Wow, time flies. It feels close to the end already. Students begin their first year of testing next week (third graders), which is 3 days out of each of the next two weeks. Then they go on a 3-day grade-wide camping trip (which my fourth-graders are going on). They return the first of May. My placement ends on the 17th.
I feel like this has gone too fast. The fall felt fairly slow, even with the week we missed for Sandy. I have only barely gotten to know these kids. Help!
I will plan to visit them in June. But still: I am marveling at how fast it's gone. I could teach them all summer and still be fascinated, and want to come back every day to learn more. I can only hope for their sakes that they're sick of me already:)
Showing posts with label student teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student teaching. Show all posts
Monday, April 8, 2013
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Reading... or not?
We have four different reading groups in our class of 12 kids. At least four. I worked with one group of them the other day. They had a brief set of instructions: they were to re-read two short books of a series and then read a new one, and answer two questions about it. These were very short books, maybe 8-10 pages, with maybe 2-3 lines of text per page.
Kids in the second grade class I was in last semester were pretty quiet, but they were not silent and still during silent reading. But maybe because there were 25 of them, and not 3 of them, I didn't watch them each as closely in terms of their reading behavior. There was also an expectation (created by peers, not just from us teachers) that during reading time, you read. Students can read, and so they do. Maybe not every second, but for more or less the entire time. We had only one kid who didn't, and he was a source of great anxiety for the teacher.
But when you are sitting with three kids at one table, it's a completely different story. Focus is not these kids' strong suit, even if it isn't their main presenting issue. I really should have taken notes of the range of behaviors I saw during this activity. They were quiet and they were, for the most part, turning pages. But from moment to moment, it was not easy to tell who was actually reading.
So they answer the questions, or not, and that's how you know if they read the book, right? Well, maybe. It's like what I said in my post about assessment (http://studentteacher44.blogspot.com/2012/12/like-shakespeare.html)- when you ask a student to write, you are assessing their ability to write first, regardless of what you've asked them to write about. If they can't or won't write, you can't know anything about what they know or have learned by asking them to write. Right? So... some of the students seemed to be reading, but they pretty much all struggle with writing, so writing wasn't showing me if they had read the book, or understood it. The only way was to have them each read it aloud. And this was quiet reading time: not appropriate.
Anyone who survived the trauma of reading aloud in school when it wasn't their strong suit is probably saying "Nooooooooo!!!" at this point, but.... there really is something to be said for reading aloud. It's the real deal. I love quiet reading time, and I know a lot of second graders that do, too. But for this group, they may not be getting a lot of reading done. It's really hard to tell.
Kids in the second grade class I was in last semester were pretty quiet, but they were not silent and still during silent reading. But maybe because there were 25 of them, and not 3 of them, I didn't watch them each as closely in terms of their reading behavior. There was also an expectation (created by peers, not just from us teachers) that during reading time, you read. Students can read, and so they do. Maybe not every second, but for more or less the entire time. We had only one kid who didn't, and he was a source of great anxiety for the teacher.
But when you are sitting with three kids at one table, it's a completely different story. Focus is not these kids' strong suit, even if it isn't their main presenting issue. I really should have taken notes of the range of behaviors I saw during this activity. They were quiet and they were, for the most part, turning pages. But from moment to moment, it was not easy to tell who was actually reading.
So they answer the questions, or not, and that's how you know if they read the book, right? Well, maybe. It's like what I said in my post about assessment (http://studentteacher44.blogspot.com/2012/12/like-shakespeare.html)- when you ask a student to write, you are assessing their ability to write first, regardless of what you've asked them to write about. If they can't or won't write, you can't know anything about what they know or have learned by asking them to write. Right? So... some of the students seemed to be reading, but they pretty much all struggle with writing, so writing wasn't showing me if they had read the book, or understood it. The only way was to have them each read it aloud. And this was quiet reading time: not appropriate.
Anyone who survived the trauma of reading aloud in school when it wasn't their strong suit is probably saying "Nooooooooo!!!" at this point, but.... there really is something to be said for reading aloud. It's the real deal. I love quiet reading time, and I know a lot of second graders that do, too. But for this group, they may not be getting a lot of reading done. It's really hard to tell.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Saying goodbye
Last Thursday was my last day at PSOhYes. IT was a GREAT day, thanks in part to Ms. Lee, who had some great ideas about what they would enjoy, and also went to a lot of trouble to make the day special. She had never had a student teacher who stayed as long as I did, and she felt that many of the students had really bonded with me, so she made sure that there was time for them to individually say goodbye. I had really bonded with them too- they will always be my "first class" and the one by which all others will be judged, I guess.
Ms. Lee told me before the holidays that I should do whatever I wanted in terms of teaching for my last few weeks. We figured out few days that I could teach most of the day, and I also designed a Japanese lesson for each subject area. Some worked better than others, but a really effective and timely one was having the students review place value using Japanese numbers. Other teachers expressed an interest in trying it. We had planned a field trip to the Noguchi Musem in Queens, but that got nixed by the school bus drivers' strike, and we decided that at 90 minues each way, it was too far to go by public transportation.
For the last day, I found a few good web sites with Japanese games that the kids could play using the school's laptops. Predictably, getting them charged, set up, etc., for the lesson was not a simple matter and Ms. Lee had never done used the laptops before, which made it all stressful for her I'm sure. She also ordered in some sushi rolls and the kids had lunch in the classroom, which I didn't know was allowed! Between that and playing computer games in school, she made sure the kids will not forget me anytime soon.
We exchanged some gifts. The kids each made me a card, which she attached to a scroll of Japanese rice paper and rolled it all up on a dowel. I read them later with my daughter, and some of them were very touching. She patted my arm and said, "Don't worry Mommy, I'll get you another class." Ah, to be four. But she really enjoyed visiting the class, and she understood that I was feeling a loss.
