Virtual Teaching

There were many mixed emotions with teaching online. I was very hesitant to teach online the first time around, but it was a lot easier to do the second time around when I taught my whole group math lesson. With teaching online, it made me realize how much I missed being in the classroom setting. I truly miss working with and being around children. With teaching online, my lessons felt rushed and kind of "to the point". It was difficult for me to pretend that there were students around asking and answering questions throughout my lesson. It was a lot less nerve wrecking teaching online than in my field experience classroom, even with my first lesson taught virtually. I would have loved to have taught all of my lessons in field experience because I feel it is a completely different experience in the classroom with actual students than virtually. What I did like about teaching virtually was having two of my peers observe me teach, and observing my peers as well. It was nice hearing their feedback on where I went well and areas of improvement in my lessons and teaching. This was a true learning experience however. I now know how to accommodate lessons and virtually teach them in case I ever need to do so in my future career. I do hope that this doesn't last too long so we can all teach in an actual classroom setting.

Virtual Teaching

Teaching in the field is something that I really missed this semester. I believe that I had really good lessons that the students in the class would enjoy and learn from. Virtual teaching was something that took a couple tries to get used to. The first one was a bit awkward as we were seeing how things were going to play out. By my second virtual teaching, I felt a lot more confident. Receiving feedback from peers as well as Dr. Kelly was extremely beneficial when planning for my next lesson to teach. As my lessons progressed, so did the amount of interactive activities and differentiation I included. I really made sure my lessons were made specifically for the students I had in class. Before actually teaching and being assessed, I would practice my lesson with my favorite stuffed animals. This helped me with the flow of the lesson. Sometimes I would notice that I could explain something better or show a better demonstration of how to do something. One of my favorite lessons I taught was my WG math lesson on place value. This is something my CT was working on with her students and something that they needed extra support in. I made the lesson engaging and fun for the students. I believe this lesson was my best lesson because I included a lot of opportunities for students to interact with one another and included differentiation for certain students I knew would need more support. Overall, this was a very unexpected and unusual circumstance but I am extremely grateful to have still taught my lessons virtually and practice how I can make changes to these lessons for different students.

Virtual teaching

 Teaching virtually this semester was something that was very odd to say the least but I think we all managed to make the best out of the circumstances. I taught 3 lessons virtually and did my final lesson last week; my small group literacy lesson. I would have loved to teach these lessons in the field and had that interaction with my students but I can say that I did learn a lot through the experience. I feel like I thought more about how I could improve my lesson as I was teaching because I was unable to have that interaction with the kids and with it being silent, I noticed what I was saying on a deeper level.  I really enjoyed watching the discussion videos for labs because we were able to view other seasoned teachers and some of our fellow GSU educators. I picked up on a lot of unique strategies to make my lesson more engaging and hands on. I find it very fun to have students interact and answer in different ways for example in my small group literacy lesson we did "synonym rolls" and if they agreed with their peers answer, I had them roll their arms up "full of dough" if they agreed or roll their arms down "full of dough" if they disagreed. I think its going to be one of my favorite things to come up with unique things for my students to keep engaged and on task. Learning is meant to be fun and will provide a greater benefit for students when they are engaged. A lot of my lessons were so concrete and boring but through this experience; the feedback from peers, CT, and my professors really helped guide my lessons to be more interactive. I had more fun planning my lessons and teaching them which resulted in a better grade with teaching my lesson. I still have some work to do with my confidence but overall I can say I am a better teacher from the beginning of the semester until now. I am looking forward to the final step; student teaching! We did it guys, hang in there :) a couple more weeks!

Virtual Teaching

I have completed all of my virtual lessons. Let me start by saying, it was an experience to learn from.
My second lesson that I have completed virtually was my Math lesson, and I think it went great. My materials and organization of the lesson played a big role in my success. I used authentic materials within the lesson teaching and thought it really went well and made the lesson come to life. The lesson was about Adding with one and two digit numbers, and I feel that the overall objectives were met. While teaching it on zoom, I acted as the students were actually there and asked and answered thought provoking questions. My tone and expression was also very good as I was able to engage my classmates and professor into the lesson as well. All in all, this was just a stupendous experience. Going from in person classes to online was difficult but something to learn from. It was just an experience to remember and I will truly reflect back on it because it has taught me so much.

virtual teaching

Teaching this week to an audience of stuffed animals set up in my bedroom was not too bad, to be honest. Last week I taught a whole group math lesson, which was rough because of the manipulatives I used and the need for a projector. This week, I taught a literacy lesson which involved a lot of whole group discussion time and a read-aloud - so it wasn't too bad. 

I found myself giggling at myself a lot more as a I called on bunny rabbit and waited for a response, but I guess that just proves that I was a little more comfortable. I was able to get my "classroom" setup how I needed it, with my easel made on a huge cutting board propped up on an umbrella stroller with a chunk of brown paper taped to it... it served it purpose.

I really rather enjoy "making" my own classroom and materials. In reality, I am not going to be a teacher like the rest of you. I do not plan to have teacher materials like unit cubes and an easel and a smart board and all of that "teacher stuff" that we are missing out on using with this virtual teaching thing. What I take care of kids, a lot of times it is in my own house. I have the basic things that my babies need (pack n plays, strollers, bouncy seat, height char, toys, bibs, etc), but when it comes to different more engaging activities that a daycare center might pull out a "teacher material" for, I have to pull those supplies out of my kitchen cabinet or craft bin. My point is, I am way more comfortable making my own materials and teaching from my own house than I am using fancy teaching materials and teaching in a classroom - which makes sense. This is what I do. Read-aloud in my bedroom? Happens all the time!

In terms of lesson writing and instructional delivery, being at my house doesn't help for that of course. But in terms of comfort, I am content teaching like this.

Virtual Lesson, Again

Okay. This week wasn't as weird as last week for sure, but I still miss the kids and much prefer them to my computer screen. Not that I got to use my computer. I actually had to use my phone because I couldn't get my computer to work. Which stunk. Ugh. Terrible.

I really am not a fan of this virus. Coronapocalypse is awful. I actually had to use my second whole group literacy lesson that I had written because I was unable to get the materials that I needed in order to teach that lesson adequately.

Overall, my teaching went really well though. I was able to find the perfect children's book within my personal library to teach a whole group lesson on drawing conclusions. I was super happy about that. For anyone who is interested, the book was called Astronaut Annie. I'll put a picture of the book below.

Anyhow, I think teaching to my dolls/stuffed animals was way less nerve wracking the second time around because I was getting used to it. I would have loved to have the experience in teaching in the classroom though. I'm not very confident with my teaching skills just yet, and I would love to improve upon them. I'm worried that had I taught this lesson in the field, the students wouldn't have responded to it very well.

There's nothing I can do about that though. At the end of the day, we get through it. Hopefully, when I get to student teaching, I can make it through.

Virtual Teaching

This week I taught my math whole group. I was very proud with my work with this lesson. I made it very engaging for my students and felt that my students would have really enjoyed my lesson in the classroom. I am getting used to teaching over zoom and felt like this whole thing has been a great learning experience. I have received such great feedback from Dr. Kelly and classmates and have taken the feedback and made improvements to make the next week lesson even better. I have one more virtual lesson to teach but we are done with our bloggers. I have really enjoyed blogger to see how my classmates are doing in their classrooms.

