Friday (Day 25)

Reading/ELA/Grammar:
     Metaphors, Synonyms, Antonyms, and Spelling Words review.

Math:
     Today, I had to prepare for my second Supervisor Observation.  Each time my supervisor visits, I feel that I am under an enormous amount of pressure.   He only comes for 30 minutes and in that time I have to be the best of the best no matter what happens!  It is really hard to plan for because he is only getting a glimpse of what I do on a daily basis.  When my Collaborating Teacher observes me, he can pick what lesson he wants to critique.  So, he has weeks and days to choose what he wants to score.  But my Supervisor gives me only one chance.......and in those few minutes, I must shine!
     *I am not complaining because, when he left, he told me I did a wonderful job and I received all positive marks!

Counseling-Every Friday until November 2nd

Thursday (Day 24)

I finally completed my scarecrow door decoration!  I think I may eventually add a large hat on top just so others will recognize what it is supposed to really be.

Specials: Planning Period

Writing/Reading: Worksheet reviews and Reviewing Science Fiction books

Wednesday (Day 23)

Grammar-
     Focus on Spelling Words

*Spanish-This schedule is not consistent.  Our Spanish teacher's schedule has been split between two schools.  Some days we have it and some days we don't.  I honestly do not think it is good for our students to receive only a small bit of instruction in a foreign language. Our students really need to be exposed to this and it feels unfair that our students seem to be left out.  (Especially since I know other schools are receiving daily foreign language instruction!)

Reading/Writing-
     Worksheets: Fluency, Vocabulary, and Sentence Structures.

Science-
     For Science today, I had almost two full classes in my classroom.  Since the other student teacher across the hall had to tape her lesson, and some students didn't bring their permission slips back, she had to send some of her students into my room.  I had to tailor my lesson plan so that all of the students would still get instruction and learn at the same time.  I read some of the chapter with them and then gave them some workbook pages to complete.  At the end, we reviewed them to discuss the different answers some of them could have given. All of the students were respectful and gave me their undivided attention!  It was wonderful! But I sure wouldn't want 35 students in my classroom on a daily basis!

Tuesday (Day 22)

Morning Specials & Planning.
    Planning went well, we addressed some concerns about turning in lesson plans on time and guiding our team members instruction.
     We went over some useful tools for instruction and I had to zone in on this one:

KHAN Academy~It has thousands of lesson plans and videos for teaching all subjects!
Website Link:  http://www.khanacademy.org/

Reading-
     We began to read "Zathura" for our Science Fiction unit.

Math centers continued.
    Warm-up: Adding and Subtracting Decimals 

Social Studies-
     I was provided with a late version of the Civil War test that my students had to take.
     Students were given my Reconstruction Pre-Test.

Science-
     Students learned more information about learned behaviors and instincts.

*Faculty Meeting*

*Common Core Math Meeting*

Macho Monday! (Day 21)

 Today is the day that I began to teach all subjects!  Everything went smoothly and I felt like a Macho woMan! (Get it? Macho Man? -__- )

Grammar- Spelling Worksheet
Reading-Worksheet 
      Worksheet
      **New week of Science Fiction!!**
     -Who Says Robots Can't Think?
        Cause and Event Review - Students learned a new way to write the cause and events that occur in a story by using something similar to a timeline.
Monday Math Centers:
     Focus on Rounding Decimals and Review
     ~Maintenance-roll dice and record numbers, get largest numbers
     ~Maintenance-round largest numbers
     ~Intervention-Math multiplication cards, Multiplication and Division string key card review
     ~Exploration-Brainstorm cards, math manipulatives: to show how many different ways they could make specific decimals using what materials they had.


~My blogging has been getting shorter as of lately.  I did not realize how much energy I am drained of after school gets out.  I hope this next week will be better.~

Week in Review

Week of September 17th-21st

On Monday, the students had Math testing to access where they were at in relation being ready for the CRCT testing for spring.  The results won’t be back for a few weeks but I must say that I only think a small handful of my students are on track for passing the CRCT.  Many of my students struggle with Reading and Math.  They need a great deal of remedial work before they can begin to study at the level they should be at.  I hope that this semester, I will be able to get more of the students on track for their testing in the Spring.

