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 ;-)

Week (1)8: On my own!

This week I've been teaching all day. My CT2 has been leaving the room to run errands for her many committees and whatnot, and it's a nice feeling. I feel like she's confident enough in my ability to leave while I keep things going. It's funny, because I'm sure my CT1 would have done the same thing, if my supervisor hadn't at first said that our CTs should always be with us!

My supervisor also came in again. My new word this time was "wonderful!" Oh well, I'll just keep working on it...

Wednesday morning I had an interview, so I wasn't there for a good portion of the day. I got the job, too!!! :-D Thanks to PSH, CT1, Mr. CT1, and CT2 for all their help!!!!

Thursday the 6th graders started presenting their research projects, and I am SO happy with them!!!! But now I understand why MJW (one of my professors) always says "Don't assign anything you don't want to grade," because I'm not particularly looking forward to grading their papers... I was definitely more excited about the presentations. I did end up having a good time grading one of the reading assignments I gave them, so I'm definitely trying to remember that advice!

My CT2 has been having me get more involved in meetings, such as collaboration and team meetings. I'm still not quite comfortable in that position, though, probably because I don't interact with the other staff members as much as I did with the rest of the 1st grade team.

I'm pretty happy with the result of Week (1)8, which is a great feeling!! I feel so accomplished, because I've had to do a lot more work, and I had a difficult time -- making it through that is a good feeling, and I'm feeling happier in 6th grade finally!!! I still do feel like I'm more of a natural in the younger grades, but it's nice to know that I can make it work with the older ones as well!!!

And now, onto week (1)9!!!

Weeks (1)6 and (1)7, and the first day of (1)8... just a little late! ;-)

I feel bad for not updating this as often anymore, but then I realize that it's not necessarily a bad thing -- it just means that I'm spending more time on the most important things, such as trying to keep up in the classroom! ;-)

There have been some interesting moments in 6th grade... one student is writing about dreams for his research report. Apparently in the past, people used to think that dreams were messages sent by the gods. This student thought it would be perfectly acceptable to write somewhat offensive sententances about the "fake" gods in his research paper... I'm not looking forward to the social studies section about Christianity in Ancient Rome with this student!

Behavior is a bigger problem, as well. I'm much more nervous to handle it here than I was in first grade... I feel like there's more ways for things to go wrong when I try to help work it out. One student refuses to participate occassionally, and I feel lost trying to get him on track... especially because he's refusing to do what he thinks is unnecessary, since he understands the concepts perfectly well. On his last math test, he even wrote "100%" on the top of his paper, showing his confidence (to put it nicely) in his knowledge. I can understand where he's coming from, and I wish I could make it more meaningful for him, I just don't have the time, energy, or knowledge to put that in place. Luckily, my CT2 has a couple of options to help me out!

I've also discovered that it's easier for me to act with the first graders than it is with the sixth graders!! A couple lessons have called for skits, and I just can't make it work. It's always fun trying, though :-)

My supervisor came on the Wed. of week (1)6. It was not quite as easy as my first observed lesson in first grade, and he actually had suggestions for improvement (which is, of course, expected - my first grade supervisor didn't really ever make any, though)! That lesson I had my first moment when I actually saw the light bulb go off for a few students, which was so exciting!!

I got to go to the 'final' scheduling committee meeting, which was kind of ridiculous... the decisions made almost overrode everything they did at the last meeting, so everyone's schedule drafts had to be redone... but oh well. I LOVE the whole committee thing, so I enjoyed it anyway.

Last Monday I got to do my own little creative lesson -- whatever I wanted to do. I was SO excited, because I remembered an activity that I'd done in 6th grade, so I was going to share it with them. Unfortunately, they'd already done something similar in 5th grade, so they weren't as excited about it as I was... too bad...

Tuesday we watched "Oceans," since Wednesday we were going to see "African Cats." Wednesday was my first school field trip! I LOVED the movie, and since I'm used to going on field trips with theatre and dance camp, I felt much more in my element. I've got the head count thing down! ;-)

In Social Studies we're doing an Ancient Rome unit. CT2 found a cool webquest to use in addition to the book, so she edited it to fit our needs, since we don't have access to computers all the time. I got to make a bulletin board for the map that CT2 made -- I titled it " 'Roman' Around." :-D I keep forgetting to take a picture, but I'll post one eventually :-)

I started with guided reading groups, and was able to make the final test for the Glory Field group. I'm nervous but excited! Their research presentations are going well, too, and they're due on Thursday. I can't wait to see them all! I'm concerned about grading them, because I had this nice rubric made, but I feel like so much has changed and I just can't keep track of it all...

Tomorrow my supervisor is coming for his second visit. Hopefully I don't say "OK" too much -- that's my new word for 6th grade... that and "fantastic!" Haha. Oh well... it's late, here's to hoping for the best!!!

Week (1)4 & Week (1)5... right?

