Today was so great!! I was so happy to see all the children in Mrs. Spencer’s class and they were so happy to have a visitor. During the time I am there, the students are going to be in literacy activities which will be very helpful when I have to teach a lesson. While I was there, the kids couldn’t wait to play with me and they were all pulling me every which way. Mrs. Spencer is extremely helpful and she already gave me a list of the students, all the literacy words they are working on, and their specials schedule. I think working with her is going to be a great learning experience and I can’t wait to see the kids again on Thursday.
My second day was pretty similar to my first. Lots of excitement was expressed between the students and myself. My favorite part of the day was when one little boy looked at me and said, “You’re in second grade, aren’t you?!?” I just laughed and explained to him that I was in twelfth grade and then all the students began telling me about all the different grades their siblings were in. As I left the class, one boy came up to hug me and he was so cute. I can’t wait to spend both days of school next week with the kids!
As I walked in class today, all the students were getting to vote for a character to be president from the book Duck for President. Each student had to wait their turn which gave me an eye opening experience that the younger age group has trouble with independent work. The kindergartners in Mrs. Spencer’s class were not able to focus on their work alone and they constantly needed a reminder that they must stay on task and work on their worksheet until the teacher called them over to vote. When I first walked in I could see the frustration in Mrs. Spencer’s face because of the behavior that has been displayed in the class. She was so happy to see me because she was having trouble gaining control of the students. We eventually got to work through the tough lesson plan and then the students broke out into their literacy centers where I read the book called Inside Out for a few of the students that asked me to. All in all, today was the first semi-rough day I had out on the field but it was a good experience to see how stressful the job can be sometimes.
Today in class the kids were a little hard to control but not as bad as Monday. She said she was concerned about the future because in the winter the kids won’t be allowed to go outside for recess so they will be extremely energetic. Mrs. Spencer had me take a group of kids to work on a numbers activities. Little did I know, choosing a group of five boys was not such a good idea. The boys were hard to handle because when it wasn’t their turn to roll the dice they began playing with their own set of dice since Mrs. Spencer gave me a set for all the kids. I could have handled this situation differently by only giving out one set of dice and taking turns using the same dice so they weren’t rolling all over the floor. Since the activity was math related, all the boys wanted to tell me how high they could count and when one boy asked me if I wanted to hear how high he could count, I responded with after this activity but he proceeded to count to one hundred for me anyway. Today was a great opportunity for me to get hands on experience of what it is like to work with a small group of kids.
In class today the day was just average. I continued the same activity with 5 different students but it took us forever because the kids were not rolling the numbers we needed and the students were getting bored after a while. After that I helped build trains with one of the boys which then attracted more people but it was good because I got to build more relationships with some of the shyer kids.
Class on Thursday was fun but the new group of 5 students took forever to get through the lesson because they kept talking and none of them were rolling the numbers we needed, which wasn’t their fault. The other kids continued with their free time and when it came time to clean up, the room was a mess! Mrs. Spencer tried to help them out by reminding them to put things back as they were done with them and to not pull a bunch of toys out in order to make clean up time quicker, but they did no listen. One of my favorite things that Mrs. Spencer does is she plays an alphabet song as the students clean up and each student has to try to be cleaned up before the song ends. This helps the students remain calm and focused when cleaning up their area.
On Tuesday the twenty ninth, I did not have any activities to do with the students so I just interacted with them and did activities. I got to see how dramatic some of the students can be when they don't get their way. One girl just cries all the time if she does not get to do the activity that she wanted. It must be hard for Mrs. Spencer to deal with the dramatic students. Also, one girl got upset because she did not fill out one of the reading sheets so she could not get a prize. She told me how her mom and dad can't read so she has no one to help her. I felt bad for the girl but I was not sure how to handle the situation so I brought it up to Mrs. Spencer.
