March 29th was our final lesson, and when Lorena and I arrived that afternoon, we were surprised to find a substitute in the teacher's place. He was a man who obviously had a lot of experience with classroom management, because I have never seen these children respond so well to classroom structure and discipline. They were so happy and so on-task and it really gave me hope for their futures in learning, I have to admit!
The frustrating thing, though, was the time constraints. We went in expecting to have an hour with the children to do a review, maybe reread the Curious George book, and then give our summative assessment, but since the sub did not even know we were coming, he gave us about 25 minutes and then sent the kids to free time activities. I did not expect this at all, and was really surprised at the situation because we did not even get to finish collecting our data! Only the more advanced children were able to finish their booklets about money, jobs, needs&wants. Because we had formative assessments throughout, I still have an idea about what the children learned, but honestly, I was not at all expecting this to arise. I guess part of teaching is that you have to learn to be flexible and roll with the punches, because there will always be unexpected surprises! (I can only imagine all the student pull-outs, assemblies, school cancellations, etc. that make covering the content challenging!)
I have to say, I'm completely relieved to be done with this unit teaching. It would be one thing if this were all I had to do, but on top of all the other assignments, exams, and lesson plans for other classes, I am so thankful to be done teaching. And, I hope I never have to teach Kindergarten again. My classroom experiences with upper elementary students are much more enjoyable for me, so hopefully this was a learning experience I can learn from and move on!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
fourth lesson: JOBS!
Okay, so this lesson was probably the best of any lesson in terms of how it went, how engaged the children were, etc. This was probably due to several factors: the main teacher was away, so it was only my teaching partner and me with the kids, in addition to the teacher's aide. They knew they had to respect us and listen to us, because we WERE the lesson that morning. Secondly, it was morning time. The kids were so mellow and actually pretty well-behaved! Thirdly, they had a great incentive: the chicks in the incubator had begun to hatch and so the children could go look at the baby chicks if they did what they were supposed to during the lesson!
The Kindergarteners were really cute and made me remember that I actually DO like children! During the Curious George book, for example, they would cheer as they saw him do silly things or make funny predictions about what might happen next.
Next, as we led the children in reciting the Firefighter Song with its motions, we were joined by some student volunteers in the classroom, probably 2nd year students. It was really kind of a cool experience for me as I was there leading the children in song or resorting to automatic teacher methods by now (quickly reacting to student behaviors, calling on students who are less engaged to get them refocused, being more stern) and realizing that just 2 years ago I was in these volunteers' shoes, just helping out and not having a clue how to manage a class. Of course, I still don't really know what I'm doing, but I had to stop and reflect for a moment that all of a sudden I felt like the teacher and that maybe, just maybe, these girls would see us teaching and think- I want to do that too!
I modified the concept attainment model in order to help children match jobs to their descriptions, which I think went over well. What I did was hold up tools that each job might use and list examples and non examples of job characteristics, and then the students would determine (based on the information) which job I was describing. Then the children would help spell out the word as I wrote it on the board. Looking back, I should have passed around the tools and let the children be a little more hands-on for each job. For example, I pulled out a whisk and spatula for the cook, and I realize now that the kids would have loved to touch these items.
Something Lorena and I started doing after each lesson as well is gathering students in a circle for a short discussion or wrap-up session. It's fascinating to me to hear their responses about what was fun, what was challenging, connections they've made, etc. It's sort of the reward at the end where I see that they actually DID learn something!!!
The Kindergarteners were really cute and made me remember that I actually DO like children! During the Curious George book, for example, they would cheer as they saw him do silly things or make funny predictions about what might happen next.
Next, as we led the children in reciting the Firefighter Song with its motions, we were joined by some student volunteers in the classroom, probably 2nd year students. It was really kind of a cool experience for me as I was there leading the children in song or resorting to automatic teacher methods by now (quickly reacting to student behaviors, calling on students who are less engaged to get them refocused, being more stern) and realizing that just 2 years ago I was in these volunteers' shoes, just helping out and not having a clue how to manage a class. Of course, I still don't really know what I'm doing, but I had to stop and reflect for a moment that all of a sudden I felt like the teacher and that maybe, just maybe, these girls would see us teaching and think- I want to do that too!
I modified the concept attainment model in order to help children match jobs to their descriptions, which I think went over well. What I did was hold up tools that each job might use and list examples and non examples of job characteristics, and then the students would determine (based on the information) which job I was describing. Then the children would help spell out the word as I wrote it on the board. Looking back, I should have passed around the tools and let the children be a little more hands-on for each job. For example, I pulled out a whisk and spatula for the cook, and I realize now that the kids would have loved to touch these items.
