Collective Book Haul

Who else misses the book hauls on this blog?

I bought some books for myself over the past few months from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, a book fair at my student teaching school, and a recent trip to my public library's book sale :) I got more books from the library book sale, but I wanted to share those teacher/children's books in another post in the near future iA ;) Links to the books with more info. will be provided. Just click on the titles. You can also click on the images to enlarge them as always.

What books have you gotten recently?

Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon #1) by Dan Brown

I was excited to read this book, but was disappointed. I only got through a fourth of the book but I already found it offensive and hard to follow with all the specific details. I don't plan on finishing this book, at least not any time soon.

 

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Heard mixed reviews about this, but I wanted to read it for myself.

 

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer

I know this is the 2nd book in the series, but I heard good things about it and had to get it!

 

The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co. #1) by Jonathan Stroud

Sounded interesting and it was a bargain deal :p

 

By the Pen by Ibrahim Jaaber

              Loved this book. Plan to do a review on this in the near future iA :)               

 

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

This sounds interesting and I have been wanting to read this for a while. Finally got it at the library sale!

Student Teaching Journals 7-9

I am going to continue sharing these journals here (since I can go back and read them).  For more info. on what these journals are and to read  previous journals, please click here http://sfraww.blogspot.com/search/label/Teaching

Week 7

I only went to the school on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, but I have learned a lot in 2 days. I taught the whole morning on Wednesday and I realized I need to work on my classroom management skills. I feel like since I am the youngest teacher (by age and looks) that works with the students, they have become too comfortable with me so they don’t take me as seriously as they should. They do respect me and we get along fine, but I have found that I have to repeat myself a lot to get all the students attention and sometimes I have to even raise my already loud voice, which I don’t want to do, especially with a sore throat.

There is always going to be at least one student who gives teachers a hard time, and there is one student who likes to push my patience. I try hard to be patient with him, but sometimes it becomes annoying and very distracting, to me and others. This boy in particular and another girl are very clever. They can tell if I am being sarcastic, when I am not impressed with the class’s behavior, what their teacher’s intentions are, etc. It is amazing how fast some of these 3rd graders are growing mentally compared to when I was there age. 

Because I am teaching a lot more now, I have to frequently freshen up my content knowledge. It has been about 12 years since I was a 3rd grader so I obviously don’t remember everything I learned. I don’t mind having to refresh my memory, but it does take some time and teaching does help. I can’t imagine what it will be like when it comes time for me to teach all day every day in the future!

The past week has been a little overwhelming. I am halfway done with student teaching and the initial excitement has honestly faded. It takes A LOT of hard work, time, dedication, and love for teaching to actually be a teacher. I hear some teachers complain about students, other teachers, what they have to teach, etc. and it is discouraging. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in 4th grade and many times I have been told to consider another career. I have stuck with the decision so far and I don’t want to regret it, but with a lot of distractions and things not going as smoothly in the classroom as I had hoped for, it is sad that I am looking forward to a break.

Week 8

My fourth observation this week didn’t go as well as my last reading lesson in my opinion. Now that I am teaching all day, I had other things on my mind and not just my observation, so I don’t think I was as focused. I also didn’t have my printed lesson close by so I couldn’t go back to see if I was sticking to my plan. As a result, I forgot a few things and did some out of order. I might be too hard on myself, but it was nice to hear good feedback from others!

I worked with a few lower performing students one day for math this past week and really enjoyed it! I was helping them subtract using 3 digit numbers and after a while, they seemed to get it. I was really proud of them and I let them know to encourage them to continue. Another student wanted to join our little group so he came over too. I didn’t think I could work well and enjoy teaching classified students because it requires A LOT of patience. However, I think I might work with these students again when it comes time to centers in math!

A higher performing student in class asked me during the week to give him some improper fractions on a number line after I had given his group fraction task cards for a review. Improper fractions are not in the standards for 3rd graders but it was a PARCC practice question. He constantly asked me during the week, so I finally came up with a few problems for him. He was really happy and enjoyed the challenge. When planning for instruction, I need to keep in mind the high performing students so I find work for them that is challenging and fun.

