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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Monday. 11.7.11
Today when I got to class I went to the art room. In the art room I was cutting stripes of paper with quotes on them. My cooperating teacher does a reading and running program. She found out the students really liked her quotes, so she gives them a motivational quote everyday after reading and running. When I got done cutting paper I started helping students 1:1. I helped a couple students with math and then one student with reading. After helping the students I observed the teacher, teaching the math lesson. After the math lesson, and helping students for a little while I left.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Friday 11.4.11
Today we started with math. The students were doing a worksheet that was challenging. After the worksheet, we started the next math lesson. Then I took 9 students to the hallway to read. The students were disrespectful during the reading. After the book they got to take an online quiz about the book for free points. Since many students weren't listening not very many got the free points. Then I went to the third grade. There, I did a lot of grading and entered grades in the grade book. Then I went back to the fourth grade. I gave a student a spelling test 1:1 and it was successful! Then the crazy day was over.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday. 11.2.11
Today we started with math. I took a student to the back of the room to work with him 1:1. That took about and hour and a half. Then I went in the hallway and hung up art projects. After that, I went to the third grade. It was a student's birthday so I got a cupcake!! I helped the teacher fix her projector and then the students were reading. While the students were reading I just observed. Then I went back to the fourth grade. The student's did silent reading until recess.
Wednesday. 10/26/11
The students had testing all day, but I was able to pick at my teachers brain.
Her favorite type of assessment is using the white boards.
Her help for new teachers is to not get over involved. You are a teacher your job is 7:30-4, then you have family time.
The thing she encouraged the most was to be assertive.
Her favorite type of assessment is using the white boards.
Her help for new teachers is to not get over involved. You are a teacher your job is 7:30-4, then you have family time.
The thing she encouraged the most was to be assertive.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday. 10.24.11
Today the students had state tests. I got to do tedious little jobs for four hours. The longest day of my entire life. Then after the tedious jobs I went home.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Wednesday. 10.19.2011
Today I started by stapling the student's art projects to construction paper. The most difficult part of this task was figuring out who made what because I was suppose to put the students name on the back of the construction paper. After that I took a student to the back of the classroom to work on additional math problems while the teacher was going over the lesson. The student enjoyed the attention but also was able to better understand the content. After math is language arts. The students had the computer lab today! South Elementary has a traveling computer lab. This type of lab is nice for larger schools. Coincidentally they have the same computers that I had in high school. The memories I have of these laptops where nightmarish. All I remember is having to re-image numerous computers and the dreadful "blue screen of death". So to continue the nightmares one of the computers did not connect to the network so you could not even log in. The student's were able to take quizzes online over books they have read. The kids were in groups of four to six. The different groups had different books. Within the groups students were able to ask each other questions about what they did not understand and talk about what they enjoyed most about the book. When the students took the quizzes online they were able to work together in their group. Once the groups were done with the quizzes it was time for ph. ed..
During ph.ed. I went to the third grade room like usually. Today the third graders were in the library learning about resources so I was sent to another third grade room. Since it is a short week because of parent teachers conferences the teachers were caught up. So I went back to the third grade room I am usually in and organized bags of shapes for the students. I really liked how the teacher labeled each bag with the students name so she knew they all had their own bag. After that I went back to the fourth grade room and corrected papers. Not long after I started correcting the students came back from ph. ed..
After pe. ed. the students continued working on their clay projects. The students were split into 5 groups and were assigned a section of a book they had read in class. In the groups they got to make a clay representation of what they thought of the section of the book they were assigned. The students were extremely creative and artistic. While working on their projects I was walking between groups to see what they had done and what they were adding to their projects. One student called me over to a group, so I went to see what his question was. His question was, "Mrs. Bollingberg, will you be my girlfriend?" How do you politely turn down a fourth grader especially when they are singing to you. #Awkward. Now it was time for recess/lunch. The students lined up for recess and when they were quiet and standing with their arms by their sides they were able to go. After they left, my day was over.
During ph.ed. I went to the third grade room like usually. Today the third graders were in the library learning about resources so I was sent to another third grade room. Since it is a short week because of parent teachers conferences the teachers were caught up. So I went back to the third grade room I am usually in and organized bags of shapes for the students. I really liked how the teacher labeled each bag with the students name so she knew they all had their own bag. After that I went back to the fourth grade room and corrected papers. Not long after I started correcting the students came back from ph. ed..
