Daily Journals January 23 Today I began taking over the read aloud. Mrs.

Steinberg gave me the lesson plan for the rest of the week and told me exactly what I needed to do. I was a little nervous because I wanted to make sure I covered everything on the lesson plan. As I began reading, I became more confident because the kids were so attentive and everything just seemed to flow. After that, Mrs. Steinberg took over the rest of the day. During stations and guided reading, I walked around helping students with their stations or checking their work before turning it in to the turn-in box. During Math, I closely observed Mrs. Steinberg so I could see how she introduced new topics because I want to start taking over Math soon. I also had the opportunity to observe a K-5 class. The little ones were so cute! I could tell they really enjoyed the lesson! I also attended our first grade planning period. It was fun to watch the teachers interact with one another and decide on the following weeks lesson plans. I was glad that Mrs. Steinberg asked me to take over the read aloud because I need practice being in front of the class so I can become comfortable being there. Although I was nervous at first, I am much more confident in doing this lesson with the class. I also liked being able to observe a K-5 class. I originally wanted to teach this grade, but I have had so much experience with first grade, that I feel like this is the grade for me! Sitting in during planning, I got to see how it will be when I fully take over. I will have the other student teachers alongside me and we will be the ones who create lesson plans and activities for the week. I had a great day! January 24 Today during our read aloud, we talked about and read a book on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I even learned information I never knew about him! It is pretty amazing to teach something to your students and learn something along the way yourself! This morning, Mrs. Steinberg asked me to take over some of the morning tasks. I reviewed the calendar with them and I also went over morning work with them. It was a pretty cool experience because I felt as if I was already teaching full time. I got a little nervous when I went over the morning work with the class, but everything flowed smoothly! Like yesterday, I walked around during stations to assist any students that needed help. During Writers Workshop, one of the students asked for my help. They were supposed to be working on their how-tos, but this particular student told me he didnt know how to do anything. It broke my heart to hear him say that, so I pulled up a chair and together we began to pick his brain for ideas. We finally came across something he knew how to do, which was drawing spiders. I got him started and he began to work! Having one-onone time with a student today really made me feel like a teacher! I like working that way because I can pinpoint what exactly he/she needs help with and what I can do to assist them. From this, I have learned that it is a teachers job to encourage their students! Today was a good day overall. I am becoming more and more familiar with my babies and their learning styles. I anticipate the day when Mrs. Steinberg fills out the readiness for full-time teaching sheet! January 27 This week we begin our study on Rosa Parks. We ended our study on MLK, and was introduced to yet another important person in our history. Today I took up the breakfast count. When the students first walked in, I asked anyone to raise their hand if they wanted breakfast. Once I counted and noted how many wanted breakfast, I chose two students to go to the cafeteria and get our breakfast. After that, I began checking folders for homework and/or notes from

