Miss. Downey splits her students into pairs based on the article each students wants to read. I like this because all of the articles are different and there is something each student is interested in reading so I think this makes life a little easier for a teacher instead of trying to choose a book for the whole class and hoping they'll all enjoy it. Although I do think books are important, I just think the articles are good for Friday activity. After each article they are aloud to Blog about the main idea of their article. When I watch these kids get on their laptops and I think about how I was in 3rd grade and I was lucky if I could turn on the computer.
I think that for the activity on Friday the articles are incredibly useful, at least in the classroom I am in, the students are given informational S.S. handout and by blogging about the main ideas from these articles it would allow students to work with informational texts and learn how to decide what information that they are supposed to get out of the article.
I agree with Lori that the classroom blogs are not good. In my experience with them, the kids took forever to type and they only ended up saying a few words. I do think pairing them based on their interest in the articles is a really good idea because the students I worked with got bored if they didn't have a motive to read.
I like an idea of working into pairs because the students can learn how to help each other sometimes, Especially, a good reader student work with a struggling student. This could help a lot for them to learn from each other. The another thing that I like is the way that teacher lets students should their own article.
That's great that she allows the kids to choose their own article to read. And I like the idea of them blogging. I can see Krista's point about the kids taking forever on the computer. It would be the same for some students writing on paper. Some just take a little longer than others.
Some of the 3rd graders are pretty tech savvy, some of them ARE lucky enough to be able to turn on the laptops without my help! i enjoy seeing the students wok in groups while they are blogging. They work well with their partners and they even build off of one another to make sure the other isn't plagiarizing.
Honestly, I think some technology can be really cool to introduce to children, but I HATE the classroom blogs. The students take a ridiculous amount of time trying to type because they essentially peck at the keys, and I think it would be more effective for them to write their responses. My teacher Mrs. Speer usually seems to make her children write a paper rough draft, and then type their draft, and then have a peer edit their paper before it is "published". The process is slightly difference since that is usually for longer papers, but I just really hate that the students "blog" because I think they think it is ok to be more informal on a blog. I do like the idea of putting students with similar interests together, because this also gives teachers a way to put students with different educational backgrounds together without them noticing. I think that would also be a great way to introduce non-fiction articles.
That was supposed to be a comment on Shannon's.... This week I did not work with Jayna because she was apparently caught up on her reading, so I worked with Chance. I have worked with Chance before on a few other things, so I knew a little about him. Although it is unfair to stereotype students, I can tell Chance is probably going to be a hipster. His dad is an artist, and already lets Chance listen to the Beastie Boys. I still cannot name 3 Beastie Boys songs, but Chance drew the Beastie Boys on his folder because they are apparently his favorite band. I think this shows the amount of influence parents have over their children, whether they realize it or not. Chance and I worked on a draft of his paper and a holiday called Salloween, which I'm not entirely sure actually exhists. Apparently it was a precursor to Halloween. Who knows? I enjoyed watching him write and come up with sentences on his paper, then type them into the computer. He seemed very familiar with the writing process and also seemed to enjoy it. I think one of the best things about Mrs. Speer's room is the abundance of resources she has. The walls are covered with information about every subject, "I can" statements, word walls, and even reading techniques. I love her room, and since I have noticed so many cool things in her room, I have started paying particular attention to other teachers classrooms to see if they have any ideas I could steal.
Mrs. Speer's classroom sounds like an excellent learning environment and it's great that you are looking for ideas to steal. It's always incredibly interesting to see the personality of these students, and the influence of the parents is sometimes as clear as day like Chance's love of the Beastie Boys did you see anything interesting in his writing process that you wouldn't expect while observing a third grader write?
Reply to Lori: I agree that parents have a huge influence on their child and the way the think as well as the things they like. That's why it's really important to teach kids about not stereotyping and things like that because, even if parents don't realize it, kids will get that from them. One of the major examples of that would be political views. Teachers should be there to give information from every viewpoint so kids can decide for themselves how they want to think.
I definitely agree with you about the Chrome books. They are so great for the blog and getting to know the computer, but the students just type so slow! The students write slow too, so I cannot tell which one is more beneficial to them. I need to like read a study on whether typing or writing is better for them.