I am going to another well-known Brooklyn public school, which I will call ABPS, to teach in a 12:1 self-contained special education classroom. Starting Tuesday. Stay tuned.
Ms. Lee told me before the holidays that I should do whatever I wanted in terms of teaching for my last few weeks. We figured out few days that I could teach most of the day, and I also designed a Japanese lesson for each subject area. Some worked better than others, but a really effective and timely one was having the students review place value using Japanese numbers. Other teachers expressed an interest in trying it. We had planned a field trip to the Noguchi Musem in Queens, but that got nixed by the school bus drivers' strike, and we decided that at 90 minues each way, it was too far to go by public transportation.
For the last day, I found a few good web sites with Japanese games that the kids could play using the school's laptops. Predictably, getting them charged, set up, etc., for the lesson was not a simple matter and Ms. Lee had never done used the laptops before, which made it all stressful for her I'm sure. She also ordered in some sushi rolls and the kids had lunch in the classroom, which I didn't know was allowed! Between that and playing computer games in school, she made sure the kids will not forget me anytime soon.
We exchanged some gifts. The kids each made me a card, which she attached to a scroll of Japanese rice paper and rolled it all up on a dowel. I read them later with my daughter, and some of them were very touching. She patted my arm and said, "Don't worry Mommy, I'll get you another class." Ah, to be four. But she really enjoyed visiting the class, and she understood that I was feeling a loss.
I am going to another well-known Brooklyn public school, which I will call ABPS, to teach in a 12:1 self-contained special education classroom. Starting Tuesday. Stay tuned.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Water and conversation
I have been thinking a great deal lately about language
and its work as the main medium of teaching. The Japanese have a saying: “Water
and conversation are free.” This was an obstacle in my previous career in
consulting, as there is a predisposition in Japanese business culture not to
pay for “conversation,” which is often what our services boiled down to. My job
was to make the conversation interesting and valuable enough to pay for.
In teaching, it’s even harder than that. Language seems so
ephemeral- do students hear the words we say to them? Do they understand? Out
of 25 kids, how many are hearing me at any given moment? Did that fire truck
mean I should start over? We don’t have the luxury of meandering conversations:
if nothing else, we’re limited by the attention span of the least attentive
child. We have to write koans and haiku. Every word has to be packed with
meaning, we have to know how to say the most in the least amount of words and
time, and the lesson has to be more than the sum of its parts: its substance
has to stay in their minds somehow. Right now, I waste words, and time, casting
around for just the right lever to pull, to tip their minds in the direction I
want them to go. I feel like I don’t know where we’re all going—mainly because
I’ve never been there before. I am not reliably leading them, yet, where I want
them to go. If they do wind up there, it feels like a happy accident, and I
need to also find a way to know if it happened at all. It’s all still water and
conversation.
。。。水とお喋り
Monday, December 3, 2012
QUIET!
This will be brief. Sometimes it's hard to remember that kids that are noisy are learning and engaged. Depending on the activity, it's not possible to be silent.
Yes, I had another sub at PSOhYes today, for several periods while Ms. Lee was doing some professional development. The sub was nice enough. But.
I had the kids doing a math game that Ms. Lee had left me to review their math facts. It involved groups of four and a ball, and with that structure, they were going to get boisterous, it's a given.
Once the sub had had enough of the noise, she sat on the teacher's chair and yelled, "It's too loud in here! You can play but you have to be quiet."
All the kids looked at me. Of course, I couldn't say anything, but I was thinking, really? You think they can play if they have to be quiet? I don't!
Yes, I had another sub at PSOhYes today, for several periods while Ms. Lee was doing some professional development. The sub was nice enough. But.
I had the kids doing a math game that Ms. Lee had left me to review their math facts. It involved groups of four and a ball, and with that structure, they were going to get boisterous, it's a given.
Once the sub had had enough of the noise, she sat on the teacher's chair and yelled, "It's too loud in here! You can play but you have to be quiet."
All the kids looked at me. Of course, I couldn't say anything, but I was thinking, really? You think they can play if they have to be quiet? I don't!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Democracy in action
Today was our first day back at school after the hurricane. The neighborhood around PSOhYes is completely normal, except shops extra-full of people who can't get to Manhattan, but of course we all know that not far away, things are terrible.
I was very impressed with the all-hands meeting the principal held today. It went for about an hour, and she led a quite democratic process of soliciting ideas and discussion about what we should do on a number of fronts, including what the staff would like to do about helping affected colleagues (everyone was in favor of immediate cash collection), what the greater school community, including families and the PTA can do for the broader relief effort, how teachers can talk to students about what has happened and perhaps teach into some aspects of it, and what kinds of aid activities the students can get involved in right away to help out.
Long story short, there was a read-a-thon planned that will now be devoted to the relief effort, and will be promoted as such as soon as it can be arranged. That, along with helping affected colleagues right away, were the "now" action items. Other initiatives to follow.
The principal really gave people a chance to be heard while still being very much in charge and keeping the meeting on track (it could have gone on all day). Many teachers were also aware of the fact that immediacy, while not the primary concern, is important: when it takes a long time to decide what to do, the message they get is "something terrible happens and we do something, sometime, maybe." I thought this was an important point to note.
My daughter took away from this that "the train is closed" and now we take the bus to school, but she's only four. I'm interested to know what my students think about what is going on in New York right now...
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Atama sagemasu
Which, in Japanese, means literally, "I lower my head." You say it when you watch someone do something amazing; it's meant to convey admiration. I said this to myself after watching Ms. Lee wrap up my math lesson today.