parents. Anyone who needed to fix their homework, I would either call to the table or I would go to them and show them what they missed. I have finally become familiar with each students number, so when I organize their folders and papers, I know who goes first, in between, and who is last. This made me feel really accomplished! Doing some of the morning tasks again, really put me in a good mood! I like that I am slowing taking responsibility of the class. Pretty soon, I will be handling ALL of the morning tasks and I CANNOT wait! Today was kind of busy, but a great day nonetheless. January 28 Today was a half day because a winter storm was predicted to hit. All of the kids were excited because they just knew it was going to snow! There was a lot of excitement today. Mrs. Steinberg asked me if I wanted to take over the big book, as well as the read aloud. I gladly accepted! Of course, I was nervous because I have had no experience with teaching from a big book. I have observed teachers do this many times, but I have NEVER done it myself. She gave me the plans and went over what all I would have to do. The kids didnt quite pay attention like I had expected them too, but I blamed it on the weather alert. Since today was a half day, not much could really be done. So the students just finished up some station work and went to their guided reading groups. Although it was a short day, I still had a good day. My favorite part of today was taking over the big book. I have almost made it to completing all morning tasks! January 30 We had a 2-hour delay (due to the snow yesterday) today so we had to change the schedule a little bit. I did our read aloud as usual. I also read the morning message, the survey and the big book too. I enjoyed it as usual. I observed a 3rd grade class today. I surprisingly liked it. I am not sure if I would want to teach 3rd grade, but after watching Mrs. Burkes, I kind of changed my mind a bit. I like 3rd grade, but 1st grade is still choice number one! Today was another planning period day. They talked about the following weeks activities and what we would do for the 100th day of school on Monday. Math this week had been a little frustrating. Some of the students didnt seem to be trying their best. They were learning to tell time to the hour and half hour, but it seemed as if they were just guessing most of the time, instead of making an attempt. It made me a little sad that some of the students were not trying their best. This experience definitely showed me who I will need to really work with when I take over fully. Toady was an okay day, but I continued to keep a smile on my face and do what I could. January 31 Today was supposed to be the 100th day of school, but it was moved to Monday February rd 3 because of the snow day. I ended our big book for the week and reviewed with them before they took their test. As I walked around, it made me feel really good to know the students remembered what I taught them. Some of the student brought in their items for the 100th day of school and it was pretty interesting to see the wide variety of items brought in. During Writers Workshop, I helped another student with their how-to piece. This student struggled a little bit with writing her how-to because she would leave out key details or sometimes her writing was not understandable. I pulled up a chair and we got to work! When I was helping the student during writers workshop, I could tell she really needed encouragement. Overall, I had a great day today! I cannot wait until Monday because all of the 1st grade teachers are dressing up like old ladies!

February 3 Today was the 100th day of school and it was so much fun. The first grade teachers came dressed up as old ladies, and it was hilarious to see the expressions on the students and other teachers faces! Todays activities were centered on the 100th day. Even our read aloud was about the 100th day of school! We started a new big book this week called, The Predator. The ending really surprised the class because the snake swallowed a rat! We listened to it on a tape and followed along as the lady sang. After that, the class wrote about what they would do if they were 100 years old, what they would buy with 100 dollars, and they also drew a picture of themselves as 100 year olds. Today was an awesome and crazy day! I felt confident knowing that this week I would be handling the big book on my own. Thankfully, Mrs. Steinberg gave me some pointers on how to introduce it and how to complete the activity. She is such a helpful teacher! February 4 Today I continued with the big book. We worked on endings such as -s, -es, -ing, and -ed as our ending activity. The kids did such a good job! I was very proud! We started a new read aloud on Thomas Jefferson. I only read half of the book, so we could learn more about him tomorrow. Today was pretty normal, so nothing too new happened. Mrs. Steinberg had the class complete unfinished station work from the previous week so everyone would be caught up. This week they begin February station work. We also started a new lesson in Math today on place value, but specifically ten or more. This is just counting how many groups of ten and whatever is left over. I am not sure everyone understood what they were supposed to, but I will be able to tell when I check their homework in the morning. Mrs. Steinberg told me that we would begin team teaching, so she asked me to teach part of tomorrows math lesson. I got a little nervous because I saw how some of the class struggled with the lesson, but I am confident I can get it done! Overall, today was a pretty good day! February 5 I reviewed the first half of our Thomas Jefferson read aloud to see what they remembered. I then read the second half, and we reviewed the whole book when I finished reading. We then began the big book, which the kids really enjoy! When the instrumental played, all the class sang along! I was very surprised by the students who actually remembered the story word for word. That really made me smile! After we finished our big book lesson, we played a matching game. I created a 3-column chart with Ch, Sh, and Th in the columns. I used the cards from our big book station, and asked the class which card belonged to what digraph group, depending on its initial sound. When I finished, I turned the class back over to Mrs. Steinberg and they began working on buddy study. Mrs. Steinberg had to have a community meeting with the class because they were very chatty during my lesson. From that experience, I know I am going to have to be a little sterner when it comes to getting their attention. Before I left the school, I told Mrs. Steinberg that whenever she is ready for me to take over the morning portion of the day, I am ready! She of course said, Well how about tomorrow? I happily said, Okay! I cannot wait to start doing the morning half of the day by myself!

