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.