First Week: Set Up

9/6/2012 2:39:00 PM

I met my teacher today! His name is TJ Gobreski and hes fifty years old, has three daughters, and seems like he is going to be a wonderful second grade teacher! He is very friendly and the other teachers told me I was lucky to be working with one of the best. He is laid back and funny, he does funny voices that Im sure he uses with the kids, and although he is not a perfectionist he has definite ideas and opinions and likes things just right. I often describe myself as anal and so someone who cares but is not overly critical might just be a good match for me. I am so, so excited to get to see Mr. Gobreski in action and cannot wait for the kids to come on Friday! I have to pick out my first teacher outfit! Our classroom is small, and we are supposed to have 30 or 31 kids. I have never been in a class that big and so it is terrifying to think that I will eventually be teaching a group of that size. We have worked on the decorations and the organization of the room; I have re-made several old posters for Mr. Gobreski as well as putting together the word wall. A lot of the organizational parts I feel like he has to do because its annoying to tell someone step by step directions when you could do everything just the way you like it more efficiently. I think we get along well so far, sometimes we have silences but I dont think theyre awkward silences, I just think we were both working and concentrating and didnt feel like we had to talk the entire time. As for the rest of the school, everyone has been very niceI struggle with how much I should be interacting with them; I would like to get to know them all but I want to remain professional and not annoying. The principal, Dr. Magness seems awesome, she treats the staff as her peers but she also gets down to business when she needs to. Tomorrow is the first day of school and I am so, so excited to see the munchkins I get to work with all year!! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: I couldnt sleep last night because I was so excited. I remember that same feeling as a student on every eve before the first day of school, but this time I was on the other side of the desk. When I arrived in my classroom Mr. Gobreski was moving around a mile a minute. He was so excited for the kids to get there and I could really feel his anticipation. He then filled me in on the first day of school tradition at Kirkbrideall of the kids gather in the gym and then every teacher goes down and picks up there class from the previous year. They take them up to their classroom and they talk about how their summers are, and how

everyone is doing, etc. Then, the Principal comes on over the loud speaker and announces the movement of each grade starting with the oldest grade. She says Congratulations, you are now eighth graders, you may move to your eighth grade classroom. She then did that with every grade; when she got to moving the second graders to third grade Mr. Gobreski made a speech to his students that truly brought tears to my eyes. He told them that if they ever wanted to talk to him or if they ever had a problem that he would be there for them. He told them how proud of them he was and that he knows how special they are and that they would have a wonderful year as third graders. I saw the true teacher side of Mr. Gobreski in that speech, it was so touching to see how much he really cared about these children. As soon as his old class moved out, the first graders came up the stairs and into our classroommy class was finally here! Mr. Gobreski immediately went over the line procedure and the backpack and closet process. He modeled what they should do as soon as they get into the classroom each morning. He then let them pick their own seats; I was surprised by that but he later told me that his own kids were so excited when they got to choose who they sat next to that he thought allowing the choice just made everyone happier. After their backpacks were in the closet and they were all seated in their seats we went over the give me 5 process of getting quiet. It seemed quite effective; they had a similar process in first grade and it showed. We had rug time when Mr. Gobreski introduced the class to me and told them when I would be there as well as giving some background on himself. The day flew by but the kids were extremely well behaved and seemed happy to be back at school; during dismissal the other teachers in the school yard informed me that behavior is always best the first day (makes sense). Although we only had a few hours with the kids today I can see that Semaj will be a bit challenging in paying attention and staying on task and Xavier loves to raise his hand and ask questionslooking forward to watching these two. But I think the biggest take-aways from today is how happy, energized, and humorous that Mr. Gobreski is in front of the kids. He is light-hearted, but firm when he needs to be. He explained the color classroom management system where kids are moved up or down in color according to their behaviorbut being the first day, every kid got a prize! I am excited to spend a whole day there and to begin to get to know my students!

First week of full days: Tues and Wed I need to wear more comfortable shoes so I am not limping by the end of the day. But besides that it was a GREAT first week of full days at Kirkbride! We continued to do lots of procedural things. Mr. Gobreski has echoed all of the readings I have done including the book First 6 Weeks of School. The importance of establishing the routine is not only helpful for the kids but it will also pay off as the year goes by because no time will need to be wasted on established procedures. I am amazed how quickly time goes; I am now beginning to understand what teachers mean when they talk about not ever having enough time to cover everything. Something that has really stuck out to me is how long it takes to do things. I know that sounds overly simplistic but for instance a trip to go to the bathroom took 15-20 mins. Now, we have more girls than boys and they cannot all go at the same time but I think I had forgotten how much time simple tasks take. It seems to be second nature to Mr. Gobreski so its definitely something I want to keep my eye on and observe closely in order to get a feel for time management throughout the school day. I am SO excited because the kids are feeling way more comfortable and many of them have mastered my name, Miss Minella. The girls are precious and are so sweet, and the boys seem to be a really nice group as well. Mr. Gobreski told me that this class is especially nice and very earnest, and it is quite obvious as an observer. As a class, they all seem to put forth a lot of effort and they get very easily excited over activites that we are doing. Curriculum has not really begun although we have done some counting, some writing of numbers, sight words. Mr. Gobreski has used basic counting and writing to introduce games and activities. We set up the literacy stations; that includes the guided reading table with Mr. Gobreski and then 4 other stations. It is way more complicated than it sounds, and we screwed up twice before I figured out what we were doing wrong. But by the end of Wednesday the kids were getting the hang of how they rotated through the room.

I am really appreciating the way Mr. G incorporates and includes me, when talking about asking permission from him to do something, or whenever he mentions himself he always says me or Miss Minella. I really appreciate this because I think it will help the kids think of me as another teacher even though I am not teaching yet. I am really trying to assert my role as a teacher rather than a friend. I think I have a tendency to be more casual and friendly with kids because I have never been in such a formal schooling environment as a teacher so I am trying to focus on that sense of authority and professionalism.

