Lesson Reflection

This past week was my first week at fifty percent. That means I took on reading, language, and spelling. Looking back, it is funny to think that language is the subject I was least worried about teaching. I worried about the reading unit on The Great Kapok Tree, and I worried about how the students would do with their spelling words, but I had not anticipated the problem being with language.

On Monday, we went over what a noun was. Most of the students did fairly to really well on their assignment. Therefore, on Wednesday, I moved on to common and proper nouns. The students seemed to do fine with the examples we did together as a class with the Mimio. Then, when I got their papers graded, I was amazed at how terrible the grades were. Friday, we looked at their grades and held a brief review on common and proper nouns. Again, I felt they did well in the whole-class review, but their grades were not good at all on the assignment.

Looking back, I wish I had done something that was interactive with the entire class, rather than one student at a time for the rest to watch. While the students did well with the one sentence they were assigned on the Mimio, they were missing the overall picture. Next time, I will take advantage of something that will involve each student for each problem. I think at that age level, language is somewhat abstract for the students, and that makes it a difficult thing for them to study. If they are not required to pay attention to every single example, they are only benefiting from the one example they are doing, rather than the twenty-one from the whole group.

Classroom Interruptions

This past week was different than any other week I have ever witnessed at my PDS. Not only was there one interruption like we usually experience, but this week seemed like one giant interruption in itself! I get the feeling the kids just got off to a rough start when Monday was topped off with an extra recess for thirty minutes. That was followed on Tuesday with computer lab in the morning. While this is a scheduled, weekly activity, I felt this week threw them off because the rest of the routine was irregular.

Thursday, the students had double-specials, followed by a substitute for the afternoon (my grade level had collaborative planning). Friday was an early release day and Constitution Day. While I do realize these activities were on our calendars, and we planned for things to be different, students do not always foresee changes like we do. I remember being in elementary and looking so forward to getting out of school early on a Friday. It seemed to be all I thought about the whole week, from Monday on. I have started to tell myself that things may not have changed so much in the past 14 years.

My teacher and I had planned to center all of our instruction around the constitution on Friday morning. We also left plans for the substitute to begin showing the video Thursday afternoon that would base our first discussions Friday morning. After things being so different all week, I think the students just could not focus like they may have had things been normal up to that point on Thursday. After all those various problems throughout the week, I noticed what would normally have been a fun and interesting Friday morning, turned into a near nightmare.

The students were unable to focus on any discussion topics, and normally my class is almost too cooperative during a class discussion. They also were unsure of how to complete the morning reading comprehension, even though they do so five days a week, every week of school. Therefore, I believe any interruptions can get students off-track. Whether they be larger interruptions, like extra recesses, substitutes, and early dismissals, or small ones such as announcements, they matter. Unfortunately, the only way we could think to get the kids back on track that week was to wait for the weekend and try again Monday.

I will definitely use this as a learning experience. Like I said, teachers often plan for and anticipate interruptions, but students rarely get that opportunity. I, for one, never thought to tell the kids ahead of time that things may be different. In hindsight, this may not have been the best idea. I think next time I know of interruptions coming, I will remind my students as they go, so they can prepare themselves as well. I predict this may have an impact on their behavior and learning in the next situation similar to the one this past week.

Unfortunately, I also predict that preparation for large changes like substitutes may impact student attendance rates. I have noticed that on half-days and odd days, less students tend to come to school. Hopefully that is also something that will decline after we get farther into the semester.

Inquiry, So Far...

As opposed to my previous action research projects, I feel particularly good about this year's. I have taken baseline data, found a couple articles, and plan to start the kids on their new activities tomorrow. My goal is to study how daily math fact activities can affect overall computation. All the times I have been in an upper-elementary classroom, none of the students I have observed were correct and fluent in their math facts. Therefore, they were hindered with respect to their computation abilities.

The activities will begin tomorrow through the implementation of math centers. The students will spend fifteen minutes per center, and go through two centers daily. One center daily will be electronically-based, and the other will be in the form of some sort of math game, or flash cards. Throughout the semester, they will practice with basic math facts revolving, using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We will be keeping track of their accuracy, as well as the changes in the baseline data throughout the course of this project.

So far, the only hang up I have experienced is the same problem I seem to have every time; I find it difficult to find proper literature. Since this is a common problem, I cannot help but believe that I may be searching using an inefficient method. I plan to continue to work on that, as well as seek help if needed. This project really interests me, and the results will undoubtedly improve my teaching practices.

A New School Year

As I stepped into my classroom the week before the students began school, I felt a little overwhelmed thinking about another school year, and nervous about the thoughts of meeting a new class again. My teacher and I began to discuss procedures and plans for the first days of school, leaving me feeling extremely anxious and concerned that I may not think of everything I need to think of when it's my turn to start from scratch.

However, that first day when we went to the bus room to pick up our class, those nerves went away, and I felt more calm than I ever had before. It seems odd to me how quickly all that anxiety can disappear, just by being in the classroom before the students. Normally, as a preservice teacher, we walk into an established classroom full of students with a known routine. Rather than watching those kids walk in, we walk in to find about fifty eyes staring at us! I have to completely agree that being at school that first day is a completely invaluable experience.

Now that we've been in school two weeks, I'm starting to put more into meeting deadlines, and making lessons interesting than being nervous around the students. Being in that classroom ahead of time really helped with having confidence in one's practice and relationship with students. Rather than being concerned with how much the students "like" me and whether or not they act bored when I teach, I am now concerned with ensuring they get what they need in an effective way. So far, I feel like this has been the best semester yet. I look forward to being in the classroom every day and feel certain this is what I want as a career.