What a fun week! I started the week with a strainer on my head. You may ask why. Well, I've been teaching the kids determining importance while they are reading nonfiction text and I just wanted something that would stick with them. I read about this strategy while I was teaching third grade but thought at the time it would be above their head so I never used it. Then I thought about it for sixth grade and it would be perfect. I used to do things like this all the time in third grade and I think that's part of what I miss. I made a fool of myself and I didn't care. i don't know why in sixth grade I've been wanting so much to be the strict teacher that keeps the behaviors in line that I've forgotten that I want the learning to be memorable and for them to remember and actually be able to apply their learning. So I figured I want to incorporate more of the silly fun things that I used to do in third grade. My inspiration came from one of my students that I had in third grade...I asked her mom to tell me how she thought I was doing in sixth grade. She's extremely honest and so is her mom and I knew I could count on it. She told her mom I wasn't as animated as I used to be. Which made me sad because I didn't want to be that. I've just wanted to make sure I'm challenging them and making sure behaviors don't play a problem so I just forgot about being fun and excited.
So back the strainer...we finished up reading the civil rights in america text and I wanted them to understand and relate determining importance to something that they knew about. A pasta strainer was exactly that. They got the correlation so well! They continued to take notes and were really able to apply the determining importance strategy! I was so proud and didn't care at all how many crazy looks I got from the other middle school teachers. Kids always remember their elementary teachers and I think it's because those teachers allow the fun and silly things into their lessons. I want to be that kind of middle school teacher. I still rememeber the high school teacher who did cart wheels in religion class. I want to be the same and I want one of my students to remember me for the fun teacher that I was back in the day!
We had a PD day today and I rearranged my room which is something I've wanted to do for a while. I'm hoping this new arrangement will allow the kids to use the classroom computers more. They may be slow but they still work...well most of the time. :)
I need to remember-make teaching fun. Learning will happen if it's fun!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
week 19 weekly reflection jan. 22-25
Another good week in sixth grade is in the books! This week we had Monday off so Tuesday was a little off which happens everytime there is a change in schedule with this group. We began the week going over prefixes and suffixes. I'm worried that for testing that I haven't done enough of this. I haven't reviewed prefixes and suffixes much. I know they start learning those in second grade with a large addition in third grade and a lot done in fourth and fifth grade so I figure by the time they get to sixth grade they should be used to them. Maybe I'm wrong but the basal curriculum that we used to use said that they were review. Some of them seem to be review some of them don't. Add it to the list of things I'd change for next year.
We also went over cornell notes which is something that the seventh grade teacher has said she wanted them to learn and that I know the old social studies teacher did a lot with last year. I recommended it to the new SS teacher and she said she didn't like it. I'm having trouble giving my teammates advice when it doesn't seem like they want it. I dunno when i was a first year teacher I was excited and willing to take any advice and I would actually use it. I think it may be the age....we're all so close together in age and the one was an aide in my room last year and I don't know if she thinks I don't know what I'm talking about or what but it's just frustrating sometimes.
Something else that was new and exciting this week was I went to observe the seventh grade ELA teacher. I asekd to observe her because everytime she talks she makes her classroom sound like some sort of alternative universe. Well, she runs her classroom like a college class which is great and challenging but I'm just not sure I'm as regemented or strict to do that. I want the kids to have fun which I know they are having in seventh grade too but I'm not sure we just have totally different teaching styles. I did realize that she uses a timer and does a lot of handouts which is something I want to start. I also think I want to organize the student notebooks more next year. I just hadn't planned that so I just kind of hand them put things in one place or another. She also has discussion going on a lot and I took with me some notes about how I'm going to start facilitating discussion in my class-I'm going to use discussion sticks and different acronyms to get the students talking to each other about their work. I think that's one major thing that I need ot realize...in the upper grades they need to be more independent and not every second needs to be monitored no that's the wrong word every second doesn't need to be directed by me? They need to be able to create and facilitate their own learning. I guess I just need to get better at that myself and allow more opportunities for it. So from the observation I'm going to do the following:
1. use the timer more
2. use handouts for writing expectations more
3. use popsicle sticks to make students participate even if they don't want to
4. use discussion acronyms for students to look at work especially writing
5. use discussion sticks with different discussion prompts on them.
