Writing Light Bulbs :)

In fourth grade, the expectations of a student writer become greater. With that being said, it is so amazing to see how far these students have come in their writing. The first day of school, it was very difficult to get the students to produce writing that had a flow. Now with a few lessons under their belt and with the students becoming more mature every day, their writing has drastically improved! We did a mini-lesson on how to write a friendly letter, and their assessment for a book we were reading was to write a friendly letter to a character. They did so well in remembering what was part of a friendly letter!!

Also, with writing letters to characters, the students write some pretty funny and deep comments. It is interesting to see how the students talk to these characters. Seeing these students develop into deeper writers shows these light bulbs going off in their heads :)

Zero Tolerance Area!

I have created a new rule for my students. My mentor teacher has her rules that are the main priority, and I have mine as well---which works out really well! We both respect each other's rules and the students do this as well. My new rule creates a zero tolerance area..Negative talking in not tolerated.

By negative talking, I mean the negative talking that occurs between students sometimes. I am aware that some students get caught up in the moment and lose control, however, when it becomes an issue, something has to be done.

I remind the students of my rule every day to make sure that they remember and can be practicing the opposite of my rule---Positive talking!!

I think it is very important to make sure that the students are communicating effectively, as well as, constructively between each other. Some of the students haven't learned how to accept constructive criticism, (which is hard to do!), and I am hoping that this zero tolerance area is helping the students develop into positive students.

When I hear a negative speaker, I make sure to point it out to the student, as well as, have the student repeat what they were trying to say, but in a more constructive manner. By having the students correct how they were talking, I have seen that they are beginning to think before they speak!

New Report Cards=Hard Work=Success!

On Tuesday, I have the privilege of interacting in a meeting with a the fourth grade teachers from my school and the fourth grade teachers from another school in our county in creating a new "standards based" report card for the upcoming year; the fourth grade is piloting this new report card. Who would have thought that so much goes into creating a new report card??

It was very interesting to listen to the teachers talk about what was needed, necessary, and unnecessary when deciding what to include on the report card. I honestly just thought that when you print a report card, it just has grades and requires little effort. HOWEVER being on the other side of this, I completely change my mind :) These teachers have put so much effort and time into creating a report card that not only reflects what the students are learning, but helps the parents understand what the report card is saying. There were many times during the meeting that the teachers had to change what was wrote or how the report card was put together because they wanted to make sure the parents would be clear on what was written.

By the end of the meeting, everyone was very pleased with what was accomplished. Many, MANY hours later, the report card is nearly finished. Not only is this a new report card, but the way the teachers keep track of the grades is changing too in order to keep things consistent. With that being said, it is very obvious that the teachers in this district love what they do. They spend so much extra time making changes that are better for the students as well as the parents. Seeing all this makes me realize that I have chosen a career that is right for me, and this district is full of teachers I would love to work with!

Full Control Friday!

Friday we had a substitute for the day, and basically it was my first day of having complete control of the classroom! Having my mentor teacher in my classroom on a normal day gives me the freedom to have the classroom to myself because she allows me to have my time with the students' attention, but she is sometimes still in the room or popping in and out. So this was the first time that the students realized that she wasn't there to help me with discipline if I needed it!

I was a little nervous when the students came in during the morning and realized that she was not there. I could see that they were worried about her, and I received many questions on where she was. I made sure to give a talk at the beginning of the day that the day was going to carry on as normal and I expected to receive the same respect they would normally give.

The day went marvelously!! The students were wonderful, full of respect and kindness. We had fun activities planned and I was truly impressed with how they acted during the day. Not that I expected any less, but I remember when there was a substitute when I  was in elementary school, it was basically like a free day and the students did not pay any attention. However, I was blessed with a really dedicated substitute and we worked together really well. I was so proud of myself, too, because I was able to handle 31 students in a productive school day :) I now have faced most of my worries about becoming a teacher and am ready to dive full force into my own classroom hopefully in the near future when I graduate!!

Respect for School?

One thing that has really changed from when I was in elementary school is the respect that school holds in students' lives. I have noticed that some parents hold extracurricular activities as being a higher priority than their school work and it just blows me away. How are students supposed to become better readers if they do not read outside of school? The amount of time we spend reading in class is a good amount, however, it is not nearly enough time for a student to grow as a reader, or in mathematics, science or any other subject!

Football players get better by practicing. Runners get better by running. Swimmers swim better with swim practice. Why do some families not recognize the value of practicing for school?

In the past, if I said I did not want to do my homework, my parents would tell me I had no choice and my extracurricular activities were of a much lower importance. I would practice for school, and if I didn't, I didn't do anything else in the day. School was my main priority.

