Last Day

So here it is, my last day of field placement. It makes me really sad thinking that I will probably never see these kids again. The day started out pretty standard, when I came into the room the kids were watching a Micky Mouse Christmas video so Mrs. Kieffer could catch up on some work, which of course meant grading papers. It may sound a bit weird but I kind of enjoy grading papers, it's easy to just allow my mind to wonder and think about things. Sometimes when I'm grading papers alone in the classroom I start to sing, maybe I'm just crazy. One of the Grandmas that came in for a previous day started grading papers but didn't get to finish so I finished up for her. But she graded the papers weirdly so after just staring at the papers wondering what I was supposed to do I gave up and asked my teacher, and she had no idea. So I ended up having to redo all of the previous grading and fix the errors in the grade book. To say it took a while would be an understatement. I was still working when it was time for lunch, but I eventually got done and went to the teachers lounge for a change to eat my lunch with my teacher and the other 1st grade teachers. There was some kind of potato potluck or something. The teachers were talking about getting ready for the Christmas parties they were going to be having, it was really neat but I still feel weird just listening in on their conversation. One thing I found that I love about elementary teachers is how excited they get over finding cool activities or art things. They found this cool make your own bracelets kit and all the teachers were looking at it and talking about how cool it was. After lunch was computer lab which was a mess as usual, but the kids are slowly starting to understand what to put for their usernames and password which is nice. While the kids were at gym I was in the classroom with my teacher helping to roll pieces of tape so the kids could hang up their snowmen and I had a nice chat with my teacher, and then she did something very unexpected. She gave me a gift, a bag and some lotion from Bath and Body Works it was so nice and so completely out of the blue I cannot explain just how good it made me feel. For the rest of the day she just made me put somethings in the kid's mailboxes and generally just hang out with the kids. I listened to them read, and made paper snowflakes with them during indoor recess. I think she was just being nice and allowing me to hang with the kids for my last day, which I have absolutely no complaints about. I talked to the Grandma who was there today for a bit and then it was time to go. Mrs. Kieffer didn't tell the kids that was my last day until I was about to leave, and then every kid came up to me and we had a huge group hug. It was a good last day, I learned so many things about teaching during my field placement and I felt welcome there. I really am going to miss my classroom.

Almost done

This is the second to last day of my field placement, and to be honest I'm a little sad. I really enjoy working in this classroom, Mrs. Keiffer is really nice and I feel like I'm really bonding with many of the kids. Too bad next week is my last week. Maybe I should request to have the same teacher next semester. The day was mostly uneventful, I forgot my lunch at my dorm which kinda sucked but I usually eat later in the day anyway so I wasn't too hungry. I helped out with grading and helping kids while Mrs. Kieffer was teaching. Today in math they were learning about how to add three numbers together in a number sentence. To be honest it was kinda fun. I enjoy teaching people things and working them thorough to get the answer. I was finally able to finish the interview with my teacher, its a little short but we don't really have the time to spend on it, hopefully 24 min. is good enough. When the kids came back from recess Mrs. Kieffer wasn't there so I was fully in charge getting the kids to sit down and putting them in their silent reading groups, and while I did my best, it was very nerve-racking and I was relieved when she came back, I am definitely not ready to be in charge. A of the students Grandmas  came in to help out for Grandma Thursday which was fun. Not much else to add about this week I really like helping out in the classroom and I look forward to my last day.

Substitute

Today my teacher wasn't there so we had a substitute teacher. She was really nice and I got to learn about more about substitute teaching. For the longest time I thought that subs were only retired teachers or people who could only work "part-time" I honestly had no idea that being a sub could be your actually job. She told me about how she works and apparently there's this thing called permanent substitute teachers where they are hired by a school to work everyday to replace the teachers who are taking a personal day, which i think is a pretty cool idea, but unfortunately most schools cant afford this. There was an assembly before I showed up so the kids were a little wound up and we were behind all day. I was told to do some testing with the kids but I didn't know what to do or how to test them so I looked for another first grade teacher but for some reason they disappeared and I just had to do my best guess. The highlight of my day came when, on account of it raining, the kids had their second indoor recess. Another one of the 1st grade teachers came in and invited all the kids to play a game with them in the gym so all the kids in my class left, except one. So she and I just sat on the floor and colored. It was the most fun I had all week.

Little Zombies

I really love the kids in my classroom, but their hugs are starting to get a little out of hand. I feel like I'm disrupting the class because every time i walk into the room and leave most of the kids are crowding around me like a bunch of little zombies. Someones going to get hurt, classroom management is something I am going to have to work at, but how do I tell them no. Today I learned about this technique my teacher uses  when the kids are getting a little jumpy. She just plays a song, usually relevant (like today is was nouns) to what they're learning and has them dance for a bit to get them to relax, which is something really cool. I hadn't thought about doing it that way before. I also did the first part of my interview with my teacher which was a lot funner than I expected it to be.