After pe. ed. the students continued working on their clay projects. The students were split into 5 groups and were assigned a section of a book they had read in class. In the groups they got to make a clay representation of what they thought of the section of the book they were assigned. The students were extremely creative and artistic. While working on their projects I was walking between groups to see what they had done and what they were adding to their projects. One student called me over to a group, so I went to see what his question was. His question was, "Mrs. Bollingberg, will you be my girlfriend?" How do you politely turn down a fourth grader especially when they are singing to you. #Awkward. Now it was time for recess/lunch. The students lined up for recess and when they were quiet and standing with their arms by their sides they were able to go. After they left, my day was over.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Monday. 10.17.11
As soon as I got to the classroom, my cooperating teacher was elated two practicum students would be in today. Today she is getting ready for parent-teacher conferences! Everything was quite hectic. The other practicum student there goes to MSUM. We got to make packets for the students, and cut out a billion flashcards for math. I think tonight I will dream about cutting out flashcards. We, the other practicum student and I, cut out sooo many flashcards our hands were cramping and our arms were starting to get tired. After doing that for what felt like all morning, the students were split into their reading books based on what book they had been assigned to read earlier. I was given the opportunity to read the fourth grade's favorite book. There was six of us in the group that I was in. Like every group, the reading levels of each student varied significantly. My group was able to get through ten pages or about one chapter. The students reading the book are kept on edge because they always leave off on bad spots. The spots that leave you in suspense and all you can do is read on because it is that good. After the reading the fourth grade had art.
During art, I went to the third grade. In third grade, the teacher was reading stories that described specific objects or items and the kids had to guess what the item was based on the clues. This activity helped the kids use their knowledge of the specific item to think about the clues listed to guess. The students also had to pick out specific lines in the story that helped them figure out what the object was. This was a difficult concept for the students to grasp. This third grade classroom is all over. It is extremely difficult, nearly impossible, to keep them on task. They even got their snack taken away because they could not be responsible during snack time.
Once the third grade's language art block was done, they went to P.E. and I went back to the fourth grade. At this time, all the fourth grade students went to their assigned reading teacher. The first task was to think about a statement by Dr. Seuess. "A person is a person no matter how small." The kids enjoyed this because they had read or seen Horton Hears a Who. The answers that the students came up with were deep. It was neat to hear their opinions on this subject. Once they finished that we split the room, girls on one side boys on the other. I got the half with all the girls. We got to do a baseball crossword puzzle. We were only able to complete about eight clues on the puzzle. Then the teacher said it was time for lunch! When the students had left the teacher and I talked about the day and how crazy this week will be since it is a short week. Then I was done for the day.
During art, I went to the third grade. In third grade, the teacher was reading stories that described specific objects or items and the kids had to guess what the item was based on the clues. This activity helped the kids use their knowledge of the specific item to think about the clues listed to guess. The students also had to pick out specific lines in the story that helped them figure out what the object was. This was a difficult concept for the students to grasp. This third grade classroom is all over. It is extremely difficult, nearly impossible, to keep them on task. They even got their snack taken away because they could not be responsible during snack time.