I have noticed that some students really value football and other organized sports. Some value them so much that they forget to do their math homework. I value sports as well; I love to play and watch sports. However, I do not see how teachers are held so accountable for making sure students are performing at the best of their ability when school is not a top priority in the rest of their lives.

I realize that some students just do not enjoy school for whatever reason. We can do everything in our power to try to change their attitude about school, but reality is, some students just do not enjoy it. However, teachers are trying their best. It is hard to hold students accountable for their work when they just do not have time for it in the afternoon because of a jam packed extracurricular schedule.

Class Concern Box...

Having a class of 31 students is something that I never thought that I would be faced with. Wow, so many students!! HOWEVER, it has turned out to be amazing. The students are great, the class works so well together, and we are having a wonderful, educational start to the year. 

My only question is, how do you deal with 31 students' issues and concerns?

If every student raised their hand during the day to tell a concern that they had with the class or anything that they needed to talk about, we would need many more hours in the day. Don't get me wrong, we deal with concerns during the day, but there are concerns that go unspoken until a parent emails or talks to us outside of the school day. Maybe students are too shy to ask questions that do not deal with concepts being discussed in class. Maybe they do not feel comfortable talking in front of the class. Or maybe our day is so jam packed that they do not have time to think about their concerns until they get a free moment and then it is not appropriate to ask when they think about their concern!! I remember being in elementary school and having concerns that I would not think of until I got home and would not feel comfortable asking in the morning. 

To solve these issues, I am thinking about starting a "comment/concern box". With this, I would have a box that has a hole in the top to insert paper, and the students could write their concerns or questions that need to be addressed on the paper and insert it into the box. The student does not have to put their name on it, but it would be hard for me to help without having a source of the problem. For example, one student could not focus because he did not feel comfortable where his desk was. For a few weeks, he did not tell us because he did not think it was necessary, but with a quick email from the parent, we were able to quickly fix this concern and it was perfect. 

I want to combat these concerns whenever they occur because that student may have been able to enjoy the first few weeks better if they were in a place that was more compatible with their learning environment. I also want to make sure that this box does not turn into the "tattle" box where students tell on each other. I want it to be a safe place where students feel comfortable telling me what is going on outside of what I can see. For example: during connections, at lunch, at recess, wherever there are concerns! 

Reading around the room? Good or bad?

Today, my mentor teacher was administering DRA's and needed to have the morning in order to do this. (She would pull a few students at a time into the hallway outside of our classroom). I am already teaching the entire morning, however, the difference was that today we were not on a time constraint because we did not switch classes so the teachers could perform the DRA's on their homeroom students. With that being said, this morning was one that I had the entire classroom to myself without my mentor teacher being in there for an extended period of time. While I was nervous that the students would behave differently without her being there, I was excited to have full control, as well as having full control of their behavior. While we still had those chatty cats, everything went so smooth! We did some partner work that of course made the classroom a little loud (with 31 students talking, it is hard to be quiet!), but I believe that they are learning how to work collaboratively! We were creating sentence ladders that helped them see the difference in a simple sentence and one that has many, many details. While these got a little silly, I think it started the day off on a good foot because everyone was smiling together.

Also, with this relaxed time, I was able to let them have an extended SSR (self-selected reading) block where they were able to read wherever in the room that felt comfortable. While we do not get to do this often because during reading we have centers that take up the extra space in the classroom, I believe that the students really enjoyed their time to be on the floor to read. I was very apprehensive to allow them to do this because of our need to control the talking, so I made sure to emphasize that I was watching them and we were on a trial for my trust of reading wherever they wanted. Boy, did this get their attention. All I had to say was "you are testing my trust" and they would correct the behavior that was inappropriate. The SSR block went REALLY well. The students were reading, students were taking AR tests and visiting the library, and for the most part, we stayed on task the whole time! I believe that just having their friend beside them on the floor reading gives them the "freedom" that they long for, but still allows the teacher to be in control.

We are starting on how to write a friendly letter tomorrow, which I am excited about! I think that in this age where the students probably have never written/received a letter in the mail, they need to learn what a friendly letter is! My plan is that we collaboratively decide what a friendly letter is and they will practice this skill. When ready, the students will be able to write a friendly letter to a member of the school "filling their buckets" :)

First Assessment Created and Administered by ME!

Wednesday, the students were given the opportunity to show me everything they have learned throughout my unit on setting. Some observations I noticed:

• Some students do not like taking written tests.
• Some students STRIVE off of discussion questions.
• Some students need more support than others when answering questions.
• Some questions that I asked were not worded in the most kid-friendly ways. I found this out the hard way...

