Mini Residencey

This last week was my mini residency, and I feel it went well.

On Monday, while Mr. Foster lead the class, I integrated myself into the work and did a lot of the leading. We started this week and for the next 2 1/2 weeks on seeing how different cultures celebrate the holidays. Monday was the United States.

Tuesday I took the class and things went well. At the end of the day, Mr. Foster said he was I did well and the one thing I needed to work on was my transitions. The day we studied Germany where many of our traditions for Christmas comes from. Mr. Foster was in and out of the class all day dealing with issues around the school. He has decided to go for his principal's certification, so the principal has decided to utilize him in such a capacity.

Wednesday was my best day. Things went so smoothly it was almost scary. I worked on my transitions and helped the children understand when they were to happen. Almost every child got all their work done we had planned for the day. Mr. Foster was out of the class most of the day.

Thursday was a little rougher and longer since I did not have any pullouts for the day. We still got everything done, but all the kids seemed to be in a strange mood; not just in my class either, but all around the school. My children were well enough behaved, but very whiny and we did not get through the art project since it was a bit complicated and was something Mr. Foster had planned to do, but he was not in the class hardly at all, so I had to attempt it since the kids were excited to do it. If I were to go back and do it, I would have done a different art activity for Denmark.

Friday, Mr. Foster took back over the class and I spent the morning setting up a new technology tool for projecting the images on the board while I assisted the children in doing their work. In the afternoon, I assisted Mr. Foster again, though I did take the class for a bit when he had to leave the class for a while.

All in all, it went well. I worked on what I felt was my weaknesses and discovered what I needed to change or adjust for my work in the class. I think I am close to being ready for my residency. This many residency was a good tuneup for what is to come.