Once the third grade's language art block was done, they went to P.E. and I went back to the fourth grade. At this time, all the fourth grade students went to their assigned reading teacher. The first task was to think about a statement by Dr. Seuess. "A person is a person no matter how small." The kids enjoyed this because they had read or seen Horton Hears a Who. The answers that the students came up with were deep. It was neat to hear their opinions on this subject. Once they finished that we split the room, girls on one side boys on the other. I got the half with all the girls. We got to do a baseball crossword puzzle. We were only able to complete about eight clues on the puzzle. Then the teacher said it was time for lunch! When the students had left the teacher and I talked about the day and how crazy this week will be since it is a short week. Then I was done for the day.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Monday. 10.10.11
Today we started with a math sheet for review. Every morning the students do "bell work". Bell work in this class is a math worksheet, a review from the previous days work, that should take about 15-30 minutes. Today bell work took 1 hour. That let the teacher know that students are not studying their math flash cards at home because the worksheet they did was easy. Since the worksheet took the full hour, a math lesson was not taught today. The teacher had to reteach the students how to complete the worksheet. There is pressure on the students to understand the material right away because the curriculum moves at a super high pace. After math, the students pulled out their personal narratives. The teacher, para, and I went over the students' essay layout sheet. It was obvious students did not know how many sentences need to be in a paragraph, what a paragraph was, or how the paragraphs could be put 'together' without making the essay 1 big paragraph. That confusion by the kids let us know that this writing assignment will be a long process. Once that was finished the 4th graders had health. The 3rd grade teacher was gone so the 3rd graders were doing art. Because of that, I cut out paper for an art project for the 4th grade class. Once that was completed, it was time for guided reading. All the fourth graders were split up between the teachers. Only 4 of our class stayed in the classroom and all the others in the class were in different rooms. With all the other kids in my teachers group, we had 16 students. During this time, the teacher, para, and I were 3 different stations. From there the kids were assigned to a station and we started reading. After the reading, it was time for lunch. At this time I usually leave, but since it was raining outside recess was inside. At this time, I helped the teacher set up stations for the students for inside recess.
Behavior Differences.
In the 4th grade, the students are well mannered. I have not seen a kid get sent to the hallway or the principals office. If a student speaks out of turn, or is doing something wrong, the teacher calmly tells the student to pay attention. The student doesn't complain, back talk, or make any rude comments. All the students do what they are told. I also noticed there is not a behavior chart, so I am interested to find out how the teacher keeps her class in line.
Where as the 3rd grade students are just crazy. The teacher disciplines them everyday and threatens to take snack away. It seems like the kids think they run the class. The students talk out of turn, forget to raise their hand, and are disrespectful. I noticed in the 3rd grade class, the teacher points out the students who are listening and following directions. The other students are understanding why the teacher is doing that, they are just looking for attention. It is interesting to notice the differences between the 3rd and 4th grade.
Behavior Differences.
In the 4th grade, the students are well mannered. I have not seen a kid get sent to the hallway or the principals office. If a student speaks out of turn, or is doing something wrong, the teacher calmly tells the student to pay attention. The student doesn't complain, back talk, or make any rude comments. All the students do what they are told. I also noticed there is not a behavior chart, so I am interested to find out how the teacher keeps her class in line.
Where as the 3rd grade students are just crazy. The teacher disciplines them everyday and threatens to take snack away. It seems like the kids think they run the class. The students talk out of turn, forget to raise their hand, and are disrespectful. I noticed in the 3rd grade class, the teacher points out the students who are listening and following directions. The other students are understanding why the teacher is doing that, they are just looking for attention. It is interesting to notice the differences between the 3rd and 4th grade.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Wednesday. 10.5.11
Today we started by getting a new seating assignment! A couple girls came to the classroom early to help rearrange the desks. Then we started the day by doing a math worksheet. After that we went over the math homework from the previous day then continued on into today's lesson. We are learning about place values. After math we have language arts. After the lesson was taught, we brainstormed topics for personal narratives. Some struggled with brainstorming and others were extremely efficient. Then we went to recess!
I went to the 3rd grade. There we have been struggling with snack time because it is just so exciting. While we had snack, we also practiced cursive handwriting. Following the handwriting, the class listened to a story read by the teacher. After the story and snack time, we started going into compound sentences. Then I went back to the 4th grade room. There we did math flip cards until lunch. And that was when I left.
What I learned:
1. Wednesday's are when most teachers have their 'bad days'.
2. Have the class sign a picture frame to have the class picture in is awesome! And hanging the picture in the classroom is great to let the students see past classes.
3. Having individual areas in the classroom such as the library, study table, etc. are good ways to break up the room and it helps when students are split into groups.
4. Giving students partners is great to check over homework, do worksheets together, do group work.
5. Holding off on exciting books or things that students like is good, it keeps them thinking about it and the students don't get bored with it.
6. Have a homework pass for when students forget homework. When they sign the pass, they are excused from Friday fun to work on homework.
7. Having kids bring an organizer is a good way to keep class work organized. Each day the students bring the the folder home to complete homework. In the morning they bring it back to school and the folder has the assignments in it.