Week 2 9/17-9/21 So because of the Rosh Hashanah holiday, I was only at Kirkbride Wednesday this week . It was nice having extra daytime to get work done but when I got to school on Wednesday I realized how much I had missed the kids. I think they are still a bit confused as to when Im going to be there. There hasnt been any consistency yet so Im thinking when it becomes routine for me to be there Tuesday and Wednesday every week that they will start to expect me on those days. Today in particular I did a lot of copying for Mr. G. But I am so happy to do it. I worry about this Mentor/Student Teacher relationship and never want to be a burden for Mr. G so I am glad to be able to help him with menial tasks while he is doing other things. Plus, while Im in the teachers lounge making copies I have the opportunity to talk to other teachers and staff members. I know that this was really only my third and a half day of school, so I do not want to assume things, but it appears that Mr. G might be a bit disorganized. Today there were several times during transitions where the kids were sort of left hanging, and it wasnt a big deal, no one acted out, but Mr. G was searching for particular materials or trying to figure out what to do nextit could just be that it is still very early on and hes not completely setup, but either way its good for me to observe and to see just how organized I will have to be.

I met one of the Learning Support teachers today, Miss Henry and she will be coming into the room to help Semaj for an hour every day. We learned that he has an IEP and I talked to Miss Henry to see if we could talk through his plan and how to work with him so I can get a handle on a special ed situation. I was glad to hear that Semaj would be getting extra help because I really think he could benefit from more one on one attention. Today we also found out that a high-functioning autistic student will be joining us each morning for math class. I am excited to learn more about this student and their learning needs. Mr. G also told me that 16/26 of our kids are considered ELLs. I know that most of our class is Asian and Latino but I was shocked to hear that almost 2/3 were considered ELL. I am interested in learning how we differentiate and account for them and their unique learning needs as well. Today we spent most of our time on Literacy. The phonics for this week are short a and short i so we went over spelling words with those sounds. Then the kids wrote the words. We then reviewed what a sentence is; Mr. G has a poster he uses that states that a sentence needs to begin with a capital letter, tells a complete thought, words are in order, ends with punctuation, has a naming part, has a telling part. Mr. G wrote sentences on the white board while the kids were on the rug with mistakes in them for the kids to correct. Then the kids wrote their own sentences to show what they saw in a picture as a literacy activity as well as one of the stations during centers. The stations worked well today. The kids are getting the hang of rotating around. I worked with Station 1 where we played bingo

with the words from the unit we are working on in Storytown. As I write this I want to make a note of being more aware of how the activities are relating/coming straight from the curriculum now that we are learning real content. Unfortunately next week is only 1 day as well because of Yom Kippur. I plan on starting my Child Study activities on Tuesday with Iris, the student that I have chosen for my study. Week 3: 9/24-9/28

Because of Yom Kippur I was in the classroom only Tuesday this week. I discussed with Mr.G having Iris as my child study student and he seemed to have no problem with it. Because he has had Penn student teachers in the past he knows that we have to take them out for a few 30 min sessions and he seems fine with that. So today I focused on really trying to observe Iris closely. I took copious notes on her behavior and on things she said. So far she seems very conscientious, yet also somewhat slow in her work, especially math. She always has a smile on her face and is very thoughtful towards her classmates, especially the ones she sits near. I will continue to watch Iris closely and starting next week I will be planning and carrying out the science activity, the literacy activity, and the math activitythat is my goal. In seminar we were told to also watch and record the verbal flow of the classroomin other words how does the teacher direct his words, when and to whom. It seems that Mr. G mainly addresses the class as a whole, as can be expected with 27 students (we have a new girl names Nyllah). Mr. G makes an effort to call on a variety of people although sometimes I think he misses hands of children who arent as much in his line of vision when he is standing at the front of the classroom. He solicits communal responses a lot, which I think is okI think that technique makes it seem like everyone is understanding or getting whatever it is we are talking about when really a think a lot of kids are not engaged. I also observed my first going over HW and I was worried about the same thingit was hurried, and there was plenty of opportunity to go under the radar and not be held accountable for doing the HW and for really understanding it. I know there isnt much time to go over HW the way he has it scheduled, but I think it is kind of a waste to have them do HW if they arent doing it right and do not find out theyre not doing it right. This morning we also had a break-down of our morning procedures. For whatever reason, the morning routine turned into chaos and Mr. G took about 10 minutes to go over the routine again, just as he had the first day of school. I think what happened is that he did not emphasize and point out when people werent following

procedurehe went through in detail the first day but I think he should have done that for the whole first week in more depth in order for the routine to really be established. That way, time does not have to be devoted to procedural things as it was today. I also observed the first quiz today. It was not for a grade, it was just so Mr. G could get a read on where people were with their coin skills. He spread students out using the tables we use for centers and he had the kids use a folder to create a divider for each person. So this week I also went in on Friday! We did not have any Penn classes scheduled for Friday so Nancylee told us we could go into our classrooms. I emailed Mr. G to see if that was ok and he was excited about it. When I got there on Friday Mr. G had terrible news9 kids from our class would be leaving to form a third 2nd gradeI was so sad! We already were established; this was our class, and now kids would be leaving and they didnt yet tell us who! I was also really worried that Iris would be leaving and I would have to start my child study all over again. In the middle of the day the new teacher came in so Mr. G called the class to the rug and explained to them what was happening. They were all kind of upset: Nooo we dont want to go! Before I left Dr. Magness brought us the official listthey just chopped off the last 9 kids alphabeticallynow we had 19 kids instead of 27, great for teaching purposes but so sad that some of our kids were leaving! I was especially upset about David, the boy with selective mutism who I really think was getting more comfortableif he has made any progress, now hell just have to start all over. We did some Social Studies today for the first time. Wow, no time is spent on SS, it is such an after thoughtstrange to see, it was definitely my favorite subject in school. We also did our first science experiment. We observed a baseball, golf ball, and ping-pong ball to see which would bounce the highest. In order to keep the class under control, Mr. G did the experiment in front of the class rather than having small groups do it. The kids loved it and we filled out a worksheet that walked them through it. Again, though, I feel like it is a bit of an afterthought as a subject.

This weekend I received an email from Mr. G with the next 2 weeks worth of lesson plans attached. I am so excited! I was worried that he doesnt really use them but I think it was just the beginning of the year and now I think the Principal requires them to be submitted every 2 weeks. I looked them over and I am included with them which was a great surprise! Also, in his email he told me that apparently the 3rd second grade teacher that they added is actually not staying and so we are getting our kids back!!!! Its crazy, and Im worried the kids will be pretty confused but I am very happy!

