1. How was the first day?
2. What went well?
3. What were the challenges?
4. What adjustments will you make for next week?
Please answer each question seperately. Thank you.
1. My first day went well I thought. It was chaotic but I'm used to it from student teaching in kindergarten. 2. The ice breakers went very well. We played a toilet paper game where they tore off pieces and then I told them however many pieces they had, that's how many facts they had to say about themselves. 3. The challenge was mainly with the pre-test. I'm fifth grade science in variables and they were terrified even though they knew it was just to see what they knew. It went really short because they really didn't know the answers and just guessed. I found myself with a lot more time left then I thought and had to think of extra icebreakers off the top of my head. 4. Adjustments would be to just plan more than needed or "extra".
1. I really enjoyed the first day. Going into it, I had no idea what to expect. My homeroom students entered my room that day bight-eyed and eager to learn. That set the tone for the rest of the day. The rotation of students made the day pass quickly and it was exciting to meet each new group. 2. The day was a success because I prepared several activities for my students that finished their pre-tests early. This aspect went really well because the students were engaged and on task the whole period. 3. My one challenge on the first day happened during our fourth period block. I had one student that came into the room already clearly upset. I tried to encourage and welcome him into the room the best I could. When I gave him his pre-test, he marked "F" at the top and turned it over. I went to him and tried to talk to him, but he was simply shut down. I stepped into the hall and was quickly assisted by one of my mentor teachers. She escorted this student out of the room and when he returned he had a changed attitude. I was grateful to have a helping hand during that time. 4. For the upcoming week, I plan to have a variety of assignments and experiments to spark my students interest and motivate them to learn. I also plan to set a tone in my classroom that is welcoming and friendly, but also has a high level of expectations.
1.The first day was interesting. Many of my homeroom students seemed scared. They did not talk to each and many just sat quietly waiting to see who would enter the class next. For the pre-test, some of the students took it seriously and others did not. 2.The transition from one class to next went well. Also, the behavior of the students was good. They were interested and willing to tell what they knew about space. A number of students came up with great questions that they would like to be answered during the summer on the topic. 3.The challenges were making sure all students were involved in the ice breaker activities. Several students were more outgoing than others. So, I had to make sure to include all students. Another challenge was to get the students to speak up when introducing themselves to the class. It may seem simple, but pronouncing some of their names was hard. I needed the students to say their own names so I could get it right. 4.I would like to make sure I have engaging activities for all, and build confidence in my students.
1.My first day went well. I was glad to hear I would be team teaching with Allison Benton. It took the pressure off of me of having 20 3rd graders all to myself. Ms. Benton and I planned three icebreakers to get to know our homeroom students. 2.For the most part, I believed all of them went well. We also played the same game that Ms. Joe´l Lewis played with us, where we tried to get various number of random items from one side to the other without dropping them. 3. Some of the challenges I experienced is having some students that didn't want to take the pre-tests. We had two students in our first class that just did not want to do anything we asked. One student answered like six questions on the test then wrote a -21 with a F circled on the test. I was discouraged to see that him respond that way to a simple test. The other student we had just didn't to do anything we asked of him. Everything was "NO". The other challenges I didn't expect were the constant talking during test taking. Ms. Benton and I had one class where they talked constantly during the exam. We asked them to to stop talking several times, but some didn't get it. Two students in one class ended up having silent lunch with me on the following Monday, because of their excessive talking. It concerned me that the students didn't seem to take the pretest seriously. Many students just answered about 10 questions and left the rest blank. 4. Adjustments we plan for the next week will be to present and implement a discipline system that has appropriate rewards and penalties. We had a system already set up, but didn't really think we would have any problems the first day.
1. My first day was chaotic, but everything I was ready and hoped for. My students were excited and eager, as was I. Switching classes made the day seem to go by in a flash. By the end of the day I was asking myself where the time had gone. Overall, the day was what I call the perfect way to start a great summer. 2. My icebreaker was a major hit in my classroom. I think, in every period, the students loved playing “snow ball fight”. It was a great way to get to know each other, let loose, and get ready for what is come this summer. Transitioning in other classes was another thing that was surprisingly easy to do. It seemed good for the students to change and let them have a change of pace. 3. My challenges were not surprising to me. I had a hard time keeping control at some points in my classroom. This was a challenge I could not wait to fix. I surprised myself with this fix and it ended up being a great way to keep everything settled. I raised my hand and the students mocked me and knew to listen for directions. It did take a few tries, but all in all it was a great way to stay settled. Hopefully it continues to work! 4. Next week, I want to be able to keep the stability and the liveliness in my classroom. I will start having daily data every day to get attention right off the bat and to get students involved with each other and their math. All in all, I want to have a fun and engaging classroom for the rest of the summer!
1. My first day went very, very well. I kind of knew what to expect because I was a part of the program last year but I wasn't sure what differences I would see having the same class all day long. I was pleased though because I have a very sweet, well behaved class that really seem to want to learn.
2. I think that the way that I broke up the different pre-tests I bad to give with "icebreaker" activities. Since these students do not get to change classes, they do not have the same opportunities to get up and move around like the other groups. I made sure to have activities that got the students moving in order to keep them from getting board. I also think that keeping the same schedule we will have the rest of the summer went well rather than giving all of the ore tests at one time.
3. I think, just as it was for me last year, the pre-tests did not go very well. I know the grades do not matter so this doesn't bother me but how discouraged they get the kids is very upsetting.
4. Next week I will plan more than what I need because I had s few times on Friday when j had to think of something quickly because the students were finishing more quickly than I predicted.