In reply to Lori: I agree with Erin the kids definitely do type more slow. This could be because of their age and not knowing are to use it or because they just don't like blogging. I definitely think the wall artwork on Mrs. Speer's classroom is steal worthy. In response to Danelle's reply: That is an excellent question, I am curious about that as well.
In field last week I was asked to read a social studies handout with a group of kids, which is what has happened for a majority of the times that I've visited the school. I think the way the kids react to the students being there is very interesting because they gotten more used to us at this point in the semester but they are still incredibly excited to see us. When the kids are reading out loud I also find it very interesting how often the student are excited to read out loud- I remember I would always dread it when I was in elementary school.
I also think it's cool how excited they always get even though we have been in the classroom for a while now. Did your whole group get excited about reading or were there a few who didn't want to?
I was the same way in school! I hated reading out loud. And I agree. I barely get a second look when the kids walk into the door. They've definitely gotten used to me being there!
I think it's good that teacher in your class allow to get involved more and it sounds like students like to see you all working together. I also love when the students in preschool read out loud even sometimes they don't even look at the text but they just keep reading from the picture what they see.
I love your enthusiasm for going to the school! It is great that you are getting to see the students learn so much throughout the year. Do the students find the articles interesting as well? Do you think the students are able to learn what they read as they read?
I think it helps that we go to the school for a few weeks, so the students get to know us. I think its important to build a relationship with the children because they open up more and you can help them make connections to the text easier.
I had a bad stutter when I used to read, so reading aloud was not my favorite thing. I always preferred to read in small groups or by myself but it didn't help that I was a shy student.
I love how your group seems to be so enthused to read aloud. I wish my buddy had a love of reading or at least the confidence to read aloud with me. I seemed to try everything from trying to connect something with sports and what not which seems to work most of the time but sometimes he doesn't want to read because it is to long. With this said how would you suggest gaining a young mind into reading?
Amen to that shannon, i used to not like reading aloud as well when i was younger. i too had a stutter that was very apparent when i was nervous, especially whilst reading in front of my peers.
I was in the same class as Danielle last week so I also read the social studies magazine with a group of kids. I really wish we would do more of a variety of activities because it seems like we do the same thing each week. In my group, there were a few kids who wanted to read all the time and some who didn't want to read at all. There was one girl that wanted to read, but was really slow and the other kids kept groaning and saying the words before she could figure them out and telling her she was too slow. I didn't know exactly how to react to that, so I just told them they needed to be respectful while others were reading. I did notice that the teacher was just reading the magazine to her group instead of having them read it themselves, so I don't know if that's what she wanted us to do as well. But, I think a more individualized, creative activity would help the students to pay more attention. I think it would be cool if each person in the group read a section to themselves and then had to tell their classmates about it. That way, they wouldn't have to sit still and listen for so long and they would have some sort of responsibility to retain the information.
I think this shows that you will be a great teacher, Krista! We have to take into account that all students do not learn the same way! And I think you handled the groans and moans well!
It looks like you had a good experience and get to learn many things or situation in the class. I also believe that creative activity would help the students to pay more attention. Sometimes, each student wants to work on their own and be able to share what they have done on their work.
That is very frustrating! I am sorry that the students are able to experience a larger variety of activities. On the plus side, you are able to see methods that you do not want in your future classroom (or you do not want to over-use in your future classroom). Have you suggested varying the methods to the teacher?
That sounds incredibly boring. It is hard for you to be excited to read with them if you are repeatedly doing the same things, and the kids obviously tire of doing the same types of activities too. I agree that it would be much better for the students to have a more creative activity. Maybe doing some sort of readers theater with the articles, or even giving children a base topic and allowing them to explore their favorite part of a certain topic might make the activity more enjoyable.
I agree with you, I don't like doing the same activities every friday but the students get really excited when they get to do their blogs. Only a few actually do the blog and sometimes their partner just copies off of them instead of working individually or together.
I agree, the kids enjoy certain aspects of the articles they are reading but overall they don't seem very engaged. I like your idea of individuals taking the responsibility of sharing what they read on their own to the group. In my group I also had students that didn't want to read but eventually the student that refused to read asked to read to the group which was a pleasant surprise.
