This final semester at uni. I am doing student teaching. Similar to my practicum journals (which you can read about here), for my major, I was assigned to a school and class to go to 5 days a week (from morning till afternoon) to work with the students and teacher(s). Throughout this experience, I am required to write weekly journals to submit to my supervisor. These journals have to include specific info. Since I shared my practicum journals here, I decided to continue to share my experience teaching. I hope you find this interesting! Below are my first 3 journals.
Week 1
(School name was removed for privacy) is an urban school in (location removed). It is the only public school in the small town and serves 996 students from preschool to 8th grade. There are three groups within the school: Early Learning for preschool and kindergarten, Elementary for grades 1-5, and Middle School for grades 6-8. There are 5 sections for each grade level with an average class size of 21 students. About 100 certified teachers as well as 35 support staff are available to help educate the students at this school.
A breakfast program and Aftercare program are offered here. The latter runs from the end of the school day until 6 p.m and is available to parents for a monthly fee. In addition, about 23 clubs and activities are offered throughout the year for students of all ages. There are also about 150 computers and 50 Promethean boards in the school. Thanks to all the programs, activities, and resources, students, parents, and educators have a lot to do and offer the children of the school. For an educator and future teacher like myself, a school that has a lot going on is interesting to be a part of, will help build experience and with networking, and will help in instructing students during and after class.
The neighborhood around the school is nice and quiet. According to census.gov for the year 2010, 91.5% of the town’s population was white, followed by 7.5% Hispanic/ Latino, Asian 3.8%, Black/ African American 1.8%, etc. The school population is diverse, with over 50% of the students speaking a range of 26 different languages at home. This could be a challenge for educators. If students are not provided with the support they need in school and at home, this could affect them greatly. From low self-esteem, miscommunication, not understanding learning materials due to language barriers, etc. could all result in lower student performance. However, diversity is a plus because it does expose both students and staff to many different people, languages, cultures, and religions which can only help a person to appreciate and learn from the people around them.
For the years 2009-2013, the area had 93.1% high school graduates or higher (percent of persons age 25+) and 43.9% had a Bachelor's degree or higher (percent of persons age 25+). Finally, there was a median household income of $96,602 and 1.9% of people were below the poverty level in 2009-2013. The fact that many people in proximity have at least a high school degree and almost half the population having a bachelor’s degree or higher is impressive. Compared to other urban areas, these numbers seem high. Students who have well educated adults in their lives, especially at home, might be more likely to take education seriously and have higher standards of living. For educators working with the majority of these well off children, behavior shouldn’t be a major issue. The level of educational performance shouldn’t be really low either if children are coming from homes that have the means to provide high quality education or learning materials.
Week 2
Two weeks of student teaching has gone by really fast! For practicum, I was with kindergarten students and I loved working with the younger students. Before I actually started student teaching, I was a bit nervous thinking about how older students would react to me being in their classroom. Thank God, there was nothing to worry about. Within a day or two, I felt comfortable and I am glad the students have taken my presence well. I honestly look forward to going to the school every day! As a student and future teacher, I personally feel that if the students are a pleasure to work with, going to school every day to work won’t feel like a chore, but can be an exciting part of my day.
One good feature about the school is that a parking lot for teachers and staff is available. This takes one less stress off of teachers and staff so they don’t have to spend a lot of time and compete for parking spots with parents and people in the neighborhood. In addition, tickets from street cleaning and snow taking up space on narrow streets shouldn’t be a major concern. Two of the teachers in my room have been nice enough to give me a tour of the school in my first week and meet with others. I am getting more familiar with the big building which is useful for finding my way around.
I have been trying to get involved in the classroom as much as possible from day one. I am not one to just sit for too long, so I have spent most of my time walking around to help, talk, and see the students work and interact. My cooperating teacher (CT) handed over the responsibility to me of going over the mini daily oral language (DOL) lesson with the students since Thursday in week 1. I have also volunteered to check off the students agendas every day, something I noticed the teachers do in my room.
This past week, I have also started to go and pick the students up in the morning from the lunch room (since it is cold outside). I prefer to stay with the students during their specials, so I have seen them in gym, art, library, etc. I know the teachers don’t have to and usually have a prep, but I stay because I like to see the students during different times and subjects throughout the day. For example, I have seen one student who is usually quiet and lower performing in other subjects really come alive during gym. Likewise, I have found out what some student’s favorite subjects are and how they perform in the different areas. Being able to see the third graders in my room throughout most of the day, I am starting to get a better idea of their personalities, abilities, strengths, and areas for improvements. I feel teachers sitting in once in a while during their student’s other subjects will give them a different view of what their students are like.
