Day 28: 3.4.11

I learned today that children will feel like failures if resubmission is not an option.

Day 27: 3.3.11

I learned today that students want to be engaged in the classroom if you give them the opportunity. I had a demonstration called an enviroscape where students could put things like fertilizers, pesticides, sediments, cowpies, oil and other things on a landscape (which was Kool-aid) and all be rain clouds and spray the area down to watch the pollution get into the fields and rivers and lake on the enviroscape. Even the students who I usually get no response from in normal class were excited for the activity. I think I really realized that you need to find a way to reach every student, it may take 100 different tries to get a student to want to do work but it’s worth the effort.

Day 26: 3.2.11

I learned today students and children have trouble with limits. If you give them an inch they’ll want to take a mile. I learned, after discussion with my co-op, that sometimes it’s ok to sweat the small stuff and deal with it because it can pile up into a bigger something later on.

Day 25: 3.1.11

I learned today that you need to be prepared for class. I had a substitute in for my co-op today. I had not realized that they switched to single periods for that day and was going to have all the students in one day. I only had enough papers for a double block day, so for half of my students. I had to, in between classes, print off more sheets for the future classes. In the real world if I had a substitute I would have to make sure they had EVERYTHING they needed no matter what the situation of the day.

Day 24: 2.28.11

Today I learned that it’s important to learn your students. My co-op gave me the task of rearranging the seating. She said it would be good practice for me to give it a whirl. So I had to use what I knew about my students, who they’re friends with, who they don’t like, who needs closer to the front, who would be ok in the back and other factors to rearrange their seats. And, all in all I didn’t do so badly with the assignment.

Day 23: 2.25.11

I learned that coloring and drawing is fun at any age. I was having the worst time getting students to understand succession. I finally decided to have them read the two pages about it in their book aloud to each other and then make reference sheets with the type of succession, the definition and an example that they drew. It got them involved and engaged and most exciting for me is that it seems like they honestly understand the difference between primary and secondary succession.

Day 22: 2.24.11

I learned students crave technology. I found a great webquest on biomes and split them up into investigatory teams to find out about biomes. I asked the class what they thought and they told me they liked this better because they got to pick what animals and plants they discovered in the biome and they were doing the finding, not just being told by me.

Day 21: 2.23.11

I learned today that you can’t rely on technology 100% of the time. I came into school planning on using a webquest on biomes but no internet was working in the building. Just another example of why you need plans B, C and D.

Day 20: 2.22.11

Last class I tried something new. I decided that I would check for comprehension of an assignment that I wanted due this class not just when I told them about the assignment, but all through my lesson. I got many more assignments turned in this time around so I think the good ‘ol repeat to remember must have worked.

Day 19: 2.17.11

I learned that color and pictures in a power point presentation can immediately cause students to become more engaged. Students made comments on how the power point I created with color and photos was a lot more interesting than the previous from another teacher who had black type on a white background.

Day 18: 2.16.11

I learned today that directions need to be kept sweet and simple. It seems that visual instructions and examples work much better that just words. I also saw that students like checking things off check lists.

Day 17: 2.15.11

I learned today that as a teacher you need sometimes to help students in an efficient and fast way. The students were in the library working on a National Park power point and it was important to help the students research information but to also be aware that there were up to 24 students that might all need help too, so keeping circulating was important.

Day 16: 2.14.11

I learned today that sometimes it can be a good idea to stop the whole class for their attention if one student has a question. I had a student ask a question about their individual research but I thought that it might be a question that many students might be having. So I stopped the whole class and answered the question aloud to the whole class to avoid answering the same question six or seven times.

Day 11: 2.7.11

I learned that sometimes it’s ok to tell students you’re not happy with them. I had a talk with my co-op about a disruptive student and she advised me to talk to the student after class and really tell them that I was not happy with their behavior.

Day 12: 2.8.11

I learned today that 7^th graders really like animals. Even though I know that students usually detest worksheets, I had a worksheet for the concept of symbiosis. I had pictures of symbiotic relationships and the students were to identify the relationship. I found out from the students that it was a fun activity because it had relationships of animals they liked. I think incorporating students interests into a lesson can be helpful to gain their interest.

Day 13: 2.9.11

Today I learned that sometimes you need to put the reaching hand out to students who may not come to you on their own volition for help. I had a student who I knew was struggling but wasn’t saying anything. I had that student in study hall and worked with them individually and it seems as if they are improving.

Day 14: 2.10.11

I learned that students don’t just need grades on quizzes handed back to them but need to understand why they got wrong what they got wrong. I went over a quiz and my co-op encouraged me to make sure that the students who got those questions wrong could tell you what the right answer was and why.

Day 15: 2.11.11

I learned today that it is important to contact parents or guardians not only when there are serious issues a child is going through, but for other reasons as well. I got to sit in on a guardian conference of one of my students. It seemed like that child’s guardian was appreciative that the teachers were so involved and wanting to improve and help her nephew.

Day 10: 2.4.11

I learned that co-teaching can be a useful tool. My co-op thought it would be a good idea to get some experience with co-teaching so my co-op and I co-taught in the library and in class and it was much easier to attend to the number of students and also it brought two different perspectives to a topic.

Day 9: 2.3.11

I learned that it is important to have a posted agenda no matter where you are. I had a transportable white board with easel that I posted the order of the work to be done for research at the library and it made for less questions about what they were supposed to do.

Day 8: 1.31.11

After discussion with my co-op I learned that two important factors to discipline and classroom management are consistency and fairness.

Day 7: 1.28.11

I learned that it is key to explain instructions and other things clearly and consisely. If confusion occurs on directions or the material itself it is important to not have the whole class talk about the confusion at once. It seems students get more confused from others expressing their confusion than just the intial question.

Day 6: 1.27.11

I learned that there needs to still be some sort of student interaction or input even when going over notes on the board or powerpoint. There shouldn't just be teacher talking, student listening. This keeps students on task and engaged.

Day 5: 1.26.11

I learned that it is key to have students not just know definitions of words but be able to relate them to other topics or create personal connections to the words. This allows them to really know the meaning and not just be able to recognize the definition on a piece of paper for a quiz or a test.

Day 4: 1.25.11

I learned today that it is important to be flexible as a teacher. In the last period of my co-op teacher's classes, time ran short and an activity had to be adjusted so that the students could still learn the same material as other classes but in less time. I learned it is important to have plan B, C and sometimes D.

Day 3: 1.24.11

I learned today that it is important to incorporate reading as much as possible in your daily activities because students seem to struggle with it the most. I also learned that by splitting up a chapter and have students present the information themselves in a jigsaw fashion, it helps them retain and understand the information better.

Day 2: 1.21.11

In class today students had to turn in a foldable book they had been working on for weeks on water. Today my cooperating teacher demonstrated and I learned how to make a variety of foldables with construction paper that don't require staples and that can be used for many different projects. I learned that students are more engaged with their work when it's a project like making a book opposed to a worksheet.

Day 1: 1.20.11

After observing my cooperating teacher handle discipline issues and distracted students, today I learned that to have good classroom management and discipline you need to correct problems right away either on the spot with a redirection or after class to ensure that the student knows that the disruptive behavior will not be tolerated and needs to be improved right away.