Last Week of Student Teaching k-5

In Kindergarten, we are learning about shadows and what we need to make a shadow. We went outside for a few minutes simply to eat a shadow to mimic the Dark who ate the shadows in the book read aloud.

In first grade, we are deciphering hieroglyphs. Students created their own representations of summer or travel. They enjoyed this activity.

In 2nd grade they are studying about the Audubon. I found a newspaper article that mentioned the Audubon and as I was reading, a 4th grade teacher and Occupational therapist were chatting with me and the 4th grade teacher asked for a copy as I was mentioning parts of it. I ended up collaborating with him as an instructional partner during class today as he asked me, if I wanted to present it to his class. His class had an assignment to read an article and I really enjoyed finishing the article for a lesson. It was a NY Times article in which compared Disney's pros and cons of Bambi and Finding Nemo on the environmental aspect.

3rd grade is touring Virtual resources including web sites, Online Encyclopedia, and the Online Catalog.

5th grade is editing their film footage.

Kindergarten China/Korea and 1st Clay

1st grade was in their classroom due to a location conflict (exhibition). The class went well according to me, the students, Mrs. Mahoney (the Media Assistant) and the 1st grade teacher who nicely connected my lesson to hers. The clay I left with was sculpted pricelessly since the focus of course was not on sculpting---the focus was on change and what causes change and what changed in the story I read and how it changed. Students used clay and gave me about 15 different verbs that they used to describe what they did to the clay (smooshed, moved, put, shaped, rolled, etc.)

The students got to the points of your hands being necessary as well as your brain as well as a plan and an idea. What makes your hands work was asked by me and they said your brain. They eventually got that food is necessary for your brain to work.
Revisions to the lesson were made just to reinforce previous lessons on solid, liquid, and gas.

The teacher's use of language also helped at the end.

I need to print out article on sleep for Homework club.

I worked on imputting titles from the binder into Destiny list which I will then change into a category.

I was assisting the 5th grade Historians as I was reviewing my lessons for the day.

I put on book labels.

Exhibition, Shelving, Letter regarding Cash, Book Challenges, Post-observation Lesson, Lo Po Po

I taught a 2nd grade class the Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood.

They gave me several differences between the two versions.

They also summed up the lesson by saying that even though the story was based in China, the story/moral/theme is basically the same. Because it is Chinese did not change much more about it than tiny details.

During the exhibition the media center was utilized by the 5th grade. I assisted some 5th grade students with video and computer instructions.

I discussed a lost-library book collection system with Nely, my cooperating media specialist. She had to explain why they used a cash only system. She admitted that a specific checking account would be best, leaving a "paper trail", but that is not currently in the works.

She also discussed with me that there are book challenges and that every book that is purchased has received a book review from a renown source, such as Amazon, Follett, School Library Journal, or The New York Times.

My Post-observation was reviewed again making it clear that I am creating too many objectives. A plan was made for us for the remainder of the time here.

My second grade lesson was reviewed before I performed the read-aloud and Nely liked what she had seen.

Students were basically ready for their teacher. I think I will really move them when 5 minutes is up next time. They enjoy Dan Gutman books very much. I need to research similar authors.

St. Patrick's Day

1st grade enjoyed a book about St. Patrick.

I examined a 2nd grade text as well as a Kindergarten one.

I supported and observed Ms. Miguel as she gave the Do's and Don'ts to the 5th grade students who are working with video recording and iMovie. The Media technical assistant provided a mini lesson to the students on firewires and their faster capabilities over USB's.

The students learned editing skills.

I worked with them for their initial use of the software.

I thought of my video course at Fairfield as well as Integrating Technology into Language Arts and Social Studies by Dr. kennedy as she gave us some great resources for video taping.

I will search for them as soon as I can.

Spring books to be read to 1st grade this week as some classes will miss Friday's lesson since there will be no school.

Easter books are opted out.

Observation Day

I have items to practice.

I thought the lesson was successful being that every time I stopped in at a station that learning was occuring and wondering was happening and interest and conclusions were right on.