More specific curricular notes and Child Study notes to come. Week 4: 10/1-10/5 I got to school today and the classroom felt so empty. Apparently we werent getting our kids back now. We have 19 kids and the atmosphere of the morning felt so much more relaxed than usual. Some of the girls told me they cried because of the girls that got moved to the third second grade class. Half way through the day we got a phone call from the office saying that the kids were coming back. At lunch some eight graders moved the desks back up to our room, our class was going to back together! After we picked the kids up from lunch everyone was excited! Today in math we started dollar and cents notation. Mr. G taught this lesson with the class on the rug. I think this space can be both positive and negative. I think that the casual, communal environment of the rug is nice, but I also think that it is easy for some of the students to zone out, especially if they are sitting towards the back. Mr. G used fake bills and coins to represent different amounts of money and then recorded what the notation would be on the white board easel. The trickiest part of learning this notation is that you need two place holders to the right of the decimal point. The idea that $0.05 and $0.50 are two different things and that you need to write $0.50 not just $0.5. Mr. G showed me the weekly letter that he sends home with the students. He said that Dr. Magness does not require that of the

teachers but that he thinks it is a good thing to do and that the parents appreciate itmy concern is that parents who dont speak English might not be able to read it. The read aloud today in literacy was Frog and Toadone of my FAVORITES. Mr. G is a great read-alouder, he does voices for the characters that the kids really like. Today (Tuesday) was my birthday so I talked to Mr.G about bringing in a snack for the kids in celebration of my birthday (thats what we used to do in elementary school!) He agreed so I made the class brownies and they were excited all day about what the snack might beword got out that it was my birthday because in the morning we were doing a math worksheet that talked asked what the date was that day and what the date would be in a week. Well, Brissa told me that it was her birthday on October 9th, so I couldnt resist explaining that today was my birthday and in 1 week it would be her birthday! So instead of the daily animal cracker prize for the kids in the gold star on the behavior chart, the entire class got brownies, and they loved them thank goodness! It was also good to celebrate our whole class being back together for good (I hope!)

Today (Wed) I wanted to note a cool trick I saw Mr. G do. He used a colored piece of paper and stood up at the board with a short story projected by the overhead. He used the paper as a sort of guiding highlighter to help the kids read the story and follow along on the board. We reviewed how to make words plural and I really liked a game that Mr. G has made to be played at one of the literacy stations. Kids pick a card with a word on it that has to be made plural. Each student writes what they think it is on their own small white board and then they show each other. The back of the card has the correct answer on it for them to check. Thursday night this week was Back to School Night! I got to Kirkbride at about 4:30 and Mr. G and I frantically tidied up the room and hung posters on clotheslines to really spice up the classroom. In a flurry the room looked very presentable for parents to see. All in all we had 12 of the 27 kids and their parents show up. Most kids just had their mothers there and all of the parents

were uncomfortable with English. We shook all of their hands, but there was a lot of smiling and a lot of gesturing mostly. It is truly incredible to see the kids as translators. When we would ask if they had any questions every single parent asked if their child was good. It was so touching; and of course we raved about the children but it was so adorable to see the parents so concerned and making sure their child was behaving a doing a good job. It was fun to see the kids parents, I wish more had come but Mr. G says the ones that come are always the ones you expect to be there. I did a ton of observations on Iris this week for my child study and

next week I need to do the sink and float activity for science with her and the rest of the literacy activities and then I will start the actual writing of my child study! Week 5: 10/8-10/12 I have been keeping a close eye on Iris because I am beginning to actually write my child study. The only activity I still have to do is the Sink and Float for science, I was planning on doing it on Wednesday but because Iris gets taken out sometimes for ESL work with Mr. Ngo, we ran out of time. I will definitely do it next Tuesday because Child Study is due Friday, Ahh! I feel like I am becoming more and more involved in the class, although slowly, but I think that is a good thing. I get uncomfortable very easily so I need to work on getting used to embarrassing myself and messing up and knowing that it is ok Even simple tasks, like reading aloud and spelling the spelling words did not go well, I think I should have given explicit instructions before I started reading them like: Ill say the word, then you say the word, then Ill spell the word, then you spell the word I am getting better in leading the lines around the school. We tried it last week before Mr. G had told me exactly how to do it and it was a disaster but this week I was much better so thats a good sign! General observations: whispering seems like a good tactic to get the classroom quiet

Mr. G has a really cool dozen egg manipulative that he used to teach doubles facts When learning the silent e Mr. G made up a little dialogue between letters: E talks a lot to the other letters allow him to be in the word only if he promises to be silent CVCe (consonant, vowel, consonant, silent e) Mr. G does an awesome job of coming up with these little impromptu parts of the lesson, I know that it will be awhile before I can do something similar, I think I am going to have to have everything planned out, but it is cool to see him improvise like that and the kids love it

Short journal this week because of child study! Week 6: 10/15-10/19 I am finished my child study!! It feels really good to be done with that huge project. Although I know that this kind of study is not realistic as a classroom teacher with 30 kids but I did learn a lot in terms of individual observations and how to really get to know a student. I think it would be wonderful if as a teacher, you kept an observation sheet handy at all times and jotted down things whenever, making sure to write down information about each of your students. This information can really help in teaching them, as well as just knowing them and helping them grow as children. On Monday they learned about fact families; they have fact family cards (triangles with 3 numbers and a +,- in the middle) and on Tuesday we made fact family house, and they are now displayed on the bulletin board in the hallwayit was my job and it turned out ok, although it wasnt exactly how I wanted it but 27 posters are hard to fit on one bulletin board! Mr. G was really nice though and made a point to say it looked great. We found out morning of that we were not getting our prep period that day-that is when Mr. G decided to do the fact family project in that chunk of timeit was a good reminder that you cannot totally rely on the breaks you think you have because you will not always have them! We finally did Social Studies on Tuesday and Mr. G was teaching city, state, country and it was surprising to me how many didnt know the sames of their city and state, although all new the USA. However, both Philadelphia and Pennsylvania are two very tough