I had a great time last week, Mrs. McDaniel asked me to explain the students about their math homework. First, I asked them to put their feet on their note book and I drew the pictures of them. After that, we have to measure their feet and teach them how to use the scale. Counting the numbers with them and ask them to do it at home with their parents. It was fun to work with them and they were so exciting for this activity. They also made their own scale before I got there and they all were happy to show me their work. I worked with them for two hours and I didn't feel tired at all because I enjoyed working with them. It was one of my favorite weeks and I can't wait to go back again.
What a fun activity! It's great when the kids are excited about something. And I definitely agree with you. I love going to help or observe kids! It's so much fun to see what they can do.
I love how excited the students were for you to be there! It sounds like the activity was super interactive and worked really well! I am glad your week went so well! I hope you have a great time next week too!
That sounds like an awesome activity Nantana! I liked how you had them use parts of their body to practice measuring. You could extend that activity by having them trace their entire body and then measuring certain parts and looking at the ratios that make up their bodies.
That is a pretty nifty activity.Did you have any trouble getting the students to stand still while you traced their feet? i love when the students eyes light up with excitement, almost as much as i love the lightbulb moment!
To make up the time I will lose for attending MSTA this Friday, I am going to blog about my experience in 4th grade last week when we went to McIntire for Dr. Aulgur's Social Studies class. We split into 4 groups and each group presented on a country where we would like to travel. I was with Lori and Ashley and we presented on Italy. I felt like it went okay. We planned on working with one group of kids for the entire period. Instead, we had to stop in the middle of our lesson and switch to another group. We had to adapt our lesson for the second group. I feel like only a few of the kids were interested in what we had to say, but it was a good experience!
It sounds like a great activity and I believe the students in the class would enjoy it. I also thing it is a good experience to be in the class and get to do some real work with the students.
That sounds like so much fun!!! What did you present on? The terrain, culture, population, etc.? Why did you have to switch groups? I love the idea of getting students excited about geography so early on! It can encourage a stronger interest in other communities and in social studies content.
It was a lot of fun and the students loved it! It was so interactive for them and they were moving around the classroom maybe more than usually. They loved hearing from us and learned a lot of new things that day. It did frustrated me too that we had to switch in the middle of our lesson, but other than that it was great.
When Caitlin and I were presenting we had to adapt our lesson as well. I think that it was good practice to have our lesson need to be re-arranged with little warning because it is something we will experience in our own classrooms.
i agree with you Meredith, its never too early to get the students excited about geography. Yes, that early introduction has the potential to open up many doors of interest to other areas that students didn't know they had the ability to open or the want to open.
Last week, I was in the classroom with the second substitute teacher this semester. Both times there has been a distinct difference in the classroom atmosphere and the level of attention the students use. I have noticed that substitute teachers struggle to jump into class material, classroom environment, and an authoritative role for the day. I wonder if a substitute teacher would be able to follow the state standards, the teacher's instructions, and the students' expectations for the day. Is it possible?
I think it's probably hard for a student teacher because they don't know how all of the students act and what different attentions they require. I also think the students don't take substitutes as seriously or respect them as much. I think something that might help a sub to run the class more smoothly is if the teacher told them beforehand to respect the sub and that the teacher would hear about it if they behaved poorly. I also think it's important that the sub follows the directions from the teacher as exactly as possible so it's as normal as it can be for the students. It depends on a lot of different factors, but I think it would definitely be hard for a sub to meet the standards, instructions of the teacher, and expectations of students just in one day.
I think if it is a substitute teacher that the children have met and had before then it makes a difference in the classroom and how the students preform on that day. I also HATED substitute teachers because then it meant we had to do quiet busy work all day and I wanted to learn something new. I had also gotten yelled at by a substitute teacher before and I thought you don't know me so what gives you the right to yell at me. I do not think substitute teachers do a good job at all and that they forget about the standards for the day and do anything to just get by.
