For my second week of Field Experience, I decided to take a
step towards taking over the classroom. My CT asked me to do whole group
lessons with the students, but I felt hesitant to do so just yet. I decided I
would feel more comfortable starting off with a small group lesson during
reading/writing. I had a group of four students. We read a text on lizards and
went through the questions together. Many of the questions were similar, so I
would do one with them as a whole and then have them do one on their own. The
very last question was asking for a summary of the text. The students were
stuck and could not come up with a summary. I simply asked them, “If I would
have never read this text, and I asked you what it was about, what would you
tell me about it?” They then all instantly came up with a summary and wrote it
down. During math, the students had a substitute teacher. They were given a
packet on rounding and multiplication. The substitute and I simply handed out
the packets, read through the pages, and did an example or two on each page. We
then had the students work independently on them. I went around assisting the
students and showing them examples and guiding them when they were rounding and
doing their multiplication. I used today to truly get to know the students
personally as well. The students luckily make it easy for me to get to know
them and feel comfortable with them. This morning I was holding the door open
for the students as they were walking in and about half of them said good
morning and gave me a hug. It truly warmed my heart and made me realize how my
attitude towards this experience truly makes this experience memorable for them
as well.
Hi Amnah,
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you got to take a step towards to taking over the classroom and that experience is really good when it comes down to completing your actual lessons. I also got to participate in a sort of small group lesson/activity it was really fun and I enjoyed it. I think things like this will really be beneficial to us in the long run.
Thanks for sharing, Nadine
That's great Amnah! At least you are working with small groups and learning from your students. I also worked with a small group during guided reading. Before reading we did a picture walk and predicted what the book will be about. During reading I asked the students questions and after we discuss the main characters, setting, and what was our favorite part from the book. I bet you can do the whole classroom next time. Great post Amnah!
ReplyDeleteIn Response to Amnah,
ReplyDeleteIt's really awesome that you are beginning to step out of your comfort zone and begin taking over classroom lessons. It sounds like you found a really helpful way to explain the summary portion of your lesson. Sometimes all it takes is for a question to be reworded for it to make sense to the students. I'm happy to hear you're learning more about your students and that they are beginning to remember you and become excited each time they see you. It makes this whole experiance worth it.
Thanks for Sharing,
Caitlin Miller