Third week is not quite over, but seeing as I thought it was Friday all day, I figured I might as well post now!
Yesterday my student teaching coordinator observed me teaching a group (who were very good for me, thank goodness!). Afterwards we met with the other Sioux City student teachers to discuss the monster that is the Teacher Work Sample. I feel a little better now about it because I realized I was ahead of where I was expected to be, and it seems like I am writing it correctly. It's still going to be a lot of work, but I know I don't need to concern myself too much with it as of now.
My cooperating teacher was gone at a Common Core meeting today, so I did nearly all of the teaching with a substitute teacher in the room. Overall, the students were really well-behaved - which definitely makes me feel better about teaching completely on my own! It was a good day.
I'm nearly done writing my lesson plans for when I'm full-time in one week. I'm very excited to get started. My only real worry is classroom management. I honestly never thought I would say this - but I wish I would have had the opportunity to take Elementary Ed classes. I know a lot of ESL teaching theories, but not practical strategies. I guess (hope!) this is just something I'll figure out as I go.
This weekend I'm very excited to celebrate my 22nd birthday back in Cedar Falls and home in Gowrie. Hopefully this gross January weather will cooperate!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Student Teaching Week Two
My second week of student teaching went very well. This week I was much more involved in the classroom than last. I am working with two boys using the reading intervention model Whole to Part. Depending on the student's reading level, they do a different activity. These boys are in third grade but are reading at a Kindergarten level. We are working on letter-to-sound correspondence. We do a lot of movement with the activities, which is a good method for their level, but they also really enjoy it and think we're playing games (we're not!).
Three of the groups are reading the book, The Jacket, by Andrew Clements. While they read, they are to answer questions about the chapters and look up definitions to certain words in the reading. I noticed that a lot of the students had a really hard time looking up the words. If they actually found the word, they did it in the most ineffective way. I talked with my cooperating teacher and the next day I taught lessons on simple dictionary skills. I first showed the students under the document camera how to best look up a word, then had a student show the same steps under the camera to the class. After that, I had everyone in the class look up different words themselves. Some of the students picked up the tips really quickly and easily, while others still struggled with them. I think while it wasn't totally successful, the students still benefited from either a reminder of what they already knew or a practice of skills that will help them later.
Overall, I had a great week! I am missing Cedar Falls and friends quite a bit, but I'm so happy I'm finally actually doing what I love.
Three of the groups are reading the book, The Jacket, by Andrew Clements. While they read, they are to answer questions about the chapters and look up definitions to certain words in the reading. I noticed that a lot of the students had a really hard time looking up the words. If they actually found the word, they did it in the most ineffective way. I talked with my cooperating teacher and the next day I taught lessons on simple dictionary skills. I first showed the students under the document camera how to best look up a word, then had a student show the same steps under the camera to the class. After that, I had everyone in the class look up different words themselves. Some of the students picked up the tips really quickly and easily, while others still struggled with them. I think while it wasn't totally successful, the students still benefited from either a reminder of what they already knew or a practice of skills that will help them later.
Overall, I had a great week! I am missing Cedar Falls and friends quite a bit, but I'm so happy I'm finally actually doing what I love.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Student Teaching Week One!
It's finally here - student teaching! It's still hard to believe that I am one short semester away from graduation. I miss my home I've made at UNI, but I am so happy that I've finally made it!
For these first 8 weeks I'm working in a 2nd-5th grade ESL classroom at Leeds Elementary school in Sioux City, Iowa. Leeds is a fairly new school, and so much bigger than I'm used to! We see about 70 ESL students on a typical day. I'm getting to know them fairly well - translation: I know all of their names 95% of the time! (Which is quite an accomplishment for me.) I did a lot of observation this week, but I will start working with groups of students and doing lessons my cooperating teacher prepared next week.
One thing I did not realize before this week was how tired I am all the time. I wake up at 6 every morning, and the last couple of nights I've fallen asleep (on the couch) around 9 . . . oops!
All for now - can't wait to see what next week brings!
For these first 8 weeks I'm working in a 2nd-5th grade ESL classroom at Leeds Elementary school in Sioux City, Iowa. Leeds is a fairly new school, and so much bigger than I'm used to! We see about 70 ESL students on a typical day. I'm getting to know them fairly well - translation: I know all of their names 95% of the time! (Which is quite an accomplishment for me.) I did a lot of observation this week, but I will start working with groups of students and doing lessons my cooperating teacher prepared next week.
One thing I did not realize before this week was how tired I am all the time. I wake up at 6 every morning, and the last couple of nights I've fallen asleep (on the couch) around 9 . . . oops!
All for now - can't wait to see what next week brings!
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