February 6 I took over all of the morning duties today! I was so excited and very proud of myself! I made sure to carefully observe Mrs. Steinberg when I first began, so I could catch on to the daily routines. I think I did a good job! Today was my first observation with my supervisor. I was a little nervous because I wanted to make sure I was fully prepared to show her a great lesson! After she got settled, I got right into my lesson. I decided to do a big book lesson, since I was most familiar with that procedure. As I think back to when I did my lesson, I feel like I did a good job. I could have done a little better with my time and behavior management. I now know what needs improvement and how I can improve for next time. Overall, I am very proud of myself! I made sure everything was prepared so I was not panicking the day of. I hope to have some more improvement when my second observation comes around! February 7 Taking over morning duties is beginning to feel like second nature; like I have been doing it all year! Today I had the opportunity to administer the students reading test. As I read the test to them, I walked around to see how they were doing since I have been fully taking over reading. I was so amazed and happy to see that they actually remembered the things I taught them. It is a wonderful feeling to know that your students retain information you give them and are able to show that through testing! After giving the test, I thought about things I could have done better such as pronouncing words so students could hear the beginning sounds or the blends in the words. I also administered their math test for the first time too! I am slowly taking over full teaching responsibilities and Mrs. Steinberg is doing an amazing job of guiding me along the way! What an exciting day! February 10 Nothing new happened today. I did my regular morning responsibilities, which are to review calendar and morning work, read the big book, read the read aloud and team-teach math. Today will be my last day team teaching math. I will officially take over math fully tomorrow. I am a little nervous because sometimes teaching math can be a little tricky. The lesson I will be teaching is new, so its a bit exciting! Mrs. Steinberg gave me the math book and gave me ideas on how I can introduce the topic, so I am a bit more confident about tomorrow. I like how Mrs. Steinberg slowly gives me full responsibility. She always makes sure I am ready and comfortable to teach something and is quick to offer any help! I am loving this experience every bit! February 17 We had a little winter storm, so we were out of school for four whole days! This was our first day back, so we were a little behind with things, but Mrs. Steinberg and I made it work! I taught my first math lesson by myself and I felt very confident about it! There were two students who had a little trouble, so I know who I will need to maybe add modifications to the lesson for. I also experienced my first Valentines Day party as a student teacher! I had so much fun watching my students expressions as they received and gave out valentines.

February 18 Today was normal day, so I did not take over anything new. Mrs. Steinberg observed one of my lessons today. She said I did a good job, and gave me advice on ways to keep students attention. We talked about different websites I could go to in order to find little sayings I can use to grab the attention of the students when they get off topic or too loud. I had the opportunity to attend Parent Resource Night, which contained stations set up in the school that provided information about resources in the Greenwood community. I helped people find their designated tables, and greeted families. At the end, I had the opportunity to walk around and pick up informational brochures and cards from some of the tables. I can definitely use some of this information in my future classroom. I am glad I was a part of this night! February 19 Today was my second observation on a Math lesson. For my lesson, I had the students comparing two two-digit numbers using base-ten blocks. The class really had a ball! I have recently been working on my behavior management, and I feel as if I am greatly improving. I have looked up some great ways to bring students focus back after they get off track, and I have been implementing them in all of my lessons. As I think back to my lesson, I realize that I need to work more on my time management. I tend to go over the time designated for a specific subject because I tend to stay on a section in a lesson longer than needed. This is something I will definitely work towards improving! Overall, I felt as though my lesson and day was a success! February 20 In Math today, I was able to use a method that I learned in elementary school to help me understand greater than and less than. The method I learned is called the alligator method. In this method the greater than and less than symbols are called alligators. My elementary school teacher told me that since alligators eat big animals, the alligators in math, will eat the bigger number. Therefore, the mouth of the alligator or greater than symbol, will always face the bigger number. The class already had heard something like this before, so it was not too new for them; it was simply a way to reintroduce an old skill. The majority of the class seemed to catch on quick! Some students were a little confused, but I made sure to use different methods to help them remember and better understand. February 24 Our big book and read alouds for this week are all about maps. We will use a RAN chart, which is something like a KWL chart, but more advanced (for lack of better terms).What amazed me, was that I recently learned about RAN charts in one of my classes last semester! It is cool how information I learned in the past two years are starting to come up now! I begin full-time teaching this so I am extremely excited! I have one more subject to take over, and I am not nervous at all. I have had the best guidance from Mrs. Steinberg, so I know I cannot go wrong! This an experience I cannot have to have. Lately I have been putting my behavior management skills into practice. I feel like I have the class a little better managed now. I have also begun practicing better time management skills. Im more aware of the time now as I teach, so I know when I need to wrap up the lesson. I look forward to each observation because of the feedback I receive. This feedback really helps me as I make my way to becoming a teacher!

