Things were going very well today until they threw in an assembly that I did not know about (and should have if I had checked the updated calendar.) This assembly was the kick-off for the PTA fundraiser to sell cookie dough. Kids enjoyed it, however it screwed up my Writing & Science lesson. After two days I really like my new schedule. I need to leave ILS a little sooner and not stay as long. we are in there only for 50 minutes an not the 60 I have taken the past two days. Staying this late causes me not to get to cursive writing drills. This is not bad since I have been reading up on how to be a more effective cursive writing teaching and I was going to do it wrong.
I had a visit after school today with one of my student's parents. It was a very civil visit and the parents came away feeling good about what I was doing in the classroom. My contact was totally different than one my other two teachers experienced. They were yelled at by a mom who accused them of not being good enough to teach children.The mom refused to go talk to the principal but stated that she was keeping her eye on the two teachers.
I stayed at school until 8 p.m. again tonight and got a lot of work done. I am trying to get the rest of my week done by Wednesday night because I have a Scout meeting on Thursday night as well as a doctor appointment that day. I should have everything done and will only have a few things to get ready on Friday for next week. I have completed my earthquake PPP. It looks real nice.
My wife brought back a lot of stuff from Hawaii to share with my students, to include: coral, lava, macadamia nuts, necklaces, a lai, a coconut, and a pineapple. My students should enjoy seeing these things.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Day 25
For a Monday, things went well today. I like my new schedule and think it will be a great improvement. I had to make a small tweak on my ILS reading class. I did not set it up long enough. It should have been 20 minutes, not 15 minutes. This change should keep my student busy for a little longer.
I received the proverbial summons to the Principals office today. Over the intercom I heard, "Mr. J, Mr. B would like to see you in his office as soon as you are available." Available, when the principal summons, I go. I worried all of the way down to the office wondering what I had done wrong. I have been pretty good since starting at Sunset ES. He told me that there was a government mandated letter that goes out in all title one schools for teachers who have not taught for at least three years in public education. What a relief. I read the letter and it sounds pretty good. It says I am doing a good job and is an important member of the teaching team. Boiler plate, but still nice to read. It also made a comment about "her" working on his license renewal in 2010. "Her!"
In science we completed the long awaited volcano project. It went well once I finally got the PowerPoint projector on. Additionally, some of my students became a little unruly and I was not happy with them. We had a little discussion on appropriate behavior. I will see if it helped.
Tonight I finally got out of school around 8 pm. So much for 6:30. It took me some time to get my book review assignment together. I believe I have it right. Staying late was worth the effort.
Not much more for now. I only had one student melt-down today and I think I solved it by giving the student an alternative writing assignment. She is into fantasy and I told her she could write an earth quake story in a fantasy setting. Time will tell if this approach works.
I received the proverbial summons to the Principals office today. Over the intercom I heard, "Mr. J, Mr. B would like to see you in his office as soon as you are available." Available, when the principal summons, I go. I worried all of the way down to the office wondering what I had done wrong. I have been pretty good since starting at Sunset ES. He told me that there was a government mandated letter that goes out in all title one schools for teachers who have not taught for at least three years in public education. What a relief. I read the letter and it sounds pretty good. It says I am doing a good job and is an important member of the teaching team. Boiler plate, but still nice to read. It also made a comment about "her" working on his license renewal in 2010. "Her!"
In science we completed the long awaited volcano project. It went well once I finally got the PowerPoint projector on. Additionally, some of my students became a little unruly and I was not happy with them. We had a little discussion on appropriate behavior. I will see if it helped.
Tonight I finally got out of school around 8 pm. So much for 6:30. It took me some time to get my book review assignment together. I believe I have it right. Staying late was worth the effort.
Not much more for now. I only had one student melt-down today and I think I solved it by giving the student an alternative writing assignment. She is into fantasy and I told her she could write an earth quake story in a fantasy setting. Time will tell if this approach works.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Day 24
I love my students; however I look forward to Fridays. Students leave at 1:25 and we spend the next couple of hours in meetings and training. When those are over then I can focus on the next weeks lessons. By 6 pm on Friday I was ready for Monday and almost ready for Tuesday. This was over an hour earlier than any previous Friday I have stayed late. On a normal day my students leave at 3:25. I spend the first few minutes wrapping up the days activities. I try to get this done by 4 pm. At 4 pm I spend an hour or so catching up on projects that I have delayed, that needs to get done. Finally, around 5 pm I put the touches on the next days activities. This usually takes an hour and a half. My goal is to leave each night by 6:30 p.m.
