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!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
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!
Big Wheels Keep on Turning!!!
Well I seemed to have forgotten about my entry last week so I will make this one about both last week and the week before!
Two weeks ago marked my first full-time teaching week! It was a lot of stress and prep. but I think it went well! It took me a few days to get accustom to not having time to stop and get materials ready in between classes (like I was able to do when I did not teach everything!). As you all know the last subject I took over was Social Studies for the entire 5th grade! I was very excited about this because Social Studies is something that I have been waiting to teach for a long time. It never worked out before since this topic was always taught in the afternoon periods and I was only ever teaching in the morning! I have been able to show students videos, read various texts, and currently they are working on their first collaborative project: making posters and presentations defending the viewpoints of either the North or South before the Civil War. The students seem to really enjoy the material, I just wish there was more time to really get into the material, but Social Studies classes only meet 3 times a week for 45minutes! Last week proved to be challenging because we had a half day on Thursday and an ISE day on Friday so class was only held twice that week.
Last week was my second week of full-time teaching. I am really beginning to set into a routine and planning and managing my time both in and out of the classroom has become much easier! My first week I was slightly overwhelmed, especially with the up keep of missing work and absences! I am becoming more confident and I would like to think a little more independent as well. Now is the time where I am trying to incorporate more strategies and methods I have learned in my college classes into my classroom teaching. Time is really flying by now that I am full-time teaching. I love the classes I'm in and the students I teach. Some days a few of the kids challenge my patience but I realize that is something that comes with the job!!!
Two weeks ago marked my first full-time teaching week! It was a lot of stress and prep. but I think it went well! It took me a few days to get accustom to not having time to stop and get materials ready in between classes (like I was able to do when I did not teach everything!). As you all know the last subject I took over was Social Studies for the entire 5th grade! I was very excited about this because Social Studies is something that I have been waiting to teach for a long time. It never worked out before since this topic was always taught in the afternoon periods and I was only ever teaching in the morning! I have been able to show students videos, read various texts, and currently they are working on their first collaborative project: making posters and presentations defending the viewpoints of either the North or South before the Civil War. The students seem to really enjoy the material, I just wish there was more time to really get into the material, but Social Studies classes only meet 3 times a week for 45minutes! Last week proved to be challenging because we had a half day on Thursday and an ISE day on Friday so class was only held twice that week.
Last week was my second week of full-time teaching. I am really beginning to set into a routine and planning and managing my time both in and out of the classroom has become much easier! My first week I was slightly overwhelmed, especially with the up keep of missing work and absences! I am becoming more confident and I would like to think a little more independent as well. Now is the time where I am trying to incorporate more strategies and methods I have learned in my college classes into my classroom teaching. Time is really flying by now that I am full-time teaching. I love the classes I'm in and the students I teach. Some days a few of the kids challenge my patience but I realize that is something that comes with the job!!!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Parents Parents Parents!!!
Tuesday we held parent teacher conferences.... what an experience! I have always heard that parents are the toughest part of this job, and now I know first hand. We had several conferences scheduled for Tuesday evening, but I only attended ones that directly involved my students (math and reading conferences). Overall these went very well! Many of the parents were understanding and cooperative. They agreeded with us when we offered some organizational adjustments for thier child. Some parents came just to check up on their children to make sure they were doing well and getting their assignments finished on time. Some parents came in prepared with questions for us which was great because we had talking points to start with!
I have also learned that some parents will come in with no scheduled time and a strong view point about their child's teachers and their assignments. Many parents have their own opinions about how teachers should be teaching, but they don't always know what is best academically for them! When this bacame an issue in our conferences I got to see a wonderful teacher work with the parents and try VERY hard to please them. It was quite an experience and I learned a great deal that I am positive will help me with conferences in the future!
Special thanks to those who were there and taught me so much about working with parents!
I have also learned that some parents will come in with no scheduled time and a strong view point about their child's teachers and their assignments. Many parents have their own opinions about how teachers should be teaching, but they don't always know what is best academically for them! When this bacame an issue in our conferences I got to see a wonderful teacher work with the parents and try VERY hard to please them. It was quite an experience and I learned a great deal that I am positive will help me with conferences in the future!
Special thanks to those who were there and taught me so much about working with parents!
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