One of the options for tasks was to use a quiet signal that my CT already has in place within the classroom as well as trying a new one of my own. Her technique is to say "eyes eyes" and the students mirror back by saying "eyes eyes" and looking at the teacher. I tried this to little avail, as I believe more emphasis should have been put on reinforcing classroom rules in the beginning of the year such as quiet signals and explicit ally telling them how they should respond. The new quiet signal I tried with the students was to do one that my USF supervisor does with us cohort interns. She says "thumbs up if you hear my voice", eliciting students to raise their thumbs and halt what they are doing. This works great, because children are raising their arms to show others that they are listening and ready to learn. We tries this several times throughout the year, and my CT, Ms. Banga gave me a printout of several other quirky attention grabbers like "Holy moly!", "Guacamole!"
Usually during reading centers from 8:40 until 10:00 I am part of table 6 where students are cutting out and gluing word sorts into their word work folders. Today, however, I was able to take over the position of Guided reading coach during the first two sessions of 20 minutes each. The students were listening and reading for words that have a "oa" or "ow" in them that make the (owe) sound. Each time they discovered a new word in their district provided texts, they were able to take a marker and go up to the class anchor chart with words that have "oa and "ow" in them. Each week my CT changes the word families so students get a fresh new set of blends and vowel patterns. They seemed to enjoy the activity, and I saw that some of them were paying attention better when they were the ones reading. We started out doing choral reading an asked single responses from the entire group, encouraging them to share their answers freely. My collaborating teacher is very flexible with how much she lets me do in the classroom, and invited me to perform a guided reading session with four different groups of students today for reading centers. Facilitating a guided reading lesson with six or seven first graders is very challenging. One can find themselves wrapped up in questions or finding the right words to say in order to transition between activities. Today, students were handed on-level books from the county having an average of about 10 pages each. Each guided reading group had been selected for different competencies, and therefore a different story was used with each group. Usually, my CT has them looking for certain word families in their readings or to find new words that they have not encountered before or have yet to remember. During the each group's reading time, I was asked to select one student from each group to be kind of the benchmark for the group in terms of words per minute and accuracy. I did an informal running record where the students were timed in their entire attempt, instead of counting down from a minute. This reminds me of the first time I tried out running records in the classroom and recorded how long it took them instead of how many they could get within a certain time frame. All in all, it was a good experience to work in a small group focused on reading with children.
Upon leaving at the end of the day, I feel as though I attempted yet another performance task concerning managing the classroom and students within. When it was time to go, I grabbed the bus sheet with all of the students in groups according to their bus numbers. My CT has students group up and hold hands all the way to their buses so no one misses their bus while others get on. This is a good system, and it allows others to catch mistakes or aide in navigation. Keeping the students in a relatively single-file line, we were able to walk all the way around the bus ramp efficiently, giving each student a fist bump as they got on their bus. We can say that this establishes individual accountability, because students aren't allowed to leave unless they say goodbye to their teacher (Weinstein, 1997, pg. 188) Oftentimes I will see them make a self -adjustment and turn around for a fist bump before they climb the seemingly giant bus stairs for them. This makes a kinesthetic connection to remembering sending the children safely home to their parents/guardians. References Weinstein, C., & Mignano, A. (1997). Elementary classroom management: Lessons from research and practice (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. On October 14th, I was able to ask my collaborating teacher if I could take control of the teacher position and line the students up for lunch at 10:15. The rules are, every student must grab their lunchbox (if they brought one from home), or money for school lunch, and to line up in a single file line in front of the door. Once all students are quiet, then we are able to go. Several students were whispering to their friends, at which point, I directly asked those students if they were ready to go to lunch. They replied with an anticipated "Yes." I then proceeded to ask them if they were also ready to be quiet, because that is the only way everyone can go to lunch. They smiled and answered with another sheepish "Yes." I find that it is directed questioning towards a group of students who are off task is a good way to make them think about whether what they are doing is acceptable behavior for school or not. Student leadership is another aspect of the classroom I enjoy seeing. When students correct other students and remind them of the proper ways to behave with others, it gives me hope for their future and the lives they will influence. They truly care about others and respect an experienced person's knowledge. Instead of the teacher yelling at students, the others give stern but friendly reminders to fix their actions. ( Fisch&Trumbull, 2008, pg. 41 )
Also on October 14th, my CT let me line up the students for specials. Each day during the week is a different special, with P.E. falling on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Music/Art falling in on the other days. Chance would have it, I was able to line them up and take them out to P.E.class. Because I intuitively know that the one thing children often look forward to in a school day is recess, I didn't look twice when some students started skipping or running slightly ahead of other students as soon as we got outside. I understand that it is important to teach the kids about self-control and safety, but I feel as though I would be an angry talking head trying to get all of them to behave in a single file line all the way out to the basketball court. The students were sad to see me leave them, as some thought I was going to stay (it was the first time all year I had taken them to P.E.) Upon returning a half hour alter to pick them up, some were glad to see me, while others had encased themselves in arguments with others and had attitudes coming back in. That's the case with P.E. It is a great outlet for expending energy, its just how the children expend their energy is the key. If they do it dangerously or unto others, then it can become a problem. References Fisch, C., & Trumbull, E. (2008). Managing diverse classrooms how to build on students' cultural strengths. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. |
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