Mhm, good question. I would say at first a substitute would not be able to follow each one perfectly all at once because that is asking to much to do. I also believe the first five or so years of student teaching (which could be classified as substituting in some cases) is for young adults to get a good feeling on how they want to teach and how they are going to teach. However out of all of the ones you listed I would say the substitute should follow the teachers instruction for the length of the absence so students are not confused by what needs to be done.
Last week I was in a classroom with just Mrs. Speer and no Ms. Nichols. It was weird experiencing just Mrs. Speer teaching, she seemed to be less in control of the kids and seemed to get frazzled easily, for instance I remember her yelling at a kid to sit down instead of just politely asking him/her to sit down. On another note I liked the activity she had students do. Mrs. Speer had her students create a paragraph about anything they wish to write about and type the paragraph. I had a new buddy and he wrote about Five Nights at Freddy's, a game he likes to play. The guy that I helped had already written his second paragraph at home and Mrs. Speer allowed him to explore on the game a little bit more. It was heart-warming seeing the kids interested in something. To me this was a better use of technology in the classroom than blogs because the students are writing about what they want to write about instead of writing about something they might not have enjoyed reading (like the scholastic social studies articles).
I can kind of see what you are talking about with Mrs. Speer getting frazzled and not having things under control, but sometimes things get out of hand and she's going to need to be firm with the students. These two boys were bickering at each other and getting of their seats and this was not the first time this happened and maybe not the second time, so she had to get firm with them boys and I think she handled it very well. I also did not see any trouble from the boys the rest of the time I was there so it made an impact on their.
I agree with Erin that sometimes as a teacher you have to be firm with your students and regain control. I agree with you though that the students writing about what they want to can be more beneficial than writing about a boring article.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoy going into to Mrs. Speer's classroom. I have not been in a classroom with this many hours since practicum one and I liked the teacher then, but I love Mrs. Speer and I can tell the students love her too. This week the students wrote a story. First they did a rough draft that Mrs. Speer looked over. They they did a second draft that another classmate looked over, and then they did a final draft on their Chrome books. I really liked how the students got to write whatever they wanted. I was reading some of the stories and they were so creative and fun. During this whole process, Mrs. Speer had a bulletin board with each of their names on a little frogger. Every time they finished a step they got to move their frog up. This was a very cute idea and I am definitely going to steal it.
That is great that you are enjoying your experience! I agree that the students stories are creative, it is amazing at some of their creativity!! The frogger idea is wonderful and makes a good topic to discuss about frogs!
This week when I first got to Ms. Downey's class they were writing a story about something they did yesterday or in the past week. This one little girl was writing about how on her birthday she got a phone. She wrote 3 pages on not only how she got her phone but also how she lost it and bought apps on her phone when she wasn't supposed to. I was amazed at how much detail she put in her writing and how I loved reading her story. She kept writing and writing. At this moment I knew that I couldn't wait to read stories my future students to write and how I want them to get excited to write!
Wow a third grader has a phone that seems so bizarre to me, however I guess that's what happens with the advancement of technology. Another thing that amazes me is that she was able to write a paper that was three pages long just about experiences with the phone. She could be an inspiring writer. Seeing your retelling of this event makes me eager to read students' stories as well :)
This week the kiddos worked on short memoirs on their blogs. for the past few weeks Ms. Downey's students have been blogging instead of using a pencil and paper, i think this is a great idea because all the students can see each others progress. Again i assumed the position of walking around helping those who had trouble with word selection and spelling and grammar. From time to time i would be called over by the students who were having a tough time progressing with their story and i had to give them a bit of a push in the right direction (which is tough when they are writing from their memory). All in all the students are very enthusiastic about writing. I really enjoy seeing the students work hard for long periods of time.
Miss. Downey splits her students into pairs based on the article each students wants to read. I like this because all of the articles are different and there is something each student is interested in reading so I think this makes life a little easier for a teacher instead of trying to choose a book for the whole class and hoping they'll all enjoy it. Although I do think books are important, I just think the articles are good for Friday activity. After each article they are aloud to Blog about the main idea of their article. When I watch these kids get on their laptops and I think about how I was in 3rd grade and I was lucky if I could turn on the computer.