Overall, I was pleased with the assessment. I am not going to say I'm jumping up and down screaming happy, but I am pleased. I understand that students show their learning in various methods, so I cannot base the students complete learning off of a written assessment. I also have to take into consideration the conversations that I have with each student during our reading groups about settings and various components. 

By taking in this assessment and thinking about if the students are ready to move on to the next literary element, I believe that we need a bit more practice. While I cannot realistically spend 3 weeks on setting, I can still incorporate setting into our discussions and our learning through other subject matter. That is one thing that I really respect my mentor teacher for: She makes sure that we don't just abandon our previous learning. For example, if we move on to another topic, we are still talking about the previous topics in order to make sure the students continue to develop their understanding of the concept. 

Anchor Charts of Settings

The most interesting conversations that students have between each other are ones that occur when they do not think the teacher is listening. While working in groups seems to be new to these scholars, I did not want to monitor everything that they did in groups. I wanted them to work out their issues, such as who would write. Whoever got to write was a BIG deal to this group of students. Collaborative work is a task that needs to be mastered in order to successfully move to project based learning, which is a goal of this semester. 

While I was interested in the connections the students made on their picking out the setting and character traits of a character in each setting, I really wanted to see how their presentation skills were. After the students were finished creating their anchor chart, I had them present their ideas to the rest of the class. Making sure everyone in the audience was paying attention, we carefully went over what it means to present and how it looks to be in front of a group and how we are supposed to act during a presentation, being the presenter or in the audience. I made sure while the students were presenting that each student contributed something to the conversation. (This point was made earlier in the lesson so the students were mentally prepared to present). I was pleased with the presentations, I tried to allow the students to present without my questioning leads, however, some groups were more comfortable answering the questions I asked rather than leading their own presentation. Which this is completely fine with me. I think that getting up and presenting is a huge accomplishment, and we can only get better with our presentation skills. 

I took some pictures of the students' works that they did in their groups. I wanted to get a variety of skill level pictures and different settings :) 

I'm not sure why these are upside down, I haven't figured out how to fix this, yet. Just stand on your head for a second :) 

We completed this one together as a group to help the students understand what I wanted them to do. We choose the setting of Mt. Vernon, our school, and used our teacher, Mrs. Frobos as our character. We found the different important settings in the larger setting and told how the "character" was affected in each setting. Our "evidence" that these traits were true came from asking Mrs. Frobos :) 

Wrapping up my first unit!

I just completed my first unit, teaching setting to my sweet fourth grade groups. I couldn't have been blessed more with a better group of students for my student teaching. They truly are the most precious, respectful group that I could ever imagine.

For my lesson, we first just introduced setting (which is in a previous blog) and followed this with some exercises for the students to pick out the setting in a story using a "Setting the Scene" sheet. While the first attempt did not go as well as I had expected with independently picking out the setting from a story of their choice, I allowed the students to take my constructive criticism and make any changes that they saw necessary to their sheets. Many of the comments I made were that the students were not specific. For example, some said "school" and "day" as their setting, when it was possible to be more specific: such as "Huntington High School in the library" and "morning". By the end of our time together focusing on setting, the students were being very specific and giving me everything that I expected them to give to meet the standard.

While working on one lesson, the students were given a piece of an anchor chart, and the students were to take a "larger" setting (such as Huntington High School from our book "The Janitor's Boy") and find the smaller settings that were important to the story (such as Mr. Pike's music room, the hallway outside of Mr. Pike's classroom, the janitor's closet, the bell tower, etc). The students were then given a character, and they were to show the class how their character's traits changed based upon the setting that they were in. For example, Jack Rankin was relaxed in the bell tower and embarrassed in the hallway outside of Mr. Pike's classroom. While they had to find different character traits, we were discussing how the setting affects the character and each setting has a different effect on the character, or gives the character different character traits.

Below are a few pictures of my scholars hard at work:

Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

This year, my school is using the saying, "Have you filled a bucket today?" This saying basically means that in order to fill someones "bucket" you do something nice for someone: help them, say something nice, just being friendly. By implementing this strategy as a behavioral management aspect into the classroom, I have seen the students really respond. If I brag on someone for filling someone else's bucket, the other students go out of their way to be kind to someone else. This community building activity has helped our classroom form bonds with others in the classroom, and even with the teachers. Today, my mentor teacher bragged on a student for filling her bucket by helping clean the classroom while we were transitioning, and you could see how proud he was of himself just by looking at his face. Not only is this helping the students build relationships with others, but it is helping students boost their self-confidence. The school has also carried this over into the faculty meetings and various other staff-related activities where faculty members can report when someone has "filled their bucket" and the teacher gets the recognition that what they do does not go unnoticed! 