1. The first day went well. I was nervous going into it because this is the first time I have had my own classroom. However, I had fun getting to know my students and seeing them get to know each other during the ice breaker activities. I would say getting my feet wet was a success. 2. Several things went well Friday. First, I had plenty of ice breaker activities planned, so I could switch things up if it got too monotonous for the students to continue with one activity. They had a great time getting to know each other. I even let them each write down one question they wanted to ask me and I drew the questions out of a bag and answered them. I got some good questions, too. For example, some students asked “Why do you want to be a teacher?” I took the opportunity to share my passion for education as well as my goals and my hard work that brought me this far. Hopefully, this put a small spark in some of them to begin thinking about their futures. The students really enjoyed getting to know some things about me, and I think that made it easier for me to connect with them and seem more approachable and personable. Also, the pretests went well for the most part. A few students needed some extra motivation, but that was a learning experience for me, so I count that as a good thing. The students seemed excited to be there, which really helped me set the tone for a positive environment. 3. The challenge for me was, and is, teaching math. I am a science major so learning how to teach math has been a little like learning a foreign language. I was feeling overwhelmed and defeated last week during planning, and I think some of those feelings carried over into Friday. However, with the help of a helpful and encouraging mentor team, I am getting my confidence back and am learning a lot. Honestly, I like a challenge, and I appreciate learning something new. Being out of my comfort zone, both in having my own classroom for the first time and also in teaching a different subject area, will help me grow professionally and personally. 4. Next week, I want to adjust my management style. I went over the classroom rules and procedures with the students, but I realize in retrospect that in a day full of playing ice breaker games, I was more relaxed about those things that I should have been. So, my goal for next week, and every week during the program, is to be consistent with the rules and procedures. I also want to get myself and the students used to the schedule and procedures of the day, including lunch, classroom changes, and other things. I will work on being conscious of the time and being consistent with following the procedures so that transitions are well structured. I think both of these things will help create an organized, positive, and productive classroom.
1. My first day went very well. I love working with the students and I believe they feel this. I try to make my classroom atmosphere open and honest. I let my students know to be open and honest at all times. My students know that I expect outstanding achievements from each of them. 2. My first day went really well. We discussed class and program expectations. The students respond well to me and I really had a good day. My students worked well during the pre-test although they didn't achieve the desired score, I reassured them that the post test would be much better. 3. The only challenge that I have is being too hard on myself. I want the students to do so well and it is my responsibility to make this happen. I am determined to give my students the knowledge to soar to a higher level on the post test. My challenge is to have my students dig deep within themselves to know they can master any subject area. 4. The adjustments that I will make next week are to improve myself and my abilities to deliver effective instructions to my students. We receive feedback and instructions daily from our mentor teachers and administrators. My adjustments will be to take the feedback, put it to practice, and become a better teacher. I am thankful for this opportunity and I will adjust in whatever area possible to produce a dynamic student.
1. The first day went pretty well for the most part. It actually was not as bad as I had expected it to be. I am used to working with Kindergarten, I have never dealt with 5th grade so I was really nervous. I thought they would be disrespectful and have a bunch of attitudes with me. The main problem I had with each class was just chattering constantly, other than that they were a good group of students. I also liked how they were so excited about science class, I was never like that when I was their age. Something that was very sweet was that each class clapped for me when they found out I was just married. It was so sweet of them to do that for me! 2. I had the student's in my homeroom class color pictures of what they though solar energy was. I was very surprised to see how much they already knew about solar energy. There was quite a few papers that had solar panels colored on them. I also gave a student interest inventory to each class. I answered the questions along with the students. I wanted them to get to know me as I got to know them. They responded really well to that, I allowed some of them to share their interests with the class. I also did the Talents activity, the transformation. I had them to do "My Sun became a...". I had a lot of them that were very creative. Also, the mentor teachers coming around and leaving me encouraging notes on my door helped make the day a lot better. 3. The main challenge I had was getting them to stop talking when I needed them to give me attention. They just could not stop talking and it was driving me crazy by the end of the day! The other challenge was finding something for them to do if they finished early. I somehow forgot to plan for early finishers and I just had to come up with something for them to do off the top of my head. 4.I will have some changes for this week. I will explain my rules over again and stress my being respectful rule. I will stress that being silent while the teacher is talking is being respectful.I will also have things prepared for students to do if they finish early. I will try my best to make sure that it is something related to what we are discussing that day. I will also go over my classroom procedures again with each class.
1. My first day went really well. It was a little chaotic, but it was all expected. I was definitely nervous at first, but after meeting the students, I felt slightly relieved. 2. One of the best things about the first day was the children's behavior! I was shocked that so many were very well-behaved and respectful. I expected their behavior to be out of control simply because everything was so chaotic, but that was not the case. 3. The biggest challege was adjusting to the schedule and switching classes on time and whatnot. I have never taught in a class where the students switch, so that was very new for me. However, I do believe we've gotten it down now! 4. This week has been different than Friday. One of the biggest challenges is that some classes are much smaller, so I can get more done with them; that's great, but it's posed a problem when I've only planned enough for the average class. However, I am learning to add to my lessons to challenge the class that is ahead.
