Weeks (1)9 and 10 (or 20): The other side of the teacher's desk!

For the first of those two weeks, I was able to plan everything and teach it all by myself! I really learned how lucky I was back with the 1st grade team... CT2 said that it's really rare for a teaching team to plan all together like that! It was kind of exciting to do it all, though, too. I got to plan all 15 centers for the week, plus all the other subjects, and then my CT2 looked it over to make sure it would all go smoothly. :-)

It went really well! She was gone for part of the morning on Monday because of the talent show, but it was totally fine. I got to think of a few cool activities for my guided reading groups, too!

We also got to start an end-of-the-year countdown - "Off to Palombi!"

For this math unit, since it was our last unit test, I told all the students that my goal was for every single one of them to get a "C" or higher -- quite an accomplishment for this math class! I've realized that I work best with small groups, so I did that a lot this week. Thursday, test day, I even told them that I would be in the classroom during recess in case any of them wanted to go over anything. 2 students chose to stay, and I think it really helped them! They got high Bs!! And... EVERY STUDENT GOT A "C" OR BETTER!!! I was SO thrilled! I mean, I was lucky that the unit wasn't too difficult, because most of them remembered cross-multiplication from last year, but still!!! When I graded those tests, you'd have been hard-pressed to find a happier teacher :-)

Week 10/20 began the wind-down part of the year. CT2 started back in, and the units all wound down. All the students got Cs or better on their Ancient Rome test, too!!! We got to watch a movie, and do a cumulative review for math, just to see what they remembered.Wednesday my CT2 had to run for a quick doctor's appointment during specials and lunch, and her appointment ended up running a little bit over, so I got to start the second part of the day on my own. Again, it went well! She has her class so well set up that they know exactly what's expected of them, and just continue to act the way as they do when she's in the room. In math we learned to play Jeopardy with this awesome system that she has, and Friday morning the students performed short plays. :-) All in all, another good week!

Report cards are done, and I got to help with those too! Who knew so much went into that?! AND I thought I lost them all when I was on the last report card, boy was that a mini-heart attack! The sixth graders had an awards ceremony on Wed. night, which I went to. It was very nicely done :-)


It's hard to believe my student teaching experience is almost over. I've had a lot of ups and downs, and I've learned more than I ever imagined I would. It's so funny what you learn when you're on the other side of the teacher's desk! ;-)

This next week is short and sweet -- no school Monday, and lots of fun for the rest of the week! For Tuesday, my CT2 said I should go visit 1st grade for a bit, so I'm excited about that, too!!! Well, that's all for now, time to write my reflection paper for the student teaching seminar!

This is the bulletin board I made for our Ancient Rome unit! My CT2 made the map, I did the word play ;-)