Due to PARCC this week and not being a proctor, I was able to observe a 2nd grade class on Thursday and a 4th grade class on Friday. The 2nd grade class was nice and roomy, had colorful anchor charts around the room, convenient storage space for backpacks, work displayed around the room, and a lot of books! While in the 2nd grade class, I was asked to cover for 2 neighboring teachers for a few minutes so I was able to see more classes. The students in all the rooms were extremely open and friendly, which was pleasant. The 4th grade class had a lot of students in the room and I didn’t like the setup of the desks. I sat at the back to get some work done, but I did watch the students and teachers during two lessons.

There are only 6 more weeks of student teaching left! Although my time is short and has been enjoyable for the most part, I am really looking forward to a nice long break before having my own classroom next September. Being with 3rd graders this semester and kindergarten for practicum, I came to the conclusion that at least for the first year or two of being a full time teacher, I prefer to work with the youngest elementary students. I feel like I could better manage them and would have little to complain about. I would eventually teach 3-6th grade students, but I plan to start with kindergarten.

Week 9

My first social studies lesson the past week went well in my opinion. Besides the fact that I couldn’t get the students to interact with my review “game”, I was pleased with my lesson overall. I ended on time and got everything on my lesson plan done. The students were a little lost in the beginning even though directions were provided verbally and written down, but that day was the first for them to get with new partners and move around in stations for the lap books. The students are not used to having social studies right after homeroom, so they were all over the place before my lesson as well. 

Taken out for personal reasons.

My relationship with most of the students has been going well as usual. However, one student has been pushing my patience for a while now and he went a little too far last week. He made a really disrespectful comment to me in front of a few students and I couldn’t let him slide like I did in the past (when he tried to trip me and made a rude comment related to my head covering). I tried to ignore his comment this time, but he kept talking to get a reaction out of me. When I did confront him as polite as I could, he was really surprised and tried to act innocent when students around him heard and told me what he said. After what I said to him, he got the message that I won’t tolerate his rude comments anymore and he needs to control his mouth. With only 24 more days left, I want them to go well like they did in the first few weeks.

My Top 10: Favorite Quotes "by" Authors

 

I love quotes, especially inspirational ones! They really serve as great reminders once in a while. These quotes (and more) are on my goodreads account, but I wanted to share my top 10 favorite ones here. Not all of these quotes are found in the author's books, but according to goodreads, these authors get "credit" for quoting them I guess. Either way, I still love them :) Let me know what you think of these and share your favorite quotes with me in the comments below!

In no particular order...

 

2. “What’s the good of being true to your religion on the outside, if you don’t change what’s on the inside, were it really counts?” ― Randa Abdel-Fattah, Does My Head Look Big In This?

 

3. “There are things you can't back down on, things you gotta take a stand on. But it's up to you to decide what them things are. You have to demand respect in this world, ain't nobody just gonna hand it to you. How you carry yourself, what you stand for--that's how you gain respect. But, little one, ain't nobody's respect worth more than your own.” ― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

   
4. “Baby, we have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here.” ― Mildred D. Taylor

 

5. "Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.”
― Brandon Mull, Fablehaven   

6. “We humans are conflicted beings. Our beliefs don't always harmonize with our instincts, and our behavior doesn't always reflect our beliefs. ... We wage war between the person we are and the person we hope to become.” ― Brandon Mull (in other words, jihad of the heart...)

 

7. “The best way to measure how much you've grown isn't by inches or the number of laps you can now run around the track, or even your grade point average-- though those things are important, to be sure. It's what you've done with your time, how you've chosen to spend your days, and whom you've touched this year. That, to me, is the greatest measure of success.”  ― R.J. Palacio, Wonder

 

8. “Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me. Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” ― Shel Silverstein

 

9. “It is not Islam that oppresses Muslim women, it is the lack of knowledge or the lack of application of that knowledge that oppresses.” ― Na'ima B. Robert, From My Sisters' Lips

 

10. “Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing.” ― Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

Student Teaching Journals 4-6

 