February 25 Today I took over buddy study, which is a five day activity. Each day is something different for the children to do. It is easy to go over since the class has been working on it for a while. The math lesson today was a little confusing, even to me. Strangely, the majority of the class understood but I was unsure if I was doing a good job of presenting the information to the class. On Thursday and Friday, Mrs. Steinberg will be absent so it will be as it I am teaching fulltime! She gave me a copy of the sub plans so I will really do all of the teaching! The substitute will be like my student teacher! February 26 I did guided reading groups for the first time. I only had to do two because Mrs. Steinberg had to step out and take care of something. With each group, I reviewed sight words, did a Whats Missing? activity, and listened to them as they read their stories. After they finished reading their stories twice, I either had them write a BME (Beginning, Middle, End), write a sentence from the story or do something with their sound boxes. This was a glimpse of what it will be like tomorrow, when Mrs. Steinberg is not in the classroom at all. I was more confident in this area than I had thought I would be. Doing guided reading groups are not as bad, as long as I know what I am doing. February 27 Today was my first day without Mrs. Steinberg. Boy was it tiring! I now understand why teachers stay so late and look forward to Fridays! Taking over today was like second nature to me. I felt as if I had been doing this for years and I was very comfortable. The next four weeks will be awesome! February 28 Today was a disappointing day for me. I had to send home a sad note in one of my students behavior sheet. He was not do what he was supposed to do and he was being disruptive, so I had to get the Assistant Principal involved. I did not like having to do that, but I know that is something teachers do. Other than that, I feel I did fairly well with taking over today. Behavior management is still something I am working on, and I know with time I will get better and better. March 3 Today marked my official day of full-time teaching. I REALLY enjoyed everything! Although it is a lot of work, this is something I know I want to do for the rest of my life. We had to review the math test the class took because their scores were not that good. I see that now I need to make sure, COMPLETELY sure, that the students understand each lesson before I move on. Even if they say they understand, I should probably take a little more time to really be sure that they are ready to finish the lesson. I will be thinking of good reviewing strategies and ways to use the students in helping others understand as well.

March 4 I went to a faculty meeting for the first time. It was a cool experience. They talked about upcoming events and any issues that may seem to be apparent in the school lately. The meeting did not last long at all and was very informational. I look forward to being a part of more meetings such as these. March 5 During Math, we reviewed previous lessons since the class did not do so well on their test last week. I need to make sure EVERYONE understands before I move on. I felt a little bad because At first I thought maybe I was not doing a good job of teaching, but Mrs. Steinberg saw that most of the class were chatting or not paying attention. I now see that I need to find ways to keep everyones attention and make sure that they are constantly engaged. March 6 Full-time teaching is not as bad as I thought it would be or was told it would be! It is actually fun! This morning we watched a play based off of the book, Miss Nelson is Missing. Everyone really enjoyed the performance. Today I helped the class review for their upcoming math test. I figured that if I review a lesson from the previous day before moving on to the next lesson, things would start to make sense. Overall, today was a good day and I felt much better about math after we reviewed. March 7 Today was Friday fun day! This means the class had fun activities and projects to work on. Since Sunday was Dr. Seuss birthday, the whole week we read some of his books and did some Dr. Seuss arts and crafts. We also watched Horton Hears a Who, the Lorax and the Cat in the Hat. The class really enjoyed the movies. The class also had their math test today, and I was very pleased with what I saw. As I looked over their completed tests, I saw that some still struggled, while others just made careless mistakes. Overall, I was pleased with the results compared to last weeks test. I hope to help them improve as the weeks go by. March 10 I havent been doing too much with guided reading because I am not too experienced in that area, so I dont want to take over that in the middle of the year. Instead of taking over guided reading groups by myself, Mrs. Steinberg suggested that we team-teach together. So today, I sat at the table with her and took notes of what she does with each group and how she takes care of each groups needs as readers. It is amazing how much you have to get done within these groups in so little time. As time goes by you see a change in the students reading, so I look forward to actually being able to be a part of that from beginning to end. March 11 I had the opportunity to sit in during a curriculum committee meeting for the second time this year. My teacher is on the Social Studies committee, so that is the one we attended. They talked about different school-wide activities that are coming up within the next few months that they are planning. It was interesting to see teachers collaborate with one another and plan events that would interest both teachers and students.

