Week of 3/11/10
I have to admit that are many days when I feel like I should just give up. School seems so incredibly overwhelming on top of work, keeping up with my house, and making sure I have enough time for my daughter and husband - forget ever seeing friends! This is why I'm so happy that we are required to do fieldwork.
Although the mere thought of scheduling it stresses me out - trying to find a free day is ridiculous - it feels great to get into a school and be surrounded by what I want to do! I took some time during our spring break at MSMC to do my fieldwork for my curriculum class and had a great time. I was in a 5th grade classroom where the children were welcoming and inquisitive and the teacher was more than helpful.
I was there to observe how the teacher plans her lessons, her classroom setup and extra activities. I think I took about 60 pictures to capture the day! I learned a lot of simple and useful tools to save onto for the future that day. I really loved the teacher's rewards system - she gives away popsicle sticks to students who are exhibiting good behavoir and producing good work. The students save these sticks to "buy" prizes at the end of the week, or they can save them to buy something bigger at any given time. It was a very inexpensive yet effective way to positively reinforce good behavior.
I was also relieved to see that all of the 5th grade teachers meet every August to plan the curriculum for that year. They map all courses out making sure all standards will be met. Before speaking with this teacher I was really unsure how this worked, and was terrified at the idea of doing it on my own. It was really reassuring to hear about how they all work together to accomplish the main goal, while still leaving room to mold the direct lessons with their own creativity.
I also had the oppurtunity to prepare the students spelling words for the next week on Wordle.net, they LOVED it! Now, all of the 5th grade teachers are using it!
Here are some pictures I'm going to include with my report, I don't want to give away toooo much! :)
I have to admit that are many days when I feel like I should just give up. School seems so incredibly overwhelming on top of work, keeping up with my house, and making sure I have enough time for my daughter and husband - forget ever seeing friends! This is why I'm so happy that we are required to do fieldwork.
Although the mere thought of scheduling it stresses me out - trying to find a free day is ridiculous - it feels great to get into a school and be surrounded by what I want to do! I took some time during our spring break at MSMC to do my fieldwork for my curriculum class and had a great time. I was in a 5th grade classroom where the children were welcoming and inquisitive and the teacher was more than helpful.
I was there to observe how the teacher plans her lessons, her classroom setup and extra activities. I think I took about 60 pictures to capture the day! I learned a lot of simple and useful tools to save onto for the future that day. I really loved the teacher's rewards system - she gives away popsicle sticks to students who are exhibiting good behavoir and producing good work. The students save these sticks to "buy" prizes at the end of the week, or they can save them to buy something bigger at any given time. It was a very inexpensive yet effective way to positively reinforce good behavior.
I was also relieved to see that all of the 5th grade teachers meet every August to plan the curriculum for that year. They map all courses out making sure all standards will be met. Before speaking with this teacher I was really unsure how this worked, and was terrified at the idea of doing it on my own. It was really reassuring to hear about how they all work together to accomplish the main goal, while still leaving room to mold the direct lessons with their own creativity.
I also had the oppurtunity to prepare the students spelling words for the next week on Wordle.net, they LOVED it! Now, all of the 5th grade teachers are using it!
Here are some pictures I'm going to include with my report, I don't want to give away toooo much! :)
This one girl was so funny - she is looking at the camera in every picture, she was really trying to make friends with me that day :)
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