words, something to keep in mind. In addition to using the big book SS curriculum tool as well as the maps Mr. G has on the wall, he used his comp and projected google Earth onto the front board. It was fantastic, this was the first piece of technology that I have seen him use besides the overhead. The kids were loving it, and I think it really was a great visual for them to see. At the end of the social studies lesson though when Mr. G was asking questions to assess, it was clear that some still werent getting the difference between city and state. On the spot, Mr. Gobreski made up hand motions: hands together in a fist was city, hand about a foot apart was state and arms all the way outstretched was country. It was cool to see him improvise like this, and he told me during it that it is always good to have hand motions, that they can really help with remembering. I think we will also have to mention city, state, country and reference them whenever possible in order for the idea to stick. I stuggled this week over my verbal explanantions to kids who were struggling with math facts such as _____-10= 4. I came to realize that the missing number addition and subtraction facts are incredibly hard conceptually and thus very hard for me to explain, when I tried I could tell kids were still not understanding, and I was surprised with how frustrated I was getting. I tried to listen closely to Mr. Gs way of explaining it infront the class, and although I think it was helpful when he told them to think of their fact triangles, I did not see a model of how I could have explained this better. On Wednesday, Mr. G utilized one of his pocket charts ( a material that I have come to think is wonderful and so useful) On strips he wrote the naming part of a sentence and the telling part, he showed the class what each was on the rug, and then had volunteers come up and match naming parts with telling parts. The sentences he chose were relevant to things we were doing which was great and with this activity we were essentially modeling what the kids would do that night for literacy hw. Mr. G says if you dont model the hw some of them really will not be able to do it and I think thats something important to keep in mind.

Week 7: 10/22-10/26 This week in math Mr. G tried to teach a very difficult skilladding and subtracting with word or story problems. For example: If Lily had 5 donuts and Tommy had 3, how many more did Lily have? He conducted the lesson on the rug and had 2 story problems written on the white board easel. In order to figure out the problems he pointed the class to the wording of the problems such as how many more how many less how many in all etc and made a list of what phrases are associated with addition and what phrases are associated with subtraction. Although I think this was helpful I couldnt help but feel that they were just matching a phrase to a function and not understanding why they the phrase really meant its associated function. However, he did get the students involved by calling a few to come up in front of the group, and my handing them popsicle sticks they acted out the problem which I thought provided a good visual of the problem for the class. I know that these word problems are difficult but when we did a follow-up worksheet it seemed that most of the class was still confused. We actually did some Social Studies this week which was exciting. We continued with out topic of community and actually created a map of the Kirkbride Neighborhood. Mr. G sat at the front of the class at the overhead and I walked around helping the kids as much as possible: Mr. G would draw one thing and then wait for them to draw it, and it continued on like that until we had created a map of the neighborhood around the school. We added streets, stores, and other important landmarks both in the key and on the map. It seemed like the kids really enjoyed this activity and could relate to it, like when we were drawing their street and they would tell me their address. I also think that creating their own map of an area they are familiar with was a good exercise in reading maps and understanding their form and purpose. On Wednesday we took the word problems to another level where the students had to develop their own story problem. Mr. G and I were pleasantly surprised with how well it went. Most kids were even getting creative with the problems they made. I think this was a great exercise because we were coming at the concept from

a different angle, by having to develop the problem I think the kids were understanding how to solve the problem in a deeper way. Mr. G told me that he has found that it is helpful to introduce both addition and subtraction word problems at the same time because otherwise they are learned in isolation and the kids are not able to distinguish between the two different kinds. This week I led the class lines around the school almost everytime we moved from our classroom and I am getting a hang of it! I now feel much more comfortable in my ability to control and lead the group around which I think is a good sign as I will shortly be teaching lessons in small groups. So as for Term III, it appears that I have to do a small group lesson for each of my methods class (sci, ss, math, lit). And I think that you (Alice) have to observe 2 of them, just like you thought. But because I have to do 4 lessons total and have them reviewed a week in advance of teaching, etc I am going to see if I can meet with Mr. G to see what topics make sense to teach/if he cares what I pick. From there I want to lay out a plan of the order of my lessons and then I can figure out with you when you need to review

them and when you have to come in to observe them. Not sure about school this week with Hurricane Sandy so I will email you if Wednesday is cancelled! Week 8: 10/29-11/2 This was a crazy week because of Hurricane Sandy. Monday and Tuesday were cancelled so I was there only on Wednesday (HALLOWEEN). I was disappointed that the kids werent really allowed to celebrate Halloween at all, no parade or anything like I had in Elementary School. I wish Mr.G had done some sort of Halloween activity but I did wear black and orange in an attempt to be festive! In math we started place value. We did an intro worksheet where the kids had to circle groups of ten and then count them up and put that number in the tens column and then count the what was leftover (not in the groups of ten) and put that in the ones column. Many did not get the concept of circling tensdid not seem to make the link between groups of tens and the tens place.

I have yet to write about some of the math things we do everyday. Each day when the kids get into the classroom we have a math sheet for them to work on that either reviews or introduces something new. Following this warm up we do a morning stretch in a circle around the classroom that is then followed by counting, where we walk certain directions depending on if we are counting up or backwards. Mr. G always picks a few numbers such as lets start at 100 and count by tens. Although this seems like a sort of fun activity that involves movement and is good practice, it seems to be a dubious practice. Only a few kids, and its always the same ones do the talking and the rest are completely unengaged. I am going to have to figure out a better method whenever I am in charge of the stretch time. We used the Base 10 blocks, each student got a baggy of their own set and Mr. G used the overhead to and we practiced representing numbers (2 digit and 3 digit) with the blocks. We finally did science today also! The kids worked in groups which actually worked really well and I realized they dont have enough opportunities to do this! They used the pan balances to weigh different objects and figure out how many grams they weighed. I did the most teachery thing I have done thus far today; Mr. G gave me the spelling words to go over with the class. They were seated on the rug and I was in a chair and just let me take over, he actually got up and started getting other stuff organized in another part of the room while I said each spelling word, we spelled it together, and then I would ask if someone could use it in a sentence, etc. I know it was just a small activity but I loved it and I think it went well, and it felt good to do something in front of the whole class because I really havent done that yet. It makes me nervous to hear about other people in the program who have already been teaching and such when I really have just been observing. But with that being said, I am teaching my first small group lesson this week on Thursday. I have written it for Math and it is a small lesson on place value and expanded form. I am excited to just kind of jump in and see how it goes.

