This week was a shorter week than usual because we had Monday off. We also permanently switched to a new schedule, with math and science in the morning, new specials times and the addition of RTI and computer lab for success maker. Michelle and I also started a guided reading group. Getting the students used to the new routines has been a bit challenging because they are used to the previous schedule, but I know they can do it.
In my Teaching Children’s Literature class, I read an article called The Power of Reading Aloud to Your Students: Guidelines and Top 5 Read-Aloud Strategies. In the article, it said that teachers should try to read aloud at least 5-7 times a day. I thought that this was impossible! After I read how this would be implemented, with one longer 10 -15 minute session for comprehension, and then quicker 1-3 minute read-alouds throughout the day, I thought that this may be possible. In class, Sara modeled this by quickly reading some poetry, and how we could do this in our classroom. In the article, it said that we could use jokes, menus, online material, poetry, directions, and newspaper articles. I’ve never thought of using materials like this as a read-aloud, but now I think it is a clever way to sneak a few read-alouds into the day. Although I’ve only seen my CT read-aloud 2 books in one day at most, I plan on trying to read as much as possible in my own classroom, because we’ve discussed that the only way to get students to read better is to have them read and be exposed to as much reading as possible. I did read one thing in the article that my CT does do in her classroom, partner talks. Sometimes when we read aloud, my CT will have her students turn and talk to a partner about something that happened in the book to check their comprehension. I have found this to be very beneficial. We have them say what they talked about so we can discuss it as a class, which helps their understanding and gets them more involved in the reading.
In my Classroom Management class, we read about why children misbehave in Principles of Classroom Management by Levin and Nolan. In the reading, it said that “children are aware of the state of the present world. They see famine, terrorist attacks, war, political corruption, drug busts, street violence…” (47) and this is sadly true! I was exposed to something like this in my classroom. The students were writing an assignment and I went around looking at them when they were finished. I was reading one of the student’s papers and I came across a sentence mentioning being jumped. I talked to my CT about this to see if it was acceptable, to see if they should be writing about things like that. She said that it was acceptable because the students are exposed to things like this, they hear it from their parents, cousins, siblings, and just from the neighborhood they live in. I was just shocked because I wasn’t used to students as young as the ones in my class knowing about content like that. As a teacher, this means that I have to be more aware about the neighborhoods that my students come from, be aware about the activity that happens, and what my students could be exposed to. This would help me understand more about the way they act in the classroom, and may help me understand them more as individuals.
In my psychology class, I was reading about a concept called wait time. This is when you allow your students a few seconds to think before having them answer a question, so their brain can process the question and they have time to think about an answer. This way, there is more participation from the class while answering questions and discussing. I have witnessed this in my classroom and even had a conversation with my CT about this, even before reading about it. My CT was reading a book aloud on the carpet and asked the students a question. Some of the student’s hands shot up, having an answer right away. But she didn’t call on them like I thought she would. She waited until a few more students hands went up after a little bit, and then called on a student. I asked her about why she did this, and she said she was giving the students a little extra time, wait time, to process the question and think about an answer. She noticed that when she did this, more students were able to participate and at least think about an answer themselves before hearing what others have to say. I thought this was really a valuable concept as a teacher because the whole point of a discussion is for the whole class to participate, and if they don’t have enough time to come up with an answer, then whole class participation isn’t possible.
In my seminar, we have been reading Kindergarten by Julie Diamond. This book follows Diamond throughout the year as she teaches kindergarten. As I was reading this book, I found a lot of awesome ideas that I would like to use in my own classroom. One of the things she did was to have her students very involved in the organization of the classroom. Instead of having cubbies picked out for them, she let them pick their own cubbies and decorate a piece of paper with their name on it for their label “I give them squares of paper and ask them to draw whatever they want, and to write their names. As they finish, they choose cubbies….later I’ll cover the squares with clear contact paper (20). I think this is such a creative way to get them involved and to feel that they are a part of the classroom. Diamond does this in another way by having the students make signs for the classroom, “…the children decide how to illustrate each schedule card. For meeting, a child draws a blue square to represent a blue rug, and then adds a single figure…All of this takes more time than if I used computer-generated pictures or drew the pictures myself. Yet the effort is worth it, because when children make signs, their work has practical meaning (21). I agree with Diamond when she says this. When the students are involved like this, they place value on their work and on themselves as students. They become proud of their work and are more likely to put this effort into everything they do. I plan on creating a community and feeling like this in my classroom by applying some of Diamond’s techniques because I think student involvement in the classroom is so important.
As I mentioned in my beginning paragraph, we experienced a full change of schedules this week. The transition has been a bit stressful because the students don’t know what to expect next. We had to work to get them adjusted to the changes, and we also had to adjust. My classroom management class always enforced that the procedures were so important in being able to have a well behaved class, without them, things may go wrong and behavior could be a problem. Going through this change, we did experience some behavior issues, but generally things were normal. We just had to give the students a little extra prompting as to when to move onto the next task because they did not know when to transition. However, as we practice more and more, I feel confident that the students will know the new schedule and things will return to normal.