Week 7 October 1-5, 2012

This week was my final week of full time teaching in my 6^th grade class. I have one more week left in this placement before I return to my home PDS. I have learned so much these past few weeks of full time teaching. The biggest things I have learned is how to get through changes and be able to switch plans at any moment. Monday morning I began teaching 1^st period math and noticed right away during their individual 5 minute check that many students did not understand the lesson that was taught on Friday. Based on this assessment, I decided to reteach the entire lesson, so this put my math lessons behind a whole day for the entire week! So much for detailed lesson plans when everything can change at any moment! Luckily, my mentor teacher is so flexible and understands changes in the schedule that she agreed with me that we needed to reteach the lesson.

My mentor teacher noticed that I have taken a lot more control of the classroom over the past few weeks as well. She told me my improvements have made lessons go smoother and the students also realize that I am a teacher too and in control of the classroom. I no longer stay in my corner of the classroom; I am walking around the entire time and showing that I am in control. I am definitely being more assertive when it comes to behavior in the classroom, I ask them to raise their hands if they need something instead of blurting out loud during instruction; this is something some students are still working on! I have made big improvements with the amount of questions that are being asked during my 5^th period English class. I think now they understand that if they are going to ask me if their answer is right o wrong, they better not ask it! I am giving them clearer and more step-by-step instructions so I think this helps them not get so confused during the period. I still have a lot of little hands going up in the air during this class, but it is definitely getting better. If there are questions before we begin an activity, I make sure to tell them to listen closely because I will not answer the same question twice. I’m not sure if this is a good strategy or not, but for students whom I know ask questions just for the sake of asking them, I will ignore them and see if they put their hands down or keep them up. For the most part, they put their hands down and move on. We were spending SO much class time answering questions like, “is it ok if I have a blue pencil instead of a dark blue?” or “she didn’t dot her “i” is that ok?” that we were not having time to do anything else and that needed to change!

Mrs. Atkinson also showed me how to record the SR’s and ABC’s. This is so time consuming especially if you have students who get a lot of them! It is good for documentation though. During a conference with a student’s parents, we were able to show the improvements of number of SR’s and ABC’s based on the record we keep. The first week of school their line of reminders was really high and as the weeks went on, you could see a decrease in the height of the line. Even though this is good documentation, it still takes up so much time and you have to remember to do it everyday or you will get behind and have so much recording to do!

Another thing my mentor teacher noticed that I am doing a good job with is calling on students during lessons that are off task. Doing this gets them to see they need to pay attention during lessons. It also shows my mentor teacher and myself that I am multitasking, I am teaching a lesson and watching all the students at the same time and noticing what they are doing. This skill takes practice, but I also think it is a good classroom management strategy because I am watching the students’ behaviors and if one student is off task, I can see it and get them back on task by asking them a question they should know.

On Friday there was a sub in my classroom which meant I was teaching and doing everything all day! I have done this before so it wasn’t a big deal, it just shows me how much needs to get done and be done by the end of the day! I was the teacher the students went to if they needed anything and at times that meant I had 5 students at my side! It can be overwhelming, but it is invaluable experience that I will be glad I had once I am able to sub and have my own classroom. Being able to be the head teacher towards the end of my time here has shown me how much the students look up to me. They respect me and follow what I ask them to do. Very rarely did I have students who were acting up because there was a sub in the classroom. This makes me feel really good and shows me that I can have control of the classroom and have respect from the students. They know that I follow Mrs. Atkinson’s classroom rules, so they need to follow them even when she is not in the classroom.

Next week I will slowly start to give Mrs. Atkinson control of the classroom and teaching. I am really sad to go and will miss the students a lot. 6^th grade is definitely not what I thought it would be! Next week I will teach a few lessons and prepare to move on to my home PDS.