Practice makes perfect. Having items to tweak comes with time.

Solids, Liquids, and Gases may be a more advanced concept.

Interview discussion

Nely siggested that Iinquire about assistants, parent volunteers after speaking with her about an interview.

Chairs, Set-up

Janitor told me about how the chairs got in the media center.

We discussed the aestetics, durability, safety, and necessity of them.

Everyday Mathematics suggested texts project.

I am creating categories of available texts that we have in Destiny so teachers do not have to go very far to get a book that is suggested to complement their math lesson--not all teachers are information literate.

I thought of an idea to take the web archive of the titles and have the students transpose it into an Excel spreadsheet.

Have the students give different varieties of the information to see that there are more than 1 way to arrive/create/design a spreadsheet.

It is better than teaching in isolation because it is a real problem that needs a solution.

Nely thinks that interative tutorials are better for elementary learners and that this may be better for high school or a student on an internship in the library.

Getting observed tomorrow.

1st grade class went well. Students who normally are bouncing all around seemed to find contentment in the lesson.

Solids liquids and gases.

The book needs chapter refinement.

Examples of matter consisting of more than one property/Senses

Students figure out in this lesson's pre-discussion that they use their senses to determine what property of matter a given object/substance is.

I will be giving this lesson to the other first grades. I generally watch the Media Assistant perform first lesson and give the rest of that grade level myself.

I just thought of other objects to use and try for this lesson.

A coconut. Liquid and solid on the inside. The sense of hearing and seeing the size of the fruit helps us distinguish that.

A water balloon may not need to be brought into the room to be able to visualize what is in the balloon.

Inserting a solid figure into a balloon may be another idea to clearly obtain the objective that solids and gases can not be in the same space at the same time.

Percentages of air/percentages of liquid/percentages of solids.

Lesson still in the works.

Type to Learn

Assisting 3rd graders position their hands on the keyboard correctly.

Left hand for the left side of the computer and right hand for the right side.

Home position was physically put on the keyboards. Having students sit up straight and not worry about how fast they can type. Some students complained and said "but, I am being scored on how many WPM".

Properties of Matter/India/Big Mama

Teaching properties of matter with 2 substances: snow & water.

The class was divided into 2. Each group observed one substance. I recorded what each group saw, thought, and wondered.

Students enjoyed the story for it's humor.

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Banyan Tree (Heart of the Village) in India.
Other locales can also make their heart of the village near this tree like the photo of the Court House in Ft. Meyers, Florida which was located next to a Banyan Tree. What was there first??

I drew a heart and put a tree inside the heart. I wrote responses in the heart that the students had talked to their partner about.

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Big Mama's by Donald Crews.

I set out a display of his other books. I observed one student looking through the pile after class. I also received remarks about seeing one of the other books that I was not reading in their classroom; therefore, connections were made before I began reading.

Students were successful in identifying things they did that were different from what he did on his summer vacation by thinking of what they did on theirs. I lead a whip around pass for everyone telling something that they did that was different than what Donald did.

It was a biography and this concept was too high for them to grasp. When I asked if they ever heard of biology or the prefix bio, I did not obtain a response. They did understand Marine Biologist though, but that was too far removed from understanding what a biography is for the class as a whole.

I just checked with a first grade teacher and she said to just repeat the word Biography and tell the students "we are going to read a book about a real person".
And no more or else I will lose them.

Erosion, books, student shelving, Map, digital pics, technology support, Garageband

Went outside with students to help monitor and see where they can locate digital pictures taken by their teacher where erosion was occuring.

I stayed in their classroom to hear about their reponses to the questions. The teacher allowed the students to speak and scaffolded or summarized their thoughts to another thinking level, such as aesthetics.

I asked if the students can help shelve books when they were using their library time to sit at a table and not really doing anything. Students became excited when asked to help. They also might find a good book by shelving.

I was asked to locate a school map.

I went to the school website's About section and found the mapquest link/map helpful--better than Google Earth.