Something Lorena and I started doing after each lesson as well is gathering students in a circle for a short discussion or wrap-up session. It's fascinating to me to hear their responses about what was fun, what was challenging, connections they've made, etc. It's sort of the reward at the end where I see that they actually DID learn something!!!
Third Lesson
In the third lesson, we began with teaching students about needs and wants of plants so that they would have a better understanding of basic needs, before moving to needs of people. Lorena taught the guided instruction portion, using a felt board and pictures so that the Kindergarteners could clearly see what plants and people need. This also allowed students who were called on to come up to the board and move the objects to either the "wants" column or the "needs" column, according to what they understood. Using the Integrative model, students could sort and compare in their minds the differences between needs and wants.
In terms of myself as a teacher during this lesson, I'm not sure that I am getting closer to my metaphor of teaching being like a gourmet grocery store, where students experience new things and acquire a taste for learning in ways they did not expect. It's hard for me to get past the behavior management issues enough to really delight in leading these children to really explore and learn. All I could think about what getting these children to complete the worksheet so I could get out of there. I think maybe it has something to do with how burnt out I've felt from the Ed School recently... because assignment after assignment keeps piling up and I don't even want to look at a lesson plan for a long time. Gee, what a great start to teaching!
In terms of myself as a teacher during this lesson, I'm not sure that I am getting closer to my metaphor of teaching being like a gourmet grocery store, where students experience new things and acquire a taste for learning in ways they did not expect. It's hard for me to get past the behavior management issues enough to really delight in leading these children to really explore and learn. All I could think about what getting these children to complete the worksheet so I could get out of there. I think maybe it has something to do with how burnt out I've felt from the Ed School recently... because assignment after assignment keeps piling up and I don't even want to look at a lesson plan for a long time. Gee, what a great start to teaching!
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Second Lesson
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...
The second lesson did NOT go well at all. It was taught in the afternoon, which meant the kids were all riled up, and there were so many behavior issues it was like pulling teeth to have anyone pay attention. And, to top it off, Jen was coming to observe our teaching!
We began with a re-reading of Caps for Sale, just to remind the children about the basic economic concepts in the book and have them move around a little bit as they did hand motions along with the story. Then we had the children practice role-playing: the peddler vs. the customer. They could choose which caps to buy based on the amount of money they had and then we ended with a group discussion in a circle about what they enjoyed, what was difficult, and if they could choose to sell or buy anything, what would it be. I think they at least understood that part, and I thought it was interesting that the children could identify why they would sell or buy certain things, based on how much money they had or would make.
The wrap-up was a nice lead-in to the next lesson, which will be comparing needs and wants.
I am trying to have a more stern, "teacher-face" so that the children treat me like a teacher, but the problem is that they treat their own teacher with the same disrespect. There really just are not good discipline structures in place in this classroom to get children in a place where they are learning without a million distractions. A helpful discussion afterwards led me to conclude that in my own classroom, it's important to me that I establish expectations for school behavior right off the bat and address explicitly the behaviors that will promote a learning-friendly community, rather than reacting to behaviors after they occur. I also think it's important to be flexible in classroom management techniques, and change these from year to year if need be to fit the students of that particular year.
The second lesson did NOT go well at all. It was taught in the afternoon, which meant the kids were all riled up, and there were so many behavior issues it was like pulling teeth to have anyone pay attention. And, to top it off, Jen was coming to observe our teaching!
We began with a re-reading of Caps for Sale, just to remind the children about the basic economic concepts in the book and have them move around a little bit as they did hand motions along with the story. Then we had the children practice role-playing: the peddler vs. the customer. They could choose which caps to buy based on the amount of money they had and then we ended with a group discussion in a circle about what they enjoyed, what was difficult, and if they could choose to sell or buy anything, what would it be. I think they at least understood that part, and I thought it was interesting that the children could identify why they would sell or buy certain things, based on how much money they had or would make.
The wrap-up was a nice lead-in to the next lesson, which will be comparing needs and wants.
I am trying to have a more stern, "teacher-face" so that the children treat me like a teacher, but the problem is that they treat their own teacher with the same disrespect. There really just are not good discipline structures in place in this classroom to get children in a place where they are learning without a million distractions. A helpful discussion afterwards led me to conclude that in my own classroom, it's important to me that I establish expectations for school behavior right off the bat and address explicitly the behaviors that will promote a learning-friendly community, rather than reacting to behaviors after they occur. I also think it's important to be flexible in classroom management techniques, and change these from year to year if need be to fit the students of that particular year.
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