Week 1 field experiance

Today was the first day of my field experience with my classroom of first graders, it was a little bit chaotic to say the least but I was able to make it work and it turned into a huge learning lesson. My CT was out of the building the entire morning until after lunch so it was just myself and the sub. My CT left a plan to follow with the kids so it was organized in that sense. The sub I was with was asking me more questions of how to explain the work to the kids and how to go about the lesson so I took over and taught the entire morning with some additional support from the sub such as walking around and helping the kids with their spelling and writing. I always heard other teachers say be prepared for change because everyday will be different with other challenges to overcome and that was the day I had. My classroom was very warm and respectful to me while I was teaching and helping support the room but the class was also very talkative and loud. The students were acting out by talking to their peers and getting loud during work times, I did have to remind them several times of what zone level we were in according to what part of the lesson I was teaching (such as red zone for independent work) . I had no idea who any of the students were and their abilities. I had a special friend who I had to keep close by me and even move his seat because he couldn't contain himself. After I had a talk with him and reminded him again he began to have a much better day. At first I was really nervous to take over, she did leave a plan for us to accomplish but she did not provide me with how to teach it so I had to figure it out on my own. Honestly through this experience it opened my eyes on how kids behave when change occurs and also how in depth I need to be when providing plans for my sub to follow in the future because it was unclear. The students have gym in the classroom twice a week which I found to be odd but since the other grades are at lunch during their gym time they have to do gym in the room so the gym teacher did travel down to the room.

My CT then arrived after lunch so I was able to work directly with her for a couple of hours but I did not have the ability to talk to her a ton because the classroom needed a lot of redirecting. I am not sure if this was due to the fact that it was an off day for them or if the classroom itself struggles as a whole and I am curious to find out as time progresses. The students did a lot of worksheets throughout the day for their content areas. Most of the time things were done in a whole group setting at the board and then they would be provided a worksheet that went along with what was taught to work independently on back at their seats. My CT does have a lot of incentive programs for the kids when they follow procedures correctly such as movement through dance which I enjoyed a lot and the kids did as well to break up time in between all of the worksheets. I was really hoping to see more classroom management skills but given the sudden change, I believe next week will be much better. Overall I am excited to learn more about the culture of the room in the upcoming week and continue to be hands on during my entire time in the classroom.