I thoroughly agree with the idea of creating a program that boosts students' self-esteems and their relationships with each other. By seeing how this one has helped, it makes me want to be looking into other ideas. I am aware that programs sometimes wear off and the students become unmotivated by this, so any suggestions would be great :) 

Daily Read Alouds--

I have found one thing that I will do when I have my own classroom in the future:

Do a read aloud EVERY day.

There are many reasons behind this idea. For starters, a read aloud gives my students the time to chill out and take a breather. This time gives them the opportunity to sit on the carpet and just listen for a while. I have seen the students really enjoy this time because they are smiling and interacting with a story that is not during an "academic" time, or so they think :)

Another reason, is by making my plans for next week, I have seen that I can bring the read aloud book into my reading class to develop a discussion. For example, we are working on setting and how setting affects the character. I wanted to diversify the lesson with various stories and examples, so I am able to bring the read aloud story into the group conversation during literature time. They are able to see that books that we read for fun still encompass the ideas that they are being taught during their English Language Arts period.

My mentor teacher does a wonderful job in modeling what a successful read aloud period looks like. She reads for about 10 minutes a day, when they have a break between lunch and specials. She makes sure to leave off at a good part in order to keep the students on their toes and making predictions about the next part. My mentor teacher also gives the characters voices and reads with inflection, which entertains me, so I know it is entertaining the students!!

I am fully enjoying my student teaching time--there is not a day that I wake up and do not look forward to the day to come. Walking in and seeing the students' smiling faces is such a great feeling. The past few days, a couple of students have even come in with marvelous treats for the teachers, which I am not going to complain about :)

Technology..Helpful?

I love the technology that is present in many classrooms. However, when you have a catastrophe like my classroom did when the Promethean Board just decided to take a break for a while, what do you do? Relying on technology is one thing that I am hesitant to begin to do because I personally think that students still need to have the visual reminders around the classroom about what they are learning. If everything is done on technology and on a smartboard, the students do not have that constant reminder of what they are learning about. For example, I am beginning to teach mini lessons on "setting". Today, I asked the students to tell me what they learned on the previous day about setting. When they are able to have a chart paper reminder of what we learned the day before, the students were able to take a quick glance at the wall with their work on it to jog their memory.
The picture above is the KWL chart of what the students know about setting, what they want to learn, and what they have learned throughout our discussions. I believe these are great visual diagrams to use in the classroom because students are constantly discovering new ideas and need a place to display their thoughts. During the day, if the students have learned something new about setting, they are able to grab a sticky note and write their idea on the sticky note. Then they are to place this sticky note on the chart, and at the end of the day, I will add their ideas to the chart.
With all that being said, I am VERY anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new and improve Promethean projector so we can begin to integrate technology on a deeper level. We are still exposing the students to technology with the help of netbooks and Ipod Touches, however, the students have grown up with these Promethean Boards, so I'm sure they are ready to have it back!

Where does the time go??

Today was my first full day of teaching reading! To say I was fully confident would be a lie, however, my teacher has created an environment where I feel comfortable taking chances and being okay with messing up. Because of this environment, I was excited to see how my plans would turn out and how the students would react to my ideas of how to teach to their needs. We started off with a group discussion on what the word setting means by using a KWL chart. The students received post-it notes and wrote their ideas on the notes and placed them on the KWL chart. I did this because we have two different sections of reading groups and I wanted to keep one chart for both classes. Therefore, I could take down the notes and write them up at the end of the day. After the chart discussion, we read the book "Train to Somewhere" by Eve Bunting to demonstrate how the setting changes throughout the book. By the end of this book and with the discussion, my time was up! Because of the schedule we are on, I could not carry over into another subject area. It is crazy to see how quick the time goes by. It went by so quick I even forgot to allow the kids to eat their snacks!! Boy, they definitely reminded me though :)

Overall, I was very pleased with my first time teaching reading to these students! They really respected me, which I was worried about because usually student teachers are looked at as not being real teachers. However, these students were amazing. My mentor teacher actually had thought about having a conversation with the class about how I was taking over reading, but we decided that we should give them the benefit of the doubt and see how they did with me teaching. I was so so pleased with my class today!!

Finishing up my FOURTH week of student teaching!!

I have decided to change the way that I am reflecting on my student teaching. I am trying to create a variety of ways to respond, but honestly, I feel like when I am writing about my day, the words just spill out on my blog without me being able to control them! Therefore, these next few posts are mainly my thoughts and feelings :)   (Which I have many of)... 

