Welcoming Board

We put together a couple of boards for our class. I have been trying to figure out how to post them since the hall is not big enough. Mr. Foster is very big on math so one of the boards is focused towards math. On that board we had the children make shields with a self portrait in the middle, who they see themselves in school, with their family, friends and something they like to do or are good at.

The other board is a class board with another self portrait of themselves and an anagram using their name that they created.

August 26

Today went well. We began our social studies unit in which we are doing geography. Mr. Foster has encouraged me to take charge of this study which I have done. I lead the class for the unit and felt that I did a good job and kept up the pace. Mr. Foster sat in the back of the class and took some of the children that have problems staying on task to help them do better.

I don't really think I have anything negative to say about today. I do know that I need to work on my voice because after speaking none stop for over an hour, my throat was dry and my voice strained. I need to have water on hand so I can take a sip between instruction.

August 25

Today the little girl that has been giving us problems had a good day! It is amazing how much smoother the day went by! I am not entirely sure what made the change in her; we did move the children around at the desks to better accommodate some of the personalities and I also tried to set goals to make her more positive by giving her smaller goals and then praise as she accomplished them.

There are some issues to be dealt with when it comes to children getting up from their seats to get a drink or go to the restroom. I understand the need to control as much distraction and getting the children to get the work done, but we ended up with a boy who peed his pants.

I feel that the expectation of bathroom breaks needs to be made more clear. For example, stop and go to the bathroom on the way to or from recess. With this set time mid way through the day, I think it will help with bathroom and class disruptions.

August 23

This day went faster. We moved along with the full lineup of subjects. We did not get everything done as the children were not fully up to speed with the routine. I took a couple of centers during language arts working on our focus skills for the week doing dividing words, compound words/syllables.

There is one child that is frustrating me. She is a constant distraction to the other children. Mr. Foster is going to look into her IEP from her former school.

I need to focus on her positives and let her be less of a distraction to myself when I am leading and teaching.

August 20- aka the end of week one

Today was the best day all week...and not just because it was Friday. I felt that the day went smoother, the routines and transitions were better, and we had our first special, P.E., which gave us a 45 minute reprieve. Mr. Foster had me take over and correct the morning worksheet with the children. This pushed me up in front of the class and helped move me out of the role of someone there to help to someone in charge. Mr. Foster actually had to leave the class to deal with something which honestly helped take the jitters out of getting up front. When he returned he let me continue to lead the worksheet correction and only jumped in to add helpful comments.
The children were a little surprised when I started asking, "You are doing this?", but once I began they fell right in and were very interactive. That would be the one thing I would like to change, I felt I did not interact quite as personable as I would have liked and it came off a bit stiff.

In the afternoon, after lunch, Mr. Foster was needed in the office to assist with one of the machines and I again took control of the class. This transition was seamless and none of the kids even looked twice. The work was a continuation of the work we were doing right before lunch and they seemed amiable to do it. I assisted with the work and managed the classroom which I felt went very well for the entire time. I was able to redirect the children causing issues and kept the children on task. When Mr. Foster came back in, we both continued the work and there did not seem to be any lag or jump in the work.

I felt that the change of the children's attitude towards me started when Mr. Foster had me take the children down to P.E. first thing in the morning. I am not sure if Mr. Foster really had to "leave" in the morning or not, but I am glad that he helped push me into the front of the room. I am not 100% ready to go, but that gave me a big boost of confidence.

Next week will be a new set of tests and a chance, should I take it, to step out even farther. My goal is to be leading a subject after the labor day break.

August 19

Today went pretty well. I felt that the transitions went much smoother today. The kids seemed to do much better today as well and the behaviors seemed to be more at ease.

We got a new little girl today that is a bit of a handful as she seems to be a bit socially lacking. I felt today that I spent more time coralling her and making sure she did not disrupt the class. I felt that I did not interact with the class as much as the first day. Mr. Foster noticed this as well and said that I did a good job dealing with her.

I think that tomorrow as we put in place the behavior chart and become more strict with how we deal with them and some of the issues will go away which will allow me to become more involved in class. I also need to walk away from the problem children sometimes and let them be a problem as long as they are not being overly disruptive.

I had an issue with the personal shield that the children did for themselves. The four parts were "Home, Family, School and Community" Many of the children, especially the ESL children had a difficult time with concept of "Community". I think if I did this again I would use "Friend" instead.

August 18th aka First Day

Well, today was the first day of school and I survived. I did not lose any children, lose my head nor send any children home crying.

I felt that today was good. The pace went along fairly quickly and we seemed to barely get through one topic when we were on to the next. Mr. Foster kept good control of the class and managed the many personalities so well. I definitely learned a lot today in that regards.

I need to put forth more confidence in my own abilities and step in and do more. Mr. Foster is gently pushing me forward and demonstrates confidence in me that I do not have for myself yet.

I am going to start working on getting more involved and learning the facility and layout even more so that I can do a better job of supporting Mr. Foster and gaining the confidence to do more.

Tomorrow is another day, hopefully better than today, but not as good as the next.

August 17th part deux

Well, the open house is done. In the hour and a half we were able to meet seven children from our class. This should prove to be an interesting year, not in a bad way.

Now off to iron my shirt and lay out my clothes for tomorrow, my first day as an intern.

August 17

Well, today was a bit of a rush as we scrambled to get the last few things around for the start of class tomorrow. I think we are about ready, there are a few small things to finish up, but I finished setting up the kids desks and copying enough papers to take out a small corner of the rain forest.

Home now, taking a breather, then off to change clothes and back to the school for the back to school bar bq.

August 16

Another long day of training and very little done in the classroom. I have to admit that all the information is a bit overwhelming. I am taking it in stride though and not letting too much get to me and just follow along and shadow and pick up what I need for now. Today we spent a lot of time go over kids material pertaining to the aptitude. One more day of training and class prep and then the real work begins. Tomorrow is also the School Barbq and will be the first time I get to meet some of the children from my new class.

August 11th and 12th

Well, I have begun my internship for teaching and I am doing my internship at Muldoon Elementary in third grade with Mr. Foster.

The eleventh was a voluntary day for the teachers to have a staff meeting with their new principal Mr. Grant. The day was interesting as I watched the teachers interact in the activities. I saw in many cases that there were too many leaders and not enough leadership. Different groups were willing to listen to one or two people, who were all saying the same thing, but nothing was getting done and there was confusion.

The meeting overall I felt was productive and people seemed to get something out of it.

Today was a little more active. Mr. Foster and I spent most of the day setting up the classroom, going over the layout and setting up the lesson plans. We already have most of the first full week taken care of except for the GLAs and setting up the social studies/science lessons.

Mr. Foster has so much together and much of the work comes naturally to him as he has had many years setting up his methods. I am pleased that he is giving me so much of his time and ideas to get me started of quickly with a foundation to work on. His lesson plans are fairly straight forward and he has been showing me what they have done in the past, how he is adapting it for this year, and then guiding me to select some activities and materials for the lessons.

Tomorrow we finish the classroom and the first two weeks of the lesson plans; hopefully. We also have a training class and a team meeting for grade 3.

Whew!