Before I can really talk about my first day of teaching I have to say a few words about the time I spent preparing for that day. I cannot express how lucky I feel to be a part of the fourth grade team. My teammates were my instant allies and sounding boards and I know that this summer will be great because of them. I am also very lucky to have the amazing support of my mentors who helped me and gave me such great advice and ideas for planning my first lessons. 1. After working hard Wednesday and Thursday to make sure my room was welcoming, inspiring and as close as I could come to the picture my reading teachers have painted for me over the last few semesters of the ideal reading classroom, I could hardly wait for Friday to begin. I don't think I slept at all the night before. When Friday morning came, and the finishing touches had been applied to my room I could not wait for my students to come through the door. I was so excited to see how they would react to each detail I had painstakingly implemented on the walls and around the room. When the first students had completed the bell ringer assignment I prepared for them I was thrilled that they asked if they could choose a book from the shelf. If there is one thing I want my students to leave this summer program with it is a desire to read and the idea that reading just might be fun or maybe even exciting! 2. After the students completed their pretests we had a really fun activity that challenged them to work as teams to build structures out of paper clips and straws. I loved every minute I spent discussing their plans with them and seeing them problem solve. I was so excited to see that they were proud of their designs and their structures. However, the best part was when I noticed some of the students taking my lead and walking around to their classmates to ask questions and compliment their work. I love that they felt that in my classroom it was cool to be kind and go out of their way to make their classmates feel good about themselves. I definitely hope this is something that sticks! 3. The most shocking part of the day was the way that time seemed to slip by. Time management was definitely an issue. I felt as though as soon as I was getting a feel for a group of students it was time to send them on their way. Not having any idea of the students temperaments or personalities or even dietary needs was sometimes a challenge. Now that I've spent a full day teaching them I know who I should not seat next to whom and how to best redirect students who get off track. 4. In the coming week I will be sure to make my directions explicit and remember that if one student asks to do something everyone who hears their request and my answer will want to do the same. I will think of this carefully before I give permission. I will pay close attention to the clock so that I have time to regroup and reorganize my students before they move to their next class. In the coming week I hope to get to know my students and learn what their strengths are so that we can build upon them and discover what weaknesses need to be addressed. After evaluating their pretests and reading the bell ringer exercise they completed I think my biggest challenge in the coming weeks will be keeping those students who are at or above grade level engaged and challenged without frustrating those students who are well below grade level. Hopefully this can be achieved through plenty of fun, hands on activities that inspire in my students the seed of a lifelong love of reading.
1. My first day with the summer program went very well! I was so excited to be back again this summer, and I was even more excited to work with Katie because I have not experienced team teaching before this summer. Even though the first day is all about testing to see what the students already know, it was a fun and exciting day. Not only were Katie and I excited to meet our students, but overall the students demonstrated that they were just as excited to be there and meet us. Because I knew what to expect the first day, I was not as nervous as I was last year. However, with any new class, I do get somewhat nervous. You do not ever know what types of personalities will enter the room or what situations will arise. Besides the pre-tests, we planned different ice breaker activities, which allowed everybody to meet each other and lighten the mood after testing. I thought Katie and I did a good job of managing the class, ice breakers, and tests. We left our first day excited and eager to come back and experience more! 2. Everything went fairly well the first day. Again, the first day is about pre-tests and different ice breakers that allow you to learn about your group of kids. The ice breakers that Katie and I planned worked out well with the time we had to complete them. We let the students draw, relax, and be active. We completed the same team building activity that we did for CASE, and that allowed the students to work together and relax after testing. Overall, the pre-tests went well also. Most students completed the test to the best of their abilities; however, we did experience some students struggling with the tests for different reasons, which presented challenges along the way. 3. The only challenges that Katie and I faced on our first day were some students not doing well on the tests. We had a couple of students with poor attitudes who just did not want to do anything we asked. We also had one student who gave himself a grade of an F, which was very discouraging. Then we had others who were just turning in the tests, only completeing half or less. The main challenege was students not taking the pre-test seriously and talking and laughing. Katie and I just had to stick to our rules and handle each situation carefully and effectively. Other than the pre-test challenges, we had a fantastic first day! 4. Based off our first day successes and challenges, Katie and I will have to make some adjustments for this week. First, we will have to establish our rules and procedures explicitly to let every student know what we expect from them. We will also have to encourage our students and let them know that they can do anything they set their minds to. Also, with each class having its own personality, Katie and I will have to modify certain lessons to meet the needs of the individual class. One type of activity may or may not work with every class, but I know if Katie and I continue to work well together and collaborate with our mentor teachers and grade level, we will have a great summer program with a great group of third grade students!
1) My first day was interesting. The students seemed restless due to testing, so they were talkative. I could immediately tell which ones would give me problems and which ones would be more compliant. All in all though, I was pretty pleased with how the first day went.
2) There were a couple of things I did with my students that seemed to work really well. The first thing was the "Yeah" song. We all stood in a circle and each had a turn telling each other our names and two things about ourselves. I went first to show them how it was supposed to go. After I said my name the students chanted "YEAH" and then I told them one thing about me and they chanted "YEAH" and then I said a second thing about me and the students chanted "YEAH, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT." We repeated this so that everyone had a turn, they really enjoyed the rhythm of this activity. Another thing that seemed to have gone well was playing "Simon Says." After the test I told all of my students to stand up and I would give them Simon Says commands based on their personal information: ex- simon says if you have a brother jog in place. This kind of made their moods better since it was a "break" from the testing. Another thing the students really enjoyed was my "All About Me" book, it was as if they have never learned about their teachers before. They were intrigued to find out who I was and surprised at the fact I actually told them.
3) The biggest challenge for me is staying on schedule. Normally I have just one class all to myself so I could adjust the time how I needed, but now I HAVE to stay on schedule because I am affecting other classes when I'm behind. I also had a hard time keeping them quiet, some of them just flat out ignored my request. I feel like I don't have any incentives for them to comply to my request. I have to figure out what motivates them. They weren't very open when I asked them to write about themselves either.
4) I am starting to work out assigned seating for my classes because I can see problems arising in the future. I am trying to pair the students that were non-compliant with those that were when doing partner activities. As much as I want my students to be excited about learning I have to make sure they learn in an orderly fashion. This means I have to make them raise their hand before speaking because if not it's mass chaos. This next week I'm going to figure out what motivates my students to participate and comply with my requests. I am also going to be more thorough in with my directions. Hopefully this will cut down on unnecessary questions and confusion. I have posted a schedule on my board and frequently check that and the time.