6. for next year orgranize notebooks better and make sure that students are treating it like a interactive student notebook
We also went over cornell notes which is something that the seventh grade teacher has said she wanted them to learn and that I know the old social studies teacher did a lot with last year. I recommended it to the new SS teacher and she said she didn't like it. I'm having trouble giving my teammates advice when it doesn't seem like they want it. I dunno when i was a first year teacher I was excited and willing to take any advice and I would actually use it. I think it may be the age....we're all so close together in age and the one was an aide in my room last year and I don't know if she thinks I don't know what I'm talking about or what but it's just frustrating sometimes.
Something else that was new and exciting this week was I went to observe the seventh grade ELA teacher. I asekd to observe her because everytime she talks she makes her classroom sound like some sort of alternative universe. Well, she runs her classroom like a college class which is great and challenging but I'm just not sure I'm as regemented or strict to do that. I want the kids to have fun which I know they are having in seventh grade too but I'm not sure we just have totally different teaching styles. I did realize that she uses a timer and does a lot of handouts which is something I want to start. I also think I want to organize the student notebooks more next year. I just hadn't planned that so I just kind of hand them put things in one place or another. She also has discussion going on a lot and I took with me some notes about how I'm going to start facilitating discussion in my class-I'm going to use discussion sticks and different acronyms to get the students talking to each other about their work. I think that's one major thing that I need ot realize...in the upper grades they need to be more independent and not every second needs to be monitored no that's the wrong word every second doesn't need to be directed by me? They need to be able to create and facilitate their own learning. I guess I just need to get better at that myself and allow more opportunities for it. So from the observation I'm going to do the following:
1. use the timer more
2. use handouts for writing expectations more
3. use popsicle sticks to make students participate even if they don't want to
4. use discussion acronyms for students to look at work especially writing
5. use discussion sticks with different discussion prompts on them.
6. for next year orgranize notebooks better and make sure that students are treating it like a interactive student notebook
Friday, January 18, 2013
week 18 weekly reflection jan. 14-18
MAP testing is over. Thank god. I was hoping I'd have really awesome scores and for the most part I did but I'd like to see more growth in the spring. We shall see.
We did centers with different reading strategies on Monday because I wanted students to use all their brain power to do well on the Math MAP test they were taking later on in the day. I was surprised at how well they did with the task cards at the different centers. Only a few students needed to be redirected. It went well. We continued to learn about the Civil Rights and students continued to pracitce the nonfiction strategies I've taught them. Not much to talk about today. It was an okay week. Not the best, not the worst. I'm just feeling inadequite because I've been talking with the seventh grade teacher and I just feel like I'm not doing enough to get them ready. I'm hoping I'll be able to observe her and see things that I can use in my classroom.
We did centers with different reading strategies on Monday because I wanted students to use all their brain power to do well on the Math MAP test they were taking later on in the day. I was surprised at how well they did with the task cards at the different centers. Only a few students needed to be redirected. It went well. We continued to learn about the Civil Rights and students continued to pracitce the nonfiction strategies I've taught them. Not much to talk about today. It was an okay week. Not the best, not the worst. I'm just feeling inadequite because I've been talking with the seventh grade teacher and I just feel like I'm not doing enough to get them ready. I'm hoping I'll be able to observe her and see things that I can use in my classroom.
Friday, January 11, 2013
week 17 weekly reflection jan. 7-11
What w whirlwind week in sixth grade! It started with completing the performance task that the district had suggested but not mandated. It worked out so well becuase one of the selected texts was about Rosa Parks which fits right into the unit that I started later in the week! The kids did well overall. There are a few kids that don't care to do well on things that 'don't count.' I am so not used to this yet as third graders thought everytyhing counted but sixth graders will only put 100% into their work if it is for a grade or for their promotion. It's frustrating.