I had designed a place-value game for one of my classes last semester, and tried it out while she was out last week. It needed some work, but she wanted to see it, so we tried it again today. We went over how I would introduce it, and they remembered playing it, so it went smoothly. I played with our odd student (we have 25 kids), everyone else in pairs, and she walked around to see them play.
I was about to do a share at the end of the class, and she asked if she could take over. Of course! I said. And she went to work.
She did something that I know you're supposed to do, and somehow I never manage to get as concrete I should: she modeled the way you score the game on the sheet I designed. This may seem like a detail, but it's how the kids "show their work" and they were all over the map with their recording methods, this time and last time. She managed to explain how to score it, get them to explain to themselves why and how to do it this way, and had the class doing a little mental math at the end to boot. Her words were well-chosen, and the demonstration was just right.
She also had a few great suggestions (and in hindsight, perhaps obvious!) improvements to the scoring sheet, and ways you could customize it for what you want to teach (20's, 100's, counting by 5's or 25's and so forth).
I realize how far I have yet to go until I can be pitch-perfect like that. But in the meantime, I think the penny finally dropped on modeling. I hope I can hang on to the "aha" moment long enough to try it out properly!
I had designed a place-value game for one of my classes last semester, and tried it out while she was out last week. It needed some work, but she wanted to see it, so we tried it again today. We went over how I would introduce it, and they remembered playing it, so it went smoothly. I played with our odd student (we have 25 kids), everyone else in pairs, and she walked around to see them play.
I was about to do a share at the end of the class, and she asked if she could take over. Of course! I said. And she went to work.
She did something that I know you're supposed to do, and somehow I never manage to get as concrete I should: she modeled the way you score the game on the sheet I designed. This may seem like a detail, but it's how the kids "show their work" and they were all over the map with their recording methods, this time and last time. She managed to explain how to score it, get them to explain to themselves why and how to do it this way, and had the class doing a little mental math at the end to boot. Her words were well-chosen, and the demonstration was just right.
She also had a few great suggestions (and in hindsight, perhaps obvious!) improvements to the scoring sheet, and ways you could customize it for what you want to teach (20's, 100's, counting by 5's or 25's and so forth).
I realize how far I have yet to go until I can be pitch-perfect like that. But in the meantime, I think the penny finally dropped on modeling. I hope I can hang on to the "aha" moment long enough to try it out properly!
Monday, October 22, 2012
Knocking something down when you didn't mean to
Much as I feel reasonably competent in the classroom, there are some times that, as a student teacher, you're bound to do or say something which, in hindsight, doesn't work out very well. It's not thoughtlessness, it's just an accident- lack of context, no foreknowledge of potential consequences. (Sort of like my student who knocked over the Empire State Building- see below- she didn't mean to.)
To make a very long story short, Ms. Lee had to be out a bit last week. As a consequence, I did some minor supervision of the class on my own (with the principal's knowledge) and I worked with a few substitute teachers. I wound up taking some flack for several decisions I didn't make, from both parents and other teachers, which is fine- I am perfectly willing to take one for the team. But I did mention a few things to Ms. Lee in passing, not to lay blame but just to say, if anyone comes to you with this, here is some context.
In particular, one of the substitutes did something that I thought was a bit unprofessional. Ms. Lee seemed to agree, and said she'd mention it to the person in the front office who manages the substitutes. Case closed, right? No- I heard about it the next day from both the sub (who confronted me angrily in our classroom) AND the person who schedules the subs. At this point, I got a bit defensive. My intention was not to get anyone in trouble, and this is supposed to be about the kids. I felt attacked for exercising what I thought was my best judgment, and Ms. Lee didn't disagree.
Working with substitutes can be very fraught. They are "responsible for the class" in a legal sense, but the ones I've worked with have, to a greater or lesser degree, been willing to let me take the lead in what actually gets taught on a given day, so that they are in effect my "assistant for the day." This suits me fine and I would imagine takes some of the pressure off of them.
But as student-teachers, we are not supposed to be taking responsibility or making decisions. We are also insulated from the avenues of responsibility and accountability to a fair extent; everything we do is filtered through our cooperating teacher. Should the sub "get in trouble," really? I don't know; it's not my decision. This is what I told the sub: I couldn't personally get you in trouble even if I wanted to, which I didn't.
I think I will chalk this one up to no good deed going unpunished, and hope that it ends there.
To make a very long story short, Ms. Lee had to be out a bit last week. As a consequence, I did some minor supervision of the class on my own (with the principal's knowledge) and I worked with a few substitute teachers. I wound up taking some flack for several decisions I didn't make, from both parents and other teachers, which is fine- I am perfectly willing to take one for the team. But I did mention a few things to Ms. Lee in passing, not to lay blame but just to say, if anyone comes to you with this, here is some context.
In particular, one of the substitutes did something that I thought was a bit unprofessional. Ms. Lee seemed to agree, and said she'd mention it to the person in the front office who manages the substitutes. Case closed, right? No- I heard about it the next day from both the sub (who confronted me angrily in our classroom) AND the person who schedules the subs. At this point, I got a bit defensive. My intention was not to get anyone in trouble, and this is supposed to be about the kids. I felt attacked for exercising what I thought was my best judgment, and Ms. Lee didn't disagree.
Working with substitutes can be very fraught. They are "responsible for the class" in a legal sense, but the ones I've worked with have, to a greater or lesser degree, been willing to let me take the lead in what actually gets taught on a given day, so that they are in effect my "assistant for the day." This suits me fine and I would imagine takes some of the pressure off of them.