I went to the 3rd grade. There we have been struggling with snack time because it is just so exciting. While we had snack, we also practiced cursive handwriting. Following the handwriting, the class listened to a story read by the teacher. After the story and snack time, we started going into compound sentences. Then I went back to the 4th grade room. There we did math flip cards until lunch. And that was when I left.
What I learned:
1. Wednesday's are when most teachers have their 'bad days'.
2. Have the class sign a picture frame to have the class picture in is awesome! And hanging the picture in the classroom is great to let the students see past classes.
3. Having individual areas in the classroom such as the library, study table, etc. are good ways to break up the room and it helps when students are split into groups.
4. Giving students partners is great to check over homework, do worksheets together, do group work.
5. Holding off on exciting books or things that students like is good, it keeps them thinking about it and the students don't get bored with it.
6. Have a homework pass for when students forget homework. When they sign the pass, they are excused from Friday fun to work on homework.
7. Having kids bring an organizer is a good way to keep class work organized. Each day the students bring the the folder home to complete homework. In the morning they bring it back to school and the folder has the assignments in it.
Monday, October 3, 2011
To travel is better than to arrive.
"Some famous guy once said, 'To travel is better than to arrive'. and I was like 'What!?' Well, because I used to think that there was only one path to take to where you wanna get to be in life. But if you choose that one path, that does not mean you have to abandon all the others. I realized that it is actually what happens along the way that counts. The stumbles or the falls. The friendships. It is the journey. Not the destination. You just gotta -I guess- trust the future will work itself out like it is supposed to."
-Moose (Adam G. Sevani)
Sometimes the journey is not what we expect. However, it is the knowledge we gain, the people we meet, and the mistakes we learn from that gets us to where we want to be in life.
When we just have the destination in mind it skews the direction we want to go in and the way we ultimately perceive things. By only seeing the destination in mind we do not realize the obstacles we are going to have to go through to get there. I think this quote truly defines that we will not get anywhere in life without having to work hard for whatever it is we want to achieve or where we want to get. We WILL have to work hard and put in the effort to learn. We WILL meet people, make friendships, and build relationship-some that last and some that do not, unfortunately. And we WILL make mistakes. With those mistakes and failures we will have to learn to pick ourselves back up.
Also, do not take the simple things for granted. Every day we are fortunate enough to just take a breathe of fresh air. A lot of us do not think about the lives we live on a daily basis. Sometimes we even think our blessed lives are miserable. We do not realize that there are kids and families around the world who barely make $1 a day, do not have food on the table, do not even have a table, and there main focus is survival. We are so caught up about the way we look and what others may think about us when in reality it does not matter. We often think too much about the future and what is up ahead than just enjoying now.
What makes life so precious? It is the journey we go through. What we experience and what we gain from those experiences while headed towards the destination. The end result.
-Moose (Adam G. Sevani)
Sometimes the journey is not what we expect. However, it is the knowledge we gain, the people we meet, and the mistakes we learn from that gets us to where we want to be in life.
When we just have the destination in mind it skews the direction we want to go in and the way we ultimately perceive things. By only seeing the destination in mind we do not realize the obstacles we are going to have to go through to get there. I think this quote truly defines that we will not get anywhere in life without having to work hard for whatever it is we want to achieve or where we want to get. We WILL have to work hard and put in the effort to learn. We WILL meet people, make friendships, and build relationship-some that last and some that do not, unfortunately. And we WILL make mistakes. With those mistakes and failures we will have to learn to pick ourselves back up.
Also, do not take the simple things for granted. Every day we are fortunate enough to just take a breathe of fresh air. A lot of us do not think about the lives we live on a daily basis. Sometimes we even think our blessed lives are miserable. We do not realize that there are kids and families around the world who barely make $1 a day, do not have food on the table, do not even have a table, and there main focus is survival. We are so caught up about the way we look and what others may think about us when in reality it does not matter. We often think too much about the future and what is up ahead than just enjoying now.
What makes life so precious? It is the journey we go through. What we experience and what we gain from those experiences while headed towards the destination. The end result.
Monday. 10.3.11.
