Lisa has inspired me to continue this blog throughout my first year of teaching! As most of you know I have the opportunity and privilege to teach a group of 3rd graders this coming school year. The first day of school over here in Prince William is not until Sept. 6th. I have several trainings coming up in the next two weeks and I can'y wait to absorb as much info as I can! I am trying to sort through my WVU things and remember all the wonderful ideas my fellow Benedum students and I had. I hope I don't suddenly forget everything I have learned when that first day of school comes! It all feels so surreal right now....
until next time,
Steph
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
::tears::
Well it has finally come to an end... I can't believe it! I have given back all my subjects, and the kids are going to enjoy their Thanksgiving Day with families. When I return on the 29th, I will be assisting and helping students in small groups. The week after I will be teaching my learning cycle in the science room in 5th grade (to fulfill some of the wonderful rubric requirements :p) After that week it will be time to head home for the holidays! It has gone by so fast! I have learned so much from all of my wonderful host teachers and my challenging students! Parents have gnashed their teeth at me and for the most part I have been able to come out alive with minimal damage! I am going to be extremely sad when it is time to leave this 5th grade. I think we have all learned so much from each other and I continue to look forward to spending some time with them during my contract hours in the Spring! For now I am going to enjoy my Thanksgiving Break and come in on Monday with a bittersweet feeling about finishing out my Internship!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Social Studies Tests/Conferences
Parents seem to be the really stinky part of this job. After attending conferences and meetings and placing phone calls, I can say that they are the pits sometimes!
Although the conferences were not quite as bad as last time, they were still very interesting! Parents will send mixed messages to teachers, bottom line! My biggest complaint is that we make modifications for certain students and then their parents get angry! They want their students to have the good grades but then they get upset because they are sometimes in denial about the capabilities of their children. It seems like parents are just beginning to realize that their kids are in 5th grade and this is their last year before they have to up to middle school! It seems like the 5th grade is getting the brunt of the parent concerns because they have let these problems progress this far without attention. Parents are requesting that we check their childs' planners and help them pack up at the end of the day. These kids are in 5th grade!!! I think it is sad that they cannot be responsibile enough to pack up their things at the end of the day! I realize that there are some exceptions to this expectation but for some of these students it is a bit rediciulous!
Social Studies Tests:
The tests have been given and graded and for the most part, they were really good! It became very apparent to me who studied and who spent no time preparing at all! There were several students who I was pleasantly surprised with and there were others who also surprised me, but not in a good way!! Testing in classes where there are varied levels of students is a complicated process!! I had to make a modified test for those who qualified. Then there are those students who don't get a modified test, but need it read aloud to them! Then there are the students who get the modified test, but not read aloud to them! I was lucky to have Emily in there with me, other wise it would have been even more complicated! I really appreciate the chance to teach in my specialization area...finally! It has really inspired me to look into the middle school levels and see what classrooms are like there. I would love to teach social studies all day long, but I am fearful of student attitudes at that age!
Although the conferences were not quite as bad as last time, they were still very interesting! Parents will send mixed messages to teachers, bottom line! My biggest complaint is that we make modifications for certain students and then their parents get angry! They want their students to have the good grades but then they get upset because they are sometimes in denial about the capabilities of their children. It seems like parents are just beginning to realize that their kids are in 5th grade and this is their last year before they have to up to middle school! It seems like the 5th grade is getting the brunt of the parent concerns because they have let these problems progress this far without attention. Parents are requesting that we check their childs' planners and help them pack up at the end of the day. These kids are in 5th grade!!! I think it is sad that they cannot be responsibile enough to pack up their things at the end of the day! I realize that there are some exceptions to this expectation but for some of these students it is a bit rediciulous!
Social Studies Tests:
The tests have been given and graded and for the most part, they were really good! It became very apparent to me who studied and who spent no time preparing at all! There were several students who I was pleasantly surprised with and there were others who also surprised me, but not in a good way!! Testing in classes where there are varied levels of students is a complicated process!! I had to make a modified test for those who qualified. Then there are those students who don't get a modified test, but need it read aloud to them! Then there are the students who get the modified test, but not read aloud to them! I was lucky to have Emily in there with me, other wise it would have been even more complicated! I really appreciate the chance to teach in my specialization area...finally! It has really inspired me to look into the middle school levels and see what classrooms are like there. I would love to teach social studies all day long, but I am fearful of student attitudes at that age!
Projects
I am starting a project with my reading class this week. They will have two weeks to complete a report, project, and present this to the class. I have provided students with an outline, my mentor teacher and I pulled appropriate biographies for our lower level students, and they will be given plenty of class time to complete this assignment! I am concerned because these students have not always shown the best work ethic. I am afraid that the projects will be below my expectations (which I have already lowered since 3/4 of the class is special education). I will be curious to see how they will turn out!
I am finishing my full time teaching this week! I can't believe it has gone by so fast! We will be finishing up our Geometry Unit and students will then work with Ms. Tennant on the Divison Unit. Students have taken their unit tests and I was slightly disapointed in the scores. Many students made silly errors and didn't take their time or double check their work! Although I was sad about the scores, I realized that sometimes it is out of the teacher's hands. I could have stood up on my soap box and preached for days, but if the students don't want to hear it then their is nothing I can do about it!