Week 9: 11/5-11/9 It was fun to hear that the kids knew who won the Presidential Election, most said that they watched some of it on TV or heard about it on the news. When Mr.G addressed them at the beginning of the say and said Obama won last night, there were a lot of Yes! with fist pumps, it was very cute. Today in math we introduced greater than, less than, and equal to. He conducted this lesson the rug and used a big < sign with teeth on it and an eye above it so it looked like some sort of animal mouth. He asked the kids to think about what their favorite thing to eat was. Then he said, would you rather have 632 tacos or 983 tacos? The picked the bigger number, and he explained that the mouth eats the bigger number. I had never learned <,>,= this way but I actually think it was an engaging and kind of funny way to learn the symbols. Mr. G also used large flashcards with digits on them to create 2 and 3 digit numbers for this lesson rather than just writing it on the easel. I think this was better to look at, and made changing the numbers easier. The follow up worksheet the class worked on had extensions to the <,>,= and so Mr.G introduced these concepts on the rug as wel. They included short addition number sentences such as 3+4_____5+4. As well as using coin to represent the amounts that the students were asked to compare. Although this added another the layer the students seemed to pick it up; for me, this emphasized the importance of modeling everything!! We did science today which I was excited about because we often run out of time for a proper lesson. We explored measuring length with meters and centimeters. Mr. G had me draw 3 lines on the board; 1 a meter in length, one 2 meters in length, and 1 that was less than a meter. The line that was less than a meter was to show how we measure in centimeters when the length is less than a meter. Mr. G began the activity using his shoe to measure the line; this was very engaging and got everyones attention. Next, he asked for a volunteer to give him their shoe and he measured the same line. Mr. G used the difference in shoes to role play and tell

a little story about building a shelf and how we need something that we can all use to measure thingsa standard unit. He passed out meter sticks so the students could actually see what they looked like and they could see centimeters. He made the connection between cent in centimeters and cent as in money (calling on prior knowledge). Then we measured the small line with centimeters after they had been introduced. Finally, Mr. G measured something in the room that was in between 1 and 2 meters so he could show how you write a length147 cm or 1 meter and 47 cm. I literacy we reviewed our ie and igh words with a simple t chart. Mr. G introduced what a fable is and what a folktale is and we made another t chart. On Wednesday I did my first ever lesson! I was really excited to dive into the process and I have never taught a lesson before. I was thankful that it was only for a small group because I think it will be helpful to start small. I created a plan that I felt good about and I was going to be teaching place value. I found out during the first activity that I wasnt going to be able to follow my plan. The kids were not at a level of understanding that I had anticipatedI think I first realized this during math that morning when we did a bit of place value and overall the class struggled. So then when I tried to teach place value later that day it did not seem to go much better. Both of my mentors have encouraged me to focus on what I did wellwhich was hard for me at first. I know I engaged them, they were listening and interested for about 40 minutes; I know I managed them but I still am disappointed because I am not sure if they really learned anything. But I am trying to be positive about the experience. I know I cannot expect students to fully get something with one try, but I think I was expecting more understanding than what I saw. I also realize that in my lesson plans I am trying to do too much. I think I got through about a quarter of my plan. And I know that that is ok, but I need to better figure out timing and amount of content in the future. Based on my math methods course, I was really trying to have them truly understand place value. That the 5 in 57 means 50 and that the 7 means 7 based on their position. I used flash cards, Base 10

blocks, and place value charts, and they could all use all of these materials but I am skeptical as to the understanding of the connection between the blocks and the value of digits in a number. Next week I am planning on teaching my science lesson at 11:30. Week 10: 11/12-11/16 On Tuesday morning I ran into Dr. Magness (the Principal) and she told me that Mr.G was running late because he was stuck in traffic. When the buzzer rang indicating the start of the school day I figured I should go down and pick up the class from the gym. But I knew that I wasnt supposed to be alone in the classroom with the kids so when I went down to the gym the counselor, Mr. Ngo came back up with me and the class. I was a bit nervous because I wasnt sure how long I would be the person in charge. But thankfully, Mr.G had already photocopied the math worksheet for the beginning of the day. So I led them up the stairs and we went through the morning routing: unpacking backpacks, getting new books, putting backpacks in the closet, I answered a million questions, and we stood for the pledge just as Mr. G arrived. I know it was only 15 mins or so but I was happy with the way it went and that I was able to somewhat takeover for Mr. G when he wasnt there. In math we began working with patterns. Mr. G taught the lesson with a laminated poster that had a string of boxes where the teacher can write any numbers and leave some blank in order for the students to try to figure out the problem. Arrows connected the boxes and Mr. G instructed to write whatever number is being added or subtracted above that arrow. I have learned that the we always do worksheets after the lesson the rug and that seems be a sort of formative assessment of the students grasp on the new or reviewed content. Mr. G is good about realizing when one of those assessments does not go so well and today was one of those days. We will have to do more work with patterns. In Social Studies today we started our unit on Africa. I was very interested by the way Mr. G introduced the subject. He talked about Philadelphia and about how there are a lot of African Americans in this city. He described African Americans as people

who a long time ago had family members come to the U.S. from Africa. But then he said But when Africans cam here a long time ago they did not come because they wanted to. They came because people went to Africa and gathered them up and brought them here. And they made them work and work, usually farming, and they were not paid. And they worked and worked until they died. The kids all gasped. I was surprised at his forthrightness in introducing the idea of slavery but I was impressed. I have been wondering how subjects such as slavery can be talked about with 7 year olds and I actually think Mr. G did a really good job. He also mentioned that the history we read is written by white people but African Americans have dark skin and so the history we read might not be entirely true. This week I taught my small group science lesson. My goal was to teach volume and I wanted the students to have an opportunity to touch the materials and to measure water themselves. We began with a review of measuring length with meter sticks. Then, around a small table, they each received a container with water in it and while weaving new vocabulary throughout, we each student poured their container into a graduated cylinder. We recorded each quantity on their worksheets and on the board. On the board I also had a poster that functioned as a mini word wall for the lesson; it really became somewhat of a literacy lesson. We learned and used the words container, graduated cylinder, milliliter, prediction,etc. I think all 6 kids were engaged and I think they have a better grasp of new words and how to measure liquids but I need to think more about how I introduce lessons. I need to be more explicit with what we are going to do so the kids have a sense of direction. I also realized halfway through the lesson that I had not said the word volume yet. If I had introduced the lesson properly I would have been more clear that we were going to learn about volume and emphasize what volume is, etc. Week 11: 11/26-11/30 During the math review on Tuesday I really tried to focus on the language Mr.G was using to describe place value. Ever since my lesson on place value I am really trying to listen carefully to his

