18 days until student teaching starts!

I have spent all night working on my unit and I only have the first week of my unit planned. I know I shouldn't worry too much, since I won't be doing it until October, but I want to have as much of it planned as possible by the time school starts.  I want to be able to focus on math in the evenings and prepare what I can for that during September before I start taking over a lot in October. I really believe the best thing I can do for myself is to try to get as much done ahead of time as I can. That way I can stay on-top of my classes, work the weekends, and TRY to have a tiny-tiny bit of a life still.-HA! Doubtful. My cooperating teacher has been really good about making sure that I will be prepared. I have to have my lesson plans in for the next week by the Thursday the week before so I can makes copies on Friday and be ready for the next week. Mostly, I just want to make it through this-which I will, despite how much I worry. Do I over-think things? YES! Does it pay off sometimes? YES!

Cheers to all of the teachers out there-making their last minute plans for the school year. Happy planning!! :)

Ready or not, here it comes!

I am now a little more than 4 weeks away from beginning my student teaching experience. YIKES! As you can imagine, I have a mixture of emotions going on for that right now. On the one hand, I'm feeling completely unprepared and want to put it off another month. On the other hand, I'm super excited to jump in there and get started. I have been reading middle school blogs like it's my job lately. I was awake at 5am yesterday doing it. Somehow, I just do not feel prepared for this. Sometimes I am prepared for something,  but anxiety makes me feel unready. However, in this case it's because I actually have just not had the time to put anything together yet. Which, is an excuse. I'm aware, but regardless of that, I'm not prepared at all. I still need a few supplies, I have yet to even open the math text book, I haven't been to the classroom yet, and I just decided what book to do for my novel unit last week. I haven't really started preparing my unit yet, unless you count pinteresting. The problem isn't  motivation, because I am completely motivated, and student teaching consumes my thoughts lately. The problem is mostly that I'm just so completely overwhelmed that I'm not sure where to start.

I put together a binder to collect ideas for student teaching and to gather all of my important documents and dates and such. It's been pretty helpful so far. I have a section for my novel unit, math, language arts, life skills, and other. I have jotted down some thoughts for my novel unit and have some other really creative ideas I might want to try out, but I'm still feeling very, very far from ready. 

I decided that I am going to do Holes by Louis Sachar for my novel unit this year. I remember that I absolutely loved the movie and the book when I was younger. It was a fast read, and I think it'll definitely catch the attention of both the guys and the girls in my 6th grade class. I have some really awesome ideas for things I want to do with it. I'm going to try to have my friend who works at a pet store bring in a lizard or two, we're going to study women of the wild west, juvenile boot camps, and famous inventions. We may even pick our own nicknames for each other like they do in the book. It's going to be a blast, and once it's completely planned out I'll feel much better. 

I tend to over think things, which leaves me working on everything 8 times longer than most people would. I'm working on trying to be more decisive, but it's really hard for me. Sometimes I am too much of an overachiever for my own good. I need to learn to take a step back and let good be good enough sometimes.

One thing that I have decided on is what my "about me" bulletin board is going to be like. I've decided to make it a Facebook theme! I saw a couple Facebook boards for famous authors and artists that other teachers have done, so I figured this could be a really cool way to introduce myself to the class. I'll have a profile picture and an about section where I can mention my birthday, my hometown, and where and when I graduated. I'll have a friends section and a photos section where I can put pictures of me and my family and friends. I'll have a likes section where I'll put small pictures of my favorite books, movies, and music, and I'll also be able to list my interests there. My favorite part is going to be the dry erase status message section. That way I can update my status for the class just like I do online. Also, my wall is going to be changeable as well. I'll be able to post questions and pictures and interesting articles, and the students can respond to it with post it notes. I think it'll be a really great way to start interacting with the class. 

Mrs. Coyne should be contacting me anytime in August to have me come set up the classroom. I'm really excited that she is getting me involved so soon and that she is going to help me stay organized and prepared FAR ahead of time. Procrastination would just make this experience so much more challenging and stressful. 

And now....it is...

CURRENTLY AUGUST: 

LISTENING to the fan and traffic. I concentrate best in silence, even though I wish that weren't true. 

LOVING that I finally have a day to relax and catch up with myself and that Corey has the day off too. Also, that things are working out with the FAO. 

THINKING that I wish I had found my motivation earlier this summer and got an even bigger head start on all of this. Stephanie, one of my closest friends, will be coming next week and taking time off work makes me nervous, but I'm so excited to see her, and I need one more break before all of this begins. 

WANTING a few new teacher supplies, some one on one time with Corey, for all financial problems to disappear, and to get some details of my novel unit finished.

NEEDING to get this to-do-list finished, and to take a long nap in the sun. 

