I now really
understand when teachers say, “Most of your days are really good, but then
there are those really, really bad days”.
Yesterday was definitely one of those days; it felt like nothing was
going as planned and everything was so unsuccessful. First, the 3rd grade reading group
that I co-teach with was a disaster. The
intern in the third grade class did not provide me with any assignments to
provide support for the students with like we discussed the week before. Therefore, I had to think on my feet and find
an activity to use for the students. On
top of that, the topic was elapsed time and none of the students were grasping
the concept. It felt as if I was
speaking in a different language and none of the students understood me. I tried to teach it in different ways to try
and reach the students ability needs, but I felt like I was missing what they
were needing to understand the concept.
However, the general education teacher said this is more of exposure for
them, and it is a very difficult concept for any student to grasp and one of
the hardest concepts to teach. Today, I
hope to try a different strategy to teach elapsed time, and I am prepared with
my own lesson and assignment today.
The next bad part of the day
occurred with the student who is MI and has a seizure disorder. Sometimes, she gets in moods where she does
not want to work and will be defiant, mean, and disrespectful. Even though she is on a kindergarten/first
grade level academically, she has an attitude of a 4th grader. I was reviewing her spelling words with her
for the week; she was supposed to read the word that was on each flashcard. However, that was not what she wanted to
do. She was making up words,
complaining/whining, double talking, mocking,
and refusing to do work by laying on the floor. It was a disaster; even her sticker/reward
system was not successful. My mentor
teacher stepped in and took over and I took the other group that was in the
room at the time. I felt like us
switching places was really great, though.
We work well as a team; she saw that I was struggling greatly, just like
she was earlier in the morning with the student, and she stepped in to help the
situation and see if she could get the student to comply with completing
work. However, she was not successful
either. The student ripped the paper,
scribbled on the paper, and laid on the floor.
Everyone was feeling so frustrated and defeated after that situation
that we had the student sit for the five remaining minutes. My mentor teacher and I have been
brainstorming to find a solution to the problem, and I feel like we are a great
co-teaching team. We have a great
personal and professional relationship, and she treats me like an equal, not a
student teacher. I feel like I am having
a great student teaching experience so far!
In the afternoon, the third grade
group came in for reading support. It
was a complete disaster. The story this
week deals with money, budgeting, allowances, and savings. We read the strategic level of the leveled
reader, but the students were not able to relate to the story and therefore,
did not understand the story. I decided
not to go further with the story, because the students did not understand and
were not relating to the story. We then
previewed the story, and I explained and asked the students to make
predictions. However, it seemed like I
was talking a different language again.
The students did not understand the concept of making predictions, and
by this time, time was up for the lesson.
Today has already been a better day,
and it seems that the students and I are on the same page and I am reaching the
students and their understanding.
Yesterday was definitely a better
day. The students were more focused and
engaged in the lesson. My mentor teacher
said that sometimes you just have bad days, and Monday must have been one of
them. Being in the special ed. room, I feel
that the day flies by! I am with different
students every half hour and it keeps the day moving quickly and on my
toes. I have become very flexible, and I
feel as if I am able to teach and co-teach with my mentor teacher very
comfortably.
I am struggling with organizing my
action research. I have my ideas of what
I want to do in my head and my research questions, but I am struggling to
create a clear concept of the interventions and strategies I will use with the
student. I feel that I have a lot of
great ideas and strategies I want to use, but I do not know how to make them
all fit together. Today, I am going to
focus on organizing and setting up plan of action for my research.
Now that we
are ending the week, this week has been a great learning experience for
me. There have been a lot of situations
that occurred this week that I have encouraged and discouraged me. Elapsed time was a very hard concept for my
third graders. I felt like no matter
which way I taught it or which strategy I used, the students were not able to
apply the strategies. I felt completely
defeated even though the general ed. teacher explained that elapsed time is one
of the most difficult concepts to teach, and the students might not understand
the concept. However, when the students
took the test, I was pleasantly surprised with their grades! It appeared that they did understand the concept
of elapsed time somewhat. This taught me
that even though the lessons I teach may not always seem successful, some parts
of the concept sunk in with the students.
I need to not look so much as the lessons as unsuccessful, but as a
learning experience to improve my teaching strategies.
Teaching elapsed time is very difficult! I'm glad that the students' scores were better than you thought - sometimes they surprise us.
ReplyDeleteAs for bad days, we all have them. I think that is when we learn the most about ourselves and our teaching. Taking a step back or wrapping up the lesson and coming back to it later often helps.
Your mentor teachers are great resources. Continue to learn as much as you can from them.