But as student-teachers, we are not supposed to be taking responsibility or making decisions. We are also insulated from the avenues of responsibility and accountability to a fair extent; everything we do is filtered through our cooperating teacher. Should the sub "get in trouble," really? I don't know; it's not my decision. This is what I told the sub: I couldn't personally get you in trouble even if I wanted to, which I didn't.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Falling down on the job
It was bound to happen sooner or later. I've been teaching one lesson a day for the last two weeks, and inevitably, one of them didn't go well.
As you know, we've been working on the compass rose. We've been team-teaching this unit because I am not there every day. Yesterday Ms. Lee wanted them to finish a bird's-eye view map of the classroom that they did, and we also had some compasses and maps to work with. We wanted them to finish their maps first, to reorient them to the four directions, so first they were to correctly mark the compass rose that we'd pasted onto each of their maps with N S E & W (it was a small map).
Then, we gave them compasses and had them try and line up their compasses with the compass roses on their maps. These are not very high quality compasses; they don't work well, and we had an interesting discussion about why it might be that they were not all pointing to north (magnets in the room? Metal in the building? Force field of the microwave and refrigerator in the northernmost corner messing up the manetic field? Fascinating).
Finally, we had five maps of the greater NYC area, one for each table, and we were going to have them work with the maps and find places north, south, east, northeast, southeast, etc., of Brooklyn. So, three transitions, and no clear "lesson, then work" flow, which made it tricky.
Now, mind you, they were also doing all of this at their table seats, and they are not used to being at their table seats for whole class discussions. For some reason, calling out and chatting with neighbors is a huge problem at their work seats, while it's not, so much, when they're on the rug- this I attribute to conditioned behavior. They are used to being quiet on the rug, and being free to talk while working, at least some of the time.
That said, they LOVED the maps. So much that some groups were not able to share well, and goodness knows they were not able to be quiet and listen to each other in a discussion-type format. It was great for the kids who got it, and knew what they were doing; less so, naturally, for the ones who were trying to figure out the directions still.
Ms. Lee totally had my back on this. She walked around and helped me make sure everyone was getting access, and that the kids who were struggling with the directions were getting a little guidance.
I had not really thought through the discussion part, I confess, and it took me by surprise that they were so exuberant. I tried, on the fly, to think of a way to change the dynamic so it wouldn't be so chaotic, but I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't shut off their enthusiasm. So I soldiered on, shushing them as questions were asked and answered, and, in the words of Ms. Lee, tried to appreciate that "there was engagement, there was learning," even if it was a little chaotic.
In retrospect, we could have used the ELMO for this and done the entire discussion on the rug rather than the groups having maps (although I rather like that they could actually hold it). One advantage of this venue is I could have traced with a pointer the vector of the directions, and some kids could have described their thinking, in a way that would be very visual as we worked on the questions together, and I think this might have helped my strugglers.
Alternatively, I could have designed a simple worksheet that they could work on in groups ("find two places northeast of Brooklyn," "find one thing on the map that is not a city that is south of Brooklyn," this kind of thing). I would have had to walk them through it and read the questions out, but it would not have been any less chaotic than what we had already going on. We could have come back and discussed what each group came up with.
So, you live and you learn. Thank goodness Ms. Lee is not the type to dwell. She told me not to be so hard on myself. We'll have another chance to look at the maps when we start the unit on New York City, and I can use what I've learned then.
As you know, we've been working on the compass rose. We've been team-teaching this unit because I am not there every day. Yesterday Ms. Lee wanted them to finish a bird's-eye view map of the classroom that they did, and we also had some compasses and maps to work with. We wanted them to finish their maps first, to reorient them to the four directions, so first they were to correctly mark the compass rose that we'd pasted onto each of their maps with N S E & W (it was a small map).
Then, we gave them compasses and had them try and line up their compasses with the compass roses on their maps. These are not very high quality compasses; they don't work well, and we had an interesting discussion about why it might be that they were not all pointing to north (magnets in the room? Metal in the building? Force field of the microwave and refrigerator in the northernmost corner messing up the manetic field? Fascinating).
Finally, we had five maps of the greater NYC area, one for each table, and we were going to have them work with the maps and find places north, south, east, northeast, southeast, etc., of Brooklyn. So, three transitions, and no clear "lesson, then work" flow, which made it tricky.
Now, mind you, they were also doing all of this at their table seats, and they are not used to being at their table seats for whole class discussions. For some reason, calling out and chatting with neighbors is a huge problem at their work seats, while it's not, so much, when they're on the rug- this I attribute to conditioned behavior. They are used to being quiet on the rug, and being free to talk while working, at least some of the time.
That said, they LOVED the maps. So much that some groups were not able to share well, and goodness knows they were not able to be quiet and listen to each other in a discussion-type format. It was great for the kids who got it, and knew what they were doing; less so, naturally, for the ones who were trying to figure out the directions still.
Ms. Lee totally had my back on this. She walked around and helped me make sure everyone was getting access, and that the kids who were struggling with the directions were getting a little guidance.
I had not really thought through the discussion part, I confess, and it took me by surprise that they were so exuberant. I tried, on the fly, to think of a way to change the dynamic so it wouldn't be so chaotic, but I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't shut off their enthusiasm. So I soldiered on, shushing them as questions were asked and answered, and, in the words of Ms. Lee, tried to appreciate that "there was engagement, there was learning," even if it was a little chaotic.
In retrospect, we could have used the ELMO for this and done the entire discussion on the rug rather than the groups having maps (although I rather like that they could actually hold it). One advantage of this venue is I could have traced with a pointer the vector of the directions, and some kids could have described their thinking, in a way that would be very visual as we worked on the questions together, and I think this might have helped my strugglers.
Alternatively, I could have designed a simple worksheet that they could work on in groups ("find two places northeast of Brooklyn," "find one thing on the map that is not a city that is south of Brooklyn," this kind of thing). I would have had to walk them through it and read the questions out, but it would not have been any less chaotic than what we had already going on. We could have come back and discussed what each group came up with.