explanations in order to be able to better articulate explanations when Im helping the kids one on one. They were going over how to put a series of three digit numbers in order from smallest to largest and Mr. G directed them to Look at the hundreds place; which is smallest? Then, if the hundreds digit are the same, Whats bigger 4 tens or 5 tens? During the review Mr.G also went over telling time where he had a clock that he could use on the overhead. He manipulated the hands of the clockseems like a great resource. In Social Studies we started a unit on GovernmentMr. G uses Big Books, a pre-planned curricula that I am not thrilled with. Uncle Sam was on the cover of the book so Mr.G launched into a description about who he wasnot sure if the kids really got it. But I liked the way he described our country and our govt: We live in a special country where it is important to know how our government works and how our country works because here, the people decide the rules, theres not just one boss telling us what to do. In Literacy I began my very own station during centers. Mr.G thought that there needed to be more of an emphasis on comprehension and so I explored the STorytown website and found a great resource for comprehensionthese cool pamhplets that you fold and then on each section there is a comprehension question that you have to answer from the story we read. The students seemed to like them; they liked a new activity. I also went over the literacy homework today all by myself! Our phonic focus this week is ar words which Mr. G called Bossy R words which I thought was clever and fun for the kids. We worked on plot as well. Mr.G made up a little story on the spot to describe and model plot. He used a graphic organizer on the board that was divided into beginning, middle, and end. Beginning included when, where, characters, and the problemhe emphasized the problem piece the most and later he explained to me that he has found that working on having a problem in their writing really expands their writing beyond just simple telling. The middle piece describes the events in the story. And the end describes how the problem was solves and how the story ends.

On Wednesday he wrote up a short story and has clothes pins labeled beginning, middle, and end to reinforce the parts of plot. In math Mr. G used the tactic of doing arithmetic purposefully wrong in order to assess the kids and see if they are listening/ see if they can correct you. I did my literacy lesson Wednesday and it went pretty well. I was excited to finally do a read aloud, and it was a very fun book. I took many of our struggling readers and our focus was rhyming words. I was surprised to find out that there was much confusion about why words rhyme. We had a little rhyme review, I read the

story, and then the follow up activity was a matching game in pairs. The kids really worked together to make rhymesand as a group we checked each rhyme and then recorded them on a poster. Some struggles rose to the surface which was great because as a group we could see that it is important to use your ears and really listen to how the words sound to see if they rhyme. We learned that some words that look different can rhyme and we underlined important parts of words that cause the rhyming. SECOND SEMESTER 1/7-1/11 I was so excited to be back at Kirkbride in room 204 with Mr. Gobreski and all of the students. The kids were confused when I was at school on Monday and Thursday so I explained to them my new schedule for the Spring. This week was my first full (4 day) week and it was wonderful because I can see now how Tues and Wed fit into the week. I can see the continuity of the lessons and I definitely feel more of a part of the class. At this point, I have taken over walking the students throughout the school and I am doing little things such as introducing the spelling and vocabulary words. Starting next week I would like to be gaining responsibility in the classroom. My time in front of the whole class needs to increase if I am to be comfortable and best ready for my two week takeover at the end of March.

Additionally I have an interview for a charter school in Philly in a week and a half and so I would like to get a few lessons under my belt in order to feel more ready for that. I spoke to Mr.G about figuring out more things I can do and he understands that when I am observed I need to be in front of the class. Each day we have a math warmup sheet and each day Mr.G uses the overhead to go over it. One day this week I was the one who went over the math warmup and it went really well so I was excited. I also appreciate Mr.G because he seems to understand that I want to do more and he is willing to talk about how things went after I try something for the first time. Since the winter break we got a new student, who moved to the neighborhood from a different school in Philly. Additionally, we had a student move away. This left Mr.G and I with mixed feelings Semaj was very challenging and yet we knew that he was difficult because of his home life and we worry about the next school he goes to. We also have 2 boys ffrom the autistic support class who now join

our class for both math and literacy everyday. I often find myself working with these students and I am enjoying trying to figure out what strategies are best to support these students while also trying to get them to pay attention as much as possible. Week2: 1/14-1/18 It was a hectic week in Room 204 because in addition to the normal weeks worth of work, Mr. G had jury duty on Thursday so we had to prepare for him not being there and he has a formal observation on Tuesday so we had to clean up the room as well. In terms of time in front of the class, this week seemed to be a bit of a breakthrough so my anxiety about not being teaching enough was eased a bit. I have taken over checking the morning math work on the overhead. This daily task is good for me because it is a very interactive process with the students and I think its showing them that I am a real teacher as well. This week I also have introduced and gone over all of our words spelling, everyday, and vocab words. Mr. G has also made sure

that I take over the transitions when we are leaving the room, so I am the one to tell the class where we are going and to line them up in addition to leading the line everytime we are outside of our room. All of these smaller things have added up and are a good start to preparing for the takeover. On Wednesday I led a read aloud of the paired reading for this week in literacy. It was a timeline of the history of popular toys in this country and so although it was an unusual paired selection to our main story I used the read aloud to allow the students to connect to their own lives and to find similarities and differences between the timeline and the story of the week that we had read the previous day. Afterwards, Mr.G gave me encouraging feedback but he also suggested using think, pair, share, in the future during class discussions of the stories. I definitely want to implement that strategy because I like the way it gets them talking to one another rather than just at the teacher. Thursday was a big day for me. We knew Mr. G was not going to be there so he and I had roughly planned out the day so that if I worked with a sub who allowed me to takeover then I could be prepared to do so. Fortunately, the sub I was working with was actually a bit late and when she came in she was so relieved to see me and asked if I was teaching or if she was; I told her I was ready for the whole say and she said Great! As it turns out she graduated from my program a while ago and taught for awhile and now she subs in the district, interesting! But more importantly, I literally did everything on Thursday. Now, in math we did not learn anything new; we reviewed the homework and completed a review sheet for the marking period. But it was good because I got to walk around and help the students individually. I was able to fit in a social studies lesson on choosing leaders and what it means to be a leader which went well as the kids enjoyed talking about the leaders in their own lives. After lunch we came up and checked the literacy hw, per usual, and then they went to art. But we are making special cardboard box projects in art so I spent some time in the art room with the art teacher assembling the boxes. During bathroom breaks, I didnt let them play their noisy games like Mr. G