Here's the problem with not updating every week... I forget what happens. As far as I can remember, the rest of my 4th week in 6th grade went fairly well. I got to attend a Literacy Training on Tuesday with my CT2, which involved giving the Fountas and Pinnell assessment. I actually really enjoyed that one -- doing assessments like that is fun!!!
Wednesday we had an initial IEP meeting for one of the students, which took almost 2 hours! It was pretty crazy, but very nice to see before I have to be involved in all the discussion and decisions.
This week we did a Grammar Review product to wrap up the parts of speech that we've been working on :-) I gave them an option to make a song, skit, review game, or pamphlet, working with up to 3 other students. I LOVED the results! They all did well (including at least 5 different parts of speech), and were very creative!!
Math has been an adventure... trying to make sure I'm explaining everything well while still fitting it into the short time we have... same with the research skills unit. I started out so excited for it, but I didn't realize how little they would know compared to what I thought they should know... it's been kind of frustrating figuring it out, since my plans have had to change so many times. I guess that's just something I have to get used to -- not everything can be perfect the first time!

Week 5 in 6th grade had me starting the reading mini-lessons, in addition to language arts and math. All that's left after this is science/social studies (which switches depending on the unit) and guided reading groups. I was feeling overwhelmed, so I talked with my CT2 and we decided that I would wait to take on guided reading until the week after next. It worked out well, since next week they're finishing up they're unit on historical fiction, anyway.
I had fun with the reading mini-lessons -- reading aloud is one of my favorite parts of the day! ;-)j
This week was also a math test, so I learned some ways we could review for that. I liked figuring it all out, though it was confusing at first. I was nervous about not having the centers exactly mapped out and partners exactly matched up, but my CT2 reassured me that it would work out. I was going to take small groups to review material while the rest of them were doing their center games. At the end I had time to ask anyone who just wanted to review anything to come to the back by me to ask questions. I didn't know that any of them would come, but to my surprise, there was a fairly large group! I really feel like it helped to have those small groups -- a great example of how much help CTs can be!! :-)
After the math test on Wednesday, my CT2 had a game for the students to play. Unfortunately, they got bored with it just 10 minutes before the math period was over... so she said I should intro the next lesson. It was uncomfortable for me to try to do that without any preparation, since I'd been under the impression that the entire introduction lesson for the next unit would take the hour and 10 mins on Tuesday... I was just confused. Oh well, these are the kind of kinks to work out now, instead of my first year of teaching with no one in the room to help me. Wednesday we also had a collaboration meeting to talk about the upcoming topics and how to meet the needs of the students with IEPs.
Thursday afternoon I got to see the 1st graders again for their music concert that the whole school was able to watch, and I was beyond excited!!! I miss them a lot, but I realize that 6th grade is growing on me, too. I know I'll miss those kids when it's time to go!
No school Friday or Monday (today), so 2 4-day weeks in a row--YAY!!! I needed that SO bad, hopefully this will help me last through the year. At least I still enjoy going to school every day, so I know I'm in the right career :-)

In other news, I turned in my very first job application, thanks to PSH's help and guidance, along with the help of my family, CT1, Mr. CT1, and CT2. I feel so extremely lucky to be surrounded with people who are willing to help me succeed -- I can't wait until the day when I can pass along that help to someone else!!! :-)

Week (1)3 & Week (1)4: Day 1

I've been feeling stressed, and I feel guilty for complaining all the time! But the stress is getting to me, probably due to lack of sleep. Note to all you future student teachers out there: DO NOT WORK AND STUDENT TEACH AT THE SAME TIME!! It is as hard as they warn you! Thank goodness I love student teaching and my job, or I'd have given up!

Anyway, last week I got to start teaching my unit plan -- YAY! Unfortunately, the first day back from spring break, technology decided that it was going to be rude to my CT2 and I... Fortunately, it got fixed in time for the end of my lesson, so I still got to show Prezi to the students! We had to do quite a bit of rearranging my original timeline for the unit plan to fit it into the "real world" schedule, but it's working out well so far! I didn't realize how little 6th graders knew about searching the internet, though, so I wish I'd had time to do a mini lesson on that. They seemed to really enjoy the activity for primary vs. secondary sources, even though it was simplistic. I had them hold up the correct card (primary or secondary) in response to the source I showed them on the Prezi. They asked me to come up with more! I was happy that they were happy with something I did! ;-)

Wednesday we had a sub because my CT2 had a committee meeting, so I got to do a bit more teaching, as well as lead a guided reading group. It was fun, and I realized that I am getting more comfortable in 6th grade, finally :-) Despite being comfortable, my lessons are still very choppy, but I'll figure it out! My favorite lesson was when I put my acting skills to the test Tuesday, trying to convince the kids that the tree octopus was real - LOL! Thank goodness my CT2 was there to help along the gig, I would have burst out laughing and given up without her acting skills!!!

Wednesday afternoon was hard -- one of the students (male) was walking to the bus crying, so I pulled him aside. I was so worried, because it's got to take a good amount to make a 6th grade boy cry at school. I'd seen his football on the floor, and thought I saw another student push him, so I told the other student to keep his hands to himself, then tried to talk to the crying boy. He didn't want to talk much, though, possibly because he was scared that if he got the others in trouble, they would cause more trouble for him... after seeing them off to the bus, I went to the Lead Teacher (LT), since my CT2 wasn't there to talk me through what I could do/should have done. The LT called his house to let them know that something had happened, but he didn't want to talk about it. She told me to keep an eye on the boy tomorrow to see if he was OK, and she would let me know if she heard anything. I felt better after talking with her, since I knew that I didn't completely mess up by not getting the information out of him... situations like this are hard...