My first day went well. I think that the ice breakers went well. I had the students fill out a “get to know me” form. I also did a 3-2-1 as the bell ringer and I had each student stand up and introduce themselves and tell something about themselves. The students seemed shy and scared but by my last class, they had all loosened up and were very comfortable with each other. I went over the rules, consequences, and procedures with every class. I told each class the rules, consequences, and procedures are the same for all of their classes that way they will not be confused. A challenge that I had was my last period class. Since they were so comfortable with each other, they would not stop talking. If I student is talking while I am talking, I will stop and wait for them to stop talking before I continue. Another thing was I was the last class to the gym for dismissal because I had to stop and correct my students. I told them things would be different starting Monday. The adjustment that I will make is better classroom management for that one class that was giving me a little bit of trouble. I will make adjustments according to the needs of my students.
It is so exciting to be part of the program again this summer! The first day went well. I loved seeing my students from last summer and seeing my students from Council. My class and I had fun with some icebreaker activities. I did have a couple of students who came in with attitudes, but I addressed them right of the bat and things went well the rest of the day.
The icebreaker activities went well and with all of the testing were the highlight of everyones day. We also had a great time with lunch in the classroom. That have us some fun downtime to talk and get to know one another.
Some challenges were the students getting frustrated with so many tests and the difficulty level of the tests. I reassured my students about the materials they were seeing, letting them know that it was fifth grade material & to not get frustrated. I told them that they were not expected to know everything they saw and they would learn about it this summer.
My adjustments are going to be to over plan! I am also going to enforce my points system for classroom management. After a verbal warning, if students continue with the same disruptive behavior, they will receive a point. After three points are accumulated, no fun day. We are doing some fun activities in science so I want to have great classroom management, so we can have fun, get through the activity, and learn.
I believe the first day was great! Since I worked the program last year, I sort of knew what to expect. I was expecting a lot more students to show up on the first day. However, I believe my students really got to know one another because it was such a small class.
I believe the testing part went well. Although the students were not excited about taking them, I believe all of my students tried their best. The activities after each tests really helped them ease their minds before the next test.
A challenge that I had was having a lot of down time throughout the entire day. My students stayed with me for the whole day, so we would take a test and then do an activity. Because there weren’t many students, the test and the activity were finished in no time. There were a few down times when we had about ten minutes for the next test, so I didn’t really want to start a new activity. I thought that they would get restless after a while because we had to stay in the same place for the entire day. Other than having a few down times here and there, I believe we had a wonderful day!
For this week, I plan to have more extension activities just in case we have extra time. I realize that the more you plan, the better things will be.
1. My first day went well. I was excited and nervous as were the students. I think once we got settled into the first hour of the day everyone took a deep breath and began to see that this was going to be fun. The children were lively and eager to meet all their classmates and peers. This made the day exciting meeting so many students and seeing some familiar faces.
2. My pretesting and ice breaker activities went well. The fourth grade science pretest did not take long so we had a good amount of time to get to know each other and the student get to know their peers. The ice breakers I had prepared were silly and got the students up out of their seats. I think they enjoyed this!
3. Some challenges were having students straggle in through out the day and have to take the pretest while other students were noisy participating in the ice breaker activities. Another challenge was figuring out the nest way to change classes and when to make bathroom breaks. I think next week, my fourth grade team and I will come up with a plan.
4. Next week I will be sure to be more strict when students are talking and shouldn't be. I let it slide Friday because everyone was excited. I will also go over my classroom rules again as well as the bathroom, hallway, cafeteria and gymnasium rules. Having so many students from various schools they all follow a different set of rules and we need to get them all on the same page.
1)My first day was quite interesting. I have around 60 students and they all have different and interesting personalities. They all seem to be incredibly bright and I know that we're going to have a lot of fun this summer.
2)My pre-test and icebreakers went well, partly because most of my students already know each other. A lot of them are friends or family and they all seemed open and willing to make fast friends with the ones that they didn't know. They didn't perform so well on my pre-test but that can be a good thing too because we have new things to learn this summer.
3)My biggest challenge is going to be controlling their talking. Since they know each other and it's the summertime, the students don't seem to be in the mood for learning at all; they just want to socialize. I hope to give them enough fun and exciting activities to combat the boredom that leads to talking and acting up in class.
4) I can see already that I'm going to have to be much more firm in the coming weeks and review my classroom rules and procedures so that we don't have problems with talking while I'm teaching or getting up randomly without permission. I let a lot of things slide today, however, because it's the first day.
I have a very positive outlook for these few weeks, and I’m very excited to jump in and get my feet wet. I am determined to break through to my students and I know that I can make a difference in a couple of lives.
1. My first day went well. The kids were chatty but that’s to be expected because its summer time and they are 6th graders. 2. My ice breaker activities were ok, but this was my first time being in charge of a classroom on the first day of class. I am student teaching this fall and I now feel like I have a head start with preparing for an introduction for my students this fall. 3. The challenges I faced were keeping the kids quiet during the pre-test because that seemed to have caught them off guard and stressed them out so in turn that made them talk. Understandable, however, I had to instruct them that as they get older and since they are entering the sixth grade, talking nonstop will get them in trouble. Additionally, I had trouble pronouncing and remembering the students’ names. Since I have a difficult and different name, I was able to share my experiences with them of how my name is constantly misspelled, mispronounced and butchered by those who do not come in contact with people with my name. I found that to be helpful and engaging with the students. 4. The biggest adjustments I will make are to be stern and consistent with enforcing no talking while I am talking. I do not mind talking if they are doing group work or some warm-up questions but when I am talking there should be no talking.