Final Virtual Lesson

Sunday, April 12th, 2020
Rachel Sebastian

I taught my last virtual lesson on Thursday and it was bitter sweet. It was hard to teach over zoom and pretend like I was actually teaching to students. I personally feel like I did a pretty good job teaching virtually. I gave it my all and tried to make it realistic as possible. I feel like I still learned a lot from teaching over zoom and I received great feedback from my classmates and Dr.Kelly. I make sure to take this feedback and learn from it and think about what I would do different the next time I teach. Since the whole coronavirus, it has been really hard having classes online. I wish we could go back in the classroom but I have been trying to make the most of having classes online. I appreciate my professors doing their best so we can get through this semester.

Final Virtual Lesson

On Thursday I completed my final virtual lesson.  I actually really enjoyed teaching virtually.  I feel like this provided us all with the opportunity to think of our lessons from all angles, rather than focusing on the same thing we felt needed the most work, while actually teaching in a physical classroom.  For instance, I feel like I was continuously thinking about classroom management, while teaching in the classroom.  Virtual teaching allowed me to focus on improving other areas of my lesson.  While I did enjoy teaching virtually, I look forward to student teaching, where we will be able to teach in person again.  I also look forward to student teaching, because I feel like we will be able to establish more classroom management, due to our consistent presence, five days a week.  This has been a really great experience for me and I look forward to using what I learned in labs three and four throughout student teaching and my future career.

Virtual Teaching

Virtual Teaching


My last blog was about the new change we are all facing. My semester is almost to close the end and we been doing online. For our field experience (labs) we are still teaching lessons. I have taught two whole lessons. My first one was based on literacy and my topic was on poetry. I had to teach my lesson virtually through zoom and my professor and two of my colleagues were observing me. If I can be honest, I did not perform my best when teaching my literacy lesson. It felt different not being able to teach in front of a classroom full of second graders. I wasn’t able to use higher-order thinking questions and spoke with less confidence. My second lesson was on science and the topic was simple machines. I felt more confident in this second lesson and I used my imagination to its fullest. I decided to pretend that my kitchen was a classroom and I was going to teach my lesson to my plushies (my students). I appreciate my professor’s feedback and my peers as well. I am doing better with this whole crisis. I have decided to take it day-by-day and split my school work into chunks.

Second online lesson

Kiley Rolder

April 9th, 2020

This was my second week teaching online. It's getting easier to pretend like I have a whole class in front of me which makes teaching easier but it's not something i'm used too yet. This week I taught a math whole group on probability and think it went pretty well. I tried to make it fun and engaging for the students by using things such as sweet tarts and jellybeans. The students could be hands on with their learning counting and sorting the jellybeans on their desk. Having to go back and forth between sharing the screen is something that is challenging for me because the sound doesn't work for the videos I played so I had to just explain them which was different. I think that there are something I would change if I were to teach this lesson again but overall I think it was a fun lesson to teach. Having to ask a question, call on students, and then give the answer yourself as if they had just said it has been very interesting but weird to do but I think I am making it work the best that I can and am starting to enjoy it!

What now

The past couple of weeks have been really different and hard to get used to. My schedule went from working three jobs and going to school full time to working no jobs and having all online classes! The change has been so drastic and it feels like everything in the world is flipped upside down. It has been hard adjusting to not seeing my friends and my family members. Seeing the effects that this virus has had has been really challenging for me and for everyone else I'm sure. During these times I find myself thinking of all students that are realistically getting an entire semester of school taken away from them. I really enjoyed the time that I had in field experience learning from my CT and her amazing students. The class was a really great class and I enjoyed teaching and learning from them during the time I was there. Taking classes online is not the best way for any student to learn as we know. There are many students that learn best through hands-on experiences and learn content by having social interaction. It is unfortunate that this is the way college students and every student has to learn right now. Although these times are terribly rough on me I am extremely grateful to be healthy and to still have the opportunity to learn. Even though things seem to be negative everywhere we look at this time I am trying to remain positive and do little things that make me happy. I enjoy the time that I am spending with my family but it is also nice to take time and do things for myself that will help me not go insane. Focusing on my school work has helped me take my mind of things and focus on what I love which is teaching and learning how to be a great teacher for my future students. The lesson I taught online was extremely awkward and the flow of the lesson was off but I still did my best given the circumstances. While I was writing my lesson plan I thought about how much I would have loved to teach this lesson in the field to the first grade class. It was a really fun lesson that offered them a new way to learn rather than working with worksheets a majority of the time. But, I can always keep this lesson for future reference. I miss my peers and I miss sitting in three hour classes which I never thought could be possible! I am wishing everyone and their families the best and I am sending love and positivity! I am looking forward to the day I get to be in a classroom learning from students again.

My First Virtual Lesson

This week I had the opportunity to teach my first virtual lesson and it went really well.  Honestly, I just acted as if I were in the classroom.  I called on each of my students as if they were actually sitting on my living room carpet, I rephrased student answers so that those observing me could better understand the progression of the lesson and I even had a few students answer incorrectly, so that I could address real-world scenarios.  Would I rather be teaching to real students?  Absolutely!  Do virtual classes seem like more work than if we were to just be taking these classes in a traditional sense? 100%.  However, I am so incredibly thankful that we have the opportunity to be so flexible, resulting in our graduation date staying the same.  I also find the field experience videos to be extremely beneficial.  I even incorporated one of the strategies that I had learned through the videos, in my lesson.  I received positive feedback regarding this strategy, so I believe it will be something I use within my future classroom. 

Into the Unknown

Honestly, these past few weeks have been some of the most surreal that I have ever experienced in my life. It's not something I'm happy to say, either. Amidst all this crap and chaos from the COVID-19 virus, rightfully renamed as CoronaPocalypse, I've found myself in a daze. There is a lot for me to have to compute right now, a lot to have to figure out inside of my head, and honestly, I really just wish life were back to normal.

There is a lot that I miss about 'normal' life. I miss school, which is something I never thought I'd say. I miss my job, which is something else I thought I'd never miss. I miss my friends. My family. My ability to walk outside of the house without having to worry about a virus that could kill the people that I love.

As I said before, this is just so surreal. It hasn't been easy, and honestly I feel a lot of stress and pressure from this all. I'm not the kind of person that likes change. I have a routine that I follow. I usually stick to my routine like it's the Bible. These days, I can't do that. I have to transition and adjust. But I feel like such a robot right now...

I feel like I'm so swamped on my school work, and I think that that is because the depression is sinking in. I feel like I'm drowning, that there's no time for me to get anything done. I sit here for hours and hours just working endlessly until my back hurts and my fingers are cramped from typing. But I still don't feel productive. I tell myself that this is just the shut-in order getting to me. But I'll get through it. Life always has its ups and downs, and this is just one of the downs.

Teaching my lesson was also super strange. I talked to my dolls of Elsa, Rapunzel, Sven and Pascal. It was strange, but I think that I did okay. I really don't ever want to have to teach online long term because it would make me sad. I'm a people person. I thrive off of my student's responses. I can't do this very long, I don't think.

I also miss my special ed kids... I really miss them. My heart hurts thinking about them and how dangerous this time is to them. I hope all of this gets better because right now we're in such unknown territory...

Well, this is awkward!