Since I picked up Grammar/Readng/ELA as my third subject to teach, I hope that I can begin to give them the practice they need. With Social Studies this week, the students were creating a culminating group activity.  They began to create their projects on Monday and continued working on Tuesday.  Most of the groups were very self motivated.  But on Tuesday, I had to take a group off to the side and talk to them because they were refusing to work together.  I tried to remedy the situation by reminding them that everyone must get along and be mindful of their actions as a group because the process of group decision making and collaboration extends into the world outside of school. After we talked through their problems, they changed their intentions and decided to work together.  I had to talk to the students with a firm tone and it seemed to get my point across.  I am realizing, that with these students, it is a must to change my tone in certain situations because most of them only respond when the teacher is yelling at them. (Which is sad, but that is the only time they know they have done something wrong.

            Wednesday began with my Grammar lesson observation.  I am very pleased on how the lesson went smoothly and how it was received well by the students.  I thought my activities were engaging and fun.  After reviewing the comments you left me, I realized that I failed to put very much emphasis on a connection with other disciplines and a connection to the “real” world.  I am usually very good at this but for some reason I neglected to put much thought into those aspects for this lesson.  It has been so easy for me to connect Social Studies and Science to Reading/ELA and the outside world.  But, I suppose I have never really put much thought into connecting Grammar with other disciplines.  I could have talked about the history of prefixes and suffixes more in depth rather than just simply touching on it briefly.  (I mentioned that they were from Latin and Greek but failed to mention how that impacted our world today.)  Next time, I will be more mindful of this.

            I was very excited to see that I received an exceeding on technology for my lesson.  I have been playing around with the Smart Board and their ActivExpressions for a few weeks.  It has taken me a good bit of time to get used to using these in lessons.  In the spring, I tried to use these in my TOSS classroom but I was not very successful at it.  Even though I am young, I seem to have some problems with understanding technology. Therefore, I am thankful I have a Collaborating Teacher who has an affinity for technology and can help guide my need for technological integration in my lessons. 

            On Thursday, most of my lessons were taken away by our specials and CRCT writer’s workshop.  But I was very happy that the students were able to present their Civil War culminating projects.  I had four groups: group #1 made a PowerPoint, group #2 made a newspaper, group #3 created a monument, and group #4 created a play.  All of their presentations were simply wonderful.  I would have liked to invited Ms.Harmon to visit and watch them because they were so creative and fun.  My students went above and beyond.  They added raps, props, and costumes to their projects and they weren’t even required to.  It was one of the best days that I have had so far a Gideons.  I felt like it is one of those days I will remember forever because it stands for all of the reasons why I want to be a teacher. 

          Field trip Friday! All of the students had a lot of fun and were excited to learn about all of the animals at the  aquarium.  They continuously asked questions and were excited to inform me about the new facts they learned about the sea creatures.  I love field trips and I think they are necessary for all students to connect the outside world with their textbooks.  They need to know that the things in their books are real and important.  ~We also had a new student show up on this day.  He was able to go on the field trip and I think this made his first day one to remember.~

Field Trip Friday! (Day 20)

     Today we went to the lovely Georgia Aquarium!  All of the students who were able to attend school went on the trip.  They all participated in the behind the scenes tour and really enjoyed themselves on excursion.

My students on the Behind the Scenes Tour.  

(Look closely through the glass and you can see the Whale Shark swimming by.)

 My students watching the Beluga Whales elegantly float by.

Some of my students in the middle of the penguin exhibit.  

(They had such a great time crawling through all of the tunnels they could find at the Aquarium!)

Hello, Mr. Scuba Diver!  

One day, I too would like to swim with the "fishies!"
:)