1. My first day went well I thought. It was chaotic but I'm used to it from student teaching in kindergarten.
ReplyDelete2. The ice breakers went very well. We played a toilet paper game where they tore off pieces and then I told them however many pieces they had, that's how many facts they had to say about themselves.
3. The challenge was mainly with the pre-test. I'm fifth grade science in variables and they were terrified even though they knew it was just to see what they knew. It went really short because they really didn't know the answers and just guessed. I found myself with a lot more time left then I thought and had to think of extra icebreakers off the top of my head.
4. Adjustments would be to just plan more than needed or "extra".
1. I really enjoyed the first day. Going into it, I had no idea what to expect. My homeroom students entered my room that day bight-eyed and eager to learn. That set the tone for the rest of the day. The rotation of students made the day pass quickly and it was exciting to meet each new group.
ReplyDelete2. The day was a success because I prepared several activities for my students that finished their pre-tests early. This aspect went really well because the students were engaged and on task the whole period.
3. My one challenge on the first day happened during our fourth period block. I had one student that came into the room already clearly upset. I tried to encourage and welcome him into the room the best I could. When I gave him his pre-test, he marked "F" at the top and turned it over. I went to him and tried to talk to him, but he was simply shut down. I stepped into the hall and was quickly assisted by one of my mentor teachers. She escorted this student out of the room and when he returned he had a changed attitude. I was grateful to have a helping hand during that time.
4. For the upcoming week, I plan to have a variety of assignments and experiments to spark my students interest and motivate them to learn. I also plan to set a tone in my classroom that is welcoming and friendly, but also has a high level of expectations.
1.The first day was interesting. Many of my homeroom students seemed scared. They did not talk to each and many just sat quietly waiting to see who would enter the class next. For the pre-test, some of the students took it seriously and others did not.
ReplyDelete2.The transition from one class to next went well. Also, the behavior of the students was good. They were interested and willing to tell what they knew about space. A number of students came up with great questions that they would like to be answered during the summer on the topic.
3.The challenges were making sure all students were involved in the ice breaker activities. Several students were more outgoing than others. So, I had to make sure to include all students. Another challenge was to get the students to speak up when introducing themselves to the class. It may seem simple, but pronouncing some of their names was hard. I needed the students to say their own names so I could get it right.
4.I would like to make sure I have engaging activities for all, and build confidence in my students.
1.My first day went well. I was glad to hear I would be team teaching with Allison Benton. It took the pressure off of me of having 20 3rd graders all to myself. Ms. Benton and I planned three icebreakers to get to know our homeroom students. 2.For the most part, I believed all of them went well. We also played the same game that Ms. Joe´l Lewis played with us, where we tried to get various number of random items from one side to the other without dropping them.
ReplyDelete3. Some of the challenges I experienced is having some students that didn't want to take the pre-tests. We had two students in our first class that just did not want to do anything we asked. One student answered like six questions on the test then wrote a -21 with a F circled on the test. I was discouraged to see that him respond that way to a simple test. The other student we had just didn't to do anything we asked of him. Everything was "NO". The other challenges I didn't expect were the constant talking during test taking. Ms. Benton and I had one class where they talked constantly during the exam. We asked them to to stop talking several times, but some didn't get it. Two students in one class ended up having silent lunch with me on the following Monday, because of their excessive talking. It concerned me that the students didn't seem to take the pretest seriously. Many students just answered about 10 questions and left the rest blank.
4. Adjustments we plan for the next week will be to present and implement a discipline system that has appropriate rewards and penalties. We had a system already set up, but didn't really think we would have any problems the first day.
1. My first day was chaotic, but everything I was ready and hoped for. My students were excited and eager, as was I. Switching classes made the day seem to go by in a flash. By the end of the day I was asking myself where the time had gone. Overall, the day was what I call the perfect way to start a great summer.
ReplyDelete2. My icebreaker was a major hit in my classroom. I think, in every period, the students loved playing “snow ball fight”. It was a great way to get to know each other, let loose, and get ready for what is come this summer. Transitioning in other classes was another thing that was surprisingly easy to do. It seemed good for the students to change and let them have a change of pace.
3. My challenges were not surprising to me. I had a hard time keeping control at some points in my classroom. This was a challenge I could not wait to fix. I surprised myself with this fix and it ended up being a great way to keep everything settled. I raised my hand and the students mocked me and knew to listen for directions. It did take a few tries, but all in all it was a great way to stay settled. Hopefully it continues to work!
4. Next week, I want to be able to keep the stability and the liveliness in my classroom. I will start having daily data every day to get attention right off the bat and to get students involved with each other and their math. All in all, I want to have a fun and engaging classroom for the rest of the summer!
1. My first day went very, very well. I kind of knew what to expect because I was a part of the program last year but I wasn't sure what differences I would see having the same class all day long. I was pleased though because I have a very sweet, well behaved class that really seem to want to learn.
ReplyDelete2. I think that the way that I broke up the different pre-tests I bad to give with "icebreaker" activities. Since these students do not get to change classes, they do not have the same opportunities to get up and move around like the other groups. I made sure to have activities that got the students moving in order to keep them from getting board. I also think that keeping the same schedule we will have the rest of the summer went well rather than giving all of the ore tests at one time.
3. I think, just as it was for me last year, the pre-tests did not go very well. I know the grades do not matter so this doesn't bother me but how discouraged they get the kids is very upsetting.
4. Next week I will plan more than what I need because I had s few times on Friday when j had to think of something quickly because the students were finishing more quickly than I predicted.
1. The first day went well. I was nervous going into it because this is the first time I have had my own classroom. However, I had fun getting to know my students and seeing them get to know each other during the ice breaker activities. I would say getting my feet wet was a success.
