// Just Jump In \\

When I stepped onto the grounds of Hogwarts Elementary School, my thoughts as to how the day was going to play out were nothing like what actually happened…

Arriving before the students, I took the silent opportunity to discuss a few things with my collaborating teacher, Madam Hooch. As I mentioned an observation lesson, she–without hesitation and unexpectedly–suggested that I should just teach today for practice. Almost immediately my heart rate escalated. Madam Hooch, sensing my anxiety, reassured me that she would be right here and that they best way to learn is to just jump in. Although “just jump in” is often clique, preferably I like slow, steady, gradual steps; However, even with a slight uncomfortable feeling, I listened tentatively to her explanation of the guided reading lesson she wanted me to do. Since reading is the last subject covered in the school day, I was able to briefly review the questions throughout the day. After she finished explained the guided reading to me, she went even further to ask me (excitedly) if I wanted to teach the math lesson as well. At this point I was feeling slightly overwhelmed, and the day hadn’t even started. Nevertheless, I proceed to ask what they were learning about. When Madam Hooch responded with “I don’t know, let’s go see”, I began to understand why she suggested me to “just jump in”. As we both reviewed the math workbook for the first time, I politely but bluntly told Madam Hooch that I really needed to be prepared to teach math since it can be difficult material for many students. With great relief, she understood. As the day carried on, the time gap for reading was drawing closer. Before starting, I passed out character roles to each group since the guided reading was a play. For each scene the character roles were going to rotate between the groups so that every student that wants to read had the opportunity to. As the class and I progressed through the reading, I sensed that the students were quieter and weren’t exactly themselves, but we made it through and the student’s responses to the higher order questions throughout the story were impeccable (FEAP 3f). There was never one time were I didn’t have hands raised to answer a question. When Madam Hooch and I were reflecting on the guided reading she gave me a few pointers that included: walking around the class to prevent behavioral problems, allowing the students to reflect upon a question as a group first, and various phrases that the class is familiar with–i.e. turn and talk indicates to talk to your neighbor.

After the day ended and I was able to clear my head and think about the occurrences of the day, there were many tips and reflections that were extremely useful.

When the students arrive in the morning, they have a routine to fill out their agenda with the following information: topics that will be discussed in each subject, homework, and spelling words. Madam Hooch informed me that her motherly instinct was her drive for this this routine. It is so essential to keep parents involved with your student’s education, and I think that this is a great routine because it not only informs parents of homework, but also about what their children are actually learning about and doing throughout the day because it increases the parental participation. When I’m an educator I’d like to create a weekly newsletter that informs parents or guardians what they can expect in the coming week. I would include information for volunteering opportunities in an effort to increase parental involvement because research in EDP 3273 showed that the expectations and involvement varies greatly on cultural values (FEAP 2d). Parental involvement can do wonders in a child’s education. It can increase attendance, increase positive attitudes and behaviors, increase willingness to do homework, and increase a student’s academic achievement. This is why it’s is so vital to try and reach out to parents and inform them of their child’s education. Another great resource that Madam Hooch presented to me was a Pandora Internet Radio station called ‘Classical goes Pop Radio‘. She was informing me about how students enjoy listening to music while they’re working quietly, but a lot of the Pandora stations aren’t radio edited (Radio edits are when all profanity is taken out). Classical goes Pop offers the tune of familiar songs without any of the words. I always loved when my teachers played music during individual work, so I’m thankful that Madam Hooch provided me with a family friendly route for popular music!

Questions for further development:
1. How can you get a child to do their work without continually asking, if they aren’t really interested in anything?
2.In an upper elementary classroom, how do you include your ELL students without making exceptions that lower expectations?

// First Day Reflection \\

First days are always stomach churning, but when you have a pack that is in the same situation, you know you have people to support you. From the first few minutes of bring in the class, I felt at home. The collaborating teacher did her best at making me feel comfortable and at ease. To give me a chance to learn all the names of the students, my teacher had us get int a circle and play a name game. The games essentially went like this: the first person said an adjective that began with the same letter as their first name followed by their name-for example, marvelous Mindy-then the person to the right repeated the previous adjective and name combination and then added their own combination. As each student repeated what their previous peers had said, the list becomes longer. Naturally, my teacher placed me last so that I was able to recall each student. This short introduction game was perfect for the students with limited English proficiency that are in the class. In TSL 4080’s textbook, The Cross-cultural, Language, and Academic Development Handbook – A Complete K12 Reference Guide, there is a strategy of having every student pronounce their name when schools starts. This mitigates the pressure ELL students may have of mispronouncing their peers names or their peers mispronouncing theirs. (FEAP 2d, 2e, 2f) Creating a safe and respectful environment can do wonders on ELL students. When any individual feels safe within a classroom, they’re much more likely to participate and be engaged with classroom interactions, activities, and lessons.

When my collaborating teacher handed me their weekly schedule, I examined the time slots allocated to each subject. I became concerned when I saw the amount of time was assigned to Social Studies. On Mondays, Social Studies is a thirty minute period; the remaining four days each have a twenty-five minute time slot. I’m not sure who is responsible for creating a teacher’s daily schedule-whether it be the county, the school, or the teacher them self-but I believe that Social Studies isn’t an academic elective. If I wasn’t able to control the amount of time that each subject is given, then I would cross my Social Studies content material into various other lessons throughout the school year. (FEAP 2g, 1b) As the year goes on, I am going to observe if my collaborating teacher uses the cross content strategy within her classroom.

Throughout the day, as the class walked in a line, my collaborating teacher would either comment on how wonderful her “fabulous fifth grade line” or question the students where her “fabulous fifth grade line” was. Her explanation of her frequent line management strategy was actually a tip, educator to educator. She was advised while she was an intern that a teacher’s line is a clear indicator of their classroom management skills. (FEAP 2b, 2c) Although I have observed within an elementary classroom before I never had the chance to examine any classes walking in a line. I think that her tip has real meaning behind it, if a class is having behavior problems while walking in a line, how is their behavior while in class? This is one suggestion that I will definitely carry out in the future.

Towards the end of the day was when their reading lesson was scheduled. During this time my teacher would work with students individually was the remaining students were to work on an assigned analysis task. The class was instructed to either work on their math homework or read if they finished their in-class analysis assignment. Although to a studious student this may seem like a perfect opportunity to finish their homework or catch up on reading, in reality every individual has different attention spans. As the case played out, many students finished their analysis, however very few of them stayed on task afterwards. It got to the point that my teacher first asked me to go around and ask each table how they were staying on task. Then as the talking didn’t stop, she asked me to hand out their version of token economy to students that were on task. I think what could have been done to keep students on task would be to implement the strategy of The Daily 5. RED 4312’s textbook, The Daily 5, describes how a classroom can stay on task with minimal sound level by having the students rotate tasks of their choice as their attention span starts dwindling away. By continually changing the task when the students start getting distracted, it creates an environment that doesn’t allow students too loose focus altogether. (FEAP 2a, 2b, 2c) Implementing this strategy into the classroom would foster an environment where students are able to be independent while the teacher works with students individually.

Knowing that this is only the beginning is an exhilarating feeling. I already know that this journey will provide me with the opportunity to uncover the most effective strategies, activities, and management skills that will guide my future students to success.