• by Amnah Hzaiyen
• Sunday, April 5, 2020

This week I taught my first small group lesson; my literacy small group lesson, to a stuffed animal! I was very nervous and unsure of my teaching performance prior to my teaching time on Thursday. With the amount of times I had practiced for this lesson, it was difficult for me to feel confident teaching it since there were not students in front of me. I used a stuffed animal from the movie Rio, which was pretty cute. However, the little stuffed bird could not talk or move so it was difficult for me to ask questions and pretend she was real. Truly took me on a trip back to my childhood when I used to play with stuffed animals! Times have definitely been very difficult and rough. It has been very hard for me, like many other college students around the world, to adjust to this new way of learning we are involved in. Never thought I would say I miss waking up early to go to school and work, and take those long ride to get there! As difficult as it has been, I am thankful we are still able to complete the semester in every way possible. Props to all the teachers out there sticking by our sides and ensuring we finish the school year strong! You all rock! (I really hope you see this Dr. Kelly and Dr. H.!) As crazy as it all is, a part of me is thankful we are going through this experience right now. We now know what it is like if life was to just hit us with the realities it has and schools were to shut down. We can all get through this, and it WILL end. Keep on pushing through everyone!

Teaching to Mrs. Bunny!

Teaching this week was strange, for sure. Instead of a class of 26 excited first graders learning about a new math skill, I taught to my oversized stuffed bunny and my brothers huge stuffed turtle... also referred to as Mr. turtle and Mrs. bunny. My mom was highly amused by my classroom set up - as was I. I did not have any thoughts about what teaching to a laptop and inanimate objects in my bedroom might actually feel like, and that was deliberate - I am more of the "it is what it is so just do it" type. During my teaching, there were a few points where I though it was a little too odd. I had to answer questions for the animals so that the viewers knew what possible answers might be given. I had to hold up manipulatives in front of my camera that I would have projected on the white board - and my manipulatives were made out of construction paper because I did not have the real thing! The worksheet that I intended to write on under the projector... I held it in my hand the whole time. I found myself trying to write on it while holding it a few times, only to remember that my "students" could not follow along with what I was trying to write in the air anyway.  Overall, I do not mind teaching like this. We are all in the same boat in this way, and it is something we will eventually laugh at. And when we end our lessons, we can laugh at ourselves too. At least we will have the smartest stuffed animals and dolls around!!

Virtual school means a world of changes!

Hello everyone! What a time we are going through right? I can say this is something I never thought we would have to experience as everything seemed to happen so abruptly. Virtual class has been a rough transition for me to say the least. I am not a huge fan of online classes as is because I am a very hands on learner so being in the field really was my favorite place. I miss the routine of everything and being able to collaborate with my peers for a more meaningful learning experience. A lot of the learning now is watching videos, which I am grateful to have rather than having to repeat the course work or being pushed behind but there is something to be said by having that interaction in person. I think there is a lot of learning to be lost here and thats not to just speak on myself but for everyone in our nation right now. It's heart breaking to know that most people will be behind in some areas because I do not for see schools going back in session. There is only so much you can learn and teach yourself. I think through this experience, I have really learned the value of social interaction and the toll it can take on you mentally when you are not exposed to it. It's a hard time for almost everyone and a lot of people are out of work, there is a certain weariness to the world right now. I have however been trying to stay positive and keeping myself as busy as I can. My attitude changes from day to day just because of the uncertainty but I think this also is amazing because we as teachers have the opportunity to make a difference in other avenues such as helping those parents in our lives that may not be familiar with early childhood work. I have been asked a lot of questions and it really made an impact on me and brought a sense of worth back to this experience. I taught my first virtual lesson and it was weird to say the least. I felt almost more nervous without the students there because I had to make up the conversation that I think would take place. Overall virtual lesson plan teaching is different because we are making due with the resources we have and its shown me how to get creative. I am excited that we are still progressing through the semester though! I miss my peers and professors oh so much. Hang in there everyone as this is a means to an end and I am looking forward to celebrating with everyone once we make it to the other side.

Here is a quote that I really enjoy, maybe you will too!

"The kids who need the most love will ask for it in the most unloving ways"

A Different Schedule

Staying Healthy and Active


Hello fellow Bloggers! This week was a little different from the norm routine we usually have. I know you are all aware of the crisis going on at this time. My semester is still going but now it is all online. We meet on our regular days and still interact in the class. A few of us are struggling to cope with this new change. One of my professors mentioned how we can be more productive and explained the six ways to a healthy lifestyle. Here are the six tips:

• A daily routine for more productive work 
•  Social Wellness 
• Physical fitness
• Take time to relax
• Hobbies
• Sleep

I have now broken-up my schedule into chunks and these six tips are very helpful. As a whole class, we decided to incorporate social interaction. We Zoom every day except weekends and do a fun activity for at least 20 minutes. So far we have taken a walk outside, yoga, we baked, played trivia, learn how to dance the Dabke, etc.


I do miss being in a classroom setting. I was placed in a second-grade classroom for my Field Experience. I had the opportunity to teach a whole group math lesson and a small group literacy lesson. I was able to reflect on my teaching and apply it to my next lesson. I got the chance to really get to know the kids and interact with them. The class invited me to go on their field trip to the Field Museum on April 10^th and I was extremely excited to attend that field trip with them. I wish we had the chance to finish our FE, wish we continue getting feedback from our CTs, improve my performance (tone, expression, model, AS, DI, etc..), have the chance to work with high-level and lower-level students, and just be part of the classroom.

First Virtual Lesson

Nadine Hamideh
Thursday April 2, 2020

This week I taught my science whole group lesson, it was about the life cycle of a sea turtle. I had set objectives and ways to achieve them. I started off by activating prior knowledge and introducing a familiar object to the students being Squirt from Finding Nemo. After that I completed a read aloud, I read the book One Tiny Turtle, and incorporated the three components of reading fluency all throughout really well. I asked thought provoking questions, brought in real life material based on a few things that were mentioned in the book to show the students. I thought that I really did well on this given that I didn’t have any students in front of me and was just reading to my professor and a couple classmates on Zoom. After that I went through my guided practice and actually worked on a creative activity that was supposed to be a group project that the students would do, being sequencing the life cycle of a sea turtle on a sand and water tray. I also had to pretend to work on the activity and make comments back and forth, as well as ask and answer my own questions. Given the circumstances with what’s happening in the world with Covid19, and the stay at home orders, it was truly life changing for me. Going from teaching in a classroom, to teaching online is really different and can be difficult but it is something that will make me and my peers stronger and we will get through this together.

1st virtual lesson

Caitlin Kurtz
April 3, 2020

This week I taught my literacy small group prefixes. This helps students be able to see and tell the new meaning of a word when a prefix is added. I feel that these students hear and see prefix words on a daily basis and to be able to see down and realize what happens to the word when they add a prefix is a great way for students to become better readers. I believe that my lesson went really well this week. Giving the circumstances that we were not in the classroom and had to teach on the computer in our home was a eye opener. It was much different and being able to facilitate the materials you have in your house is a great way to think out of the box. For example, I used the back of wrapping paper to create a prefix poster. This was a great resource to be able to adapt too considering if we were in the real world being a teacher, we would be doing e-learning. This was a great start to be able to learn and adapt to these issues going on. 

First Virtual Lesson

Rachel Sebastian
Thursday, April 2, 2020

Today was not an ordinary day as I had to teach a lesson online to absolutely no students. One of the most challenging aspects of this was not having anybody respond to me. I had to think of how students would answer and go off that. It did go a lot better than I expected and I was happy the way I taught. This does somewhat prepare me for e-learning if we ever have to do it in the future. I am very thankful for my professors making this happen so we can still get our teaching hours in. I still feel like my next lesson I have to teach on Zoom will be challenging but atleast I know it will not be as bad as I thought. I am thankful that I still get to practice my lesson planning and how to teach my lessons.