During Math, I noticed that my students like to chat a lot or zone out. I have looked up some attention grabbers, and it seems to work for the most part, but I think I may need to find some more. It is a little annoying when I am trying to teach, and I hear people having other conversations, so I realize that I need to find more attention grabbers and maybe include some incentives to go along with that. March 12 I am starting to understand just how tiring teaching can be, but it is TOTALLY worth it! During stations, I pulled one student aside (after she finished all of her stations), and did a practice running record on her. I did one before in my clinical last semester, so I had an idea of what to do. I understand why running records are so important, because from them, you can see what words children struggle with and where they are in their level of reading. I look forward to doing more of these! March 13 Today I attended a PASS testing training. The school councilor met with all student teachers and aids to talk about what to expect if we are pulled to help with monitoring during PASS testing. She gave us packets about what we can and cannot do, and how we can help during these testing days. My name was not on the list but should I be asked to help, it will definitely be an interesting experience! March 14 I had to speak to one of my students multiple times throughout the day about being disruptive. He continued to yell out, even when I was teaching. He got a sad note sent home for his choices. I have never dealt with something like this, so this was very new to me. I did not want to get frustrated and let it show because I know this is something that I will eventually have to deal with sometime during my teaching career. I calmly told him what would happen if he continued his disruptive behavior, and when he did not stop, I had to involve Mrs. Steinberg and she took care of the problem. This behavior eventually subsided as the day ended. I was relieved that the day had ended! Who knew that one child could tire you out! March 17 I have noticed that the class has gotten chattier during math. So, my goal for this week is to find new ways to keep their attention, and keep their talking at a low. I had a not-so good day because one of my students stuck his middle finger up at me during my math lesson. He has been disruptive a lot lately, but this was definitely unacceptable. I had to involve the principal because his behavior was both rude and disruptive. I am not sure what caused him to do such a gesture, but I hope it will not happen again. This is also something I have never dealt with, so it was a bit of a shock, but at the same time I knew that calling the principal was an appropriate thing to do. March 18 Half of the day I had the classroom to myself. Mrs. Steinberg had to monitor during PASS testing for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I had a much better day today, but the class continues to chat a lot during instructional time. Even after I have said something, or openly reward students who are on task with Starbucks, I still have children who will have side conversations. I may need to keep mental notes of who does and does not pay attention during

instructional time, so that I can decide how to handle the talking. My research continues as I try to find effective attention grabbers for a class who likes to talk a lot. March 19 I had to call the office twice on one of my students today. He was very disruptive during my teaching. He howled and whistled loudly while I taught math, which was a distraction to me and everyone else. I tried my best to quiet him down, and get him to listen to me, but he refused; I got frustrated and called the office. I felt bad for having to do that, but he was keeping everyone from focusing and learning, so I did what I was told to do in times like these. I did guided reading groups again today, but this time I followed the Day 1/Day 2 sheet. I did not realize how quickly you have to do the mini lessons with the groups! I am starting to feel more and more comfortable with doing groups! March 20 I did not have any problems today, and the class was not too chatty today. Although the same couple people were having conversations on the side, it was not as bad as it sometimes is. I am still looking for effective ways to keep the attention of the class, and I am finding some pretty helpful tips! I had to do some guided reading groups again today since Mrs. Steinberg had to step out of the classroom for a few hours. I am becoming more and more familiar with the steps during this time! It gets easy once you know what you have to do and when. March 21 Today was a half day, so the day consisted mostly of tests. As I walked around and monitored students while they were working, I saw minor mistakes, but overall the class did well! I always feel accomplished when students understand material or content that I have taught! It is such a good feeling! March 24 This week we will spend more time with subtraction like last week. Some of the students seem to get confused when it comes to subtraction and addition; they always want to subtract, when they need to add, or vice versa. Mrs. Steinberg found something on Pinterest that may be very helpful for the class, so I drew them on big chart paper and will use them this week! We started a new unit in Social Studies, all about spending and saving, and goods and services. It was amazing to hear the childrens input on spending and saving, and to hear what they know; they actually know a lot more than I had expected! March 25 Today I taught a lesson on goods and services during Social Studies. I even learned some new things! I find myself really enjoying my clinical experience! I am learning so much more than I expected to! I had a good day today! I did not have to send home any sad notes or call the office for anyone today! I began videotaping some of my lessons today, and realized I might need to practice with the class some dos and donts. I think that may be something we can work on tomorrow before I record again. Overall, I had a marvelous day and I love my first graders!