ReplyDelete2. Several things went well Friday. First, I had plenty of ice breaker activities planned, so I could switch things up if it got too monotonous for the students to continue with one activity. They had a great time getting to know each other. I even let them each write down one question they wanted to ask me and I drew the questions out of a bag and answered them. I got some good questions, too. For example, some students asked “Why do you want to be a teacher?” I took the opportunity to share my passion for education as well as my goals and my hard work that brought me this far. Hopefully, this put a small spark in some of them to begin thinking about their futures. The students really enjoyed getting to know some things about me, and I think that made it easier for me to connect with them and seem more approachable and personable. Also, the pretests went well for the most part. A few students needed some extra motivation, but that was a learning experience for me, so I count that as a good thing. The students seemed excited to be there, which really helped me set the tone for a positive environment.
3. The challenge for me was, and is, teaching math. I am a science major so learning how to teach math has been a little like learning a foreign language. I was feeling overwhelmed and defeated last week during planning, and I think some of those feelings carried over into Friday. However, with the help of a helpful and encouraging mentor team, I am getting my confidence back and am learning a lot. Honestly, I like a challenge, and I appreciate learning something new. Being out of my comfort zone, both in having my own classroom for the first time and also in teaching a different subject area, will help me grow professionally and personally.
4. Next week, I want to adjust my management style. I went over the classroom rules and procedures with the students, but I realize in retrospect that in a day full of playing ice breaker games, I was more relaxed about those things that I should have been. So, my goal for next week, and every week during the program, is to be consistent with the rules and procedures. I also want to get myself and the students used to the schedule and procedures of the day, including lunch, classroom changes, and other things. I will work on being conscious of the time and being consistent with following the procedures so that transitions are well structured. I think both of these things will help create an organized, positive, and productive classroom.
1. My first day went very well. I love working with the students and I believe they feel this. I try to make my classroom atmosphere open and honest. I let my students know to be open and honest at all times. My students know that I expect outstanding achievements from each of them.
ReplyDelete2. My first day went really well. We discussed class and program expectations. The students respond well to me and I really had a good day. My students worked well during the pre-test although they didn't achieve the desired score, I reassured them that the post test would be much better.
3. The only challenge that I have is being too hard on myself. I want the students to do so well and it is my responsibility to make this happen. I am determined to give my students the knowledge to soar to a higher level on the post test. My challenge is to have my students dig deep within themselves to know they can master any subject area.
4. The adjustments that I will make next week are to improve myself and my abilities to deliver effective instructions to my students. We receive feedback and instructions daily from our mentor teachers and administrators. My adjustments will be to take the feedback, put it to practice, and become a better teacher. I am thankful for this opportunity and I will adjust in whatever area possible to produce a dynamic student.
1. The first day went pretty well for the most part. It actually was not as bad as I had expected it to be. I am used to working with Kindergarten, I have never dealt with 5th grade so I was really nervous. I thought they would be disrespectful and have a bunch of attitudes with me. The main problem I had with each class was just chattering constantly, other than that they were a good group of students. I also liked how they were so excited about science class, I was never like that when I was their age. Something that was very sweet was that each class clapped for me when they found out I was just married. It was so sweet of them to do that for me!
ReplyDelete2. I had the student's in my homeroom class color pictures of what they though solar energy was. I was very surprised to see how much they already knew about solar energy. There was quite a few papers that had solar panels colored on them. I also gave a student interest inventory to each class. I answered the questions along with the students. I wanted them to get to know me as I got to know them. They responded really well to that, I allowed some of them to share their interests with the class. I also did the Talents activity, the transformation. I had them to do "My Sun became a...". I had a lot of them that were very creative. Also, the mentor teachers coming around and leaving me encouraging notes on my door helped make the day a lot better.
3. The main challenge I had was getting them to stop talking when I needed them to give me attention. They just could not stop talking and it was driving me crazy by the end of the day! The other challenge was finding something for them to do if they finished early. I somehow forgot to plan for early finishers and I just had to come up with something for them to do off the top of my head.
4.I will have some changes for this week. I will explain my rules over again and stress my being respectful rule. I will stress that being silent while the teacher is talking is being respectful.I will also have things prepared for students to do if they finish early. I will try my best to make sure that it is something related to what we are discussing that day. I will also go over my classroom procedures again with each class.
1. My first day went really well. It was a little chaotic, but it was all expected. I was definitely nervous at first, but after meeting the students, I felt slightly relieved.
ReplyDelete2. One of the best things about the first day was the children's behavior! I was shocked that so many were very well-behaved and respectful. I expected their behavior to be out of control simply because everything was so chaotic, but that was not the case.
3. The biggest challege was adjusting to the schedule and switching classes on time and whatnot. I have never taught in a class where the students switch, so that was very new for me. However, I do believe we've gotten it down now!
4. This week has been different than Friday. One of the biggest challenges is that some classes are much smaller, so I can get more done with them; that's great, but it's posed a problem when I've only planned enough for the average class. However, I am learning to add to my lessons to challenge the class that is ahead.
Before I can really talk about my first day of teaching I have to say a few words about the time I spent preparing for that day. I cannot express how lucky I feel to be a part of the fourth grade team. My teammates were my instant allies and sounding boards and I know that this summer will be great because of them. I am also very lucky to have the amazing support of my mentors who helped me and gave me such great advice and ideas for planning my first lessons.
ReplyDelete1. After working hard Wednesday and Thursday to make sure my room was welcoming, inspiring and as close as I could come to the picture my reading teachers have painted for me over the last few semesters of the ideal reading classroom, I could hardly wait for Friday to begin. I don't think I slept at all the night before. When Friday morning came, and the finishing touches had been applied to my room I could not wait for my students to come through the door. I was so excited to see how they would react to each detail I had painstakingly implemented on the walls and around the room. When the first students had completed the bell ringer assignment I prepared for them I was thrilled that they asked if they could choose a book from the shelf. If there is one thing I want my students to leave this summer program with it is a desire to read and the idea that reading just might be fun or maybe even exciting!
