During my lesson on September 29, 2015, the students did a Geography Challenge. The students were allowed to work in pairs and I was there to help if needed. When they thought they had the correct answer they needed to bring their paper to me for checking before moving on the next question of the challenge. By doing this all students were given a fair chance at getting the answer correct. Reflection
Last week I had my observation. Overall, I was very nervous about being watched while I was giving a lesson. As I began to teach I could feel myself begin to relax. After my lesson was over and I talked to my CT, I personally was not happy with how it turned out. To start off, I tried to fit too much into such a short time frame. I felt that I was supposed to finish everything written on my lesson plan. However, my CT reassured me that even he has to make changes to his lesson plan in the middle of the lesson because he is running out of time. That made me feel a lot better. Another thing I noticed while trying to fit everything in, I begin to read too fast for the students to follow. One of my students called me out on this which made me happy that he felt comfortable enough with me to point this out. I believe that I handled the situation correctly and read the next section a little slower. After talking with my CT about my lesson, we both agreed that time management is something I need to work on in my future lessons. I know now that it is okay not to be perfect, I am in this class to learn and observe my CT. During my lesson, I need to find ways in which to keep my students engaged and following along with the readings. One way I plan on doing this is more of the underlining and circling. While teaching my next lesson, I need to work on walking around the room while reading or teaching. This is also another way I can make sure the students are paying attention and looking at their books while I am reading. What surprised me the most about my lesson was how fast time was moving. At the beginning I felt that I was moving along at a good pace and then I remember looking at the clock and seeing that there was only ten minutes left till lunch. After looking back on my video I feel a lot better about my lesson and feel more ready about my next one. Analysis Overall, I believe that the students learned what I intended on teaching them. During the fact and opinion section many could tell me what a fact and opinion were. I could see that they were understanding it because many of them raised their hands to tell me what that circled or underlined. I was happy to see that many of them knew that when they saw the word “believe” they knew that it was going to be an opinion. During my lesson, I couple of students had a difficulty with the fact and opinion. I believe is was not because they did not understand what I was asking them to do but the fact that I was reading too fast and these students had a hard time following along. I know for my next lesson, I will slow down when I am reading aloud giving them time to underline or circle. Connecting the section about artifacts to the student’s lives today helped them understand what an artifact is. Also, having them look at the artifacts on the page and having them tell me what they believe the artifacts helped them understand how artifacts could have helped them make their lives easier. My student, Tasha (Pseudonym), has a really hard time focusing during teacher instruction. Many times I have caught her playing with her hands or a pencil, drawing while the teacher is talking or writing things that have nothing to with what she should be doing. During the science lesson they were going over their science homework. At first she did not have it out then she had to go to her backpack and find the paper. She missed the teacher going over the first problem because she was getting ready. Tasha then began to look around the classroom instead of looking at her paper. The teacher moved to the back of the paper and Tasha was playing around with her paper she did not notice. It was not until he was done with the first question on the back that she turned her paper over. Today during language arts, it looked like she was following along while the teacher was reading but I could tell her eyes were not one the book. During the reading she put her hand up to say something to the teacher but he was ready to move on so she put her hand down. At 9:19am the teacher told them to put their books away and get ready to move on to the next activity. She was so busy playing with the sticky notes at her deck she did not hear him. It took her until 9:21am to put her book away and get ready to move on. For this reason, I wonder what instructional strategies I can use to help my students maintain focus during instruction?
This week I noticed my target student Tasha (pseudonym) does not pay attention during teacher instruction. She sits on her knees or with her knees to her chest with her feet propped up on the inside of the desk. The teacher never says anything to her about it and I am not really sure why. I noticed that sometimes she is looking at the teacher but most of the time her eyes are roaming around the room or looking at her hands. The result of this is that the teacher ends up having to give her one-on-one instruction to make sure that she understands what the directions are for each assignment. She is sometimes pulled in a small group with other students who also need help. During Language Arts they were given an activity about text structure. The teacher asked her if she understood what they needed to do and she told him yes. As soon as he walked away, I hear her telling the students at her table that it was too hard and she did not know what to do. I am not sure if she was saying this because she really did not understand the worksheet or if she thought she would get someone to do it for her. I walked up to her and asked her to read the question aloud and then I pointed her in the right direction to find the answer herself. She did not look happy that I would not just give her the answer. I would like to find a way to get her more involved in teacher instruction.
My CT put students into reading groups for independent reading time. Everyday each group is doing something different such as going to the media center, small group with the teacher or independently reading at their desk. I asked him how the groups were chosen and he told me that he looked at their Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) scores. To pass fourth grade all students must be at a level 50 but some students were already reading past a level 60 which is where they need to be at the end of fifth grade. My CT told me that the students who are above a 60 do not need to be retested at the end of the year. He used these results to separate the students into groups. If the groups were looking too big with the DRA results then he turned to the Florida assessments for instruction in reading (FAIR) test to help him decide which group the student should be in.
My last blog I asked the question about the teacher giving students time in class to get homework done. After observing more, I found out that he does give them plenty of time. When they are done with an assignment or at the end of the day they are given time to get their homework done. I think this is great because some students do not have the help at home to do it. There is one student who often does not have his homework done. I heard the teacher tell him today that maybe he should take his science homework to lunch and finish it so he did not get a mark on his behavior card. I was so proud of the student because he finished his homework and turned it in on time. I believe the teacher is very fair in the amount of time he gives his students to finish homework in class. I am interning in a 5th grade classroom at Wallace Elementary School with Mr. Johnson. I have always been in a classroom with female teachers, so I am finding it very interesting to watch a male teacher. On my first day, I talked with my collaborating teacher (CT) about classroom management. There are school wide rules that all students are made to follow, such as be prepared, be respectful of others and keep hands, and feet to yourself. They are given a behavior card at the beginning of each week. The goal is to keep the behavior card clean throughout the week. The card is taken home on Thursdays to be signed by the parent or guardian. If the card is not signed, then the student receives a mark at the beginning of their new behavior card. I like this idea but I feel that the card is a little too small for younger children and would get lost easily. My CT did tell me that some teachers did not use the behavior cards and had other forms that got sent home to be signed. Mr. Johnson also has what he calls, “thumbs up”, which are cards with a picture of a thumbs up on it. The students are given this for many reasons such as asking a good question or following directions quickly. However, he does not hand them out all the time, which keeps the children on their best behavior because they never know when one is coming. They can either put the card in the box, which gives them a chance to win a prize at the end of the week or they can save them up and trade them in for a bigger prize (full size candy bar or lunch with the teacher). Overall, the class that I am with is very well behaved. Their biggest problem is not completing homework. I wonder if this is because there is no one at home to help them and they do not understand it. Maybe the teacher could give them time in the morning before school or let them get started at the end of each class.
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