Garageband is being explored as well as copyright infringement as the students are going to be reading a story aloud and then burning it onto a CDRom. They will be then distributing the books to underprivledged children.

Power Point

Ideas for this are listed in my notebook and I will resume soon.

I observed 2 fifth grade classes report on PowerPoint. Their teacher emphasized requirements by posting them in the lab and still students failed to use the technology correctly.

However, hopefully, they will continue to use it and learn from their mistakes and create better presentations later.

I have also observed another teacher tell the students how extremely disappointed she was because the slides did not connect to the major theme.

I ended up observing since I went to help with a connector issue they were having in the classroom.

Nely to the Rescue and Kindergarten Rules for White Board

The two lessons I taught yesterday were planned. I knew much of the subject matter for the 1st grade World Religions Lesson. I reviewed my thoughts for a plan with Nely but was needing help instructing my idea for a lesson in an extreme IB (inquiry-based) way.

She gave me the idea to create a See-Think-Wonder regarding a page of the book where the students can then develop their own ideas for what they see, then what they THINK they see, and finally what they then WONDER about the Sacred Place.

The lesson began by having the students try to read the title, Sacred Places. They were having a hard time reading that word and were saying "scared" and were coming very close to conquering it, but they needed me to affirm it.

We then moved on and read the text. All but 1 child was engaged. She was seated near me and playing with objects within reach. Her behaviors were touched with my cooperating teacher and suggestions were made for next meeting with her.

I announced that we would have an activity but I did not tell the students what it would be.

We then TRIED to gather into 2 semi circles. This was very challenging for them to do. It is almost that I would have to get masking tape and tape it to the floor where I would want them to sit!

Nely came to the rescue and made them count off by 2's. This can be done before they come up the 3 stairs to save time.

The Kindergarten class went well except for the fact that we did not finish the book because they were drawing. This took up time as did the rules regarding not to draw when I was reading. They had a bit of a challenging time thinking of their own pictures to draw. I saw many copies my ideas (not what I wanted).

I saw a handful create their own.

Perhaps a way to alternately solve this is to read a page and ask if any one has any ideas of a picture that they can draw for that subject heading. If a student raises their hand, then they can draw that picture. Perhaps this will create incentive for the other students to come up with a visual.

Alternative Titles, Shakers, and Different than Animals

I reflected with Kris today. I feel that I need to set time parameters. Perhaps to use a timer or stopwatch.

I feel that students have achieved objectives as well as other learning that was not planned.

For the book about the Shakers, I thought that technology can be added by showing a clip of Shakers doing a dance.

I would like a projector set up with my read aloud area so that if there is a movie clip, say from, Discovery Learning then I would like to show that to students.

A chart paper pad with markers is also essential.

K, 1, and 2 Alligators, Joseph, and Bedhead

I need to remember to return the duck tape to the Janitor's office. I needed it to tape a lock to a door just in case it should shut and lock when I am hanging my coat their in the morning. But, I really went to get the tape because it was needed to get some decorations to stick for the Reader's Theater presented by the 2nd grade. I was a stage hand that was asked to move a tree. The show took place at the media center and they have been practicing here all week.

There were vistors here at the school observing the IB program. There was an asssistant absent from school today. So, it was a bit busy.

Ok, so the lessons went well. Students differ per class. I do not think I should compare students but I should compare my approaches.

I introduced myself to the students. It is important that they know how to approach me should they need something. I met them in a variety of ways and I know how important it is to get to know them.

The lesson was better received by the morning kindergarten class than the later one. Perhaps this has something to do with how I approached it or a number of other reasons. We were out of our element. We were near the stage where there were artifacts that could easily be touched by little paws.

The decoration in the media center were just admired by a parent.

I also just spoke to some parents about some book interests for them and their sons.

Week 2--First Read Aloud, Videotaping, Lab

I caught a bug of some sort. Apparently, these things happen in schools. I believe that taking the advice of a new colleague that my cold was alleviated somewhat naturally. Grapefruit Seed extract seems to have helped as may have the little bit extra of rest, the chicken noodle soup from 2 days before finally kicking in, and the tea and honey diet!

