Assignments

I have posted assignments 3 and 4 under Useful Links.

Frustration

I have successfully completed my student teaching. I am somewhat frustrated that I was not able to do more with the students. They usually do textbook-workbook activities independently, so I was not able to put most of the things I learned in my educational classes to good use. However, as you can see by the unit I did design, I had good intentions. My supervisor told me that this is something that happens sometimes when you student teach, so I am comfortable with the knowledge I gained during this experience. Now I hope to be able to create a blog with my own students when I get a job. They will be middle school students, so I know it will be interesting. Stay tuned for a link to this blog.

Pictures of our Classroom

Our Haiku Bulletin Board

Links to my Poetry Unit

Here is a poetry unit I created. I was able to teach this for three days. We read poetry, learned how to write Haiku poems, wrote Haiku poems, created a Haiku bulletin board, learned about similes through brainstorming ideas using adjectives, and wrote poems using these adjectives to write poems. If I would have been able to continue, I would have taught the other two following lessons about metaphors and personification.


Haiku
As you can see from the student's work, some of them had a harder time than others learning about syllables. I loved this lesson because after all was done, even the students who needed extra help had a better understanding of what a syllable is and how they are used in poetry.

Simile
This was a two-part lesson. During the first day the students learned how to brainstorm via a word-web. In the middle is the noun and they brainstormed adjectives to describe the noun. These were then used to write a poem. They were also learning how to work in cooperative groups for these lessons. This was something new to them because they only work independently all of the time. They did a wonderful job at this and I could tell they loved the change.
They all did great at brainstorming; however, when it came time to write their own poems I noticed they were a little reluctant to get help from each other. This is evident in the samples I provided. I only graded these as a pass/fail because it was so new to them. I worked with the students who had trouble until they were able to successfully create their poems.  

Metaphors
Metaphor Slide Show

Personification
Personification Slide Show

Adding More Classes Each Week

Today I added social studies to my list of subjects. Next week I will add science, so I will be teaching everything. I will have the students all on my own next week because Ms. E. will be gone. There will be a substitute, but he will mainly be working with a couple of the students that have a learning disability or ADHD. I am excited for this experience because I find myself more relaxed with the students when Ms. E is not in the room. She is a great teacher, but I think I am just trying too hard to be perfect too when she is in the room. I am hoping to do some cooperative group work in social studies and fit in an experiment for science. They have done very little of this thus far. They do not have much time for science at all, so I am considering combing the time I have for social studies and science one day and use it only for social studies. That would give me more time for science the next day. I have also found that the students do not know much about content area reading, so I am hoping to use some strategies I learned at BSU to help them. She also told me I could write my own lesson plans on poetry for language arts. I am very excited about teaching poetry. Students usually role their eyes when you mention poetry, so I am excited to get them excited about it. I have a great group of students who seem to react well to my classroom management style. I hope it will be a fun week. After this I hope to have a opportunity to create a bulletin board.

Learning in the Real World of Teaching

I am having a wonderful time student teaching 4th grade at Eagle Valley Elementary School in Clarissa, MN. I teach a wonderful group of 21 children. We have 7 girls and 14 boys. This school is in a rural farm area so the students are spread out from several small farming communities. I have found that 4th grade days are just not long enough. There are so many concepts they are required to learn and we still have to review during the first quarter because, during the summer, the students have lost part of what they learned the previous year. 

As a result, I am finally becoming more proficient at moving along at a faster pace when I teach. I have also learned many techniques my cooperating teacher uses for classroom management. I love putting to use the concept of focusing on the positive to motivate students. Sometimes just a wink or a thumbs up can bring a smile to the child and as a result there is no need for discipline. I am excited about what I teach and I can see how my enthusiasm motivates the students.

I am now teaching all the classes except of science and I will pick that up next week. I am excited to have the opportunity to learn what it will be like in the "real world of teaching" when I get my first job. Now that I have a better idea about what this blog is for, I look forward to sharing more about my student teaching experience with all of you.