usually doesI was so worried about airing on the safe side and being as quiet as possible that I didnt want to let them as loose as we usually do. I dont think they were happy about that but I didnt want to call attention to us in any negative ways, I knew the administration knew I was in charge that day so I wanted perfect behavior. In literacy we reviewed our words, took a spelling practice test, and did 2 authors purpose passages. In the future I would have wanted to spice up the way these tasks were done. At the end of the day we usually do stations from about 2-3. Mr. G thought it was best not to do them so instead I read a MLK Jr. book in celebration of Monday. Well, I learned that stations are very critical to our day, not only because the students love them, but because they need that time where they are free to rotate around and work together and talk. Although most of the students were engaged in the book, the book was a bit long and I could actually see one students eyes closingI cant blame her it was the end of the day, she was sitting on the rug, listening to a book, but it was a good less for me that at the end of the say you have to do something more energetic than a read aloud. All in all the day went really well. I think I was a bit too on edge where sometimes I would cut kids off when they were talking which normally I would never do. The balance is just something I have to get used to as a lead teacher. Behavior wise, most of the kids were great and their usual-selves; I was disappointed by a couple kids who are usually great but definitely acted differently because Mr. G wasnt thereI was sad to see that but hopefully as I do more and more they will treat me with same respect as they do him. As I reflect on the day I definitely have more confidence in my ability to

lead the class and be in front of the class and I am so so grateful for the opportunity! Week 3: 1/ 21-1/25 Because of MLK day, this was a short week to begin with, and then I was out on Wednesday morning, so this week really flew by! I am definitely feeling like more of an authority figure in the class; on Tuesday Mr. G was a bit late so I went down to the gym and

picked up the class and for the first time the kids werent all freaking out saying, Where is Mr. G!? So, that felt good for me. Everyday this week I at least did a lesson or activity, usually more. On Wednesday I was able to run a chunk of the literacy lesson which I enjoyed very much. If I ask to do something Mr. G seems very open to it, but it is also clear when he wants to do something instead of me, so I appreciate that too. Ever since the day when Mr. G wasnt there and I taught all day I have noticed how much more comfortable I am infront of the class. Previously I was also very conscious of observers, but I also feel like I am doing better when people are watching too, so that is encouraging for my anxiety. But I have also noticed that I do not think the class is as quiet or as well behaved when I am leading. I am a bit concerned about this and am going to monitor it more closely in the next few weeks when I am infront of the class. I may just be extra sensitive to the noise when its me teaching but I am pretty sure there is some extra chatter and I want to make sure they understand that I expect the same respect as Mr. Gto be continued

This week is the last week of the 2nd quarter, so we are doing mostly review. I would like to teach a math lesson this week but I do not think we are teaching any new content, so we will see. Otherwise, I would like to try a social studies or science lesson. Week 4: 1/28-2/1 Well, the germs are everywhere! So far I have only gotten a little cold, but this week we had many absences due to illness! It was a luxury having a smaller class for a few days. This week marked the end of the second quarter so we did a lot of review in math especially and the students took end of the quarter tests on Thursday. For most of the week the copiers were not working which made lesson planning and just the daily routine very different. We had to think outside the box more of how we would go about each day without paper. Each morning I came up with the math review; it is usually a worksheet but I would put problems on the board instead that the students would complete in their math notebooks. I would

then go over these problems and lead the class through the morning routine. I also got to do two of the read alouds this week. I enjoy this immensely as it is a time when the kids are able to share their thoughts most freely. I need to work on retaining engagement and focus throughout these read alouds because when kids are sharing others tend to lose focus. I taught a grammar lesson 2 syllable VCCV words that I think went decently well, in the follow up worksheet most students seemed to understand where to separate the syllables.

I have been in charge of my own station during literacy stations where we would read the decodable books that work on the phonics focus for the week. This week I also took over Mr. Gs guided reading table for a few days while he is doing DRAs with students. On Monday I will be doing a short science lesson introducing wind. Week 5: 2/4-2/8 This week I taught a science lesson that was an introduction to wind. Because we only have a half an hour for science on Mondays I planned a short but sweet lesson that did a little refreshing, a little direct instruction, and then a little activity. I think it is important to make science lessons visual or hands on because my students really seem to love science and there just isnt enough time to teach science everyday. I think the lesson although super short went well. I reviewed the 3 types of clouds using the posters they had made the previous week. Then, I introduced wind by explaining that it was moving air and asking the students to think of a time when they were outside and felt windhair blowing, feeling pushed, etc. Then, I showed pictures of a wind sock (Mr. G) asked that I do that, and explained what a wind sock looks like when there is strong wind, medium wind, and no wind. Then, I used a plastic bag and a volunteer to help me simulate wind using a fan. I allowed the kids to get out of their seats and stand around the fan so they could see what was going on. Because they were so interested in what I was doing, letting them stand around the fan actually worked out and wasnt too much of chaos. At the end of

the lesson I introduced the weather calendars that we will be filling out during the month of February. We had professional development all day on Wednesdayat the beginning of the year the PD seemed irrelevant to me, but now I understand what is being discussed and I enjoy the opportunity to be a part of it. On Thursday Mr. G was called to a meeting that he didnt know about so he just said Ok, Miss Minella, you know what youre doing! So I led the class all morning and taught a math lesson unofficially my first whole class math lesson.