I read my first story to the students by preparing just 40 minutes prior. Nely and I reviewed.

I will be using the tips and suggestions in my future lessons.

I have also videotaped a renown reading specialist working with the students. I have seen the line of action in such a small task of that such as

Days 4 and 5 Kindergarten KidPix--Custom Animation (Power Point)--Coral--Government

I observed a Kindergarten teacher demonstrating students how to use the Paint Bucket, Pencil, and Eraser in KidPix. It was also the first time it wa revealed that it is a water hose that erases the entire page and not a vacuum as one might expect who is working at a fast rate.

The K teacher had all students sit in the front on the floor as I have seen other teachers and then see modeled what they were to do. The intro. works well and they do not do much because the teacher just wants to familiarize them with such things as logging on to the computer, opening the program, etc.

Can the Math games in Everyday Math be boring? What technologies can make it better?

Day 3 Coral Reef Continues

After observing the first read-aloud with second grade yesterday, my cooperating teacher, Ms. Miguel and I have discussed some questions I had about how to approach the students in this environment should a given situation arise.

She suggested to me, that should their behavior be inappropriate that they be stopped and asked to read a sign that is located near the three stairs. It has been mentioned to me that the design of the library creates a desire for the students to jump or play. I do not think that that type of architecture should be created since the design might mimic that of a playground.

I have just spent my second day working with the 5th grade on their Coral Reef projects. I see how the teacher has prepared the Media Specialist with a list of topics and the students who have chosen them. I really like having the information in front of me.

I have seen how Ms. Miguel approches their research regarding Lexile reading level and full text items. I have also observed how she modeled how to tell if a web site is credible. It was very eye-awakening and smoothly executed. She went to google and searched "Coral Polyps". She discussed the first two results, Enchanted Learning and Wikipedia. Said how high school students are not allowed to use as a source but how she uses it but not as her only form of research. She then found a page that appeared to have good information and showed how many steps it took to find out who the creators of the site were. It was obvious to the class that searching using iCONN was the best bet!

I have observed first grade as well as Kindergarten read-alouds yesterday. I assisted the students in group work working in a group with a student who did not seem to have placement as well as another one. I then assisted other students in searching for books and even reading excerpts from books for others students. I tended to focus on making sure students who were not allowed to check out book because they had not returned theirs. I spent small amounts of time with them reviewing books in the library since they would not be able to take anything home.

A 4th grade class came to the library to perform a scavenger hunt. Not much library background information was given to the students before they were released to start finding matches from one column to the next. I observed that certain students were able to match but not know were the books were located. It is easy to infer that B matches Biography but to know where a biography is located is more difficult. This hunt revealed how students approach a task as well as methods of solution.

Nely and I ended the school day by reviewing student teaching paperwork, discussing collaborative approaches, and the inquiry-based program.

Day 1 & 2

I found my way to the school. A new route. This is always valuable when traveling around town.

I learned many things yesterday. I learned that Mondays are usually slow. I had many initial meetings with faculty members in which I will be collaborating.

The IB or inquiry-based curriculum has been revealed to me within my first hour here at Dundee. I was immediately included by Nely Miguel to attend the committee meeting.

I have been very impressed with her aptness to include me in on these meetings.

I discovered where the faculty room is, where the bathroom is, and a few other things that seem to be minor but are so essential!

Assisting a 3rd grade class with branches of the government and discovering what the first grade curriculum among the meetings make a pretty satisfying first day for a person aspiring to be a Media Specialist.

Following my first day, I found my second day to be much more smoother after names and discussions have begun to be established.

The first class I assisted this morning worked well. It was a 5th grade research class that has had excellent exposure to technology (way to go Nely) . I attribute my evaluation of the productivity of the class not only because I was comfortable with the project (researching coral reefs), but also because I had spoken with the classroom teacher yesterday in the faculty lunch room. The ice was broken and thus we were ready to work together with and for the students.