BACK TO SCHOOL MUST HAVES 

A few new items for my teacher wardrobe, colorful pens, a nice travel mug for coffee, and a  planner.

Student Gifts

These are the gifts I made for my students for tomorrow. It will be my last day with them. They are all creating a colony as their final project and presenting it tomorrow. It should be great! There will be posters, a skit, and a puppet show! (They all were able to decide how to present.) There will also be lots of great colonial snacks for them to eat during the presentations. This was such a great group of kids! The good news is, since this is 5th grade, next year during my student teaching, I might get to have some of them again!

Writing prompts for early finishers

I just wanted to create a quick post to share this idea for early finishers. I created this container for writing prompts that students can use to write about when they finish an assignment early. I simply took an empty automotive wipe container, decorated it, and filled it with writing prompts. You could also use a big mason jar, a pringles container, an empty can, a vase, or anything you have available. I found the writing prompts here for free: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Journal-Prompts-FREE She has over 200 prompts here for grades 4-7. Thanks Ruth S! Once they are downloaded you have the option of printing them in large rectangular pieces or thin strips. For my container I chose to cut them into small strips.

Here are a few of the prompts that are inside, so you get an idea of what they would write about:

If you were the main character, in a story you’ve read, what would you have done differently?

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Who’s your favorite relative, and why?

If you could meet a character from a story, who would it be?

If you could meet a famous person, who would it be?

If you could live in a certain time, would it be the past, present or future?

What is the ideal pet?

If you were President of the United States, what changes would you make in the country?

Describe a time when you were brave.

If you could have dinner with a famous person, who would it be?

If you could be on a game show, what show would it be?

If you had a super power, what would it be?

If you could redecorate your bedroom, what would it be like?

What’s the best piece of advice someone has given you?

If you could take three friends with you on vacation, who would it be and where would you go?

Student Teaching Placement -Part 2

First of all, I know I haven't written in a while, but I have been so busy the past few weeks. I have been teaching a unit on Colonial America in a 5th grade class and have been preparing for "Bothwell week" which starts tomorrow. During Bothwell week we take on a 7th grade class and plan and teach all of the subjects that week. I'm really excited about it, but also excited to have it over with. Everyone who has been through it says that real teaching, and even student teaching, does not require THAT much work and preparing. We had to develop really fantastic lessons for each subject that had to be reviewed by our professors and edited many times before our final versions were ready. It's hard just being thrown into a class where you aren't sure what they've learned yet and you aren't really sure WHO you will be teaching. There's really not much time to build a community, set your expectations, and get to know each other. I think this week is going to be challenging for us and the students, but I have a really great group of team teachers to work with, and I know it is going to be an amazing experience. There are only 4 weeks of schools left and I can not wait for summer to start so that I can start preparing for student teaching. I feel like it is so close!

Speaking of student teaching, I went in to visit my placement teacher and class for a day a few weeks ago. It was an amazing experience and since then I have done nothing but pinterest and search ideas for my lessons next year. Yes, I know, I'm a WAY ahead of schedule, but after seeing how the class was run and how great the kids are at that age, I am so excited to get started. I will be teaching only two lessons a day once I take over. There will be a section of math and then a section of language arts. After that there is a life skills class that I may help teach and then I will teach the same math and language arts lessons to the next section of 6th graders.

I have to be honest, I feel like I will be really prepared to teach math, but I'm not yet excited about it. I was the given the text book and the scope and sequence for next fall, but I haven't looked in to it yet. I'm really going to save that for this summer. I want to come up with some unique ways to teach the lessons that are hands-on and differentiated, rather than just teach straight from the book. I'm sure I'll be more excited once I actually start planning the lessons.

I am however, VERY excited about language arts. It has always been my favorite subject, and this is such a great age to teach it. When I take over the class my placement teacher has asked me to do a literacy unit on a book. Initially I thought I could do literacy circles with several books on the same theme, but she thought that it might be easier to pick one book so that I can get more involved in the class, and to make the planning easier. I'm really considering choosing the book The Giver by Lois Lowry. I read that book in 6th, 8th, and 10th grade and just read it again a few weeks ago. Dystopian books are some of my favorite books to read and that was the first book I read that really introduced me to the genre.

I think there are a lot of great things that I could do with this book and I have already started pinteresting some ideas. I would love to base it around the theme of identity, because I think that is something that students that age really need to explore. I did some fantastic art lessons on that theme and I might be able to incorporate some of those ideas. Also, there are some great controversial issues that we could research, debate, or write about; Things like euthanasia, medication, and even school uniforms. Anyway, I won't bore you with too many ideas yet until I am sure of what I will be doing. I'm sure that I'll be able to update my blog much more often this summer. I can not wait to begin collecting my supplies.