1st at home lesson

Kiley Rolder

April 2nd, 2020

This week was very different from what we are used to on normal field experience days. This week due to everything going on in the world we taught our lesson from home through zoom. Overall the experience was very nerve wrecking and i was dreading it up until I started teaching. It felt as though once I started my lesson I just imagined my class being there which really helped. I felt like I practiced my lesson so much it made it a lot easier when it came to actually teaching it. I liked having two other students on zoom as well because I feel like the more feedback I get the better i'll be able to make my teaching and my lesson plans.It was challenging having to screen share because on the videos I was going to play in my lesson for some reason they couldn't hear the sound so I played a little bit of the videos and explained what happened in them so they knew. This was my first lesson using smart board as well which made the lesson more interactive and fun I just wish I was able to do the actual lesson with real students because I think it would have been so much fun. I think being in the situation we are in is very unfortunate but every day in the classroom we will have to learn to make adaptions and differentiate our lessons and this is exactly like this we adapted ourselves and made it work just like any good teacher would. 

Small Group Literacy

By Elizabeth Gonzalez

Week 8

This week, I thought my small group literacy lesson on disasters. The students will be reading a chapter book next week based on actual events of the 1960 San Francisco earthquake. I decided to focus my lesson on a variety of natural disasters by reading a book called Disaster Alert! By Christine Taylor-Butler. This book discusses five different disasters which are tornadoes, floods, sinkholes, volcanoes, and bushfires. All three students participated in the discussion and learned key facts on different disasters there are in the world. All three students met their objectives. One concern I did have during my lesson plan was time. This was my first small group and I wanted to create an engaging lesson plan. I didn’t notice how fast time goes by when you are teaching. Overall, my lesson went great and I am still learning strategies in the classroom to apply next time in my lessons. 

Small Group Literacy

This week I had the opportunity to facilitate a small group literacy lesson in regards to the reading strategy of chunking words into parts that are already known.  This strategy helps readers decode words that they do not already know.  I believe that my lesson went really well this week.  The main thing that I learned through this experience was to think of additional questions I could ask students, throughout the duration of this lesson, to get them to think of additional ways they could use this strategy.  In addition, I learned that it is important to consider table size, when planning to share materials and that you must plan ahead and think of ways to engage students who may not want to participate in the lesson.  Overall, this teaching experience was a positive experience and I look forward to the next time that I will be able to teach these students.

Professional Development and Sight Words

This week, my CT and I spent the morning in a professional development pop up. The pop up part means that it is done in the school during normal working hours to make sure that the teachers have opportunities to attend professional development. I attended one of these before so I was expecting a presentation with a packet to follow along with and some questions and group discussion... this one was different. We walked in and were offered treat bags with chocolate and candles along with relaxation gummies, then we all sat on the floor in a candle lit classroom do yoga. We were sent away with a packet on why a teachers calmness helps students, but we didn’t go over the packet. It was a nice start to the day although I’m not sure where the professional development part happened.

In other news, I have posees in the past about how my CT was running out of ideas for teaching sight words and that students were not regaining them. This week I was able to see a new strategy that she added in that students seemed to enjoy because it was like a game. After using flash cards and have students read the cards, find the cards, hand get the cards and so on, she gave them letter tiles to arrange into the word. This is not only a fun activity for the students, but also a different way of learning sight words. Rather than reading the word they are spelling it. In my opinion, it’s very different to know what a word is by looking at it and to know how to spell a word. The students did well with spelling the words after going through the cards as they typically do.

week 8

Kiley Rolder

March 12th, 2020

Today I taught my small group lesson. I thought m small group lesson would go completely different than it did but we can't always plan for everything. This the third week the students have had a substitute teacher so they were all pretty antsy. The substitute kept yelling at them which made things worse than they were it seemed like she had no control over them. During my small group lesson I had five students with me and in the middle of the lesson another kid who had gotten in trouble with the substitute who was supposed to sit at his desk came over and started to say I want to read, I want to read, can I read? In the middle of me speaking. I had to stop and turn to the other student and politely ask him to go sit back in his chair. This occurred another time too. The students seem to be really struggling and are starting to not listen because the substitute is just yelling at them instead of talking to them and fixing the issue it seems to be making more issues. As I said with this profession we can try to plan as much as we want but we can't expect everything to go perfectly because you never know how the students will respond exactly in this case. I tried my best to manage the issue and get back to the lesson but it also made it hard to get the students to focus while the substitute was yelling at the other children 

Week 7

This week I taught my first lesson. It was my science lesson, and honestly, I thought I did pretty well. The kids absolutely loved my activity because it was hands-on and messy. What kid doesn't love hands-on and messy? I know I don't love hands-on and messy. This had definitely taught me to be more choosey with what messy lessons I allow the students to engage in for cleanup and safety purposed. Having a whole crap ton of spilled water on the floor is not at all safe for the students to be around.

Teaching at the school also made me realize how little time my CT has the students in her class at all. She didn't have her all students in her class to herself for a single lesson, which is a bit ridiculous. The school pulled out students for intervention that didn't need the intervention. Like. Why? It didn't seem to have a rationale that I could explain.

The rest of the day went pretty well aside from the needless intervention for the higher-level students.

The picture attached is a few samples of the student work from my lesson.

Week 7- Science lesson

This week we followed the intended schedule and it was interesting to finally see what their day truly looked like. I was able to see how they test for their sight words and their high frequency words. I myself tested the kids on these words and it was interesting to see how many different levels were in the classroom. I already kind of knew the students who struggled within the classroom based on whole group lessons I have done but it was shocking to see how many people were below grade level on these words and had a lot of catching up to do to be at a second grade level. I knew the kids who had an IEP in the classroom but through this experience and even the small group reading I did with them, I did have a question about another student. I am no expert on IEP's just yet but I did bring up my concerns with a particular student and interesting enough my CT has already submitted paper work on this student to be evaluated. I also taught a whole group science lesson to the class on the different phases of the moon. It was out of the blue and I offered to teach it, I am really glad I did. I did a read aloud and during my read aloud I was asking higher order questions which only a few students seemed to know so as I continued the read aloud, I used lower level questions to ensure they were understanding the topic. The students were all able to answer those questions and then we made our own phases of the moon cycle. I used black construction paper and white chalk for the kids to draw the different phases. The students liked using the chalk as it was something different than what they are use too and they kept engaged with the entire lesson. There was one student who got extremely upset and started crying because he couldn't match the cycle I made. I just reminded him that its ok and everyones is going to look different, make it unique to you. As long as I could see the different phases represented in some way, I was happy. Overall, it was a good day with the kids and i'm ready to continue taking on more lessons outside of my observed lessons. 

Week 7 Substitute

This week in my field observations my CT was out because of a sickness. The sub that she normally has take over her class was there and the students are very familiar with her. My CT always has her take over her classroom when she is out. When their is a sub in the class the students always behave differently because they know their regular teacher isn't there to manage them. The sub had worksheets for them to complete but I do not believe the students actually learn any content when their teacher is out. The sub they normally have does not go over the directions before telling the students to do the work on their desk. The students always have a million questions and they raise their hand and I come around. The sub does not assist them much with their worksheets but I believe this can be done in a much more beneficial way. By the time I make it around to help everyone, the students are out of time and many of them do not finish their assignments. I believe with something as simple as explaining the worksheet and modeling an example can help them immensely when completing the worksheet. Many of them get off topic and rowdy because they do not understand what is expected of them or how to complete the assignment on their desk. I learn a lot about teaching when my CT is there but I also learn a lot when their are subs because I learn from their actions in the classroom. Not everything we see is a good way to teach and I believe having subs in our classrooms is a good way to learn what to do and what not to do.