ReplyDeleteI think that for the activity on Friday the articles are incredibly useful, at least in the classroom I am in, the students are given informational S.S. handout and by blogging about the main ideas from these articles it would allow students to work with informational texts and learn how to decide what information that they are supposed to get out of the article.
DeleteI agree with Lori that the classroom blogs are not good. In my experience with them, the kids took forever to type and they only ended up saying a few words. I do think pairing them based on their interest in the articles is a really good idea because the students I worked with got bored if they didn't have a motive to read.
DeleteI like an idea of working into pairs because the students can learn how to help each other sometimes, Especially, a good reader student work with a struggling student. This could help a lot for them to learn from each other. The another thing that I like is the way that teacher lets students should their own article.
DeleteThat's great that she allows the kids to choose their own article to read. And I like the idea of them blogging. I can see Krista's point about the kids taking forever on the computer. It would be the same for some students writing on paper. Some just take a little longer than others.
DeleteSome of the 3rd graders are pretty tech savvy, some of them ARE lucky enough to be able to turn on the laptops without my help! i enjoy seeing the students wok in groups while they are blogging. They work well with their partners and they even build off of one another to make sure the other isn't plagiarizing.
DeleteHonestly, I think some technology can be really cool to introduce to children, but I HATE the classroom blogs. The students take a ridiculous amount of time trying to type because they essentially peck at the keys, and I think it would be more effective for them to write their responses. My teacher Mrs. Speer usually seems to make her children write a paper rough draft, and then type their draft, and then have a peer edit their paper before it is "published". The process is slightly difference since that is usually for longer papers, but I just really hate that the students "blog" because I think they think it is ok to be more informal on a blog. I do like the idea of putting students with similar interests together, because this also gives teachers a way to put students with different educational backgrounds together without them noticing. I think that would also be a great way to introduce non-fiction articles.
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to be a comment on Shannon's.... This week I did not work with Jayna because she was apparently caught up on her reading, so I worked with Chance. I have worked with Chance before on a few other things, so I knew a little about him. Although it is unfair to stereotype students, I can tell Chance is probably going to be a hipster. His dad is an artist, and already lets Chance listen to the Beastie Boys. I still cannot name 3 Beastie Boys songs, but Chance drew the Beastie Boys on his folder because they are apparently his favorite band. I think this shows the amount of influence parents have over their children, whether they realize it or not. Chance and I worked on a draft of his paper and a holiday called Salloween, which I'm not entirely sure actually exhists. Apparently it was a precursor to Halloween. Who knows? I enjoyed watching him write and come up with sentences on his paper, then type them into the computer. He seemed very familiar with the writing process and also seemed to enjoy it. I think one of the best things about Mrs. Speer's room is the abundance of resources she has. The walls are covered with information about every subject, "I can" statements, word walls, and even reading techniques. I love her room, and since I have noticed so many cool things in her room, I have started paying particular attention to other teachers classrooms to see if they have any ideas I could steal.
DeleteReply to Lori's post:
DeleteMrs. Speer's classroom sounds like an excellent learning environment and it's great that you are looking for ideas to steal. It's always incredibly interesting to see the personality of these students, and the influence of the parents is sometimes as clear as day like Chance's love of the Beastie Boys did you see anything interesting in his writing process that you wouldn't expect while observing a third grader write?
Reply to Lori: I agree that parents have a huge influence on their child and the way the think as well as the things they like. That's why it's really important to teach kids about not stereotyping and things like that because, even if parents don't realize it, kids will get that from them. One of the major examples of that would be political views. Teachers should be there to give information from every viewpoint so kids can decide for themselves how they want to think.
DeleteI definitely agree with you about the Chrome books. They are so great for the blog and getting to know the computer, but the students just type so slow! The students write slow too, so I cannot tell which one is more beneficial to them. I need to like read a study on whether typing or writing is better for them.
DeleteIn reply to Lori: I agree with Erin the kids definitely do type more slow. This could be because of their age and not knowing are to use it or because they just don't like blogging. I definitely think the wall artwork on Mrs. Speer's classroom is steal worthy.
DeleteIn response to Danelle's reply: That is an excellent question, I am curious about that as well.