On Thursday the first of December, I got to help the students put ornaments on their tree. They have an elf on the shelf that brought a tree to their class and the boys and girls were so happy. The boys and girls kept placing so many ornaments on the tree and they were not listening to me so thankfully Mrs. Spencer got involved. I could have handled the situation different if I knew all the kids names. It is so hard to be in a class with 24 students and you only know a few of their names. Mrs. Spencer is very understanding of this and she said it took her a few weeks to get to know all their names. That makes me feel a little better but I am still concerned for even when I become a teacher and I mix up the students names or if I have trouble remembering them.
Today was one of my most interesting days at my field experience. I got to see how crazy and stressful it is to be a substitute. Mrs. Spencer was not in class today so there was a sub and she was not the nicest. She seemed very stressed out and she had a lot of attitude towards the kids. The kids were definitely taking advantage of her and she was not applying the correct discipline methods, in fact, she was not using any discipline at all. Mrs. Spencer left her classroom rules and expectations binder empty, which gave the sub no direction or guide to help her throughout her day. As soon as I walked in the class, I could see the frustration and as I stepped in the classroom, I could see exactly why. The students were all out of their seats and running from station to station and carrying different objects all over the classroom. There was play dough in spots play dough should never be and blocks in students cubbies. One student even took the play dough into the bathroom and mixed all the colors under the sink, which caused a huge mess. The sub was furious but when I told her about the clip down behavior chart for the students to remind the students about their behavior, she simply said, “I didn’t get to the discipline part of the class yet.” Meanwhile, it was 1:30pm, which means school was more than halfway over and the class has gone wild. I tried to offer as much help as I could, since I am in the class more often than she is, but she didn’t seem to want my help; so at points I just continued to interact with the students. This really gave me insight of what it will be like when I first start off my teaching career. I am fully aware that in order to get a job, I may have to ‘get my foot in the door’ by substitute teaching for various age groups in a number of different schools.
Wednesday at field experience, I got to help a group of kids finish their worksheet from earlier in the day. I got to help some of them spell and some of them label the objects. This was very interesting because I got to see what skills some of the children still had to work on. It was frustrating to see how some of students do not pay attention and how they had such a short attention span. A few of the students worked faster than others which made this a great learning experience for me. Some of the students are very smart and they already know a few times tables and others are struggling to identify and write letters. This activity gave me the opportunity to see what levels each student is on which surprised me.
December 15th, I walked in the classroom and the children were working on another activity worksheet. I had the opportunity to work with a group of students to help them finish the activity. Mrs. Spencer’s daughter, Jessica Spencer, was there to help the students make a present for their parents. This would not have been possible without the help of Jess. That is just one of the many reasons why I believe her class size is way too large. Mrs. Spencer does not have the time to give each student the one on one attention that they need.
On Monday, Mrs. Spencer wanted me to continue working with a small group of students on a coloring sheet but when she couldn’t find it, she quickly had a backup plan. This showed me how important it was to always have a second option. The students in my group behaved very well and they all worked quickly so we had enough time to enjoy centers. The kids love to talk, especially when we are in the middle of our activity and I wish I knew how to get them back in focus a little better. Sometimes I struggle with getting them back on track.
On Tuesday, the students were just finishing up an activity before I took my small group and worked on a name activity. They were doing very well but there was one boy who took forever because he constantly wanted to tell me everything about his life. This a good but sometimes I need to get the students back on focus without being mean about it. I witnessed one of Mrs. Spencer's biggest discipline methods when two kids were pretending to kick the other student that was laying on the ground. They claimed to have just been playing around but Mrs. Spencer took this very serious and she made them both sit out for the rest of the time for centers. This was really good for me in order to see how Mrs. Spencer talks to the students and takes care of this kind of situation.
Today was the class party. It was so great to see the students out of their normal element and engaged in different, fun activities. I had such a great time watching them get up to dance to popular dance songs such as the whip and hit the quan. Also, it was exciting to see how many parents get involved and make an effort to be apart of their kids school life. One of the parents even spoke minimal English but she still attended the party and interacted with many of the students. Sometimes being in the classroom seems a little overwhelming for me but times like these make me really feel the reward of giving and teaching.
Tuesday when I went to class, the names of the students that completed the activity I have been working on got lost. This taught me that teachers make mistakes too but some times you just have to improvise. I then had a few of the students that I was sure they did not do the activity. It was very good because one of the students really needed help in this English area.
