by filling
balloons with slime that they were making themselves, and I got to supervise/play
with the slime they were creating.
Favorite part
My favorite part of the week this week was my birthday! All of the students
made me cards and it was really touching to see everything they wrote. I loved being
able to leave school with a huge basket of over 20 birthday cards.
Favorite Part
Again, I couldn't choose just one favorite part! The other great part of this week
was when I got to see all of the students’ ideas for the marketplace start to really come
together. There was one group in particular who was fun to watch; they were making
objects out of clay and some of their creations were actually really good!
Problem
One problem we faced in the classroom this week was when one of our E.D.
students threw a fit in the room. Miss Kline dealt with it very efficiently and effectively by
calling someone down to remove him from the room before he was able to become a danger
to himself or to other students in the room.
March 20-March 24
Participation
I helped in the classroom this week by continuing to help different groups with
their goods and services that would be for sale at the third and fourth grade marketplace.
Favorite Part
My favorite part of the week this week was the marketplace at math night! It was so fun
for the kids to finally be able to show off their hard work by selling goods and services to their
friends in different classes and to different parents. They all showed such great enthusiasm
when they were doing math and that was super cool to see.
Problem
The group of the three girls who were selling homemade stress balls during math night only
had one person show up on time, and she was written on the schedule to only work the last
shift and play math games for the first two shifts. When her group didn't show up, she had
to cover for them rather than have fun playing games. I handled this problem for her by
manning her station until the rest of her group showed up.
Routine Established
While this is not exactly a daily routine, it is pretty standard in Miss Kline's class that
whenever there is a big day, we finish it out with extra recess. After math night on Thursday,
the students were all exhausted because of their hard work. Miss Kline recognized this and
we once again went out for extra recess.
March 27-March 31
Participation
This week I was able to participate in the classroom by helping individual students
as well as small groups of students as they worked to complete their daily work.
Student Who Surprised Me
The student with whom I worked most closely toward the beginning of the
year has been making great strides all year in becoming more independent, but this
week he surprised me by doing everything on his own without needing any reminders at all.
Favorite Part
My favourite part of the week this week was when I got to go watch another
teacher and see her style of teaching with a different age group of students. I stayed
in Miss Potter’s room as her kindergarten class made their own ZooBooks about animals
which interested them. It was super cool to see the huge difference three years makes
between my third grade class and the kindergarten class.
Positive Impact
I know I was able to make a positive impact on a student this week because the
student came to talk to me about a book I had recommended to her earlier. She was
looking for a book to read and I told her that one of my favourite books when I was in third
grade was The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. She read it and wanted to talk to me
when she finished, saying how much she loved it and thanking me for recommending it to her.
April 10-April 14
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by giving a book recommendation
to one of my students! He told me some of his favorite books were Old Yeller, Stone Fox, and
Where the Red Fern Grows, so I recommended Marley and Me.
Favorite Part
My favorite part of the week this week was definitely when we went on a field trip. We
took a different approach this year and actually allowed the students to choose where they
wanted to go to complete a community service project – Some went to a retirement home,
some to a soup kitchen, and some stayed at HPE to help out around the school. It was super
fun to see all of the kids getting involved in helping out in their community! I stayed at HPE, where
we did things like picking up litter, redoing the garden, painting the shed, and so on. I had a great
time and I know the students did too, plus we all got to make a huge difference in our
community!
Difficult Situation
After the field trip, we were filling up coolers with lemonade for the kids. It turned out the
10 gallon cooler had a huge leak in the spout, and it was spraying lemonade everywhere. This was
an extremely hard problem to solve, because we only had two coolers and the other one was
much smaller. This taught me that there are many other tricky situations besides just issues with
students that you can’t necessarily prepare for, you just have to be ready to approach any problems
with an open mind, ready to begin problem solving whatever needs fixed.
Schedule Disruption
One of our E.D. students had a bit of a meltdown this week, using inappropriate
language and uncontrolled actions. We had to clear the other students out of the classroom to
avoid anyone getting injured or being subject to language which they shouldn’t repeat. It was not
a terribly easy situation to deal with, but we were eventually able to get a teacher down from the
FOCUS room and remove him from the classroom.
April 17-April 21
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by helping one inquiry group
complete their project on how we could make our school a better place. On Tuesday of
this week, I went outside with three students at a bit before 3:00 in the afternoon and
we went looking for litter on the school property.
Favorite Part
I loved getting free ice cream on Tuesday of this week!! All HPE staff was given
free ice cream in the lunch lines, and, lucky me, I’m considered staff enough to elicit some
free ice cream myself! In all honesty though, it’s great to see how much teachers are
appreciated, especially after seeing how tiring it is to teach and just be in the classroom all the time.
Student Who Surprised Me
The student who asked me for a book recommendation just at the beginning of last week
was already halfway done with Marley and Me by the end of this week. I’ve always known that he was
a strong reader, however it’s not a very short book and it’s a pretty heavy topic as well, so it was
amazing that he could get that far that quickly. It also made me feel extremely good about the
situation just to know that I didn’t recommend a book that was going to be too far above his head or
one that would bore him out of his mind. He seems to really enjoy the book, and although he did admit
it was upsetting, he appreciates the writing and the story behind it.
Type of Learning
We continued our project-based learning activity on what we can do to make
our school, community, and world a better place. This week, I got to take four
students from four different classes around the school property to pick up litter. We
were out there for some time between a half an hour to an hour and filled up an entire
trash bag with litter that we found around the school. I loved seeing how excited they were
and how passionate they are about keeping the school’s environment a happy, safe, and healthy one.
April 24-April 28
Participation
I was able to participate in the classroom this week by completing my lesson plan
over how we can use the context given to us in a piece of writing to determine which definition
of a multiple meaning word we should use.
Favorite Part
I got to do my job shadow this week which was incredibly fun! I loved being
able to see all different parts of the day and what goes on from arrival to dismissal. I
knew that I would see different kinds of teaching and different lessons, but one thing I wasn’t
expecting so much was the huge difference in the students’ behavior throughout the day. It
was very interesting to see them go in almost a cycle of being tired and energized at different
points throughout the day. My favorite part of the day was math workshop because I really
got to see the analytical side of the students, rather than just the creative side, which I already
knew was mostly strong for the whole class. It was fun to see some of the weaker reading and
writing students showcase their knowledge of math if that was their strong suit.
Schedule Disruption
ISTEP+ testing was this week, which always puts a huge disruption in the learning.
I have never been a fan of standardized high stakes testing, and I didn’t like to see the students
stress about how they were doing and what they did and didn’t know. I don’t like the change in
schedule that it causes, but Miss Kline did a good job of making sure she still taught the information
that she needed to and that the students were understanding what they needed to.
Positive Impact
I made a positive impact this week when I presented my lesson plan over homonyms.
I always love to see the students’ creativity and enthusiasm whenever I ask them to provide
examples of whatever it is I happen to be looking for. Everyone is always so eager to share what
they are thinking, but also to receiver feedback on whether or not I agree with their answers. I love
being able to bring this enthusiasm about with the presentations of my lesson plans.