Thursday I got to go with my CT2 to a committee meeting! They're working on a schedule for the entire district, that includes an "intervention" time -- that's a time for no new instruction, as well as a time for students who need extra services to get pulled. It's very helpful, since then the students don't miss as much instructional time, and teachers don't have to worry about them falling even farther behind. I had no idea how hard it would be to plan a schedule like that!! There are SO many factors that go into it... it was interesting to see the debate about how much time each grade would get for each subject... of course science and social studies got the least, but not because anyone thought it wasn't important... it's just MORE important for students to be able to read and write. Even though in college classes, I was totally on the side of giving more time to those topics, I've kind of switched my views. Yes, science and social studies are important, but how can students learn those if they can't read and comprehend the information, or write about their findings? There's just not enough time in a school day for everything...

Today was my first math lesson. As I got started, the principal walked in with his iPad and sat down to observe! I'm pretty sure I said "Are you serious?!" out loud, oops... like I wasn't nervous enough doing my first math lesson... oh boy. How embarrassing. The lesson went pretty well, at first. I had them in groups to discuss some of the opening things, and they seemed to understand... then we got deeper in the lesson, and I felt like I lost any power I had to explain the concepts clearly. There was just so much involved! Then there was this whole debate about a square being a rectangle but a rectangle not being a square... and it was just rough. I got some feedback from my CT2 after the lesson, about making transitions smoother within the lessons. I think that will help me feel better as I'm teaching, so that I don't get flustered and lose my train of thought or momentum. She also said that I could have spent more time on that rectangle/square debate, because students don't get enough time to REALLY think about things nowadays. That debate would definitely have gotten them thinking! Oh well, I'm sure there will be more opportunities like that!

Now I'm off to try to relax for a bit, because there's no way I can improve my teaching when I'm up to my ears in stress, and that is definitely not fair to those students!

Week (1)2: Getting in the Groove!

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!!!

Week (1)1 & Day 1: Week (1)2 -- Sixth grade isn't too scary! ;-)

All week I was hard at work on my Unit Plan. I feel like it's coming together slowly, but I'll have it finished before spring break is over. Just have to get through this week! Hopefully I can get a lot done...

I'm using Prezi to teach them the research skills, and then I'm also going to teach them how to use Prezi to make their final presentation! I'm definitely excited for it :-)

On Wednesday, I finally felt comfortable enough to step in and work with the kids. They were dissecting owl pellets, and it was hilarious!!! My CT2 let them use their senses while it was still wrapped in foil to figure out what it was... then had them unwrap it... then showed a video of what an owl pellet REALLY is. I swear, their reaction was PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!! One student even looked at her and said "What did I ever do to you???" Too funny!

Wednesday was a big day. I also got to sit in on a collaboration meeting for students who had IEPs. Once I finish the unit plan, I'll have to share it with the team to get feedback about how to fit it to the students' needs.

Wednesday afternoon I went to a 5th grade classroom and taught a math lesson! I was THRILLED with how it went! I was more nervous doing that than I was when I started teaching in 1st grade, but once I got going I felt much better. I was even able to stray a little from the written-out lesson when I saw that they needed more help understanding one of the concepts. It was very smooth :-) One of the students in there was super funny. When I left he came up to me to shake my hand and said something like "I appreciate you teaching our lesson. Good luck in 6th grade." (or something like that...).

Thursday was an early release and conferences. I went back to 1st grade for conferences, since I knew those students and could actually understand how to translate what happens in the classroom for parents. It was a good experience, and I got to catch up with my first CT :-) I went back to see a 6th grade conference... and this student is apparently friends with my brother! I found that out when he commented on my brother's Facebook status... awkward!!!!

Friday we didn't have school, what a nice break!

Today was a good day, too! I taught my first 6th grade lessons, which I didn't do quite as well as I would have liked. I was too nervous, so I spoke too quietly for the first one (which was really just going over morning work). The second lesson was a little better, but choppy and I think I let them get a little too silly. That's OK, this is why student teaching is called a learning experience!!!

I also went into another 6th grade teacher's room to observe--it's a guy teacher, so it was interesting to see how different it was! I mean, it wasn't THAT different, but there were little things. I'm going to teach a math lesson in his room tomorrow -- hope it goes well!

Tomorrow my CT2 won't be there, so I'm going to actually teach for a good portion of the day! I'm pretty excited for it, because hopefully having that longer period of time will get me into some sort of "groove" for 6th grade. I'm just ready to stop feeling nervous in the classroom, but I remember it was like this for the first week or two of first grade, too, so it'll be fine!

This weekend I read The Glory Fields, because that's the book for the high-level reading groups. It was fantastic, and I'm pretty excited to be able to do it with the students after spring break! I've got some new reading material for tonight, too, so I'm going to get started on that!!! :-)