So, you live and you learn. Thank goodness Ms. Lee is not the type to dwell. She told me not to be so hard on myself. We'll have another chance to look at the maps when we start the unit on New York City, and I can use what I've learned then.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Second-graders are not spatial
At least, many of them are not. We've been working on teaching the four directions and how to use and create a compass rose on a map. They are making their own big compass roses, including the four directions and the "in-between" directions (NW, SW, NE, SE).
Some of them had problems figuring out how those should be arranged. Even when I told them "northeast is between north and east" (which is not very conceptual), they still mixed it up. Some of them put a few points at southwest, and none at northeast. Sigh.
These same kids also struggled with the notion that north didn't move, even if they did.
We started with looking at real maps and talking about maps and what they can do. We gave them a worksheet that helped them practice where the four directions are, and provided clip boards so they could orient themselves towards north, which was marked in one corner of the classroom (and yes, it is actually north). They didn't use the clip boards- which we thought would have made it easier for them, but alas, no.
We also did a kinesthetic activity, using both arms to point N-S, W-E, and one arm to point to a direction as fast as they could, then change their orientation (for example, turn 180 degrees) and find it again. Some students really struggled with this.
Interestingly, one student (who *did* get it) was standing in front of the corner marked "north" and when I would say "point north" he would point at his nose. I had him turn his body all the way around while still pointing north, while the other students watched. He had fun with it, but I got a lot of blank stares, too. Argh!
We have real compasses, and next week we'll use them along with a bird's-eye view (another stumper, for some kids- what do you mean the desk is just a rectangle?) map they each did of the classroom, to put the compass rose on their maps and mark it themselves. The science teacher, from whom we borrowed the compasses, warned that "they don't work very well." I took the whole tray to see if they all pointed the same way. Hmmm... not really!
We'll see- it will be interesting. I don't think that the students' getting it or not will hinge solely on whether these compasses are perfectly accurate. They DO know about compasses and the magnetic field that makes them work, so if they notice they are not working perfectly, it will be a good chance to have a discussion about why that is.
They can also practice being good scientists by sharing compasses and trying to reproduce results, which is an important part of the scientific method.
And maybe later this year, some of my little sweeties will suddenly be struck with the ability to conceive of a bird's-eye view, and a constant, like north, outside of themselves and the direction they are facing.
Some of them had problems figuring out how those should be arranged. Even when I told them "northeast is between north and east" (which is not very conceptual), they still mixed it up. Some of them put a few points at southwest, and none at northeast. Sigh.
These same kids also struggled with the notion that north didn't move, even if they did.
We started with looking at real maps and talking about maps and what they can do. We gave them a worksheet that helped them practice where the four directions are, and provided clip boards so they could orient themselves towards north, which was marked in one corner of the classroom (and yes, it is actually north). They didn't use the clip boards- which we thought would have made it easier for them, but alas, no.
We also did a kinesthetic activity, using both arms to point N-S, W-E, and one arm to point to a direction as fast as they could, then change their orientation (for example, turn 180 degrees) and find it again. Some students really struggled with this.
Interestingly, one student (who *did* get it) was standing in front of the corner marked "north" and when I would say "point north" he would point at his nose. I had him turn his body all the way around while still pointing north, while the other students watched. He had fun with it, but I got a lot of blank stares, too. Argh!
We have real compasses, and next week we'll use them along with a bird's-eye view (another stumper, for some kids- what do you mean the desk is just a rectangle?) map they each did of the classroom, to put the compass rose on their maps and mark it themselves. The science teacher, from whom we borrowed the compasses, warned that "they don't work very well." I took the whole tray to see if they all pointed the same way. Hmmm... not really!
We'll see- it will be interesting. I don't think that the students' getting it or not will hinge solely on whether these compasses are perfectly accurate. They DO know about compasses and the magnetic field that makes them work, so if they notice they are not working perfectly, it will be a good chance to have a discussion about why that is.
They can also practice being good scientists by sharing compasses and trying to reproduce results, which is an important part of the scientific method.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Devil's in the details
I did my second mini-lesson today, also for language arts. My first one was for writing and this one was for reading: using a book mark as a prompt to do the reader's job of thinking about settings, characters, problems and changes in the beginning, middle and end of books we read.
When I first met Ms. Lee, she told me that she's not a big elaborate planner, she prefers to have the idea, "do it and then reflect on what worked and what didn't." This is not my usual style, but I recognize she's been doing this a long time and I need to go with the flow here, and I might even learn a different way of doing this. Still, there was a bit of anxiety, since as an undergraduate the lesson-plan format of the 1990s had been drilled into us good and hard, and, well, I tend to like to write things down and plan for contingencies.
Turns out the wing-it-and-reflect model can be a pretty sensible way to do it, too (although having ten years' experience helps a lot), and Ms. Lee is also very easygoing when things don't go quite right (for instance, we had a fire drill today that ruined our science-observation lesson: Oh well! Try again tomorrow).
During my first lesson last week, which my advisor observed, I used the ELMO and Ms. Lee couldn't really help me prepare because she had never used one- she wanted to learn from me how to use it. My big gaffe that day was trying to teach from behind the projector- doesn't really work! But she didn't make a big deal about it, and now I am kind of obsessed with positioning in the classroom, mine and students'. This is probably a good thing, especially since *tomorrow* I am teaching a mini-lesson on the compass rose and how to read maps. We will become human GPS units.... not.
But anyway. My current impression of teaching is that the devil is in the details. It's not hard to decide what to do or what students should get out of a lesson: the goals, the skills, and so forth. What IS hard is knowing what questions to ask, what language they know, what sorts of questions they are used to answering, how to challenge them but not stump them, and when to use what kinds of interactive activities to keep them engaged and to help you see if they are all learning.