For more info. on what these journals are and to read journals 1-3, please click here http://sfraww.blogspot.com/2015/02/student-teaching-journals-1-3.html

Journal 4

I am with a small group of students this semester for student teaching. There are only 16 students in this 3rd grade class! At first I was surprised that there were less than 20 students in one class, but it is an inclusion class. This means that special needs students are placed in a similar environment and work alongside non disabled peers. Thus, having less students in a class such as this one makes sense and it is better for the students that need more attention. There are 4 students who are specifically under the supervision and guidance of the special education teacher in this room. One if not two more students in this class have issues with focusing and work better in my opinion if they have an adult next to them.

With only 16 students, the majority are male. There are 11 boys and 5 girls in this class. I don’t mind the difference in numbers, but I notice it does have an effect on the students. If the girls want to work together on an assignment or even make friends with other girls in class, they don’t have many to choose from. The boys on the other hand are chatty and have plenty of options of who to hang out with or not. Because the boys can get overly excited and talkative, my CT tried her best to separate the boy’s seats as much as she could. Also, since there are less girls, one girl in particular seems to be a favorite amongst the boys. She is really smart and must be the most “attractive” in the eyes of a number of boys. They are still young, but growing up fast in my opinion.

Of the 16 students, about 11 are 9 and 5 are 8 years old. Just by looking at them, one probably can’t tell which student is which age and the “smart ones” aren’t typically the older ones. As for the cultures and languages of these students, this class is diverse. There are Peruvians, Puerto-Ricans, Dominicans, Italian, Jamaicans, African-Americans, and mixed race students. At least half if not more speak Spanish at home, but none of the students have serious issues with speaking English.

This class has a range of abilities. I have been able to work with the 4 special students in this class. One of the boys doesn’t do well when it comes to reading and writing. He asks me to read words for him and doesn’t try if he is asked to do something he doesn’t know. I have asked him a few times to either read or answer a question and he shrugs his shoulders when he doesn’t know or says “no” even after I tell him to try. I don’t want to discourage him or push him further away, so I help him to read and spell. Another girl really has trouble understanding and working. She has great manners, but performs below grade level. She needs a lot of help and I try to assist her along with the other 15 students in the room, but I feel she needs someone constantly by her side. There are at least 4 higher performing students in my CT’s room. One boy asks for more difficult work, which is provided at times, because he feels like he already knows what his peers are currently learning and says it is easy. The other 3 students answer a lot of questions that are asked to the class, showing their understanding of the material and their good listening skills.

I’ve noticed that a lot of worksheets are used and group work is essential in this classroom. For group work, the students are placed with peers that are at the same level as them. This way, the higher students aren’t held back and the lower students aren’t made to feel inferior. Since a lot of worksheets are used, which is easier, the students don’t get many chances to do hands on learning in my opinion. I think they would like the latter better and more frequently, but of course it takes a lot of time to plan lessons and having too many hands on tasks could become too much to handle for teachers. For my lessons, I like to include games which I think students really like. Of course these are related to what they are learning. Even if I can’t have the students play games, I like to have them come up and show the class their understanding and ask students to explain themselves.

I have been able to teach more this past week, but of course I have a lot more to learn and improve on. I feel like since I am the newer, younger teacher in the room, the students try to take advantage of me being nice. I don’t mind helping them, but a lot of them call me for help and it gets to be too much sometimes. One boy in particular seems to be my “shadow”. If he can’t physically follow me, I’ve noticed he watches me around the room. He constantly wants my attention and help even for simple tasks. I don’t feel this is inappropriate behavior, but I think I should distance myself from him so he doesn’t become too dependent on me.

Week 5

In 5 weeks, the school has been closed 3 days due to the weather and there has been 1 early dismissal and 1 delayed opening. I feel like we are getting used to 3 day weekends, especially the students, who have been less focused the past 2 weeks. I wouldn’t mind a longer weekend, but it does affect my observation days. Like for this past observation on February 11th I didn’t get a chance to discuss my lesson in person with my CT until the day before my observation. I know I have to submit my lesson plans 48 hours in advance, but with school closings, it can be a challenge to plan out a lesson and get materials ready without prior approval from my CT. My CT has been understanding and I plan to give in the rest of my lesson plans on time.