1st Whole Group Lesson

This past week, I had the opportunity to teach my first whole group lesson plan.  I had been in contact with my CT and was looking forward to teaching students about place value.  I walked into the classroom and realized that I would be teaching this lesson on a day that a substitute teacher was in the classroom.  I did not think that this would be an issue, because I am comfortable in this type of setting, considering I'm a substitute teacher on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  However, this substitute teacher was extremely aggressive and the students were not responding well to that type of environment.  I tried my hardest to redirect student behavior and provide extra support in ways the students would respond well to.  I feel like the students responded best when they were spoken to in a respectful manner, which is what I attempted to model.  This experience was very stressful, but it just goes to show that our profession will come with a lot of unplanned circumstances and we will just have to roll with the punches. 

Day 8: Spelling Test and Dr. Seuss

• By Nadine Hamideh
• Friday March 6th 2020

Today was a very fun day for the students it was fun Friday and pajama day. I was making up the day that I had to complete due to the half days, so since I couldn’t over spring break I did it on Friday. It was a great experience I got to administer a spelling test, and with this I had to say the word, then make up a sentence for the word and then sound out the word one last time. I also walked around the room to make sure that each student was done before saying the next word. My CT gave me great feedback in regards to how I gave the spelling test as it was the first time I have ever given students a spelling test, and she also told me that I can grade them. I was very impressed with most of the students grades in terms of this spelling test the average out of all of the test was about a 7. This was really good practice for me because it had given me an experience I have never had until now. I learned that it’s very important to sound out the words correctly for students whenever giving them a spelling test because they might spell the word wrong. It is equally as important to put it in a sentence so that they can understand the overall context of the word and that they can comprehend better as sometimes two words may sound the same however are spelled differently and so it’s important to provide some background information on the word. Besides the spelling tests the students got comfy in their pajamas as they watched some Dr.Seuss movies and then wrote letters to their loved ones in their writing journals. My CT explained to me that every Friday the students write a letter to one of their family members, and there is a little space on the bottom for their family members to write a letter back to them. I honestly thought that was just the cutest idea ever and my CT agreed she told me it was a great way for the families to connect with their children over something so simple as a heartfelt letter. I am very happy that I got to help students as they wrote letters in their writing journals and incredibly greatful because this is an idea that I would love to incorporate within my future classroom.

Day 6&7: WG Math Lesson & Pajama Day

Rachel Sebastian
Saturday March 7, 2020

Day 6:
On Thursday I taught my WG math lesson, I was nervous to teach this one because it was my first time ever really teaching math. One of the most challenging aspects of this was students today learn differently the way I was taught. I had to reteach myself in a way the lesson I was teaching because I had to teach the students how they were supposed to be learning it. I thought I did a pretty good job at teaching my lesson because most of my students were understanding what I was teaching. Now, I know that when I am in my own classroom, I will have to reteach myself some of the material because the students are learning in new and different ways. I think this will still be difficult for me because everytime I teach a lesson I will be learning something new.

                 Linking Cubes I used in my lesson. (4 red and 2 yellow) Number sentence: 4+2=6



Day 7:
On Friday I had to go to FE because this was a make-up day. This was not an ordinary day for the students because it was Dr.Seuss week and it was pajama day for the students. During this day my CT allowed me to give the spelling test and math test to the students. The students have designated spots when they are testing. During the spelling test, I would have to say the words out loud, say the word in a sentence, and then sound out the word. One of the most challenging aspects for this was making I sounded the word out correctly. It is important to sound out the words correctly because if I don't then they will spell their word wrong. Overall, I thought I did a great job and my CT gave me great feedback when I give the spelling tests.

Day 7: Money Math

• By: Nadine Hamideh 
• Thursday March 5, 2020

Today was a day of learning, the students learned about a new math topic which was about coins. The students were divided into three tiers and were taught in small groups. My CT did the first small groups and showed me how to administer this activity task. It was then time for me to administer the task to the rest of the small groups. I was able to see how the different tiers worked and how to teach a small group math lesson to different tiers. The first tier of students just had to draw the amount of dimes and pennies that I stated. For example, if I said its time to make 24 cents, I would show students the amount in dimes and pennies and they would just draw that amount. I had to also provide an amount for the second tier of students in which they had to both draw out the amount of dimes and pennies as well as write the exact amount with a cents sign. The third tier of students were to come up with their own amounts as well as draw them out and write them. My CT informed me that this was a hard topic for them because they never really worked with coins for math, so she told me to compare it to base ten blocks for them and see if that would help them understand the material better. And honestly, it did and it was really great to see that by just making that small comparison the students instantly understood the task at hand. I just simply explain how this can be like working with base ten  blocks. I told them that the dime is like the tall rod of base ten blocks, and that the penny is like the individual unit of base ten blocks. By just saying that the students were able to make connections and count out the dimes and pennies. In the end, I learned that it is very important to give students tasks that can be relatable, and if it is a new task to compare it to something that they have learned about previously if it can help them make better sense of the material.

Week 7: Snowball Fight Mania! Social Studies Lesson Plan

•  By Amnah Hzaiyen
• Thursday, March 5, 2020

Today, I taught my social studies lesson plan on Cultural holidays in the United States. My goal for this week was to begin creating more fun and engaging lessons for my students. It was brought to my attention how I can create my lessons to assess what I am expecting of the students, but in a way that is more fun for the students and doesn’t seem so “boring” for them. My lesson was focusing on differences and similarities between different cultural holidays that we see in the United States. I was going to have the students do a Venn diagram for their independent practice, but had the students do a “snowball fight” activity instead. They threw paper snowballs with different sentences or words that describe both or one of two holidays then had to walk over to a designated sign for those two holidays. The students had a lot more fun with this activity than I had anticipated. At the end of the activity, the students had asked me multiple times to do it again, but unfortunately we had not time. I had a handful of students tell me how much fun my lesson was and that they would love to do it again. After teaching this lesson, it made me understand how important it is to create fun and engaging lessons. All the students were involved and participating, which is quite rare compared to what I usually see. I now understand the importance of creating these fun lessons, and understand that there are many websites out there with lots of different ideas I can use to create these lessons.

Week 7: Germs

Week 7
By Elizabeth Gonzalez



I started off my day feeling great, after being sick for almost three weeks. I greeted every student with a “good morning” and a smile. During the student's morning routine, the CT made an announcement on learning about germs. The CT said, “All day long, your hands touch things that have lots of tiny germs all over them. Today, we’re going to learn what we can do to keep our hands clean.” The class watched a short video on washing your hands. The video demonstrated knowledge of germs and what they can do to the body. There are many students who are out due to flu or cold. Students are not aware of when they sneeze or cough. Students are always touching one another and aren’t aware of the germs they might pass around. Therefore, it is important for young children to understand the basic concept of germs. A student had an accident during power math, he cut his finger with the paper and started to bleed. I took him to the sink to rinse his hands and after we put a bandaged. I reassured him that he is okay and to leave the bandaged alone. He responded, “We need to wash my hands because if I don’t I will pass my germs.” This made me smile because the students did observe the information that their teacher provided in the morning. Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6GQN-z_2s

week 7 - anchor chart

This was my first week teaching, and I taught a science lesson about the sun. This was some of the

first exposure that the student had to this topic although they have been in this unit since January. Science is a subject that often gets overlooked, as the teacher puts a heavier focus on math, reading and writing. The lesson went well, but I want to focus on one activity of the lesson. I used a KWL chart with the class, filling in the K and W sections before learning anything and the L section at the very end of the lesson.