2. After the students completed their pretests we had a really fun activity that challenged them to work as teams to build structures out of paper clips and straws. I loved every minute I spent discussing their plans with them and seeing them problem solve. I was so excited to see that they were proud of their designs and their structures. However, the best part was when I noticed some of the students taking my lead and walking around to their classmates to ask questions and compliment their work. I love that they felt that in my classroom it was cool to be kind and go out of their way to make their classmates feel good about themselves. I definitely hope this is something that sticks!
3. The most shocking part of the day was the way that time seemed to slip by. Time management was definitely an issue. I felt as though as soon as I was getting a feel for a group of students it was time to send them on their way. Not having any idea of the students temperaments or personalities or even dietary needs was sometimes a challenge. Now that I've spent a full day teaching them I know who I should not seat next to whom and how to best redirect students who get off track.
4. In the coming week I will be sure to make my directions explicit and remember that if one student asks to do something everyone who hears their request and my answer will want to do the same. I will think of this carefully before I give permission. I will pay close attention to the clock so that I have time to regroup and reorganize my students before they move to their next class. In the coming week I hope to get to know my students and learn what their strengths are so that we can build upon them and discover what weaknesses need to be addressed. After evaluating their pretests and reading the bell ringer exercise they completed I think my biggest challenge in the coming weeks will be keeping those students who are at or above grade level engaged and challenged without frustrating those students who are well below grade level. Hopefully this can be achieved through plenty of fun, hands on activities that inspire in my students the seed of a lifelong love of reading.
1. My first day with the summer program went very well! I was so excited to be back again this summer, and I was even more excited to work with Katie because I have not experienced team teaching before this summer. Even though the first day is all about testing to see what the students already know, it was a fun and exciting day. Not only were Katie and I excited to meet our students, but overall the students demonstrated that they were just as excited to be there and meet us. Because I knew what to expect the first day, I was not as nervous as I was last year. However, with any new class, I do get somewhat nervous. You do not ever know what types of personalities will enter the room or what situations will arise. Besides the pre-tests, we planned different ice breaker activities, which allowed everybody to meet each other and lighten the mood after testing. I thought Katie and I did a good job of managing the class, ice breakers, and tests. We left our first day excited and eager to come back and experience more!
ReplyDelete2. Everything went fairly well the first day. Again, the first day is about pre-tests and different ice breakers that allow you to learn about your group of kids. The ice breakers that Katie and I planned worked out well with the time we had to complete them. We let the students draw, relax, and be active. We completed the same team building activity that we did for CASE, and that allowed the students to work together and relax after testing. Overall, the pre-tests went well also. Most students completed the test to the best of their abilities; however, we did experience some students struggling with the tests for different reasons, which presented challenges along the way.
3. The only challenges that Katie and I faced on our first day were some students not doing well on the tests. We had a couple of students with poor attitudes who just did not want to do anything we asked. We also had one student who gave himself a grade of an F, which was very discouraging. Then we had others who were just turning in the tests, only completeing half or less. The main challenege was students not taking the pre-test seriously and talking and laughing. Katie and I just had to stick to our rules and handle each situation carefully and effectively. Other than the pre-test challenges, we had a fantastic first day!
4. Based off our first day successes and challenges, Katie and I will have to make some adjustments for this week. First, we will have to establish our rules and procedures explicitly to let every student know what we expect from them. We will also have to encourage our students and let them know that they can do anything they set their minds to. Also, with each class having its own personality, Katie and I will have to modify certain lessons to meet the needs of the individual class. One type of activity may or may not work with every class, but I know if Katie and I continue to work well together and collaborate with our mentor teachers and grade level, we will have a great summer program with a great group of third grade students!
1) My first day was interesting. The students seemed restless due to testing, so they were talkative. I could immediately tell which ones would give me problems and which ones would be more compliant. All in all though, I was pretty pleased with how the first day went.
ReplyDelete2) There were a couple of things I did with my students that seemed to work really well. The first thing was the "Yeah" song. We all stood in a circle and each had a turn telling each other our names and two things about ourselves. I went first to show them how it was supposed to go. After I said my name the students chanted "YEAH" and then I told them one thing about me and they chanted "YEAH" and then I said a second thing about me and the students chanted "YEAH, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT." We repeated this so that everyone had a turn, they really enjoyed the rhythm of this activity. Another thing that seemed to have gone well was playing "Simon Says." After the test I told all of my students to stand up and I would give them Simon Says commands based on their personal information: ex- simon says if you have a brother jog in place. This kind of made their moods better since it was a "break" from the testing. Another thing the students really enjoyed was my "All About Me" book, it was as if they have never learned about their teachers before. They were intrigued to find out who I was and surprised at the fact I actually told them.
3) The biggest challenge for me is staying on schedule. Normally I have just one class all to myself so I could adjust the time how I needed, but now I HAVE to stay on schedule because I am affecting other classes when I'm behind. I also had a hard time keeping them quiet, some of them just flat out ignored my request. I feel like I don't have any incentives for them to comply to my request. I have to figure out what motivates them. They weren't very open when I asked them to write about themselves either.
4) I am starting to work out assigned seating for my classes because I can see problems arising in the future. I am trying to pair the students that were non-compliant with those that were when doing partner activities. As much as I want my students to be excited about learning I have to make sure they learn in an orderly fashion. This means I have to make them raise their hand before speaking because if not it's mass chaos. This next week I'm going to figure out what motivates my students to participate and comply with my requests. I am also going to be more thorough in with my directions. Hopefully this will cut down on unnecessary questions and confusion. I have posted a schedule on my board and frequently check that and the time.