Songs

Have I mentioned yet just how much I love some of the techniques used to help the kids with reading and writing. They have little songs and hand motions for just about everything its pretty great. Every letter of the alphabet, sounds letters make together like "ck" and "sh", its pretty amazing. When they go through them all the kids are really engaged having fun and learning. The day itself was pretty standard. The kids got their picture taken for the 50th day of school and I got to be in one of them. I helped some kids with their math when they were doing a worksheet. They also had computer lab which is always an experience the kids have to login to the computers and to this website and it always takes a while. The site they use is really cool to, they do problems at their own pace kinda like Khan Academy. Its cool to see how technology is being used in the classroom.  I got my assessment but unfortunately the day is just too busy so we weren't able to start on the interview. Every time I go there she and I are working practically the whole time so I have no idea just how we're going to be able to squeeze the time in. But the rest of my day was spent helping out around the classroom and grading papers. I did go outside to watch the kids for  recess with the other teachers, it was very cold.

Halloween!

This week was Halloween so there was very little learning going on. I got to my classroom and since there was a two hour delay that day I got to see how the beginning of a day went and despite the fact that all teh kids were wearing crazy costumes it was close to what I expected. The principal came on the speaker and gave announcements and them the Pledge of Allegiance. I really hate that pledge there's something really creepy about making little kids mindlessly recite a promise to no matter what serve our country before they even understand what it means. Afterwards we immediately went on a bus to a local nursing home where the kid were to put on a little show for the seniors there, I think it went pretty well. They were all singing cute Halloween songs, and while we were on the bus I was able to talk to some of the kids and get to know them a little better. After that there was lunch and some basic learning going on while I graded papers. My teacher gave me a bag (and recipe) for the caramel puffs she made for the students, it was really cool. There was indoor recess today because it was raining and for the first part of it my teacher and I were out of the room. While she was making lesson plans with the other teachers I was folding and organizing Time Kids magazines. When we got back she was complimented by another teacher about how good the kids were behaving and she told all the kids good job, which I think was really sweet. Next the kids had free time while  parents trickled in for the Halloween party. I was helping a girl get through a particularly hard book about Americas history, and right before the party started I had to leave. I cannot express my sadness about having to leave right before the best part. It really shocks me sometimes how much my teacher trusts the kids to be alone. She basically just tells me to come with her and we're gone. I know there's some kind of staff member who kinda keeps an eye on the kids but its still pretty amazing.

Repeating a Grade.

It always amazes me how everytime I walk into the classroom they are doing something a little different. It usually has to do with reading or writing of some sort but I really have no idea what kind of activity I'm going to be joining. This time I walked into the teacher giving the students a movie to watch and having them answer questions about the movie, which I think is pretty cool. After she finished explaining to me a little about what is going on she left the room to do some copies or something and left me alone with the kids, telling me to give out small hints about what question they are on. I had no idea what to do, it was dark and I couldn't really make out what the questions were and I didn't want to distract the kids, so besides re-reading the questions for some of the kids I didn't do much. Its kinda adorable how easily the kids will laugh though, in the video a kid missed catching a frog and fell in a pond and the entire room was roaring with laughter at something so simple. For the rest of the day I really only graded papers and entered them into the grade book. I always have questions on how to grade some of the answers so I keep bothering my teacher and I feel bad. We talked about one of the kids who is probably going to have to repeat the 1st grade, she has a D-, in first grade! I feel bad for her because she is really sweet, but as Ive been grading her papers i know that she does need more help. But for the rest of the day I just graded more papers, I really love my teacher I made a mistake on all the papers for one of the tests and she was okay with it and just had me redo it. Next time is Halloween and I'm super excited, all the kids were telling me about their costumes and crowding around me as I left, I felt like a celebrity.

How would you deal with this?

For this weeks field placement I mostly spent my time observing and grading papers, but there were some highlights to my day. The first hour I was there I was sitting in the back watching the teacher help the kids find short "i" words like fin and fish. She had them find them in a giant book then come up and circle them, she also had them find "pumpkin chunks" in the book which are letters that combine to make new sounds like "th" and "sh". She even had a little rhyme to go with it. All the kids were really engaged and even those that were misbehaving quickly stopped when she told them. She also helped get them to stay quiet by only choosing the quietest and stillest kids to answer the questions, by the end all of them had gone at least once. Afterwards I had to stay behind with one of the kids while everyone else was going to lunch because she had a dentist appointment she was so cute because as we were waiting she showed me around the classroom telling me about all the different things they have, and she gave me a little paper finger puppet. During lunch I ate in the classroom and all the other teachers came in to talk about lesson plans, it was really awkward because sometimes they would go off topic (like for a while they were talking about how hot Johnny Depp is) and I didn't want to seem like I was eavesdropping. Then I graded papers, I was really careful not to make any mistakes, but I'm always worried that I grade differently than how she would so I end up asking her a lot of questions. After the kids came back we learned that one of the girls had an accident, her mom came to pick her up and I just stood around awkwardly because I didn't know if I should be listening to the conversation between the teacher and mom. Then we went to the nurses office and I once again stood around awkwardly while they discussed this girl because this has been happening for the past two days.This kind of situation is something I have no idea how to deal with, but I'm going to have to learn eventually. After that I helped give some tests for some kids who missed it. My day was great and a little weird, but by far the best part was when one of the girls came up to me and said she liked my dress, also everyone saying goodbye to me. I really love this classroom.