The class had never used this type of chart before, but they understood it when I explained it. In the K section, there were a lot of misconceptions about the topic - which I was excited to hear because I knew that we could correct these misconceptions in the lesson. It also helped me to decide what to emphasize as I was teaching. The student asked some great questions, some of which I wasn't even planning to teach but added in last minute because they were curious about it (specifically, what the sun is made of). By the end of the lesson when we filled in the last section of the chart, the students had changed a lot of their thinking and were able to give me much more detailed facts and ideas about the sun. I have attached a picture of the chart, I was amazed by their learning.

My CT was excited that I was making a chart with them because they do not have many science related things around the classroom. I asked if she preferred I did the chart on the Smart Board so that it was easier for the students to see, but she expressed that she wanted to hang the paper chart in the room. Anchor charts are a great tool for seeing what student know or have learned. It is also something that they can reference and use to make connections to as they learn more about the sun.

week 7

Kiley Rolder

March 5th, 2020

This week was my first week teaching and I was a little nervous considering the students have had a sub for a week now. I wasn't sure how they were going to act because they haven't had their normal class schedule since the CT wasn't there. I started my lesson and right away the students were all engaged. It was great to see them all focused and learning. The students were all participating and excited about my lesson. During my lesson I had them read passages and hold up the answer they thought it was this seemed to work really well instead of having one student come to the board and the rest of them sit there everyone was able to participate. I even taught the rest of the day considering my CT wasn't there. It feels like each week i'm becoming more comfortable and taking on more responsibility which I love. The experience I am gaining this semester has been so helpful thus far. I am learning what ways work best for me for regaining students attention and how to approach different topics. I am also becoming more aware of how to handle certain situations such as a student misbehaving and trying to understand why they are acting out if it's a bad day, if something is going on at home, or if they are just having a bad attitude. Forming relationships with the students where they know they can trust me and come talk to me if something is wrong is very important and something we are taught to always be welcoming and try to understand what is going on in your students lives. 

Week 6 -last minute changes

This was a busy Thursday for my class  since they had a long weekend coming up. The plan for the day was to follow the regular schedule in the morning which includes reading, writing and technology followed by lunch. After lunch The students had a silent party, but 4 students in my class did not go because they didn’t pay, so all of the first graders who didn’t attend went into one first grade room. The silent party was only supposed to go until 1:30, then my CT had plans to do a project for the upcoming parent day. During the party, someone decided to extend it to last until the end of the day. My CT was very concerned about getting the project done, but didn’t want to pull her class from the party. Around the last half hour of the school day my CT went to the students left behind to start them on their projects, and I offered to go help them. Those four students got their projects done. When the rest of the students came back, we rushed for the 20 minutes of dismissal time to at least get students started on their projects. The extension of the silent party really messed with my CTs plans, but we managed to help the students get a lot done in the little time that we had and this was something I was really able to be helpful with. This showed me how even with planning and a schedule things can come up that can’t be controlled and teachers need to be ready to change their plan even if it’s not ideal. I’m excited to see the finished projects next Thursday!

week 6- teaching

This week I taught my whole group 1 for literacy. There was many strengths and weaknesses that happened through my lesson on Thursday. For being my first lesson taught, I thought it went well. The students were very engaged in the lesson and enjoyed discussing compare and contrast through the two book and daytime and nighttime. Although it went fairly well, there was some areas of improvement. For any carpet procedures that happen in the classroom, it is important to address classroom behavior and carpet behavior. For my lesson, I had students gathered on the carpet for part of my lesson and had students bring something to write with and write on.  I did not think this over well and all the students were confused on what to bring to wrote on. For future lessons and my future class, I will have materials at the carpet ready for the students to write on to keep the lesson going. Overall, I am excited to teach more lessons this semester.

2/27/2020

These past couple of weeks, my CT has been addressing student behavior through a classroom app, called Class Dojo. This app allows the teacher and the guardians of each student to be in contact throughout the day. While this app can be used for messaging parents, my CT mainly uses it for behavior. Each day that I am present, I continue to see how this app works. The students really strive to get green points and are disappointed when they receive red, or negative points. I believe that this behavior strategy really works for some classrooms, this classroom specifically. Since each classroom is made up of different students, they may not all benefit from the same behavioral system.

Day 5 and 6

By Elizabeth Gonzalez

Day 5

This week I attended Field Experience twice. On Tuesday, the students were all surprised to see me there but excited. They asked why I was there if it's not Thursday. My response was "I just enjoy being with you guys so much I decided to come in today." Throughout the day I had a bunch of hugs. I was nervous and excited when my CT asked if I can help two students who struggle with writing. The students were paired in twos and they both had to come up with a story using as many vocabulary words. The two students I had are below level and struggle with writing and reading. Before starting to write, I asked what ideas did they have to start the story. This is a team project so we must work together, I said. We had a few challenges since the two students did not like working with each other. They each took a turn writing one sentence but we made sure it made sense since and went with our story. The students used a total of six vocabulary words out of eleven. I used a mini whiteboard to help with the writing. If they did not know how to spell a word I would tell them what letter do you think it starts with and to sound out the word. I am glad that I had the opportunity to work with these two students because it gives me a view of those students who face academic challenges and may feel overwhelmed in the classroom. By working in small groups or one-on-one the teacher can break down the assignment and/or can modify it. 

Day 6 

Today is the day where I teach my first lesson. I taught my whole group math lesson. My lesson was on coins. My objectives for this lesson were 1) recognize the name of coins, value, and count up their total, 2) add and subtract using strategies learned, and 3) solve word problems involving different types of coins and use the cent symbol. Although I lost my voice and I was sick, my classroom did a great job of being respectful. I told them at the beginning that I was sick and I can't speak up, therefore, they must listen and not talk to their neighbors. The majority of the students did a great job of knowing their coins and their value. I was surprised at how well they did in their IP activity. The IP activity I made a worksheet that involved solving for mix coins and word problems. As I walked around observing the students, I saw a few students who were circling or underlining keywords on their word problems. Once done, I explained the importance of the use of money and how we need it to buy things. I thank the class for being well behaved. At the end of the day, the students told me that I did a great job teaching in front of my teacher and to drink lots of water so my voice can come back. These kids bring joy to my day and made me smile when I wasn't feeling my best. 

week 6

Kiley Rolder

February 29th, 2020

This week I was able to experience two days in the classroom instead of one. On Tuesday my CT allowed me to take a small reading group and work n their reading skills with them. We completed a worksheet which had them read, find certain words within the paragraph that had aw in them, write complete sentences and write down other words with the letters aw in them. It was awesome to be able t take a small reading group and work with them one on one I felt like it helped me to better understand the students. On Thursday we had a substitute teacher which meant that I would be taking more responsibility throughout the day. The students did a pretty good job of listening and adapting to me teaching and listening to both me and the substitute which can be hard sometimes. It was interesting to see the different the schedules the students had on the different days and how they reacted. On Thursdays they have more specials so on Tuesday I was able to see more teaching from my CT which helped me a lot. I am learning a lot especially having to step up when the teacher isn't there. I am finding what teaching ways work best for me and it's a great feeling. 