I use to think I wasn’t the best person to work with students with “disabilities”. Being with such students who have some sort of difficulty learning or performing during practicum and again this semester made me think twice about this. I know I have more patience with younger children and this comes in useful when working with students who aren’t as quick. I still feel these students can learn, especially if they are given the extra bit of help and attention. I have been working with some of these 3rd graders and I came to the realization that it isn’t as hard as I thought. Although I still don’t feel like I am the best person to help them individually because I don’t have all the tools or knowledge for teaching students with disabilities (TSD), I feel like I have made a little bit of difference in their learning. If I can give them the confidence that they are as smart as their classmates and can do the work, then I know I have been able to help.
Week 3
This semester was my chance to finally see inside the school. I live around the area and I’ve passed the building the past few years on my way to uni. When I walked into “my new classroom”, I immediately noticed what looked like a smart board in the room. I later found out it is a Promethean board. I am a little familiar with smart boards (from practicum), and now I am learning how to use a similar technology to teach. The Promethean board is used the whole day in my class. Even when it is not directly being used, the objective is always typed on the board.
I was surprised that there are no computers for the students to use in the classroom. It isn’t a big issue since the school does have a computer room, but I think it would be more convenient to have a few computers in the classroom as well. A printer is in the room and it is used by all the 3rd grade teachers. The fact that at least the teachers have a computer in their room and in my CT’s case, the printer too, it is easy for them to print assignments and other documents without having to run to the computer or teacher’s room three floors down. A lot of time (and energy) is saved this way!
A 360 view when walking in the room: a teacher's desk is to the right, a U table is directly to the left and to the left of that is my CT's desk. In front of her desk is a blue round table where I sit. Between my table and a matching blue table on the other side close to where another teacher in charge of a student sits, the students sit in groups or individually at their desks. In front of all the desks is a rug where the students can sit in front of the Promethean board. To the left of the board are bookshelves with a lot of fiction books. Nonfiction books are usually kept in baskets on the floor. Beside these shelves to the left is the shortcut door. On the other side of the board are the printer, TV, and the first teacher's desk again.
Something different in my CT’s classroom is the door in between leading to another 3rd grade class and also a skylight in the back of the room where I keep my belongings. The “back door” serves as a shortcut for any teacher and teachers/students are always coming in the room to pick up papers from the printer for their class. The skylight adds a natural light to the room even when the lights are turned off and a view of the weather can be seen a bit from inside.
The morning routines are simple and I have been given them by my CT. The students get picked up at 8 am from either outside or the cafeteria (if the weather isn’t good). They go to their lockers and then come in to their room to start writing their homework in their agendas. I check off that their homework is all written. At this time, the TV is used. There is a TV in the room attached to the wall above the printer. On the TV, the pledge of allegiance is written and said by all and then a patriotic song is played. Everyone has to be standing during both. After the song, the announcements are made by students in the school. The students go back to writing their homework or start doing their daily oral language assignment. After 10-15 minutes, I go over the DOL with the students. By now it is around 9 am and my CT starts the day’s reading lesson.
There are 3 groups of desks in the classroom with at least 3-4 students sitting together. A few students sit individually away from their groups. Since there are a lot of boys in this class (11) and they all like to talk, my CT had to separate a few from their groups. The 5 female students in the room are seated throughout the 3 groups, so at least 1 girl is placed in each group. For these seating arrangements, at least 1 if not 2 high performing students are placed in each group. This could be to help their classmates or so all the “smart” students aren’t all together making the others feel bad. There are 3 leveled groups for math; an above level, on level, and approaching level group, and 4 groups for reading; A, B, C, and D. For math, the 3 groups get to work with an adult. For reading, it is almost the same, but one group gets to work individually. I go around helping the students during these times.
One thing I really like is that my class has a lot of different specials, like art, music, computers, library, gym, Spanish, and dear (drop everything and read) time. Because they have so many subjects, they can never really be bored and have the chance to learn a lot more then students in other districts. I think it is great that the school can provide their students with so much! Students have the opportunity to learn a different language, play instruments, have easy access to a lot of books at the school library, etc. This will give them an advantage later in life because they experienced a lot more than maybe others.
The classroom is managed well by the teachers. The students can get loud and excited as usual, but they are brought back as a class with either clapping or a louder than normal comment to quiet down. The students are all treated equally in my opinion. None of them are made to feel inferior by adults and I personally have made an effort to know the students better. I stay and talk with the students a lot (which is probably why they seem to like me). A lot of them (of not all) seem to be comfortable around me and I am really glad about that. If students are relaxed around their teachers, I think they are more open to learning from them and listening to them. Teachers will enjoy their work and students will enjoy the company and their many hours spent in school!
My 1st observation was this past week on Friday January 30th. Although I felt more calm then I did last semester about being observed with so many adults in the room and teaching, I was still a little nervous in the beginning of my lesson. This was the first time I was told what I have to write my lesson on (fractions) so that was a little challenging because I had to stick to it. I also never did station work for an observation so I didn’t know what to expect from that. Time went really fast surprisingly and everything went fine. I did catch myself say “you guys” a few times out of habit, but I tried to stop myself. Hopefully, I will be teaching a lot more before my next observation so I will get more chances to practice being in front of the class and teaching them.
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