My first day went well. I think that the ice breakers went well. I had the students fill out a “get to know me” form. I also did a 3-2-1 as the bell ringer and I had each student stand up and introduce themselves and tell something about themselves. The students seemed shy and scared but by my last class, they had all loosened up and were very comfortable with each other. I went over the rules, consequences, and procedures with every class. I told each class the rules, consequences, and procedures are the same for all of their classes that way they will not be confused.
ReplyDeleteA challenge that I had was my last period class. Since they were so comfortable with each other, they would not stop talking. If I student is talking while I am talking, I will stop and wait for them to stop talking before I continue. Another thing was I was the last class to the gym for dismissal because I had to stop and correct my students. I told them things would be different starting Monday.
The adjustment that I will make is better classroom management for that one class that was giving me a little bit of trouble. I will make adjustments according to the needs of my students.
It is so exciting to be part of the program again this summer! The first day went well. I loved seeing my students from last summer and seeing my students from Council. My class and I had fun with some icebreaker activities. I did have a couple of students who came in with attitudes, but I addressed them right of the bat and things went well the rest of the day.
DeleteThe icebreaker activities went well and with all of the testing were the highlight of everyones day. We also had a great time with lunch in the classroom. That have us some fun downtime to talk and get to know one another.
Some challenges were the students getting frustrated with so many tests and the difficulty level of the tests. I reassured my students about the materials they were seeing, letting them know that it was fifth grade material & to not get frustrated. I told them that they were not expected to know everything they saw and they would learn about it this summer.
My adjustments are going to be to over plan! I am also going to enforce my points system for classroom management. After a verbal warning, if students continue with the same disruptive behavior, they will receive a point. After three points are accumulated, no fun day. We are doing some fun activities in science so I want to have great classroom management, so we can have fun, get through the activity, and learn.
I believe the first day was great! Since I worked the program last year, I sort of knew what to expect. I was expecting a lot more students to show up on the first day. However, I believe my students really got to know one another because it was such a small class.
ReplyDeleteI believe the testing part went well. Although the students were not excited about taking them, I believe all of my students tried their best. The activities after each tests really helped them ease their minds before the next test.
A challenge that I had was having a lot of down time throughout the entire day. My students stayed with me for the whole day, so we would take a test and then do an activity. Because there weren’t many students, the test and the activity were finished in no time. There were a few down times when we had about ten minutes for the next test, so I didn’t really want to start a new activity. I thought that they would get restless after a while because we had to stay in the same place for the entire day. Other than having a few down times here and there, I believe we had a wonderful day!
For this week, I plan to have more extension activities just in case we have extra time. I realize that the more you plan, the better things will be.
1. My first day went well. I was excited and nervous as were the students. I think once we got settled into the first hour of the day everyone took a deep breath and began to see that this was going to be fun. The children were lively and eager to meet all their classmates and peers. This made the day exciting meeting so many students and seeing some familiar faces.
ReplyDelete2. My pretesting and ice breaker activities went well. The fourth grade science pretest did not take long so we had a good amount of time to get to know each other and the student get to know their peers. The ice breakers I had prepared were silly and got the students up out of their seats. I think they enjoyed this!
3. Some challenges were having students straggle in through out the day and have to take the pretest while other students were noisy participating in the ice breaker activities. Another challenge was figuring out the nest way to change classes and when to make bathroom breaks. I think next week, my fourth grade team and I will come up with a plan.
4. Next week I will be sure to be more strict when students are talking and shouldn't be. I let it slide Friday because everyone was excited. I will also go over my classroom rules again as well as the bathroom, hallway, cafeteria and gymnasium rules. Having so many students from various schools they all follow a different set of rules and we need to get them all on the same page.
1)My first day was quite interesting. I have around 60 students and they all have different and interesting personalities. They all seem to be incredibly bright and I know that we're going to have a lot of fun this summer.
ReplyDelete2)My pre-test and icebreakers went well, partly because most of my students already know each other. A lot of them are friends or family and they all seemed open and willing to make fast friends with the ones that they didn't know. They didn't perform so well on my pre-test but that can be a good thing too because we have new things to learn this summer.
3)My biggest challenge is going to be controlling their talking. Since they know each other and it's the summertime, the students don't seem to be in the mood for learning at all; they just want to socialize. I hope to give them enough fun and exciting activities to combat the boredom that leads to talking and acting up in class.
4) I can see already that I'm going to have to be much more firm in the coming weeks and review my classroom rules and procedures so that we don't have problems with talking while I'm teaching or getting up randomly without permission. I let a lot of things slide today, however, because it's the first day.
I have a very positive outlook for these few weeks, and I’m very excited to jump in and get my feet wet. I am determined to break through to my students and I know that I can make a difference in a couple of lives.
1. My first day went well. The kids were chatty but that’s to be expected because its summer time and they are 6th graders.
ReplyDelete2. My ice breaker activities were ok, but this was my first time being in charge of a classroom on the first day of class. I am student teaching this fall and I now feel like I have a head start with preparing for an introduction for my students this fall.
3. The challenges I faced were keeping the kids quiet during the pre-test because that seemed to have caught them off guard and stressed them out so in turn that made them talk. Understandable, however, I had to instruct them that as they get older and since they are entering the sixth grade, talking nonstop will get them in trouble. Additionally, I had trouble pronouncing and remembering the students’ names. Since I have a difficult and different name, I was able to share my experiences with them of how my name is constantly misspelled, mispronounced and butchered by those who do not come in contact with people with my name. I found that to be helpful and engaging with the students.
4. The biggest adjustments I will make are to be stern and consistent with enforcing no talking while I am talking. I do not mind talking if they are doing group work or some warm-up questions but when I am talking there should be no talking.