On Fridays we do spelling tests, followed by the pre-test on the next weeks spelling words. If a student can get 19 out of 20 or higher on the pre-test, that student does not have to complete the next weeks spelling. The first week I had one student that passed the spelling test and this week there were three. This is progress. Next we normally take a math/language art/science or social studies test. However, because we did not complete a unit in any subject this week, my students worked on their LA. We completed our Reading Tutor unit and gave Fluency tests to the students in our two lower reading groups. Finally, we completed the morning by building a salt dough volcano and letting the students complete their volcano art project. The lesson learned from this was I need to insure that the art projects I choose are a little less complicated. many students had a difficult time making their volcano's, even though I had made one in advance as a model.
After classes I met with a representative from DSD and was trained on the use of our Grade Book program. I had picked up a lot of the information from the other fifth grade teachers. It was a good review. I next met with the leader of our Reading Tutors. We review the past two weeks and mapped out plans for the next few. It was good to get a validation that what we were doing was good. My reading tutors like my classroom and students.
One interest of note this week, my classes' new president and vice president started helping out. It has been good to see her in action. She asked to meet with me to see how we could make the class more fun. She wanted to decorate the class with some things she and other students had made and she wanted to be able to let the class play games once in a while when we had a little extra time. Her ideas were great and we spent about 15 minutes playing Heads-UP-Seven-Up. Students had fun and it was a fitting way to end a week.
There are some frustrations I have that still bother me. My students do not write very well and they have very poor penmanship. I will start cursive writing practice next week and hope to improve their penmanship. The real problem they have is in grammar and spelling. They slop through projects and do not put enough effort in their work. Most do not have any real pride in their work. I have started using rubrics to see if I can provide them with more clear expectations.
The other frustration I have is as a team we still are not very close. Sharing of "good" ideas is not one of our strong suits. One teacher talked the principal out of MP3 players so she could use them with her class. There was no discussion about making them available for the other fifth grade teachers to use in their class. It was like it was my idea and I am going to use it to show that I am better than the rest of you. I say this even though she has been very good at helping me when I need help. She is the experienced teacher in our grade level and I expected that she would be more willing to assist with good ideas. When I have an idea I at least provide a copy of my idea to the others. Because of my lack of experience, my good ideas are few and far between. At times I am just glad to get through the day.
Another area of frustration I have is figuring out how to relate to my students and teach them at the level that meets their learning styles. I try to use a good mixture of directed instruction, guide instruction, and independent activities. I do a pretty good job with my middle level students, I am working hard to reach my lower level learners. The area I am weakest in is meeting the needs of my gifted or higher level learners.
All-in-all this has not been a bad week.
On Fridays we do spelling tests, followed by the pre-test on the next weeks spelling words. If a student can get 19 out of 20 or higher on the pre-test, that student does not have to complete the next weeks spelling. The first week I had one student that passed the spelling test and this week there were three. This is progress. Next we normally take a math/language art/science or social studies test. However, because we did not complete a unit in any subject this week, my students worked on their LA. We completed our Reading Tutor unit and gave Fluency tests to the students in our two lower reading groups. Finally, we completed the morning by building a salt dough volcano and letting the students complete their volcano art project. The lesson learned from this was I need to insure that the art projects I choose are a little less complicated. many students had a difficult time making their volcano's, even though I had made one in advance as a model.
After classes I met with a representative from DSD and was trained on the use of our Grade Book program. I had picked up a lot of the information from the other fifth grade teachers. It was a good review. I next met with the leader of our Reading Tutors. We review the past two weeks and mapped out plans for the next few. It was good to get a validation that what we were doing was good. My reading tutors like my classroom and students.
One interest of note this week, my classes' new president and vice president started helping out. It has been good to see her in action. She asked to meet with me to see how we could make the class more fun. She wanted to decorate the class with some things she and other students had made and she wanted to be able to let the class play games once in a while when we had a little extra time. Her ideas were great and we spent about 15 minutes playing Heads-UP-Seven-Up. Students had fun and it was a fitting way to end a week.
There are some frustrations I have that still bother me. My students do not write very well and they have very poor penmanship. I will start cursive writing practice next week and hope to improve their penmanship. The real problem they have is in grammar and spelling. They slop through projects and do not put enough effort in their work. Most do not have any real pride in their work. I have started using rubrics to see if I can provide them with more clear expectations.
The other frustration I have is as a team we still are not very close. Sharing of "good" ideas is not one of our strong suits. One teacher talked the principal out of MP3 players so she could use them with her class. There was no discussion about making them available for the other fifth grade teachers to use in their class. It was like it was my idea and I am going to use it to show that I am better than the rest of you. I say this even though she has been very good at helping me when I need help. She is the experienced teacher in our grade level and I expected that she would be more willing to assist with good ideas. When I have an idea I at least provide a copy of my idea to the others. Because of my lack of experience, my good ideas are few and far between. At times I am just glad to get through the day.