Day one. Check. Day two. I got to the school super early...suprise suprise. When I walked in the door, I saw one of my fourth graders. She ran up to me and told me she hurt her wrist at the skate park this weekend. She has taken LOTS of pain killers and still can't move her wrist. As soon as I got to my teacher's classroom I was sent to cut paper for her. That was a tedious job, but the office ladies are awesome. After that, we started out the day with math! When I was observing I sat by a girl whose birthday is on FRIDAY!! So we talked all about her plans:) I am probably more a distraction to some students, but they rock my socks off. After math, the students had health and I ventured to the 3rd grade room. There, the students were going over reading comprehension. I was able to work individually with two students for 45 minutes. After that I went back to the fourth graders. We started going over a reading lesson. During the reading lesson, my teacher had me do this really loud task of opening trash bags and shoving them in shirts that were going to be bleached. After that I got to walk 3rd graders to recess, which was across the street. Then I tried running back to the fourth graders to try and nab some apple crisp. We were celebrating a students mother passing her citizenship test. But I missed out on the apple crisp:( Then we split the class in two groups, boys and girls. I got all the girls and we started reading a book. They were super crazy! I'm really not sure how much reading we accomplished, but they are really good at grunting. We practiced!! After the grunting, it was time for lunch and that is when I checked out.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Exciting News
When I was talking to a student, she told me that her mom had just passed the citizenship test! That means that the rest of her family automatically becomes legalized citizens. The other kids in the class began congratulating the new "legalized citizen". Because of the diversity in Fargo the students knew what a citizenship test was and the importance of the test. The students also knew that this student became a legalized citizen automatically because her mom passed the test. And because this class is full of little Einstein's they knew the president, Obama, signs the citizenship certificate!
And now we get to have a party in class one day!!
And now we get to have a party in class one day!!
Day 1. South Elementary. 9/28/2011.
I finally get to start observing! When I got to the school I was starting to get nervous, more of an excited nervous. First, I went to the office to sign-in and get a visitor lanyard. The nice lady in the office told me my classroom was at the other end of the school. She said you'll take a left go to the end of the hallway and turn left again..etc. until you have taken 4 left turns and your teacher's room is two doors down. While walking to the room, I just felt like I was walking "the walk to shame". While I was walking by classrooms, I began to realize they were all empty! So of course, I start freaking out. Finally after the long hall to my classroom, there was a teacher and students!! The teacher was explaining math to students, and these students were actively engaged. I was not freaking out anymore and became more confident. It was awesome to be told that when I am there the students are learning math and reading. I got to meet all my awesome students who were filled with joy and excited to have a visitor. As the teacher continued her lesson I took a seat next to a red head. She was on cloud 9 because I, this visitor, was sitting next to her. Not only was I sitting next to her, I was interested in what she had to say. The more this girl talked, she got more comfortable, excited, and confident. After the lesson the kids had a worksheet to do. While the kids were working I was able to walk around the room and help kids. After the worksheet, the kids played an adding game with cards. It was exciting because it was a game!! AND I got to play! Following the game was snack time. During snack time all kids are provided with fruits and juice or milk. They are able to provide there students with healthy snacks because of a grant they received. Once snack was over the kids read the books for a little while. After some reading it was time for ph. ed. and the dreaded mile. While the kids were running the mile(thankfully I did NOT have to) I was able to go to the third grade and tutor a struggling student. I loved being able to go from a class of 25 to working with one kid. I feel I will benefit from this opportunity because I'm able to learn more. When the students get back from p.e. we start going over advanced words. When going over the words, the students draw and explain their pictures that explain the meaning of the word. Ex. reminiscence-a memory. One student went to Disney World with her family, so every time she hears Disney World she thinks of her family trip. The students go over 3-4 new words each day. After reading the students were off to lunch. As I was leaving the classroom, the boys told me I was stuck in their classroom forever and that I could not leave.
Overall, this experience was phenomenal. My cooperative teacher and I just click and are so much alike. She is young, down to earth, energetic, and fun to be around. I would consider day 1 a success.
Overall, this experience was phenomenal. My cooperative teacher and I just click and are so much alike. She is young, down to earth, energetic, and fun to be around. I would consider day 1 a success.
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