Days 5 and 6: Taking over and Teaching Literacy

• by Amnah Hzaiyen
• Friday, February 28, 2020

     As the semester is passing by in a blink of an eye, I feel like it's truly time for me to step in and begin to take over the classroom. I am still very shy and hesitant to do so, but I decided this week it was time to make those baby steps. On Tuesday, I began to teach small group lessons as a way to make myself feel more comfortable and confident in teaching the whole class. This truly gave me insight on the different types of learning and behavior in the classroom by working with different students individually. I now have a better understanding on how to work with certain students and in which ways they work best. My goal for this week was to begin taking over a whole school day, especially in other subject areas besides literacy which is the subject my CT teaches. I've been hesitant to take over math and science/social studies but by next week I am truly hoping to be the one to instruct with my CT's by my side. Another goal of mine is to begin to put more focus on the different needs of the students. I taught my lesson this week, and with that it gave me insight on what specific needs need to be addressed for all of the students to be engaged. I want to learn to not pass by students who aren't participating, and find ways to get them to participate and enjoy any lesson I teach to them.

     On Thursday, I taught my first lesson to the classroom. I taught my first whole group literacy lesson. My lesson was on IAR test practice, which I was very hesitant to teach. The students were a lot more engaged than I had assumed they were going to be which truly gave me the confidence of taking over the whole school day. As well, the students also seemed to really enjoy me teaching and seemed very excited to hear that I was going to be working on something with them. At the end of my lesson, a few of the students came up to me and asked me if I could be the teacher and it warmed my heart to hear that they enjoyed seeing me standing up in front of the class. With that insight from the third graders, I feel more comfortable in finally taking over the classroom because it make me feel like they will become excited and look forward to seeing me on Thursdays throughout the rest of the semester.

Day 5 and 6: Lesson Plan

• By: Nadine Hamideh
• Thursday February 27, 2020

Day 5

Today, I came in for field experience on a Wednesday to make up for Tuesday the students were on a field trip, and the students had a different class schedule, so I was able to see the students go into computer class and music which was great. Today, I also taught a whole group lesson that my CT told me I could do to get more practice before teaching my literacy whole group lesson on Thursday. I came up with a literacy based lesson, in which I read the book The Rainbow Fish to the students and asked them questions before, during and after. After the book reading I called on students to sequence the story with me, using the sequencing cards I brought. I allowed the students to pair up with a buddy in this activity. The students seemed to really enjoy the activity and were very engaged. However, due to allowing students to pick their partners, some students ended up being alone and some with three in a group. So, it wasn’t the best idea on my part and I was able to learn from it which was great. My CT informed me of things that she noticed to help me prepare, she told me that my tone and expression all throughout was great, she also told me that she noticed me give positive affirmations to those on task. She said positive affirmations are great because they show an example for other students to follow, so for example, if I said “I love how student B is reading the sequencing card to understand what comes next”, it would make other students want to follow, it’s sort of like leading by example. My CT then explained to me in regards to the partners, its best to always create pre-mediated groups, so that all students will be on task and no one will be left out.  I was extremely grateful for this experience and to me it was one that I can learn from.

Day 6

Today, I presented my literacy lesson plan to the students. My lesson plan was about comparing and contrasting the two books that they have been reviewing being Hunter’s Money Jar, and The Winners’ Choice. I started it off by reviewing what it means to compare and contrast, this was very helpful for the students because it activated their prior knowledge. I also used concrete material being two different colored and sized stacking cups, to allow students to distinguish the similarities and differences between the two. I then re-read specific pages from each book to the students and asked them questions before, during and after the book readings. All students seemed very engaged during the reading and many students were participating and answering questions all throughout. It then came time for the smartboard, and all the students were very excited about participating in the smartboard. One thing I tried to do was to be able to call on different students, so that all students were able to get called on. Lastly, for my independent practice the students were to write 3 sentences about comparing and contrasting the two stories, 1 similarity and 2 differences. I put key words up on the board as well, such as same, similar and different to help assist students as they write out their sentences. After that, I came around and gave them all art materials to decorate and then put on a big box, which we named the story box of thoughts, throughout this activity all students were engaged and had lots of fun when it came down to decorating and getting their paper on the box. Overall, I thought the lesson plan went well and accordingly. After my lesson the students, then practiced spelling their spelling words using play dough and then had their spelling test and went to choir and then lunch. My CT also informed me that due to school being off, tomorrow they were going to have a fun friday, so towards the end of the day the movie Descendants 3 was played for the students, and I just completed some paper work with my CT. 

Week 6- Classroom structure

My CT was out for 3 days so today was more of a laid back day. There were no lesson plans implemented for the day, my CT yet again did not follow our daily schedule. The majority of our day consisted of making floats for their Mardi Gras day next week and then the students had a silent party in the afternoon for all of the kids who did not receive a referral. I was paying attention to the classroom structure today and how the students were acting among one another since their was nothing being taught. The classroom is broken down into three different rows and the first row has the students who need the most attention or cause the most disruption. There were two students who had new seats today that were separated from the three rows because of their misbehavior. Honestly as I watched the two children today, their behavior seemed to be worse because they were yelling at other students across the room. I sat by one of the two students in particular and thats when he started to be less disruptive. I have always been taught that the environment is the third eye and that is very true but that is not the only route in order to fix students behavior. My CT was frustrated with the student and wasn't able to understand why he was acting the way he was, but it just took some direct interaction with the student in order for the behavior to subside. I found out from the student that some things were going on his home life simply by just talking to him and it made sense why he was misbehaving. As teachers we all need to dig deeper and try different teaching strategies or techniques for our students with misbehavior because its most likely something that can be altered once the problem is figured out.  Attached is a picture of the desk structure in the room.

Week 6: 2/27/2020

This week I really saw a lot with the students spelling unlike what I had seen in previous weeks, and that is because they don't have school Friday. I'm really seeing the levels of these students with reading and writing by looking at their spelling tests. There are so many kids who are extremely below level in this second-grade class. Compared to my kindergarten field experience, I really feel that these students are lower. They are using random letters to sound out the words when most of these words are sight words that they should know by the end of second grade. Even after working on these words for a week, they still struggled with them.

Today, however, one student who had done okay on the last few spelling tests (usually between 70-87%) got 100% on their test today. That student was so proud of themself. Compared to the last few tests, that student has been really upset about not doing as well, so I think that this student worked very hard with their reading interventionalist. I was very proud of that student.

On Thursday, three of the students who have more behaviors were also out. Them not being there made the day go so much smoother because those two students cause a lot of behaviors with the other students. One student stems off of all of the others in the class. The other student is the student most kids stem off of. Having them gone made a huge difference, so I really think that those two students are the ones I'm going to have to make a connection with to work on figuring out those behaviors.

Overall, field experience was great this week. It provided so much insight!

Day 4: Teaching WG Literacy

Rachel Sebastian
Thursday, February 27, 2020

Today I taught my whole group literacy lesson from 10am to 10:30 am. Overall, I thought it went ok but it could of definitely went better. I taught sequencing about a book we read together as a class. One of the most challenging aspects about this was I am still learning about classroom management and I am trying to figure out my CT's classroom management. I learned that it is very hard to have my own classroom management when I came in the middle of the school year and the students are used to what their teacher is doing. This connected directly to what I learned in my Psychology class. I learned it is important to be authoritative right away and show the students where you stand. Now I know when I am in my own classroom, I will make sure to have great classroom management and I will also make sure my students know what is expected of them starting off day one of school. I think this will still be difficult for me because as a new teacher having great classroom management is a hard thing to do. But, I know over time I will become an expert at it and I just have to keep researching about it.