Another area of frustration I have is figuring out how to relate to my students and teach them at the level that meets their learning styles. I try to use a good mixture of directed instruction, guide instruction, and independent activities. I do a pretty good job with my middle level students, I am working hard to reach my lower level learners. The area I am weakest in is meeting the needs of my gifted or higher level learners.
All-in-all this has not been a bad week.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Day 23
Yesterday was another fine day. There was not a single drama event all day. I finally finished IOWA testing (still have three students who need parts of the test) for the majority of the class. I guess the only real excitement for the day was our unannounced assembly that ended up being a ride in the UHP bumping car - seat belt useage. This week is Green Ribbon (safety awareness) week.
I had the opportunity to meet with one of my students, the speech therapist, and her mom to graduate the student from special education. It was a good moment.
I handed out today's volcano art project so students could get a heads up on it. In the 60 minutes we have available, most students would not get it done. I was smart enough to give them a rubric to help them choose the type of grade they want to get on the project.
I also handed back a previous writing assignment on earth quakes and had them redo it. I provided them with a rubric this time (I should have done it before.) Hopefully, I will see some improvement.
On a side note, I was able to leave last night at 5 pm. I try to leave most Thursdays at this time to do things, go to Scout meetings, etc. Since Fridays are a short teaching day, I normally have my Fridays planned by Thursday and can leave early (at least early for me.) I am getting better on getting days in the future planned also. I almost have my Monday lesson plans done also.
I had the opportunity to meet with one of my students, the speech therapist, and her mom to graduate the student from special education. It was a good moment.
I handed out today's volcano art project so students could get a heads up on it. In the 60 minutes we have available, most students would not get it done. I was smart enough to give them a rubric to help them choose the type of grade they want to get on the project.
I also handed back a previous writing assignment on earth quakes and had them redo it. I provided them with a rubric this time (I should have done it before.) Hopefully, I will see some improvement.
On a side note, I was able to leave last night at 5 pm. I try to leave most Thursdays at this time to do things, go to Scout meetings, etc. Since Fridays are a short teaching day, I normally have my Fridays planned by Thursday and can leave early (at least early for me.) I am getting better on getting days in the future planned also. I almost have my Monday lesson plans done also.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Day 22
I have made it through another day and did it in good fashion. However, the student drama was a little over the top. One of my students started crying because a diorama she built and lent another student use was destroyed when it was accidentally stepped on. She claims she only lent it to the student and he says she gave it to him. I talked to all and apologies were made and all is well for now.
My next dramatic moment came in the middle of the IOWA test I was administered and I did not get to the bottom of the problem. I sent the cryer (offended party) to see the counselor and I did not get around to talking to the offender and the offended. This will be a challenge for tomorrow.
I met with the vice-principal to discuss a proposal for my class schedule. I had too many broken up chunks of time and was not able to spend the time I needed on math. She liked my proposal and I will start it next week. I received authorization to only hold around two hours of science/social studies per week. I was able to schedule an ILS reading period and cursive writing time. It was a trade off and I hope the right decision.
Faculty meeting went well today. A little too much discussion and not enough interaction between the teachers & management. We received some good news and cannot reveal it until Friday.
I brought hard boiled eggs into reading today as an object lesson to show how a hard boiled egg is similar to the earth. I used it to show the parts of a volcano. It went well and my students enjoyed eating the egg.
I copied all of the past two weeks missed assignments and attached them to the parents letter so students could get them done for credit. I hope it works.
I left work after a 12 hour day. I hope somewhere along the line the days get shorter.
My next dramatic moment came in the middle of the IOWA test I was administered and I did not get to the bottom of the problem. I sent the cryer (offended party) to see the counselor and I did not get around to talking to the offender and the offended. This will be a challenge for tomorrow.
I met with the vice-principal to discuss a proposal for my class schedule. I had too many broken up chunks of time and was not able to spend the time I needed on math. She liked my proposal and I will start it next week. I received authorization to only hold around two hours of science/social studies per week. I was able to schedule an ILS reading period and cursive writing time. It was a trade off and I hope the right decision.
Faculty meeting went well today. A little too much discussion and not enough interaction between the teachers & management. We received some good news and cannot reveal it until Friday.
I brought hard boiled eggs into reading today as an object lesson to show how a hard boiled egg is similar to the earth. I used it to show the parts of a volcano. It went well and my students enjoyed eating the egg.
I copied all of the past two weeks missed assignments and attached them to the parents letter so students could get them done for credit. I hope it works.
I left work after a 12 hour day. I hope somewhere along the line the days get shorter.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Day 21
Things wen well today especially after over 12 hours at school. I know this is a self-inflected wound. I arrived at school today at 7 am because I had a meeting at the district last night and went home instead of going back to work. It took me almost an hour to get every thing ready for school. Luckily I was pretty much ready when I left school last night.