Wednesday when I went to class I just spent time playing with the kids and getting to know them better. They say some pretty funny things some times and it’s so interesting to get to see all the different personalities. Mrs. Spencer ended literacy centers early because she knew that there was going to be a fire drill. She reminded them of the procedures because last time they misbehaved.
Thursday has been one of my biggest learning experiences while at my field experience yet. I got to sit down with two of the students in Mrs. Spencer’s class that struggle most. This was a great opportunity for me to actually see what level of learning the students are on. I loved being included in the learning lesson and being able to help out with the actual school work. I love going to my field experience but I feel like I am only there for the “play time” so I don’t have many opportunities to see how Mrs. Spencer actually teaches. I think I am going to talk to Mrs. Spencer about coming twice or three times a week next semester from the beginning of block 9/10 until 3:00pm because I have senior privilege. This will give me an opportunity to observe and interact with the students during the lesson portion of the class.
On Tuesday, I went to Mrs. Spencer’s class and helped the students finish up a science lesson. The lesson was pretty basic and it helped the kids decide which words (and pictures) were science tools and which ones were toys. The only problem was that some of the students could not read. She made accommodations by putting her example up on the board so they could look at hers to find the picture. This is hard for Mrs. Spencer because some students are unacceptable of certain objectives while others are ready to move on. After the activity, the kids split up into their literacy centers.
On Wednesday, I got to watch and engage in a lesson with the kids. They made pigs with wigs on them and they had to write a sentence about the pig. Mrs. Spencer started the kids off with “The pig with the wig wears the wig because…” and the students had to finish it. This was frustrating for the kids because Mrs. Spencer said we were not allowed to help them spell the words. She wanted them to use “kids spelling” when filling out the rest of the sentence. This is a good idea for Mrs. Spencer because if she always gives them the answers, she will never be able to see their progress.
First classroom blog.
ReplyDeleteToday was so great!! I was so happy to see all the children in Mrs. Spencer’s class and they were so happy to have a visitor. During the time I am there, the students are going to be in literacy activities which will be very helpful when I have to teach a lesson. While I was there, the kids couldn’t wait to play with me and they were all pulling me every which way. Mrs. Spencer is extremely helpful and she already gave me a list of the students, all the literacy words they are working on, and their specials schedule. I think working with her is going to be a great learning experience and I can’t wait to see the kids again on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteMy second day was pretty similar to my first. Lots of excitement was expressed between the students and myself. My favorite part of the day was when one little boy looked at me and said, “You’re in second grade, aren’t you?!?” I just laughed and explained to him that I was in twelfth grade and then all the students began telling me about all the different grades their siblings were in. As I left the class, one boy came up to hug me and he was so cute. I can’t wait to spend both days of school next week with the kids!
ReplyDeleteAs I walked in class today, all the students were getting to vote for a character to be president from the book Duck for President. Each student had to wait their turn which gave me an eye opening experience that the younger age group has trouble with independent work. The kindergartners in Mrs. Spencer’s class were not able to focus on their work alone and they constantly needed a reminder that they must stay on task and work on their worksheet until the teacher called them over to vote. When I first walked in I could see the frustration in Mrs. Spencer’s face because of the behavior that has been displayed in the class. She was so happy to see me because she was having trouble gaining control of the students. We eventually got to work through the tough lesson plan and then the students broke out into their literacy centers where I read the book called Inside Out for a few of the students that asked me to. All in all, today was the first semi-rough day I had out on the field but it was a good experience to see how stressful the job can be sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHow did she eventually regain control? How could she have handled it differently?
DeleteToday in class the kids were a little hard to control but not as bad as Monday. She said she was concerned about the future because in the winter the kids won’t be allowed to go outside for recess so they will be extremely energetic. Mrs. Spencer had me take a group of kids to work on a numbers activities. Little did I know, choosing a group of five boys was not such a good idea. The boys were hard to handle because when it wasn’t their turn to roll the dice they began playing with their own set of dice since Mrs. Spencer gave me a set for all the kids. I could have handled this situation differently by only giving out one set of dice and taking turns using the same dice so they weren’t rolling all over the floor. Since the activity was math related, all the boys wanted to tell me how high they could count and when one boy asked me if I wanted to hear how high he could count, I responded with after this activity but he proceeded to count to one hundred for me anyway. Today was a great opportunity for me to get hands on experience of what it is like to work with a small group of kids.