In field last week I was asked to read a social studies handout with a group of kids, which is what has happened for a majority of the times that I've visited the school. I think the way the kids react to the students being there is very interesting because they gotten more used to us at this point in the semester but they are still incredibly excited to see us. When the kids are reading out loud I also find it very interesting how often the student are excited to read out loud- I remember I would always dread it when I was in elementary school.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's cool how excited they always get even though we have been in the classroom for a while now. Did your whole group get excited about reading or were there a few who didn't want to?
DeleteI was the same way in school! I hated reading out loud. And I agree. I barely get a second look when the kids walk into the door. They've definitely gotten used to me being there!
DeleteI think it's good that teacher in your class allow to get involved more and it sounds like students like to see you all working together. I also love when the students in preschool read out loud even sometimes they don't even look at the text but they just keep reading from the picture what they see.
DeleteI love your enthusiasm for going to the school! It is great that you are getting to see the students learn so much throughout the year. Do the students find the articles interesting as well? Do you think the students are able to learn what they read as they read?
DeleteI think it helps that we go to the school for a few weeks, so the students get to know us. I think its important to build a relationship with the children because they open up more and you can help them make connections to the text easier.
DeleteI agree that they are always excited to see us! Do you think us going to the school benefits their learning in a positive way?
DeleteI had a bad stutter when I used to read, so reading aloud was not my favorite thing. I always preferred to read in small groups or by myself but it didn't help that I was a shy student.
DeleteI love how your group seems to be so enthused to read aloud. I wish my buddy had a love of reading or at least the confidence to read aloud with me. I seemed to try everything from trying to connect something with sports and what not which seems to work most of the time but sometimes he doesn't want to read because it is to long. With this said how would you suggest gaining a young mind into reading?
DeleteAmen to that shannon, i used to not like reading aloud as well when i was younger. i too had a stutter that was very apparent when i was nervous, especially whilst reading in front of my peers.
DeleteI was in the same class as Danielle last week so I also read the social studies magazine with a group of kids. I really wish we would do more of a variety of activities because it seems like we do the same thing each week. In my group, there were a few kids who wanted to read all the time and some who didn't want to read at all. There was one girl that wanted to read, but was really slow and the other kids kept groaning and saying the words before she could figure them out and telling her she was too slow. I didn't know exactly how to react to that, so I just told them they needed to be respectful while others were reading. I did notice that the teacher was just reading the magazine to her group instead of having them read it themselves, so I don't know if that's what she wanted us to do as well. But, I think a more individualized, creative activity would help the students to pay more attention. I think it would be cool if each person in the group read a section to themselves and then had to tell their classmates about it. That way, they wouldn't have to sit still and listen for so long and they would have some sort of responsibility to retain the information.
ReplyDeleteI think this shows that you will be a great teacher, Krista! We have to take into account that all students do not learn the same way! And I think you handled the groans and moans well!
DeleteIt looks like you had a good experience and get to learn many things or situation in the class. I also believe that creative activity would help the students to pay more attention. Sometimes, each student wants to work on their own and be able to share what they have done on their work.
DeleteThat is very frustrating! I am sorry that the students are able to experience a larger variety of activities. On the plus side, you are able to see methods that you do not want in your future classroom (or you do not want to over-use in your future classroom). Have you suggested varying the methods to the teacher?
DeleteThat sounds incredibly boring. It is hard for you to be excited to read with them if you are repeatedly doing the same things, and the kids obviously tire of doing the same types of activities too. I agree that it would be much better for the students to have a more creative activity. Maybe doing some sort of readers theater with the articles, or even giving children a base topic and allowing them to explore their favorite part of a certain topic might make the activity more enjoyable.
DeleteI agree with you, I don't like doing the same activities every friday but the students get really excited when they get to do their blogs. Only a few actually do the blog and sometimes their partner just copies off of them instead of working individually or together.
DeleteI agree, the kids enjoy certain aspects of the articles they are reading but overall they don't seem very engaged. I like your idea of individuals taking the responsibility of sharing what they read on their own to the group. In my group I also had students that didn't want to read but eventually the student that refused to read asked to read to the group which was a pleasant surprise.