Next week is parent teacher conferences again so I am curious to see if they go any better than last time!
Social Studies is going well! We are preparing for our Unit Test on the Civil War.
I am finishing my full time teaching this week! I can't believe it has gone by so fast! We will be finishing up our Geometry Unit and students will then work with Ms. Tennant on the Divison Unit. Students have taken their unit tests and I was slightly disapointed in the scores. Many students made silly errors and didn't take their time or double check their work! Although I was sad about the scores, I realized that sometimes it is out of the teacher's hands. I could have stood up on my soap box and preached for days, but if the students don't want to hear it then their is nothing I can do about it!
Next week is parent teacher conferences again so I am curious to see if they go any better than last time!
Social Studies is going well! We are preparing for our Unit Test on the Civil War.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
GRADE TIME IS STRESSFUL!!!!!
Well I officially made it through my first 9-weeks in the school system! I have entered all my grades and received as much make-up work as students could hand in. After a few weeks I gave up trying to hunt students down for assignments and just gave them zeros. Entering grades into Edline is a very tedious job. I spent about 2 and half hours after school yesterday creating the grade columns for the rest of my grades. Then I spent about 1 hour at home entering all those grades in. It would have taken less time but since everyone was on the server trying to accomplish the same thing I was, it took a lot longer!
This experience has been good for me because I never thought that grading papers and recording grades would be such a daunting task, but I WAS WRONG! Another issue with the Edline set-up should be resolved shortly. Right now our math, reading, writing, and spelling grade books are still split by homeroom. These subjects are all ones in which we do not switch by homeroom. Since the grade books are done by homeroom we have to go into each of the 5th grade teachers' grade books to enter grades for these subjects, this is VERY time consuming. Our tech person is currently trying to get this glitch fixed for us which would just be wonderful!
This experience has been good for me because I never thought that grading papers and recording grades would be such a daunting task, but I WAS WRONG! Another issue with the Edline set-up should be resolved shortly. Right now our math, reading, writing, and spelling grade books are still split by homeroom. These subjects are all ones in which we do not switch by homeroom. Since the grade books are done by homeroom we have to go into each of the 5th grade teachers' grade books to enter grades for these subjects, this is VERY time consuming. Our tech person is currently trying to get this glitch fixed for us which would just be wonderful!
Crazy Schedules!
As I get use to planning, grading, and adjusting my instruction I am noticing that no matter how hard I plan to do something there always seems to be something that changes my plans! Last week I fount it difficult to plan this weeks lessons because the schedule was so different. We have math grant days, other professional development sessions, Acuity responders, the Scholastic Book Fair, and the Halloween party on Friday! One of my afternoon rotations for social studies is a class behind because last Friday we also had a career speaking in the afternoon! Next week we will have Tuesday off due to Election day and the week after that we will have Thursday off for Veterans Day!
School holidays and professional development sessions are not the only scheduling obstacles! When students are absent 1 or two times a week it poses several problems for all teachers when trying to enter grades and have students make up their work. We have had several students out for about 10 days due to illness. Although their parents or guardians came a picked up their make -up work, when the student returned to school, he or she had little to none of it completed! As a 5th grade team we are trying to make them responsible, but the truth is many of them just don't care. They seem to not care about school, turning in homework, being on time, being prepared, and being respectful to students and teachers.
I'm wondering if there is anything more we can do or I can do to help these students transition. In less than a year they will be in middle school which will be a rude awakening for some of our students!
The week of October 25 is when grades are due, this time should be an interesting experience for me!
School holidays and professional development sessions are not the only scheduling obstacles! When students are absent 1 or two times a week it poses several problems for all teachers when trying to enter grades and have students make up their work. We have had several students out for about 10 days due to illness. Although their parents or guardians came a picked up their make -up work, when the student returned to school, he or she had little to none of it completed! As a 5th grade team we are trying to make them responsible, but the truth is many of them just don't care. They seem to not care about school, turning in homework, being on time, being prepared, and being respectful to students and teachers.
I'm wondering if there is anything more we can do or I can do to help these students transition. In less than a year they will be in middle school which will be a rude awakening for some of our students!
The week of October 25 is when grades are due, this time should be an interesting experience for me!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Action Research Update
Two weeks ago I started my action research project in 5th grade writing! It will consist of a small group setting (6 students) who are of mixed ability in reading and writing (based on teacher recc. and WESTEST scores) groups. We will be spending 7 weeks together focusing on two main traits: a. word choice and b. sentence fluency. We have been doing various activities that teach us about useing descriptive words and finding synonyms of words we might use too often such as bad or good. The students are a great group and we are having a great time learning and writing together. Currently we are about to finish our first group story, written by the whole class! Next we will be moving into individual stories hoping that they can take what they have learned from others in the group and apply it to their writings!
Last week was difficult because we missed two days (one for acuity and one for early dismissal) so I will be trying to keep the students on the tasks at hand as to not waste any of our precious time!
Last week was difficult because we missed two days (one for acuity and one for early dismissal) so I will be trying to keep the students on the tasks at hand as to not waste any of our precious time!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)