This may be the trickiest part. The same kids raise their hands all the time, and it's hard to keep an eye on the ones who may wander mentally, who are not naturally "oh! oh! oh! I know, pick me!" and think of things to bring them back, draw them in, on the fly. You can have some ideas for ways to do this, but if you don't know how exactly they will each respond, it's hard to have a specific plan. This is this is the craft and the art of it, I suppose.
When I first met Ms. Lee, she told me that she's not a big elaborate planner, she prefers to have the idea, "do it and then reflect on what worked and what didn't." This is not my usual style, but I recognize she's been doing this a long time and I need to go with the flow here, and I might even learn a different way of doing this. Still, there was a bit of anxiety, since as an undergraduate the lesson-plan format of the 1990s had been drilled into us good and hard, and, well, I tend to like to write things down and plan for contingencies.
Turns out the wing-it-and-reflect model can be a pretty sensible way to do it, too (although having ten years' experience helps a lot), and Ms. Lee is also very easygoing when things don't go quite right (for instance, we had a fire drill today that ruined our science-observation lesson: Oh well! Try again tomorrow).
During my first lesson last week, which my advisor observed, I used the ELMO and Ms. Lee couldn't really help me prepare because she had never used one- she wanted to learn from me how to use it. My big gaffe that day was trying to teach from behind the projector- doesn't really work! But she didn't make a big deal about it, and now I am kind of obsessed with positioning in the classroom, mine and students'. This is probably a good thing, especially since *tomorrow* I am teaching a mini-lesson on the compass rose and how to read maps. We will become human GPS units.... not.
But anyway. My current impression of teaching is that the devil is in the details. It's not hard to decide what to do or what students should get out of a lesson: the goals, the skills, and so forth. What IS hard is knowing what questions to ask, what language they know, what sorts of questions they are used to answering, how to challenge them but not stump them, and when to use what kinds of interactive activities to keep them engaged and to help you see if they are all learning.
This may be the trickiest part. The same kids raise their hands all the time, and it's hard to keep an eye on the ones who may wander mentally, who are not naturally "oh! oh! oh! I know, pick me!" and think of things to bring them back, draw them in, on the fly. You can have some ideas for ways to do this, but if you don't know how exactly they will each respond, it's hard to have a specific plan. This is this is the craft and the art of it, I suppose.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Great big hug
Just a quick post to say that I got a huge group hug from my class today and it felt great! They almost knocked me over but it was really cool.
I was at school all 3 days this week and Ms. Lee asked the kids to thank me for all my hard work this week (which was kinda silly since I was just doing the usual, but was nice anyway).
So they all said thank you in a completely hyper, it's-Friday-and-we're-about-to-go-home way and then they rushed me, which ended with several people (including me) winding up in the closet.
A very nice ending to the week nonetheless!
I was at school all 3 days this week and Ms. Lee asked the kids to thank me for all my hard work this week (which was kinda silly since I was just doing the usual, but was nice anyway).
So they all said thank you in a completely hyper, it's-Friday-and-we're-about-to-go-home way and then they rushed me, which ended with several people (including me) winding up in the closet.
A very nice ending to the week nonetheless!
Thursday, September 20, 2012
The lunchroom
Survived (and even enjoyed! Shhh, don't tell) my first observation this week. Whew! Onward and upward.
At PSOhYes, student teachers are expected to do two days in the lunchroom of the three days you come to school. You do the lunch period that your own class has lunch (there are two lunch periods). Half of that time is recess and the other half is in the lunchroom; half the grade eats while the other half runs around. It's a logistical exercise for managing large groups of students; paired rows of kids coming out and going in the building simultaneously is slightly reminiscent of the Beijing Olympics displays, with the lines snaking around each other intricately. PSOhYes is pretty touchy-feely and Bank-Streety when it comes to the classroom, working with families, etc., but with the existing staff to student ratio for lunchtime, it's pretty much a crowd-control exercise, start to finish.
The teacher who manages the whole process for that period also does mini-mini lessons with the 125 or so kids: carving into their recess time with a megaphone (outside) and microphone (inside) to discuss the finer points of how we help each other have a nice lunch with as much time for playing and eating as possible. When the whistle blows, put the equipment away and line up. When your table is called, line up quickly and make sure you have all your stuff, trash, and so forth. A little social-emotional curriculum with your go-gurt.
It hadn't occurred to me that I was anything other than an extra adult set of eyes, but you do learn a lot about your kids (and about kids in general) in the lunchroom. A classmate told me that when she was working as a para, she was involved in writing IEPs at the school because she knew some kids better, and in more varied contexts, than some of the teachers, because she was with them at early drop-off and in the lunchroom.
In the lunchroom kids are not allowed to get up and roam, so they raise their hand if they need something (bathroom, water, to have you open some item in their lunch). Today Sam* raised his hand, and when I went over, he informed me that Tanya* and Brad* had traded items in their lunch. This is strongly discouraged because kids are often not mindful of their own food sensitivities, never mind other kids'. My daughter has a peanut allergy, so I am aware of this policy and why it exists.
I don't love a tattletale, but I couldn't very well overlook this once I had the information. I said, basically, look: I am not mad, I can see how this is tempting, but there are important reasons why we don't share food, and here is what they are. I asked them to trade back the food items. The whole table was listening, by this time.
Brad was fine, Sam went back to his lunch, but Tanya was completely horrified at being tattled on. I tried to wrap it up quickly and move on to another table, to try and make it seem like less of a big deal, and I saw Tanya shaking her fist at Sam. I watched her struggle with her frustration. Emotion took over her face. She dropped her head on her crossed arms and began to sob.
