Tuesday my CT2 was gone at a meeting for one of the many committees she's on -- I'll actually get to go to a couple of those meetings, which is exciting for a nerd like me!! ;-)
There weren't enough subs available, so the assistant in her room (I'll call her TA) was the sub for the day (don't worry, she has her sub license!). It was nice to work with her, since she knew the kids, but also let me take care of the things I wanted to do. The day went really well, too! The kids were chatty, and I was probably more lenient than my CT2 would have been... my biggest challenge is definitely going to be being authoritative. Otherwise, no real issues! The students worked on their plays, and I re-learned how to tie a tie (some of them had ties as props, but no one knew how to tie them!). For centers, CT2 had accidentally copied the same Word Work centers they'd done last week. That was one of those moments I had to think on my feet! I asked TA for the Word Work book, looked up the next unit, and wrote everything out on a Publisher document, then projected that on the whiteboard so the students could copy it. After that, I checked the files, and found the master copies of the unit we needed, and went to make copies of that while everyone was working. That way, only one set of students had to use the handwritten ones, but they could still work instead of waiting for me to come back with copies. :-) I was pretty happy with the result!
Next, the students had a 25-minute free write. They were supposed to write for the entire 25 minutes, but many students had difficulty with that. I enjoyed reading what they wrote, though, because they wrote about their luckiest or unluckiest day. I got to know them a bit better by reading their responses! After that, we had time for a read-aloud. Then it was specials and lunch.
After lunch I taught a quick language arts lesson, then headed off to another 6th grade teacher's room to do a math lesson! That also went pretty well, I was so excited! The students were not as excited as I was about graphing, but I don't think many students are ever as excited over material as I am ;-) They all got at least 3/4 on their "Quick Check," so I thought they understood it, but when we did the fun activity, some of them still had problems... and a few missed the graphing questions on the test... so much for thinking I'd somehow managed to get through to them all! That was just idealistic thinking... ;-)
After that, it was getting ready for the end of the day, then bus duty! And the day was over...
Wednesday morning I had to rush to get together a grammar activity, since I'd forgotten to the night before. That was a bad choice. I found a worksheet that looked like it'd be good, but after doing it myself while the students were working on it, I found out it was AWFUL. I felt like it ruined everything we worked on today, and it would have been SO discouraging if I graded it and handed it back. I talke to CT2 about it, and she agreed that I could just let it go, and do another lesson on the same topic tomorrow... using a worksheet that was MUCH better, and that I'd created myself.
One of the students from the math class I taught yesterday came in to give me a high five, which was funny! He'd asked if they'd get extra credit for the fun worksheets, and I said no, but I could give him a gold star, a thumbs up, or a high five. Hilarious that he actually took me up on it!
CT2 is one of the teachers in charge of the talent show, so I went to help with auditions after school. That was right up my ally! I had SUCH a fun time, that's something I'd love to do as a teacher :-)
Thursday was a pretty normal day. Reviewed the grammar from yesterday, had a math test... open house and book fair were that night, but my CT2 told me not to wear myself out (which I definitely have a tendancy to do). Thank goodness for her, otherwise I would have been running around like crazy that night!!!!
Friday was relaxing. Since it was the day before spring break, we watched a movie... OK, they watched a movie and I graded their math and science tests. ;-) Grading written response questions are very difficult!! I asked my CT2 so many questions, it probably would have been faster for her to just grade them, but I'm so glad I got the experience. Next time it should be easier :-)
I've also been working on this research skills unit plan all week. It's a crazy amount of work! I'm going to feel SO accomplished when it's finished! My CT2 went over what I had so far, and I learned a lot about what I was doing... things that work perfectly in my head aren't always possible due to scheduling and resources... crazy crazy crazy. It's much different to do a unit plan for an actual classroom than it is to do one for an imaginary classroom like we did in all our college classes! ;-) Welcome to real-life teaching, Miss Wodrich!
My reading list has been expanded in 6th grade -- I've read the entire Hunger Games series, plus a few other books, and am now onto one of my CT2's favorites!! These books are a nice relief after working on the unit plan!! ...and working on the unit plan is my plan for the rest of spring break. Let the "break" begin!!!
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