ReplyDelete**I just realized that I messed this up. The above post was supposed to be in response to Krista.***
DeleteI had a great time last week, Mrs. McDaniel asked me to explain the students about their math homework. First, I asked them to put their feet on their note book and I drew the pictures of them. After that, we have to measure their feet and teach them how to use the scale. Counting the numbers with them and ask them to do it at home with their parents. It was fun to work with them and they were so exciting for this activity. They also made their own scale before I got there and they all were happy to show me their work. I worked with them for two hours and I didn't feel tired at all because I enjoyed working with them. It was one of my favorite weeks and I can't wait to go back again.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun activity! It's great when the kids are excited about something. And I definitely agree with you. I love going to help or observe kids! It's so much fun to see what they can do.
DeleteI love how excited the students were for you to be there! It sounds like the activity was super interactive and worked really well! I am glad your week went so well! I hope you have a great time next week too!
DeleteThat sounds like an awesome activity Nantana! I liked how you had them use parts of their body to practice measuring. You could extend that activity by having them trace their entire body and then measuring certain parts and looking at the ratios that make up their bodies.
DeleteThat's a really good idea!!! I also love going into the schools to observe, I wish I could go more often.
DeleteThat is a pretty nifty activity.Did you have any trouble getting the students to stand still while you traced their feet? i love when the students eyes light up with excitement, almost as much as i love the lightbulb moment!
DeleteTo make up the time I will lose for attending MSTA this Friday, I am going to blog about my experience in 4th grade last week when we went to McIntire for Dr. Aulgur's Social Studies class. We split into 4 groups and each group presented on a country where we would like to travel. I was with Lori and Ashley and we presented on Italy. I felt like it went okay. We planned on working with one group of kids for the entire period. Instead, we had to stop in the middle of our lesson and switch to another group. We had to adapt our lesson for the second group. I feel like only a few of the kids were interested in what we had to say, but it was a good experience!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a great activity and I believe the students in the class would enjoy it. I also thing it is a good experience to be in the class and get to do some real work with the students.
DeleteThat sounds like so much fun!!! What did you present on? The terrain, culture, population, etc.? Why did you have to switch groups? I love the idea of getting students excited about geography so early on! It can encourage a stronger interest in other communities and in social studies content.
DeleteIt was a lot of fun and the students loved it! It was so interactive for them and they were moving around the classroom maybe more than usually. They loved hearing from us and learned a lot of new things that day. It did frustrated me too that we had to switch in the middle of our lesson, but other than that it was great.
DeleteThe activity was fun and I think most students learned something new. How would you alter the activity? How can use this experience in your teaching?
DeleteIt is hard to stop in the middle of a lesson, it can also be a little frustrating too, especially since you guys had planned on a whole class period.
DeleteWhen Caitlin and I were presenting we had to adapt our lesson as well. I think that it was good practice to have our lesson need to be re-arranged with little warning because it is something we will experience in our own classrooms.
Deletei agree with you Meredith, its never too early to get the students excited about geography. Yes, that early introduction has the potential to open up many doors of interest to other areas that students didn't know they had the ability to open or the want to open.
DeleteLast week, I was in the classroom with the second substitute teacher this semester. Both times there has been a distinct difference in the classroom atmosphere and the level of attention the students use. I have noticed that substitute teachers struggle to jump into class material, classroom environment, and an authoritative role for the day. I wonder if a substitute teacher would be able to follow the state standards, the teacher's instructions, and the students' expectations for the day. Is it possible?
ReplyDeleteI think it's probably hard for a student teacher because they don't know how all of the students act and what different attentions they require. I also think the students don't take substitutes as seriously or respect them as much. I think something that might help a sub to run the class more smoothly is if the teacher told them beforehand to respect the sub and that the teacher would hear about it if they behaved poorly. I also think it's important that the sub follows the directions from the teacher as exactly as possible so it's as normal as it can be for the students. It depends on a lot of different factors, but I think it would definitely be hard for a sub to meet the standards, instructions of the teacher, and expectations of students just in one day.