March 26 I had my last observation today! The class had a lot of fun! We talked about positional words and how they help us locate objects. Then we played a game. I read clues about the location of objects around the classroom using our positional words, and they had to tell me what the object was. They did such a good job! Some of the students even named objects that I did not even think of using! I loved how they went beyond my expectations! March 27-28 Today was a fair day. My students are doing much better with keeping their conversations at a minimum. They are doing so much better, and that makes me feel good! I am seeing improvement in work, but there are still minor errors. To avoid this, I think I should have them recheck their work before and be 100% sure that they have done everything correctly. It gets hard to do tests as a group when there are students who move on; that confuses them and sometimes me. I may have to make it a rule that everyone will follow along together, so there will be no confusion and we may see improvement. I have only a few more weeks with my class. I dont want to leave them, but I must say I am definitely ready to have my own classroom! March 31 This week will officially be my last week full-time teaching! I am so excited, and a little sad! Today was a pretty fair day. As I graded my students math tests, I was so proud of their scores! They did so much better than last time! It was a big improvement. I took the time to make sure everyone was on the same page, and that everyone checked their work as we went along. This is something that I will have to remember as I start teaching in my own classroom! April 1 Today was April Fools day and my kids enjoyed tricking me! I also played a trick on them too! I wrote in the morning message that today was my last day, and everyone gasped when I read it! I made a little flap on the paper and wrote APRIL FOOLs under it. Once I read that my last day was today, I lifted up the flap and said April Fools! and the class just laughed at me! Today was good day! Everyone was on task, and I did not have to send home any sad notes. I am slowly beginning to give subjects back to Mrs. Steinberg. I will be so sad to leave the class! April 2 My official last day for student teaching is April 11, but I may stay a little longer because I will miss my kids! The day is approaching fast, and this semester went by quickly too! I will be recording my math lesson again tomorrow, so I need to remember to review video tape etiquette with the class! Everything I have learned so far in my experience, I make sure I use each time in my lessons. It is amazing how much I have learned in so little time! April 3-4 This week went by so fast! I am going to miss my babies! I havent given over any subjects back to Mrs. Steinberg yet, but I definitely will next week. I still have some observations I need to finish, so I will need to hand over the subjects back to her. The class took their math test, and I was so happy with the results! They are doing so much better now that we

all stay on the same page. I have seen a significant difference and I am feeling much more confident in my teaching skills. I cannot wait to have my own classroom! April 7-11 This is my last week with my babies; such a bittersweet moment! I am going to miss them so much! I will also miss Mrs. Steinberg too! She has been such an amazing cooperating teacher. I feel blessed to have been chosen to be her student teacher. I have learned so much for her, and I feel well prepared as I continue my journey to becoming a teacher. She has been so supportive and helpful all throughout, and I am truly thankful for that. This has been such an amazing experience. If I could do it again in this classroom, I would! Everything I have learned, I will definitely take with me and use as I begin looking for teaching jobs. I cannot wait to have my own classroom and my own class. This experience was full of ups and downs, but I wouldnt trade it for anything else in the world! I am almost there!