Tuesday, 2/25, literacy lesson

In field experience this week, my cooperating teacher asked me to do a read aloud for 20 to 30 minutes with the book “if you bring a mouse to school”. She wanted to give me the opportunity to teach a lesson before I started teaching my own lessons. During the lesson, I asked students questions about the words and pictures. The real point of the read aloud was to be able to identify the beginning, middle, and end of the story and summarize it, since these are skills that the students have been working on. This activity went well. With support, the students were able to provide complete sentences for the beginning, middle, and end of the story. This led into a writing activity that the students have been working on for a while also involving beginning middle and end. For my activity, I used a sequence chart and asked the students to help me fill it in. This is the same format that the students have been using for other sequence activities. I have attached a picture of the chart that I made. I think this was a great opportunity for me to use students names as well as to see how long they stay engaged with an activity like this.

Whole group math/adapt to change

This week was still not a set routine of their daily schedule. The students were spending most of the morning preparing for their black history performance that was taking place on Friday. I think the students not being able to follow a consistent routine makes it hard and they lost out on a lot of instruction time. The students were all riled up and it took time for the students to settle down. During the plan period, I asked my CT if I could teach the whole group math lesson for the day to get some more experience and work with the students directly in preparation for my observed lessons to follow. My CT gave me the teachers work book and told me the lesson they were on and went from there. It was an interesting experience to plan a lesson on such short notice and work through putting something together in order for the students to understand. I worked on my lesson plan during my lunch time. I took into consideration the different learning personalities in the room and the different strategies that i've seen my CT use while teaching her whole group math lesson. I was a little nervous because of the lack of time for preparation but it put into perspective that I need to be ready for random schedule changes and to have back up plans in place for all subject areas. I called all the students to the smart board with their workbooks. I shared key vocabulary and asked them questions about greater than and less than which helped guided them into our concept of the day of sequencing numbers by greater than or less than. I demonstrated a problem for them and then had students work independently and then put their answers on the board while explaining to the entire class what they were doing as they worked through the problem. In between my lesson, the kids had an additional schedule change . The principle called all 1st grade students to one room for another talk about their performance. It was difficult to get the kids back on track after that transition because they were only exposed to half of the lesson and then taken out so the rest of the lesson had to be rescheduled for the next day.  I learned to adapt to the change and be ready for anything that is thrown my way. 

Paragraph writing

This week in class, the students were working on writing sentences in a final project form. They had already worked on a graphic organizer prior to this to organize their five sentences about why french fries are the best. The CT passed out their original graphic organizer which they worked on as a class as well as a copy of one she wrote in her own handwriting. The CT was working on the SMART board to write her small paragraph. The students were all supposed to write exactly what she wrote on the board into their final worksheet which was what they already had in their graphic organizer. Some students were working slower than others but the CT did not wait for those students that were falling behind. In one case she went up to a student and finished writing the sentence for him because he was not where the rest of his classmates were. I do not believe she handled this in the most effective way for the students. I believe they should have each gone over the sentences slower and she should have waited for students to be on the next sentence together. As she was moving on from sentence to sentence, their were several students that were completely behind and still on their first sentence. Those students seemed confused and lost and this activity was not done in the most effective way. Several of them were struggling to write their sentences but it was very beneficial that she included her own copy of her graphic organizer for each student so they can see exactly how the words in the sentences were spelled. I hope to see more writing assignments being done in her class and see the different strategies she uses to help her students with their writing.

Week 4

This week, the students were listening to the teacher read one of the books that the students are expected to write about. The writing activity for the students was honestly very rough. The vast majority of the class are not strong writers at all. They are pretty good at finding the concepts in which they have to write about, but when it comes to writing them into sentences and expanding on those concepts, they really struggle to explain their ideas. Their ideas are also very basic. There really isn't a lot of depth to them, unfortunately. They aren't really writing anything long, either. They use the R.A.C.E. concept. R is for restating the question. A is for answering the question. C is for citing the source of their information. E is for explaining their answer. In total, it really only comes out to four sentences, but the students are so below level with their writing that they struggle to form complete sentences and come up with their own ideas beyond the initial R portion. They bounce off of the higher-level students in the class a lot.

If I were to do a writing activity, which I will have to, I think I'm really going to try and work on this strategy with them. I would use a topic that is familiar with the students, possibly a book that they all have read before or even something simple like their Mohawk pledge. I really want to drive this concept in with them because it's something that they will use a lot just in more advanced conversations.

Overall, I thought this week was very beneficial because it will help me to build my writing lesson. I know where the students are at now.

Calm Classroom

Caitlin Kurtz
Sunday, February 23, 2020

On Thursday during my class, my teacher had noticed that some students were acting out and having attitude with everything that was going on in the classroom. During specials, the teacher had explained to me that the students that were performing these behaviors usually are his students who show positive behavior and good examples for everyone else in the classroom/ He was giving me tips with what to do when these situations arise in the classroom and the two strategies he uses his calming corner and a calming classroom. Right before lunch, I had noticed the entire class was getting angry with one another and everybody had a comment to something. My CT started to hand out lunch detentions to these behaviors but then realized that is only going to solve the problem for a short time. He then realized the class needed a time to just lay their head down and listen to soothing music with the lights off which he refers to the calming classroom. After lunch, the students came in laid their head down, lights off, and listened to the soothing music for 15-20 minutes. I found this very beneficial because it allowed for students to recollect themselves, and regulate their emotions. My CT communicated with class dojo to notify parents this was going on and to make sure their kids are going to bed at night at a reasonable time. I would find this challenging because as a teacher you don't know circumstances happening at home and only can control what happens at school. I thought this was a great activity to incorporate in the classroom when needed.

week 4

Kiley Rolder
February 23rd, 2020

This week I experienced STEAM with my class for the first time. Since the schedule has been all over the place the STEAM teacher was saying how she hasn't had many opportunities with my class because of the many things that have been going on this month. In the STEAM room the topic they are talking about is ocean animals. On the ceiling she had plastic wrap hung with different things that could end up in the ocean such as news papers, water bottles, wrappers, etc. Around the room she has different sea animals and materials for the children to work with. This week they were working on the word buoyancy. They did an activity where they had to draw out a type object that would float in water then they had to use materials to make that object and test it out in the water. It was awesome to see the children use trial and error to figure out why theirs weren't floating and what they could change to make it float. Once the students created something that could float we would ask them to try to add materials and test it again to see how durable their creation was and what they could add until it didn't float anymore. The students enjoyed the independence and freedom they had to use their creative side to make whatever they wanted. 

Classroom Managment

I noticed my CT rearranging the desks in the classroom and she explained how lately the students have been misbehaving in the hall, lining up, music class, and cafeteria. She also explained how embarrassed she is when a substitute teacher goes in her classroom because they always leave a note on the misbehaving. My CT has class Dojo and she always gives points to the students who are behaving and following the rules. That strategy doesn’t work anymore she said. She decided to put names up at the board if a student did not follow the rules and if their name is on the board the consequence is missing recess for 5 minutes. There is one student who always interrupts the classroom and she gives him a 5-minute break to reflect on his actions. My CT doesn’t know what else to do and asked if I had any suggestions on classroom management. I am new to this but I did mention to my CT how maybe she should punish some students and not the entire classroom. Only because some students were paying attention and doing their work independently. I also suggested giving the class a choice. For instance, if they are working as a group but are too loud, I would say “Do we want this activity to be in groups or independently work since we can whisper?.”