 

On the subject of my observations, I felt like my 2nd one was okay. After my lesson, I realized I need to work on time management. More practicing teaching and writing lessons will help, but also if I don’t have to include so many different elements into my lessons. I think the 5Es are a lot to include in a 45 minute lesson and I don’t feel like I spend enough time on the last few sections. For my second math lesson on fractions, I felt like I rushed through the evaluation because I didn’t have enough time. However, I think the 3 games went well and the students seemed to enjoy it. Thanks to the setting I am in for student teaching, I can take advantage (in a good way) of having a lot of adults in the room. This helps for group work and also for helping as many students individually as possible.

 

My CT was out Wednesday and Thursday because of strep throat so I had a chance to run the class the whole day basically, with the help of substitutes and SPED teacher of course. Instructing the students most of day was definitely a challenge. Because there were no plans, the SPED teacher and I had to work with what we had. I looked up worksheets for the students on what they were currently learning, for example verb tenses. My CT had mentioned to me the week before that she wanted me to start taking over reading and if I could teach a lesson where the students had to interview a classmate. So, I wrote up a list of questions, put students into pairs, and had them ask these questions. We did this the first day and a little more on Thursday. Then I had them start writing a biography after we brainstormed some strong beginnings. The website, teacherpayteachers.com has become one of my favorite places to find ideas and materials.

 

Something I wanted to do while I had the chance was to let the students clean out their desks. I am glad I gave them time on Thursday to do so and according to some students, because they had more organized desks afterwards, they were better able to find what they needed when they needed it. This may be minor, but I think students should be given time in the middle of the year to clean and organize their desk and lockers. This way, their spaces won’t look like a hurricane went through it and they can easily find what they need and fit more.

Journal 6

 

During this past week of student teaching, I have been taking over a little bit more. I have given the students their spelling test for the 2nd time as well as taking over reading. I helped introduce cause and effect by defining what they are, giving examples, writing on an anchor chart, doing a shared reading, working with students individually and in their groups, etc. I have also made a handout on the topic I think the students could benefit from, but I haven’t had the chance to give it to them yet. Hopefully, I can give it to them this week. I have realized that it is not so difficult and actually fun to come up with one’s own handout/ worksheets. Although teacherspayteachers.com has become my favorite site recently, if I can’t find exactly what I am looking for, I can make up my own handout to introduce a topic and for the students to refer back to.

 

Since I do a lot of math with the students, I have been looking for fun ways to teach them. I know the students like games, even if they are educational, so I have found fraction games I think they would like and can still learn from. Again, teacherspayteachers.com has been a really good source for this, and I think I will eventually share some of my work on the site so others can use them as well! The site has a lot of great materials, many of which are free. I have found games that I think work well with the 3 leveled groups. I try to keep the students who need more attention in mind when looking for teaching materials, but also the higher performing students because I want them to learn something new as well.

 

When planning for instruction, I find that it helpful to write an outline rather than in boxes. I write what I want to say, questions I will ask, what I want the students to do, etc. Just like any lesson plan template, I include what I think is necessary, but without the rule that it has to be a certain amount of pages. I think having a plan in mind and written on paper is a good idea. Of course being flexible is a must for a teacher.

 

My first reading lesson for my 3rd observation went well in my opinion. Although there aren’t a lot of students in the class to begin with and even less that day, I still felt everything was fine. The students participated well and we accomplished what I wanted. It seemed like after a week of doing cause and effect, they are finally getting a hand on the subject. Time went by fast as it always does when one teaches, but I think I managed my time well. When working with my group of three, Tachanta’s behavior was a little discouraging. I thought she was mad at me for some reason so when I asked her later during gym, I was relieved to hear her say that she wasn’t mad, just tired. Working with students who put up barriers isn’t fun work, but they have to be brought back in eventually somehow.

TO BE CONTINUED...