My placement teacher is fantastic by the way! She is giving me my own desk and is giving me a bulletin board where I can create a "get to know" me board for the end of the year. She is really open to new ideas and I think she will be completely accepting of anything I want to try-which is fantastic, because I am not afraid to experiment!

All in all, it has been one crazy semester thus far.

Here is a picture of a lesson I taught to kindergartners about the 5 senses. This one was on the sense of taste. They had to do a taste test and then categorize what they tasted. I loved these kids, but after being introduced to the older grades, I think I really want to stick with those when I am teaching.

Student Teaching Placement

I have just received my student teaching placement! I will be working at Bothwell Middle School, which is a school that is just a few minutes from home. I will be teaching math and language arts to 6th grade students. I'm really excited to have the opportunity to work with older students, since the majority of my experiences have been with students k-5th grade. I am especially excited to be teaching Language Arts. I love reading and writing and to be able to work with an older grade we will be able to do some really great lessons. I have to admit, I'm pretty nervous about teaching math since it is so much out of my comfort zone, but I'm going to welcome the challenge because I think it will be good for me to be able to practice teaching math when I have a mentor to guide me. I'll definitely have to brush up on my math this summer. I am so lucky to have received my placement in March, because some of my classmates won't be receiving theirs until much later in the semester, and some won't have theirs until as late as August. This will allow me to observe my placement teacher's classroom this semester. I'm hoping I will be able to experience as much as possible before student teaching even starts. I am so excited that I have already looked at the standards and have started browsing through blogs,websites,and books about student teaching and 6th grade. I feel like I'll know so much more once I am able to meet her and see her classroom. I am reminded, once again, just how close I am to student teaching , and becoming a teacher myself!

The problem with reinforcement and scripted lessons

One of the topics brought up in class this week that really struck me was the idea of scripted lesson plans. I had no idea that there were schools that were so strict. I could not imagine going into the classroom each day, opening up to a page, and reading the script from it. Those schools might as well hire actors, substitute teachers, heck, assembly line workers. Granted, there are obviously some advantages to scripted lesson plans or they would never have been implemented. However, scripted lessons leave less room for innovation and student-teacher relationships. Further-more, what then happens to those students who need modifications and adjustments to the lessons? How can those teachers possibly meet the needs of all their students if they must read from a script each day?

 The worst teacher I can ever remember having was one who, even in high school, had us open our textbook each day while she read word-for-word the textbook to us. Then we would do the questions at the back of the book and occasionally watch a video. I cannot even remember one thing that I learned from that teacher, besides how NOT to teach. The best teachers I had were the ones who kept us engaged, who used a variety of different teaching styles, and could listen to our ideas and change their plans day-to-day.  Scripted lessons go against every-thing I have learned about teaching so far, and it is scary that this is the direction some schools are choosing to go.

Another suggestion that got me thinking was the idea of using less reinforcement in the classroom. This idea is so completely different than what I've seen in the schools, and in books, and online. I've seen positive reinforcement work, and work well. However, when I stop and think for a moment, it’s funny, but I’m reminded of the research I did when I was training my new dog. Some websites swore by positive reinforcement to teach, do a trick, and get a treat. We all know that works. Some other websites swore by negative reinforcement, don’t listen and get locked up. Granted, I can tell you that will work too. But the website that made the most sense was the one that explained the idea of simply getting to know your dog, and establishing a role where you’re respected. Teaching the dog to understand the appropriate relationship you want to have with them, one where you are the leader and they follow.

Now, I’m not suggesting we seriously compare children to dogs. The concept is that although treats and reprimands work, even with animals, you don’t learn anything from them. Besides that,we aren't teaching animals, we are teaching people! If we teach children to rely on extrinsic motivation, where does that get them in life? Instead of just doing something because it’s right, they will constantly be asking, “What’s in it for me?” Is that really the type of people we want to raise?

The students that I teach will be expected to do more than retain information to regurgitate on test-days for a good grade. They’re going to learn about the world because they live in it and want to know about it, because it matters to them. They’re going to help each other, and be responsible and hard-working not because they will earn a sticker, but because that’s what people do. Children do not go to school to learn how to “be good at school.” They go to school to learn how to live a good life; how to be good people, and so that is what I will teach. 

Obviously, that is the goal of all teachers, and even of parents. To have their kind WANT to learn, and have good work ethic, be kind, and good people in general, for no other reason than that's what they should do. There ARE some kids who can and will achieve that. However, having worked with children, I'm finding it a challenge to NOT use these types of reinforcements. Frankly, because they work, and sometimes are the only things that work. It's something that I think may come with time for me, and for the students, but is a goal that I want to try to accomplish.