I was pleased to see her friends rally around her and give her hugs. She was somewhat mollified, but still upset. So I went over to her again once her friends had offered support and gone back to their lunches.
"Tanya, you are not in trouble. I am not mad, and I really, really understand how tempting it is. I really do. It was a mistake, but not a big deal. I know how unfair it feels to you," I said, without naming names and calling Sam out.
She nodded, tears spilling out of her eyes. I told her I was going to forget about it and she should too, and helped her dry her eyes.
She told me that afternoon that she was still really angry, but she was trying to let her feelings "fly away." Go Tanya.
A minor, silly incident, but I feel like I know these kids just a little bit better, having been there with them. Hopefully, next week in the lunchroom, it will just be food jars and defective juice box straws.
*All names are made-up
At PSOhYes, student teachers are expected to do two days in the lunchroom of the three days you come to school. You do the lunch period that your own class has lunch (there are two lunch periods). Half of that time is recess and the other half is in the lunchroom; half the grade eats while the other half runs around. It's a logistical exercise for managing large groups of students; paired rows of kids coming out and going in the building simultaneously is slightly reminiscent of the Beijing Olympics displays, with the lines snaking around each other intricately. PSOhYes is pretty touchy-feely and Bank-Streety when it comes to the classroom, working with families, etc., but with the existing staff to student ratio for lunchtime, it's pretty much a crowd-control exercise, start to finish.
The teacher who manages the whole process for that period also does mini-mini lessons with the 125 or so kids: carving into their recess time with a megaphone (outside) and microphone (inside) to discuss the finer points of how we help each other have a nice lunch with as much time for playing and eating as possible. When the whistle blows, put the equipment away and line up. When your table is called, line up quickly and make sure you have all your stuff, trash, and so forth. A little social-emotional curriculum with your go-gurt.
It hadn't occurred to me that I was anything other than an extra adult set of eyes, but you do learn a lot about your kids (and about kids in general) in the lunchroom. A classmate told me that when she was working as a para, she was involved in writing IEPs at the school because she knew some kids better, and in more varied contexts, than some of the teachers, because she was with them at early drop-off and in the lunchroom.
In the lunchroom kids are not allowed to get up and roam, so they raise their hand if they need something (bathroom, water, to have you open some item in their lunch). Today Sam* raised his hand, and when I went over, he informed me that Tanya* and Brad* had traded items in their lunch. This is strongly discouraged because kids are often not mindful of their own food sensitivities, never mind other kids'. My daughter has a peanut allergy, so I am aware of this policy and why it exists.
I don't love a tattletale, but I couldn't very well overlook this once I had the information. I said, basically, look: I am not mad, I can see how this is tempting, but there are important reasons why we don't share food, and here is what they are. I asked them to trade back the food items. The whole table was listening, by this time.
Brad was fine, Sam went back to his lunch, but Tanya was completely horrified at being tattled on. I tried to wrap it up quickly and move on to another table, to try and make it seem like less of a big deal, and I saw Tanya shaking her fist at Sam. I watched her struggle with her frustration. Emotion took over her face. She dropped her head on her crossed arms and began to sob.
I was pleased to see her friends rally around her and give her hugs. She was somewhat mollified, but still upset. So I went over to her again once her friends had offered support and gone back to their lunches.
"Tanya, you are not in trouble. I am not mad, and I really, really understand how tempting it is. I really do. It was a mistake, but not a big deal. I know how unfair it feels to you," I said, without naming names and calling Sam out.
She nodded, tears spilling out of her eyes. I told her I was going to forget about it and she should too, and helped her dry her eyes.
She told me that afternoon that she was still really angry, but she was trying to let her feelings "fly away." Go Tanya.
A minor, silly incident, but I feel like I know these kids just a little bit better, having been there with them. Hopefully, next week in the lunchroom, it will just be food jars and defective juice box straws.
*All names are made-up
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Work and Play
We are really getting down to work now. We are starting Writer's Notebooks, drafting our first publishing project as of tomorrow, and getting everyone re-assessed during Reading Workshop. Some issues with our two new students who came from other schools in both language and math. The other two new kids (one from another classroom, one from a G&T program) are fitting in well, but the whole class is showing me their true colors now. I know who is congenitally chatty, who needs constant hand-holding, who NEVER brings their folder from home or puts their work in the right place. Sigh. Scales fallen from eyes. They are still adorable, but it's warts and all, now.
Still, I am really pleased to see how much fun they still get to have as second graders. We had choice time today and they'll have it again tomorrow. This is a classroom of art lovers- aside from building with the PVC tubes (see last post) and blocks, everyone else (17 of 25) was doing painting, drawing, or modeling clay. As with last week, this week the kids who chose blocks made a little corral for Cutie-B, the class turtle. Here you can see the construction and one student showing him the stop sign (can Cutie read?).
They also had a lot of fun working on the classroom rules this week. They had done some posters last year which were still up, and they revisited and revised them, and then made new posters, working in groups. Ms. Lee suggested that they could do pop-ups, a kind of 3-D diorama by folding the bottom of the poster paper and making a 3-D illustration out of construction paper. I wasn't sure they could handle the complex cutting and spatial aspects, but they did really well. I had a hard time choosing just two out of the many great projects!!
Contrast this project with the amount of resistance we had to a math assessment which we also had them do today. They were like different kids. If they did math worksheet-type work all day (even Bank Street-style word problems), this class would be the whiniest group of work-avoiding foot-draggers on earth, no lie. It's wonderful to see how well they work together, how creative and focused they are, when they are at play!
