My last week in my PDS

This week was my last week in my PDS for the semester. I can't believe how much I have changed in the past 16 weeks. When coming into this classroom I didn't know what to expect. All summer I dreaded coming to fifth grade, because I thought I preferred the younger students. As I entered into this classroom I instantly fell in love with each and everyone of these students. I have learned so much about my teaching as well. I realized that you don't have to run the classroom how others do and it's ok to think outside the box, because that's how students learn. I've also learned the various levels of attention students need, and that changes everyday. Finally though this internship, I feel like I am prepared to walk into a classroom and teach... I finally feel like a teacher!

Teaching Out of the Box

My class has been reading the story "A Week in the Woods". In this story a fifth grade student moves to a new school. He learns that the end of the trip is spending a week at a state campsite where the teachers teach about nature, and the students learn. Since it is my last week full time teaching I wanted to go out with a bang! I started thinking of things we could do in the classroom to connect to the story and then it hit me... flash light day! I told my mentor teacher and she loved the idea. She began looking up ideas and we decided to have flashlight and camping day! We then came up with many ideas. The special education teacher said that he could get a parachute from the gym and hang it from the ceiling. We then asked the principals if we could pass out a snack. They showed us the approved list and we decided on popcorn for the kids' treat. Yesterday was our camp out and I have never seen students so excited to read! I figured we would have a little silliness from the students, but they all came in, sat down, and listened to directions. We ended up reading and discussing over two chapters of our story. I never understood why teachers don't do anything exciting in the upper grades, I had 97 students hooked on reading just by turning off the lights and having them read! This was definitively the highlight of my student teaching career. I can't wait to plan and carry out things like this in my own classroom!

Research

This was my seventh week of implementation of my research. I'm researching the use of cooperative learning pairs inside the classroom. This week my focus was on a student created project. When students arrived in the classroom they talked with their partner about what book they wanted to complete their book report on. Students then read the story and began discussing how they plan on presenting the book to the whole class. I put up certain things that the students had to have in their report; title, characters, setting, what happened, how they liked it...etc. As I walked around I could hear students discussing how they were going to carry out this project. I heard that students were going to make a poster about their book, act out their book, and even rap about the book. What I really noticed was that students were extremely engaged in what they were doing. My teacher education coordinator was observing me and she even commented on how nicely the students were working. On Friday my students were starting to carry out their projects. I had materials that students had requested laid out and students got right to work. I have never seen so much work happening in the classroom. Each student was busy doing what he/she needed to do to complete their report. Sitting in class I hear my peers talk about how terrible their research is going.... in reality mine is going better than I could have ever expected!

RESA visit

On Thursday our students had a half day and teachers had to go to a meeting. The topic of the meeting was getting the results from our September RESA visit. The results showed everyone what we already see. No administration in the classroom, weak co-teaching model, and lack of technology use. I see the lack of administration in the classroom just because there is so much to do in the office. Between student problems, parent problems, and just the natural administrative problems I don't see how anything gets done. The principals "pitched" an idea of how they might make more time for them to come into the classroom to see what is going on. As for the lack of technology use, I think that teachers are unaware of how to utilize the technology. Many of the teachers at my PDS are older and I think that they may not have a education on how to use the technology. I think that my school would benefit from a professional development on how to utilize the technology in their classroom. Another reason teachers aren't using the technology in their classroom is because it doesn't work! For example, in my mentor teachers classroom we do not have a cord to hook up the SMART board so we can not use it. We explained this issue to the appropriate person at the beginning of the school year, and nothing has been done, and now it is November. You can't use the technology if it doesn't work. Another thing that is lacking at my PDS is the co-teaching model. I think this is because one party gives more than the other. If both teachers had time to sit down and discuss lesson plans and expectations then this collaboration would work much better. I think that if my PDS can fix all these suggested improvements, then it will be a truly great place to work and learn.

Busy Week.

This week has been a crazy mixed up week! The first thing that threw everything off was that we had Halloween parties on Thursday. The way my PDS does this party is that students have the option to go home and change into their costumes and then parents bring them back to school at a certain time, they parade around the high school football field, and then they come back inside for the party. The fifth grade teachers decided to just show a movie in their homerooms because students would be leaving at 11. My students watched a movie and worked on some crafts we were going to use to to decorate the classroom. The students were extremely crazy, so it was nice to have some "down time" for them. On Friday, due to the weather and power outages, our county was operating on a 2 hour delay. This was also supposed to be 5th grade career day. We worked it out that some parents would come on Friday as planned, but some would also need to come on Monday too. Now our Monday schedule is messed up because not only are we having parents coming in the morning but our PTA also rented a "dome theater" and our students are going to view a program in the afternoon! Thursday next week is a two hour early dismissal, so next week will be messed up too. As a student in elementary school I loved these disruptions but as a teacher I find them annoying! Hopefully soon our schedule will settle down, and we can get back into the learning process!

Field trip

Today was our first field trip of the school year. We went to WVU for a day on campus. When I was in elementary school I remember being so excited for field trips because it was a day out of school. Now as an educator I look at it as an opportunity to extend students knowledge and motivate them to what to achieve something more. When I found out our trip was to WVU I became extremely excited. Many of my students show interest in everything WVU and many have dreams of going on to college. However when we arrived at WVU my dreams were crushed. We saw several things and did many activities but everything was so rushed. The saying "less is more" is completely appropriate in the situation. Students felt so overwhelmed and before they could adjust to their new surroundings they had to leave again. I suppose this is where I assume the "teacher" role. I just see these opportunities differently now that I am on the "adult" side of the situation.  Students should be given every opportunity they deserve and I think today didn't live up to that.

Parent/ Teacher Conferences

Today was parent/teacher conferences and it seemed weird being on the "teacher" side of things. The other Intern at my school and I set up a Professional Development table in the hallway and she stayed at the table for most of the night, because I had conferences. My mentor teacher told me that I needed to be at all the conferences because I have been with the students for the same amount of time she has. During the conferences my mentor teacher would look at me and ask if I had anything to add to what she was saying or if I should explain what she was trying to say in a different way. In one case, the student responds better to me, and I have somewhat taken this child "under my wing". During this conference my mentor teacher said "I think Ms. Kulchock can explain the situation because she is dealing with him the most". This really made me feel like apart of the classroom and like what I had to say mattered. In another conference, the mother said "oh you are the famous Ms.Kulchock, that's all my daughter talks about". This made me feel extremely important and truly apart of the classroom. Throughout this whole night all I could think of was how in my tutor year I didn't feel like I was a part of the community at all, and now I feel like this is the only place I belong!