ReplyDeleteIn class today the day was just average. I continued the same activity with 5 different students but it took us forever because the kids were not rolling the numbers we needed and the students were getting bored after a while. After that I helped build trains with one of the boys which then attracted more people but it was good because I got to build more relationships with some of the shyer kids.
ReplyDeleteClass on Thursday was fun but the new group of 5 students took forever to get through the lesson because they kept talking and none of them were rolling the numbers we needed, which wasn’t their fault. The other kids continued with their free time and when it came time to clean up, the room was a mess! Mrs. Spencer tried to help them out by reminding them to put things back as they were done with them and to not pull a bunch of toys out in order to make clean up time quicker, but they did no listen. One of my favorite things that Mrs. Spencer does is she plays an alphabet song as the students clean up and each student has to try to be cleaned up before the song ends. This helps the students remain calm and focused when cleaning up their area.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday the twenty ninth, I did not have any activities to do with the students so I just interacted with them and did activities. I got to see how dramatic some of the students can be when they don't get their way. One girl just cries all the time if she does not get to do the activity that she wanted. It must be hard for Mrs. Spencer to deal with the dramatic students. Also, one girl got upset because she did not fill out one of the reading sheets so she could not get a prize. She told me how her mom and dad can't read so she has no one to help her. I felt bad for the girl but I was not sure how to handle the situation so I brought it up to Mrs. Spencer.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday the first of December, I got to help the students put ornaments on their tree. They have an elf on the shelf that brought a tree to their class and the boys and girls were so happy. The boys and girls kept placing so many ornaments on the tree and they were not listening to me so thankfully Mrs. Spencer got involved. I could have handled the situation different if I knew all the kids names. It is so hard to be in a class with 24 students and you only know a few of their names. Mrs. Spencer is very understanding of this and she said it took her a few weeks to get to know all their names. That makes me feel a little better but I am still concerned for even when I become a teacher and I mix up the students names or if I have trouble remembering them.
ReplyDeleteToday was one of my most interesting days at my field experience. I got to see how crazy and stressful it is to be a substitute. Mrs. Spencer was not in class today so there was a sub and she was not the nicest. She seemed very stressed out and she had a lot of attitude towards the kids. The kids were definitely taking advantage of her and she was not applying the correct discipline methods, in fact, she was not using any discipline at all. Mrs. Spencer left her classroom rules and expectations binder empty, which gave the sub no direction or guide to help her throughout her day. As soon as I walked in the class, I could see the frustration and as I stepped in the classroom, I could see exactly why. The students were all out of their seats and running from station to station and carrying different objects all over the classroom. There was play dough in spots play dough should never be and blocks in students cubbies. One student even took the play dough into the bathroom and mixed all the colors under the sink, which caused a huge mess. The sub was furious but when I told her about the clip down behavior chart for the students to remind the students about their behavior, she simply said, “I didn’t get to the discipline part of the class yet.” Meanwhile, it was 1:30pm, which means school was more than halfway over and the class has gone wild. I tried to offer as much help as I could, since I am in the class more often than she is, but she didn’t seem to want my help; so at points I just continued to interact with the students. This really gave me insight of what it will be like when I first start off my teaching career. I am fully aware that in order to get a job, I may have to ‘get my foot in the door’ by substitute teaching for various age groups in a number of different schools.
ReplyDeleteWednesday at field experience, I got to help a group of kids finish their worksheet from earlier in the day. I got to help some of them spell and some of them label the objects. This was very interesting because I got to see what skills some of the children still had to work on. It was frustrating to see how some of students do not pay attention and how they had such a short attention span. A few of the students worked faster than others which made this a great learning experience for me. Some of the students are very smart and they already know a few times tables and others are struggling to identify and write letters. This activity gave me the opportunity to see what levels each student is on which surprised me.