Still, I am really pleased to see how much fun they still get to have as second graders. We had choice time today and they'll have it again tomorrow. This is a classroom of art lovers- aside from building with the PVC tubes (see last post) and blocks, everyone else (17 of 25) was doing painting, drawing, or modeling clay. As with last week, this week the kids who chose blocks made a little corral for Cutie-B, the class turtle. Here you can see the construction and one student showing him the stop sign (can Cutie read?).
They also had a lot of fun working on the classroom rules this week. They had done some posters last year which were still up, and they revisited and revised them, and then made new posters, working in groups. Ms. Lee suggested that they could do pop-ups, a kind of 3-D diorama by folding the bottom of the poster paper and making a 3-D illustration out of construction paper. I wasn't sure they could handle the complex cutting and spatial aspects, but they did really well. I had a hard time choosing just two out of the many great projects!!
Contrast this project with the amount of resistance we had to a math assessment which we also had them do today. They were like different kids. If they did math worksheet-type work all day (even Bank Street-style word problems), this class would be the whiniest group of work-avoiding foot-draggers on earth, no lie. It's wonderful to see how well they work together, how creative and focused they are, when they are at play!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Stage is set!
 |
| Stage built by a second grade student with PVC-pipe building elements |
Today was a great First Day of School. We had a new admit over the days I was not there, for a total of four new students and a class of 25. Everyone came to school, and Ms. Lee hugged all of her returning students as well as a few that were not her students but they love her anyway. Her students adore her, it's clear, and are thrilled to have her again for another year.
I met almost all the parents today, and to a person they were welcoming and enthusiastic (they were hugging each other too!), and said how lucky I was to be working in this class, with this teacher. It was, I will say, very nice to have a classroom full of kids who knew the teacher, knew each other, and knew the drill- not that that kept them in their seats, but it made things easier for sure. Of the new students, some in the class had gone to kindergarten or even pre-K with two of them, so they were known as well. That left two completely new kids that we discussed during our planning time- how did their skills seem? How did they do socially? How will they fit into the class?
Ms. Lee is very intuitive- she seems to like to do and then reflect, rather than plan and execute. That's not my style, but she has a fairly low-key energy that's intuitive and nicely-paced, mellow. The kids can tell she's happy to be there with them. We did some community-building activities that were very interactive, and then a little math, a little individual reading, a read-aloud, and some math before lunch.
The kids are so cute- even though they have never seen me at this school before, they still assume I know everything. "Karen, are we having recess today?" "Sorry, this is my first day and I'm not really sure!" Ha. That really threw them off. But I did some reading with a few of them and they seemed to like me ok.
This is a photo of a construction that one of our new students did during choice time. It's a stage- the peaked part is the proscenium and the tall pieces to either side are the lights. I wonder what her parents do? It's an interesting use of them and she worked on it for quite a while. The other kids who played with these mostly made 3D constructions with the joining corners.
Apparently this set came from a science-leadership student teacher who designed these for the NY Hall of Science and left a set. Very cool addition to blocks, etc., although a bit heavy- the tall pieces are about 18 inches long.
I didn't get to set up the ELMO this week and it's still not set up, but I am determined. Next week!!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Fresh Paint, Fresh Start
I was at Bank Street the other day and pleased to discover that the stairwell had the new-school-year fresh paint smell. I love that smell, and it makes me think of warm fall days, knee socks and new school supplies, and the fact that I never got over the first day of school. Long after it ceased to be meaningful to my schedule (after I left teaching behind in my 20's but before my daughter went to school, a hiatus of about at least 15 years), I still thought about the first day of school, and got that "back to school" feeling just before Labor Day. Sometimes I'd buy myself some new pens or a notebook, just to enjoy the season.
Of course, taking classes at Bank Street did give me the opportunity to participate in "back to school" these last few years. But wait: notebooks? Pens? Wasn't I supposed to take notes on my laptop? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't- I've taken online classes with assigned youtube videos for class "readings" as well as classes with instructors who still rely on Village Copiers wayyyy too much, if you know what I mean.
And now I am about to find out what first grade is like in the 21st century. My daughter will only be in pre-K this year, so it's a preview for what first grade will be like for her, as well as what it's like for me in my new career as a teacher (hopefully teacher of first grade, my preferred age group). I will do my first student-teaching placement at PSOhYes*, as in everyone has heard of this school and it's in A Nice Part of Brooklyn (henceforth: ANPOB). To be fair, I think I live in a nice part of Brooklyn, but this is not my neighborhood school, and I hope this is enough anonymity for everyone.
Stay tuned y'all!! I will be starting next week.
Oh, and * is props to Pam Jones at Bank Street for allowing me to appropriate, without her consent, the use of "PSXXX," a la her hilarious and tragic tales of PSOhNo. Thanks, Pam.
Of course, taking classes at Bank Street did give me the opportunity to participate in "back to school" these last few years. But wait: notebooks? Pens? Wasn't I supposed to take notes on my laptop? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't- I've taken online classes with assigned youtube videos for class "readings" as well as classes with instructors who still rely on Village Copiers wayyyy too much, if you know what I mean.
And now I am about to find out what first grade is like in the 21st century. My daughter will only be in pre-K this year, so it's a preview for what first grade will be like for her, as well as what it's like for me in my new career as a teacher (hopefully teacher of first grade, my preferred age group). I will do my first student-teaching placement at PSOhYes*, as in everyone has heard of this school and it's in A Nice Part of Brooklyn (henceforth: ANPOB). To be fair, I think I live in a nice part of Brooklyn, but this is not my neighborhood school, and I hope this is enough anonymity for everyone.
Stay tuned y'all!! I will be starting next week.
Oh, and * is props to Pam Jones at Bank Street for allowing me to appropriate, without her consent, the use of "PSXXX," a la her hilarious and tragic tales of PSOhNo. Thanks, Pam.
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