Mr. G and I are planning out our learning goals for the 3rd quarter in math and we are going to plan a few lessons for me to teach before the takeover. During the takeover he wants me to teach measurement and graphing. Week 6: 2/11-2/15 This week felt very strange because we only had two full days and the rest half days for report cards conferences. There was also testing going on so preps were all rearranged and the book fair was going on as well as teacher observations of one another so it did not feel like a ton of work was accomplished this week. On Monday I led a walk through of our next science unitnot so much teaching, but just time in front of the class. This week was a review week in literacy so I was able to review the grammar rule of VCCV that I had taught the previous week. That was fun for me to see that the kids did in fact pick up what I had taught thema kind of formative assessment, I suppose. I really think that the report card conferences are wonderful. I appreciated them so much more this time around because after the first marking period I did not feel able to speak to the parents as a teacher. This time I was able to put into my two cents and to ask questions or put parents at ease. I was again surprised to realize how helpful it is to know the parents of your studentsit is difficult at Kirkbride because of the language barriers but it is still beneficial to interact with the people that are with our students everyday. I think because of the language barrier, most of the parents do not ask as many questions as I would like them to. I also think that it

is important to prepare a mini summary of the child as a student for the parents. Mr. G goes through the grades on the report card and then says one of two complimentary thingsI think I would like to try to be a bit more thorough, and to try and pinpoint specific activities they could do at home to help their child Next week I will be doing a lesson with formal observationit will be teaching and playing a game using 3 addends Week 7:2/19-2/22 On Tuesday of this week Mr.G had to leave early for a doctors appointment so I led the class for the whole day after lunch. I enjoyed this opportunity because rather than an isolated lesson I was able to teach the whole literacy chunk and go through the transitions, etc. I taught the phonics lesson and did the read aloud for the day. Additionally, I ran stations on my own, which was a first, and it was a success! I have been in charge of the guided reading table for a few weeks now and I am really enjoying it. I get to 3 or 4 reading groups each day and during the first couple minutes I review vocabulary with them but then we get right into the leveled readers for that week because as Mr. G reminded me this week, when kids are at the guided reading table they should be reading as much as possible. For each group I try to identify an aspect of reading to work onexpression, speed, comprehension. For some of the groups it is necessary to stop every few pages or sometimes every page to ask what happened. I also try to give each student and the group as a whole positive feedback after they have read. On Thursday I was able to teach my first official math lesson and I was really happy with how it went. Although it wasnt brand new

materialthe lesson was linking estimating, a skill we learned in the Fall with our newest skill2 digit addition, it was teaching a new way of thinking about figuring out math problems and about using estimating and looking at our work as ways to check our answers. The follow-up worksheet went decently well so I was happy with the lesson. On Monday I am introducing and teaching 2 digit subtraction! Week 8: 2/25-3/1

This week I was able to teach a math lesson that covered completely new material. On Monday morning I introduced how to subtract 2 digit numbers. Mr.G and I had planned this in coordination with him teaching 2 digit subtraction with regrouping the following day. I introduced the lesson by giving them simple subtraction facts as their morning work so the could refresh themselves with subtraction. Through the morning work I was also able to show that it does not matter if subtraction problems are written horizontally or vertically, either way you will get the same answer, just like we can write addition problems both ways. I was able to use a few students to help me demonstrate the skill and I used base 10 blocks to show the subtraction visually. I think the lesson went pretty well and when I was circulating as they were working on their follow up worksheet my thoughts were confirmed. I have been spending a lot of time shifting around my 2 week unit that I am planning for my takeover because Mr. G is starting to cover topics in Social Studies that I thought I was going to have to cover. So I am reframing my unit a bitgood thing we got an extension on our assignment, it is now due on Monday. This coming week I will be out of the classroom again on Wednesday for another career fair but I will be leading the class the entire day on Tues and Thurs because Mr.G will be out. We are going to go over more concrete plans on Monday about those 2 days but I am excited to spend whole days leading as a kind of warmup for my takeover. I am continuing to run the guided reading table and it is becoming one of my favorite parts of the day. It is wonderful to be able to spend time in the small groups as you get to hear the kids voices

more. I also feel like I am becoming better able to assess their reading in terms of improvement. I am excited about some of our students in the lower reading groups who I really think are making some progress. Week 9: 3/4-3/8 This week was crazy for the kids because Mr.G and I were both there on Monday, then only I was there on Tues, Mr.G was there on

Wed, I was there on Thurs, and then I was there on Fri for the first timethey were so confused but it was a great week! I was really excited to have two days this week to lead the class because I am taking over the class in a week. I feel like the transitions between subjects are becoming easier for me to do and they are becoming smoother as a class as well. On Tuesday, I was most excited because I think the behavior was a bit better then it had been the previous day that I led the class. I do, however, think I need to remain calmer during those crazy moments when ten kids are around you asking questions and needing help. On Thursday I created a new math game that practiced making amounts with coins. The students worked in pairs and pretended that they were either shopping at a store or working at a store. They could choose items to buy off of a menu list and then they counted out plastic coins and wrote down the coins they used, checking eachothers work. The game was successful and turned out to be a huge hit; the kids asked to play it the next day when they were done with their math work. Being there on Friday was great because I have never been there on a Friday. The structure of the day is different because we do not have a prep on Friday. That means that from after lunch (11:15 ) until the end of the day needs to be filled up. But the Friday atmosphere is nice because it is more laid back; we are able to do both science and social studies and health. Then, the literacy block includes a lengthy writers workshop. The writing time is wonderful because the only time the kids have for writing during the week is at one of the literacy stations. On Fridays, Mr.G and I can work closely with most of the students. This week I will be finalizing my plans for next week when I take over! Week 10 3/11-3/15 This week I spent preparing for my takeover which starts on Monday.

I tried to pay attention to using my voice more during transitions and during bathroom breaks, just to get them used to me being in charge during those times. I worked closely with Mr. G this week to nail down the math topics that should be covered each day as well as working through the lesson plans. He has been incredibly helpful with offering me resources and ideas. Mr. G had a great video on natural resources that we should the class on Friday afternoon which will be great background information for my Social Studies/Science unit in the next two weeks. I decided to copy all of the literacy homework for next week into a packet for each of my students. We will be covering the 20th lesson in Storytown so it is a review week where all the topics that have been covered in the previous 4 weeks are reviewed and the reading selection is a Readers Theater. So rather than presenting brand new information, I just need to make sure to review each topic thoroughly. I divided the Storytown materials into what we need to do in class so that it can be more guided and what to give for homework where the students will be able to do more independent work. I am very nervous but also very excited to being my two weeks!

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