Besides the normal daily routine, I met with two parents after school. These were both good meetings and I had the chance to help my students take some responsibility for not completing their studies. Both parents were very supportive of what I am doing in the class.
In math today we spent the day relearning Chapter 7 and then retesting. All students did much better. I sent a pretest home and hopefully they learned something from what we have been learning. I did not get much of a chance to work with Language Arts other than spelling. I did not get to Science at all. We are still working on the IOWA test and it takes almost an hour to complete a test.
I paid up on my weight gain for last week and gave all of my students animal crackers. They are lower on calories than other cookie snacks.
I am trying to get my Science lesson beefed up on Volcanoes. I complete my PowerPoint presentation tonight and will use it to introduce the subject. I also bought a fresh loaf of bread and some apples, along with hard boil eggs to show similarities with the earth. If I can work it in tomorrow we will create a volcano using salt dough. I also put together the Volcano Art project for Friday. Finally, I made copies of the USOE Core Academy for 2007 - Math and 2006 -Science. Both are topics I need additional help in.
I still have not taken the time to go back and catch up on the previous days. I hope to have the time to do it in the near future.
Besides the normal daily routine, I met with two parents after school. These were both good meetings and I had the chance to help my students take some responsibility for not completing their studies. Both parents were very supportive of what I am doing in the class.
In math today we spent the day relearning Chapter 7 and then retesting. All students did much better. I sent a pretest home and hopefully they learned something from what we have been learning. I did not get much of a chance to work with Language Arts other than spelling. I did not get to Science at all. We are still working on the IOWA test and it takes almost an hour to complete a test.
I paid up on my weight gain for last week and gave all of my students animal crackers. They are lower on calories than other cookie snacks.
I am trying to get my Science lesson beefed up on Volcanoes. I complete my PowerPoint presentation tonight and will use it to introduce the subject. I also bought a fresh loaf of bread and some apples, along with hard boil eggs to show similarities with the earth. If I can work it in tomorrow we will create a volcano using salt dough. I also put together the Volcano Art project for Friday. Finally, I made copies of the USOE Core Academy for 2007 - Math and 2006 -Science. Both are topics I need additional help in.
I still have not taken the time to go back and catch up on the previous days. I hope to have the time to do it in the near future.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Day 20
Today is the first day of the rest of my blogging life. I have decided to start a blog to capture my experiences as a first year teacher. I have survived four weeks of teaching and I am in a reflective mood. it is 3:00 in the morning and I am tired, but awake. What is keeping me awake are thoughts of all of the things I am doing wrong, or are not doing right in my class. I have so much to do and feel I have accomplished so little in my first month. The school year is already one ninth done.
There are a few things specifically keeping me awake. I have a meeting at 8 am with our school's Case Management Comittee to discuss one of my struggling students. He has some very specific needs that have not been met in the past. I am meeting with the CMC to discuss the interventions I have made and to receive guidance on what other interventions I can make. I will blog more latter today about my first CMC.
I am also awake because my students are not doing well in math, reading, writing. Their handwriting is atrocious, and their grammer is worse. I have been more miss than hit in my approach to teaching them these skills. I have an idea and will work on it over the next couple of days to see if I can help them make some progress.
As far as math goes, I though I was doing a pretty good job teahing them the concepts, however after having the majority of the class fail our first two tests, I have to figure out how to get them to rembember what I have taught.
Today my students start their IOWA test. I am not sure what the results will be used for; however it is required.
I will discuss later about my school, my teaching position, and about other related ideas. I want to go back and try to create a blog for each of the previous 19 school days. Time will tell if I can remember what happend way back then.
I will update you more after school today as I reflect what happened on Day 20.
There are a few things specifically keeping me awake. I have a meeting at 8 am with our school's Case Management Comittee to discuss one of my struggling students. He has some very specific needs that have not been met in the past. I am meeting with the CMC to discuss the interventions I have made and to receive guidance on what other interventions I can make. I will blog more latter today about my first CMC.
I am also awake because my students are not doing well in math, reading, writing. Their handwriting is atrocious, and their grammer is worse. I have been more miss than hit in my approach to teaching them these skills. I have an idea and will work on it over the next couple of days to see if I can help them make some progress.
As far as math goes, I though I was doing a pretty good job teahing them the concepts, however after having the majority of the class fail our first two tests, I have to figure out how to get them to rembember what I have taught.
Today my students start their IOWA test. I am not sure what the results will be used for; however it is required.
I will discuss later about my school, my teaching position, and about other related ideas. I want to go back and try to create a blog for each of the previous 19 school days. Time will tell if I can remember what happend way back then.
I will update you more after school today as I reflect what happened on Day 20.
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