I did start the new Civil Rights unit this week and started to teach them stratgies to make reading nonfiction easier and more interesting. Majority of the students hate reading nonfiction which is why I decided to do this unit. I chose to do the Civil Rights Movement because I had a request for it and the suggested topic for the third unit from the district was fairness so I thought it fit in perfectly. Plus, I wanted to get in nonfiction reading/strategies before the state testing. It started off with an fun intro activity with the students getting cards. I thought we'd have such a problem with them being disruptive with the segregation role play but for the most part they understood how unfair it was at the time! Surprisingly, the only kids that I had to talk to during the role play were the ones that I thought wouldn't be a problem. It's always like that...they're keeping me on their toes. The kids seem really into the topic so I hope that continues. I'm also hoping that I can keep them interested.
Today we took the MAP test for Reading. I was so happy with so many of my students that made huge gains! However, a few didn't and that frustrated me. Like I said before, if they don't think it 'counts,' they don't try. How do I combat this?? It counts for me I want to scream at them!! Another thing that frustrated me was that majority of the sped kids did not make gains in Reading. I have asked for our schedule to change but the kids have pull out first part of the 90 minute block and then inclusion. So I'm not actually teaching them. They come in during independent practice time or during writing workshop. It's frustrating. It's another thing I'm getting used to in Sixth grade is that I am the one that is looked at and they are my scores. What frustrates me is what about SS/Science teacher?? She doesn't have any scores to her name. It's frustrating. She's been teaching a lot of reading things and using a novel which I'm not really sure why I get the connection but I'd like for her to teach nonfiction text as opposed to fiction which is what she's been using. I think that could really help. She hasn't taken that advice though which is frustrating in itself but oh well. Overall I'm pretty happy with the scores. What I don't like is that the MAP test generates a projected growth target and if the students don't make that then in the data it shows that they haven't made growth. But majority of my students made some growth but some did not make the growth that the computer generated that they must make. That's frustrating to me because what does the computer know about my students??? Do they know what they've been through this year? Do they know that I've worked tooth and nail with the kid and that any type of growth should be celebrated for the particular kid? It's frustrating because to me any growth is growth. But not to the people at the network or to my principal. Frustrating! I hope they can all make some growth (meet their growth target generated by a computer program) by the end of the year!
I did start the new Civil Rights unit this week and started to teach them stratgies to make reading nonfiction easier and more interesting. Majority of the students hate reading nonfiction which is why I decided to do this unit. I chose to do the Civil Rights Movement because I had a request for it and the suggested topic for the third unit from the district was fairness so I thought it fit in perfectly. Plus, I wanted to get in nonfiction reading/strategies before the state testing. It started off with an fun intro activity with the students getting cards. I thought we'd have such a problem with them being disruptive with the segregation role play but for the most part they understood how unfair it was at the time! Surprisingly, the only kids that I had to talk to during the role play were the ones that I thought wouldn't be a problem. It's always like that...they're keeping me on their toes. The kids seem really into the topic so I hope that continues. I'm also hoping that I can keep them interested.
Today we took the MAP test for Reading. I was so happy with so many of my students that made huge gains! However, a few didn't and that frustrated me. Like I said before, if they don't think it 'counts,' they don't try. How do I combat this?? It counts for me I want to scream at them!! Another thing that frustrated me was that majority of the sped kids did not make gains in Reading. I have asked for our schedule to change but the kids have pull out first part of the 90 minute block and then inclusion. So I'm not actually teaching them. They come in during independent practice time or during writing workshop. It's frustrating. It's another thing I'm getting used to in Sixth grade is that I am the one that is looked at and they are my scores. What frustrates me is what about SS/Science teacher?? She doesn't have any scores to her name. It's frustrating. She's been teaching a lot of reading things and using a novel which I'm not really sure why I get the connection but I'd like for her to teach nonfiction text as opposed to fiction which is what she's been using. I think that could really help. She hasn't taken that advice though which is frustrating in itself but oh well. Overall I'm pretty happy with the scores. What I don't like is that the MAP test generates a projected growth target and if the students don't make that then in the data it shows that they haven't made growth. But majority of my students made some growth but some did not make the growth that the computer generated that they must make. That's frustrating to me because what does the computer know about my students??? Do they know what they've been through this year? Do they know that I've worked tooth and nail with the kid and that any type of growth should be celebrated for the particular kid? It's frustrating because to me any growth is growth. But not to the people at the network or to my principal. Frustrating! I hope they can all make some growth (meet their growth target generated by a computer program) by the end of the year!