Fall Break

It was fall break so I didn't have field placement. Insead I went home and hung out with my sisters, went shopping and played the new pokemon game. I also got to hang out with my best friend. We spent the entire night watching anime and generally having fun with each other. I really did not do much else.

The first normal day

So I finally got to have my second week of field placement, and the first time I got to observe what a normal class is like. It was pretty close to what I expected. The second I walked in to the classroom I was attacked by three children giving me hugs. I really didn't know what to do so I just gave them a little pat on the back or head. I was immediately put to work helping kids with their math activity, when a bit of an awkward situation came up. I was doing my rounds around the classroom when this young boy started telling me of his Halloween costume of an army guy, I said some generic positive things about it and Halloween in general while trying to get him to focus on his work when he said that he was going to bring a gun and knife in to go with his costume. I was shocked and tried to explain to him why that wasn't a very good idea and how it might get him into trouble but I don't think he understood. Afterword I watched my teacher go through a reading paper. I like how she reads every question but makes the kids find out the answer. I noticed how she never says anything negative if she calls on a kid and the kid doesn't know the answer she has them call on a friend to help them out. I walked around the room taking notes and observing what was going on and I help correct a kid, I really hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries or being distracting to the students. After the reading exercise she read the kids a story, while teaching them about predicting. She keeps asking the kids to explain to me what the previous lessons were about, like she asked the class to explain to me what it ment to predict things. I really like that, as I hadn't thought about teaching like that. After the story it was lunch time and I ate in a classroom with all the other 1st grade teachers. I felt really awkward but it was interesting to me how they spent most of the lunch period  discussing lesson plans and the like. They even got excited about finding things on Pintrest and finds at local stores. After lunch I spent a while grading papers and helped a kid makeup a test. But by far the best part of my day came right afterward when I got to read the kids a story. It was so much fun, I did voices for all the characters. Mrs. Kieffer seems to be a really good teacher, she really knows her students and which ones need a little extra help and which ones are fine. She answers their questions and when someone starts going off of the lesson, like when some of the kids started talking about her birthday she gives them answers while pushing them back on topic, it's one of those things I didn't think about needing to learn how to do when I become a teacher.

Closed

Well seeing as Gibbsonburg was closed this week I don't have much to write about. So I guess I'm just going to go a little more in depth about what happened last week. The biggest thing that I noticed was just how energetic the kids were, there was not a single second where most of them weren't moving around and talking loudly. I was always moving around the classroom helping the kids on their pirate addition activity and as I was doing that I wondered just how the teacher put them into groups of two, did she take into consideration who got along with who or was is random. Later, when I asked her about it she told me that she usually thought about the skill levels of the students, matching them with others who were at about the same place as them, or in such a way that a kid who understood addition really well could help someone who wasn't doing as good. I honestly don't have anything else to say this week except I hope Gibbsonburg is not closed this week because I was really disappointed that I didn't have to go especially since I learned that after I had already gotten on the bus.

First Day Adventures

Going into my field placement I was really nervous. Much to my surprise (and delight) I got an amazing field placement both in the school and classroom. Seriously it could only be better if the school was made of solid chocolate or something. When we got there the principal was waiting for us to us a tour around the school and a little history of the school. I was shocked to hear that children from preschool to 5th grade studied here which is way smaller than the four different buildings my district had for those same grades. It's a very nice building with each grade in a different hall and all halls connecting to the main room. We walked into the orange hall and my name was called,  my heart immediately my heart started racing and just as I was starting to reevaluate my life choices my teacher came out. Dressed as a pirate. She introduced herself as Mrs. Keiffer and shook my hand. I could tell instantly tell that like every other time I had freaked myself out before doing something different, I had nothing to worry about and this was going to be fun. I walked in and was introduced to my class of 1st graders all dancing and smiling then I was informed that today was "Talk like a pirate day" so the kids were doing pirate related activities. They had eye patches and beards they could get for good listening and doing their work, which I think is a really cool idea. One thing I was not expecting but probably should is that there was no time to just sit and rest. All day I was on my feet helping kids and doing things the teacher asked. I don't know if it's like this every day or just because today was special but the kids were always moving and always talking even silent reading, which was anything but silent. Even during the half hour lunch break and when the kids went to gym for a while Mrs. K was collaborating with the other first grade teachers and making copies. It was intense, she would be standing up front demonstrating what the kids had to do and they were wiggling, moving and whispering the entire time. But despite my tiredness it was a very good day, I really do love working with kids and at the end one of the little girls I was working with gave me a hug and said very sweetly "Goodbye Ms. Betts". Thinking back I realise just how much work it takes to teach these kids and I wonder just how she does it. While I was helping some kids, five more would be lined up to ask her questions. Now I'm not saying I'm anything special but I wonder how she does it without me, or some other aid. I might have found my presentation question. But until then i look forward to next time.