DeleteI think if it is a substitute teacher that the children have met and had before then it makes a difference in the classroom and how the students preform on that day. I also HATED substitute teachers because then it meant we had to do quiet busy work all day and I wanted to learn something new. I had also gotten yelled at by a substitute teacher before and I thought you don't know me so what gives you the right to yell at me. I do not think substitute teachers do a good job at all and that they forget about the standards for the day and do anything to just get by.
DeleteMhm, good question. I would say at first a substitute would not be able to follow each one perfectly all at once because that is asking to much to do. I also believe the first five or so years of student teaching (which could be classified as substituting in some cases) is for young adults to get a good feeling on how they want to teach and how they are going to teach. However out of all of the ones you listed I would say the substitute should follow the teachers instruction for the length of the absence so students are not confused by what needs to be done.
DeleteLast week I was in a classroom with just Mrs. Speer and no Ms. Nichols. It was weird experiencing just Mrs. Speer teaching, she seemed to be less in control of the kids and seemed to get frazzled easily, for instance I remember her yelling at a kid to sit down instead of just politely asking him/her to sit down.
ReplyDeleteOn another note I liked the activity she had students do. Mrs. Speer had her students create a paragraph about anything they wish to write about and type the paragraph. I had a new buddy and he wrote about Five Nights at Freddy's, a game he likes to play. The guy that I helped had already written his second paragraph at home and Mrs. Speer allowed him to explore on the game a little bit more. It was heart-warming seeing the kids interested in something. To me this was a better use of technology in the classroom than blogs because the students are writing about what they want to write about instead of writing about something they might not have enjoyed reading (like the scholastic social studies articles).
I can kind of see what you are talking about with Mrs. Speer getting frazzled and not having things under control, but sometimes things get out of hand and she's going to need to be firm with the students. These two boys were bickering at each other and getting of their seats and this was not the first time this happened and maybe not the second time, so she had to get firm with them boys and I think she handled it very well. I also did not see any trouble from the boys the rest of the time I was there so it made an impact on their.
DeleteI agree with Erin that sometimes as a teacher you have to be firm with your students and regain control. I agree with you though that the students writing about what they want to can be more beneficial than writing about a boring article.
DeleteI cannot tell you how much I enjoy going into to Mrs. Speer's classroom. I have not been in a classroom with this many hours since practicum one and I liked the teacher then, but I love Mrs. Speer and I can tell the students love her too. This week the students wrote a story. First they did a rough draft that Mrs. Speer looked over. They they did a second draft that another classmate looked over, and then they did a final draft on their Chrome books. I really liked how the students got to write whatever they wanted. I was reading some of the stories and they were so creative and fun. During this whole process, Mrs. Speer had a bulletin board with each of their names on a little frogger. Every time they finished a step they got to move their frog up. This was a very cute idea and I am definitely going to steal it.
ReplyDeleteThat is great that you are enjoying your experience! I agree that the students stories are creative, it is amazing at some of their creativity!! The frogger idea is wonderful and makes a good topic to discuss about frogs!
DeleteThis week when I first got to Ms. Downey's class they were writing a story about something they did yesterday or in the past week. This one little girl was writing about how on her birthday she got a phone. She wrote 3 pages on not only how she got her phone but also how she lost it and bought apps on her phone when she wasn't supposed to. I was amazed at how much detail she put in her writing and how I loved reading her story. She kept writing and writing. At this moment I knew that I couldn't wait to read stories my future students to write and how I want them to get excited to write!
ReplyDeleteWow a third grader has a phone that seems so bizarre to me, however I guess that's what happens with the advancement of technology. Another thing that amazes me is that she was able to write a paper that was three pages long just about experiences with the phone. She could be an inspiring writer. Seeing your retelling of this event makes me eager to read students' stories as well :)
DeleteThis week the kiddos worked on short memoirs on their blogs. for the past few weeks Ms. Downey's students have been blogging instead of using a pencil and paper, i think this is a great idea because all the students can see each others progress. Again i assumed the position of walking around helping those who had trouble with word selection and spelling and grammar. From time to time i would be called over by the students who were having a tough time progressing with their story and i had to give them a bit of a push in the right direction (which is tough when they are writing from their memory). All in all the students are very enthusiastic about writing. I really enjoy seeing the students work hard for long periods of time.
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