I have made it my special time during the day to check in with a student that has had a rough past few days. This one child acted up in the classroom, resulting in some time away from school to reflect on what was going on and to have some “time out”. I agree that the consequence was correct because we needed time to create a safety plan for this child. However, I felt the need to make sure the student understood that all of the staff is on the child’s side and that we only wanted what was best. With the new safety plan intact, I have started interacting with this child more throughout this week, talking and positively influencing his day to see if this would help the child’s adjustment in the classroom. I have seen this child open up to me talking about his day and what he enjoys and dislikes.  I have started noticing what he reads when he has free time, and when I have one-on-one interactions, I make sure I ask him questions based upon the book choice, which is usually bugs or animals, and try to get him to express himself by showing off his skills of knowing SO MUCH about bugs and animals. I have truly enjoyed my time with this child, and look forward to many more interactions as my involvement grows in the classroom.

            Today I realized the importance of practicing a lockdown drill. Don’t panic, we did not have a real-life incident, however, if we had not practiced, I honestly think that our students would not have known what to do! We made sure that the students understood the severity of a lockdown, and why one shall occur. I have mixed feelings about this situation. I completely agree that there are bad people in this world that could compromise a school, therefore the students should be prepared. However, I remember back in my elementary school days that when we practiced a lockdown, I freaked out because I really did not understand what was going on. Because of this, I tried to make sure that the students were relaxed, but listening, to what was going on. I also realized that when you have a classroom full of 31 children, there are not very many places to hide!! We did our best, and I was the pretend intruder trying to see in the classroom, and I was not able to see, nor hear, any of the students! So success was our result, and I believe that the students really understand the severity of the situation if one occurs and the importance of listening.

            Lastly, this week I have realized the importance of starting a new day with a fresh new outlook. I’m not going to lie, this week has been a little rough with the class being chatter boxes in their own worlds! However, I see that the next day, they have forgotten about the day before, and come in with a smile on their faces ready to learn and make better decisions. It is always such a joy to me to hear them come in during the morning with a big “good morning Miss Denly”. Those sweet voices make me realize that I am doing what I was meant to do. Some students come up to me on a regular basis telling me something random from horseback riding the day before to what they had for breakfast. While I understand that they cannot come up to me every morning, and surely not everyone can walk up to my desk because there are 31 of them and we would have a line out the door, but I really enjoy their little comments on what they want me to know about what they did or how they are feeling. I have learned that the more you let a student talk to you without interruption, the more you learn about that student, not only academically, but emotionally. In my classroom in the future, I want to establish time during my day where I have students just come talk to me. I have heard about teachers who have done this in the past, and the classroom community really grew because the students felt comfortable. By arranging time during the day for a student to have one-on-one attention from a teacher, I believe that the student will benefit greatly. I know the time during the day is precious minutes, and there is not extra time, however, by making this a priority, I believe that I will be able to fit this in a schedule!! I look forward to my future classroom and any suggestions that anyone has!!

Reflections left off of last Monday's post!

Monday, August 22- Friday, August 26.

            Developing into a dependable teacher is my goal by all means. Because of this, I am trying to reflect on the various aspects of teaching and learn from these reflections.

One way that I wanted to try to reflect on my teaching is to try to list everyone in my classroom. I was able to successfully do this, and last names too!, but I wanted to see if there was a reason why I listed the children in the way that I did. I would put the list on here, but I did not want to have the children’s names on the Internet, even if it was just the first names! So, by reflecting on what I saw by the way that I listed them, I think that I interact pretty regularly with all of the students, even though I realize that the “top students” were the ones that I thought of first. I also thought of the ones that I have had to deal with the most throughout the week as far as behavior. With all that said, I believe that I have created a positive relationship with all of my students thus far and cannot wait to get to know them better! I have learned something new every day, some times too much! : )

I also took time to focus on what was being said/who was talking through a five minute interact with a group of students during reading time. I realized that students have a ton to say!! The students were doing most of the talking, leading the discussion about the book that we were reading, and even the quiet ones were responding to the discussion. I was beeping in giving my thoughts as well, but I was really surprised by these 4^th graders and their abilities to keep a discussion continuing. I will definitely be keeping this in my mind as I continue my teaching development.

            Today I just wanted to reflect on the day as a whole. Fridays are crazy, that is for sure. I have come to love Fridays because students are excited for the weekend; therefore they are mostly happy and smiling. There are occasional students that do not care for the weekend as much as others, but altogether, Fridays are enjoyable days! I look forward to the remaining Fridays that I have with these students. I love when the students walk out of the room smiling and excited, telling everyone to have a good weekend. I especially miss these students over the weekend!