Friday, January 4, 2013
week 16 weekly reflection jan. 3-4
Ugh two days back to make up for the strike! YUCK! I actually have to say though that I did enjoy going back on a Thursday as opposed to a Monday just because now when Monday does come I'm already back into the swing of things. The kids came energized and ready to learn which was great. They grew a lot over break so many of them are taller or as tall as me now. Ugh!
My new civil rights books are in and I'm excited to get started on a new unit all about nonfiction reading. I love to read nonfiction and I'm hoping I can pass that onto my students. We went over nonfiction signposts this week while reading scholastic news. I love scholastic news and want to try to incorporate it much more into my everyday teaching! It's such a great resource and what better nonfiction reading! Off to enjoy my weekend and recover from my 2 day week! :)
My new civil rights books are in and I'm excited to get started on a new unit all about nonfiction reading. I love to read nonfiction and I'm hoping I can pass that onto my students. We went over nonfiction signposts this week while reading scholastic news. I love scholastic news and want to try to incorporate it much more into my everyday teaching! It's such a great resource and what better nonfiction reading! Off to enjoy my weekend and recover from my 2 day week! :)
Saturday, December 22, 2012
week 15 weekly reflection dec. 17-21
Break! Thank goodness. Lost a kid during my field trip yesterday. Never take a huge group of students to a museum the day before Winter break. Why? EVERY single school in the city has the exact same idea. I'm taking the next week and a half off of reflecting and am just going to try to get my excitement back. Oh yeah and I have to plan what we're going to do when we get back...
Friday, December 14, 2012
week 14 weekly reflection dec. 10-14
So one of the things that I've been working on so much with the students is finding the main idea. They're getting so much better! This week I had them try to read an article that they've never seen before from timeforkids.com and they did great! Majority of them were able to identify the main idea and supporting details. I really was proud and realize that a lot of the hard work I've put in has helped!!
Another great thing about this week made me realize something. As we finish up our novel studies just in time for winter break my highest group got to the best part of their novel. I love the novel they're reading-Among the Hidden-and I was so excited for them to get to the part to see how they reacted. My excitement made me realize something-I haven't really shown them my excitement yet this year. I've been so focused on being the disciplinarian and making sure I have little to no behavior problems in my class that I forgot that the reason many of them liked me in third grade was because I was so excited. And quite frankly, I liked that better. When I was so excited. It made me think that I must be excited and pass that excitement down. I have been excited this year, I just haven't really shown it. I was afarid to let me guard down. I realize now that when I'm excited they become excited and that doesn't necessarily mean that things are going to go haywire. I'm beginning to plan the next unit we'll do after break and I'm thinking of how can I get them to be excited??? How can I be excited??? I know I want to teach nonfiction but I want it to be about a topic I'm excited about so that I can pass it on to them...
Another great thing about this week made me realize something. As we finish up our novel studies just in time for winter break my highest group got to the best part of their novel. I love the novel they're reading-Among the Hidden-and I was so excited for them to get to the part to see how they reacted. My excitement made me realize something-I haven't really shown them my excitement yet this year. I've been so focused on being the disciplinarian and making sure I have little to no behavior problems in my class that I forgot that the reason many of them liked me in third grade was because I was so excited. And quite frankly, I liked that better. When I was so excited. It made me think that I must be excited and pass that excitement down. I have been excited this year, I just haven't really shown it. I was afarid to let me guard down. I realize now that when I'm excited they become excited and that doesn't necessarily mean that things are going to go haywire. I'm beginning to plan the next unit we'll do after break and I'm thinking of how can I get them to be excited??? How can I be excited??? I know I want to teach nonfiction but I want it to be about a topic I'm excited about so that I can pass it on to them...
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