ReplyDeleteDecember 15th, I walked in the classroom and the children were working on another activity worksheet. I had the opportunity to work with a group of students to help them finish the activity. Mrs. Spencer’s daughter, Jessica Spencer, was there to help the students make a present for their parents. This would not have been possible without the help of Jess. That is just one of the many reasons why I believe her class size is way too large. Mrs. Spencer does not have the time to give each student the one on one attention that they need.
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, Mrs. Spencer wanted me to continue working with a small group of students on a coloring sheet but when she couldn’t find it, she quickly had a backup plan. This showed me how important it was to always have a second option. The students in my group behaved very well and they all worked quickly so we had enough time to enjoy centers. The kids love to talk, especially when we are in the middle of our activity and I wish I knew how to get them back in focus a little better. Sometimes I struggle with getting them back on track.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday, the students were just finishing up an activity before I took my small group and worked on a name activity. They were doing very well but there was one boy who took forever because he constantly wanted to tell me everything about his life. This a good but sometimes I need to get the students back on focus without being mean about it. I witnessed one of Mrs. Spencer's biggest discipline methods when two kids were pretending to kick the other student that was laying on the ground. They claimed to have just been playing around but Mrs. Spencer took this very serious and she made them both sit out for the rest of the time for centers. This was really good for me in order to see how Mrs. Spencer talks to the students and takes care of this kind of situation.
ReplyDeleteToday was the class party. It was so great to see the students out of their normal element and engaged in different, fun activities. I had such a great time watching them get up to dance to popular dance songs such as the whip and hit the quan. Also, it was exciting to see how many parents get involved and make an effort to be apart of their kids school life. One of the parents even spoke minimal English but she still attended the party and interacted with many of the students. Sometimes being in the classroom seems a little overwhelming for me but times like these make me really feel the reward of giving and teaching.
ReplyDeleteTuesday when I went to class, the names of the students that completed the activity I have been working on got lost. This taught me that teachers make mistakes too but some times you just have to improvise. I then had a few of the students that I was sure they did not do the activity. It was very good because one of the students really needed help in this English area.
ReplyDeleteWednesday when I went to class I just spent time playing with the kids and getting to know them better. They say some pretty funny things some times and it’s so interesting to get to see all the different personalities. Mrs. Spencer ended literacy centers early because she knew that there was going to be a fire drill. She reminded them of the procedures because last time they misbehaved.
ReplyDeleteThursday has been one of my biggest learning experiences while at my field experience yet. I got to sit down with two of the students in Mrs. Spencer’s class that struggle most. This was a great opportunity for me to actually see what level of learning the students are on. I loved being included in the learning lesson and being able to help out with the actual school work. I love going to my field experience but I feel like I am only there for the “play time” so I don’t have many opportunities to see how Mrs. Spencer actually teaches. I think I am going to talk to Mrs. Spencer about coming twice or three times a week next semester from the beginning of block 9/10 until 3:00pm because I have senior privilege. This will give me an opportunity to observe and interact with the students during the lesson portion of the class.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday, I went to Mrs. Spencer’s class and helped the students finish up a science lesson. The lesson was pretty basic and it helped the kids decide which words (and pictures) were science tools and which ones were toys. The only problem was that some of the students could not read. She made accommodations by putting her example up on the board so they could look at hers to find the picture. This is hard for Mrs. Spencer because some students are unacceptable of certain objectives while others are ready to move on. After the activity, the kids split up into their literacy centers.
ReplyDeleteOn Wednesday, I got to watch and engage in a lesson with the kids. They made pigs with wigs on them and they had to write a sentence about the pig. Mrs. Spencer started the kids off with “The pig with the wig wears the wig because…” and the students had to finish it. This was frustrating for the kids because Mrs. Spencer said we were not allowed to help them spell the words. She wanted them to use “kids spelling” when filling out the rest of the sentence. This is a good idea for Mrs. Spencer because if she always gives them the answers, she will never be able to see their progress.
ReplyDelete