First Lesson at Washington Elementary!

I had such an awesome day today at school. I taught for the first time in the 3rd grade classroom and it went so well! I taught my Social Studies lesson first so I could have more time to assess the students for my Literacy Lesson Plan. I was super nervous this morning while Chelsea and I were driving to clinical together and I had no idea what to expect because I have never taught a Social Studies Lesson before nor have I ever taught 3rd grade.

My lesson was on famous places located in the United States and then we discussed different symbols and facts that go along with the famous places. I started my lesson off by asking the students if they know of any famous places in the United States and or if they have ever visited any famous places. I did this so I could get them engaged and then we went over what a symbol and fact was. When we created a definition or webbing together as a class I had no idea they were going to know what a fact and symbol was. I totally underestimated what they actually knew about this from prior experiences.  Then I introduced the four places we would be talking about. My activity to go along with my lesson was a brochure of the four famous places we covered; Mount Rushmore, The Grand Canyon, The Statue of Liberty, and The Everglades. I created the brochure because I didn't want my students to take too much time gluing and what not. However, the students worked with a partner and used their Social Studies textbook as a resource while filling out the rest of the brochure. They were to write the name of the picture shown, what state is was located in in the United States, and one fact they found that was in the book.  Since our lesson was short because I was getting observed I only required the students to fill out 2/4 pictures on the brochure, but if they had time to do more, they were to keep working.

The students worked so well in partners and had so much fun with my lesson! I was so pleased to see them working so well and actually engaged; made me feel proud! There were definitely things I did well and some I totally would have changed. First of all, I would have made my lesson longer than 30 minutes. I mean, 30 minutes worked out just fine, but the students would have been able to finish the brochure completely and I would have been able conclude the lesson better.  To build off of that my wrap up to my lesson was not so good. I was focused so much on my time management that I wanted to get the lesson completed before my time was up so that Lumi could observe the next student that I kind of just sprinted through my conclusion. Another aspect I would have changed was how I gave out the directions. I am so used to teaching younger students that I didn't think I had to go through the instructions step by step with 3rd grade, but you still kind of have to. I wish I would have had them tell me what they were doing first, next, and last so that the instructions were clear. The students didn't have trouble with the activity, but they were just a little confused in the beginning which could have been solved if I explained it better!

Overall, I enjoyed teaching so much! I wish we would get more practice than just one day a week in clinical because I have so much fun in the classroom and love working with my kids. Every Wednesday I am also in charge of one of the stations for their math centers and I love having a role in the classroom rather than just observing it makes me feel like I am needed. Lastly, I also go to grade papers, which doesn't seem all that fun, but it actually was not bad at all. All this experiencing I am getting is going to help in the long run!

Here is a picture of the brochure I did and one of the students' brochures!

Bent Elementary Physical Science Lesson Plan Week 2

Today I taught at Bent Elementary for my first time today and I was able to teach with Chelsea which was so awesome! Having another person to teach with made this entire experience so much less stressful. The two of us were able to create the lesson together, implement, and build off of each other while the lesson was going on. After completing the lesson I felt we did a great job getting our point across in an interactive way

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Before going into the classroom I think I can speak for both myself and Chelsea when I say that we had no idea what to expect when walking into a classroom full of ELL students. I have never worked with ELL students before so we used pictures in our worksheet to help as a guide just in case they didn’t speak much English. When we walked in we introduced ourselves and so did the group of students we worked with.

Chelsea and I finished our lesson early enough to get feedback from Dr. O and come prepared with materials so we wouldn’t be frazzled when we got to Bent. This was a perfect plan because I was not nervous at all and I felt completely prepared. We created a worksheet for the students to record their observations when they were doing hands-on activities with ice and water and we also came up with an extension activity just in case the lesson didn’t go the entire 30 minutes, but we had no trouble with the lesson lasting long enough because the children were super engaged and excited about the activity.

Now, as every lesson goes, there are always pros and cons. I talked about the pros in the above paragraph, but there were also a few cons. Before we started the lesson, we could have introduced and went over the Science concepts in more details so the students were able to comprehend better. I have never taught a Science lesson before and I had no idea what the students knew and didn’t know so that was difficult going into it. I also noticed that the students had trouble using different descriptive words when recording their observations, for next time maybe we could talk about different descriptive words to use or create a word bank on the worksheet so they are only allowed to use a word once. All of the students in the group used either words that didn’t describe what they were seeing the right way or they used the same descriptive words for multiple senses. Chelsea and I also talked about how we can differentiate better next time we teach.  Since we didn’t really know what the students knew, one of the girls was working ahead on the worksheet and almost seemed bored. So, for next time we can make the activity a little more challenging for her and not so challenging for the student that kept getting off task.

While teaching our lesson Chelsea and I came into the classroom a bit blind-sided, but left with some new Spanish words that the children taught us. We used our previous knowledge about Spanish and worked with their English and their Spanish to help the experience go smoothly. We tried to say words in Spanish as they said words in English. We came into the classroom with an open-mind which is what we have learned in the past diversity modules and from previous diversity class at ISU. Since we were learning Spanish words as they were learning Science information and practicing their English, I think it made them feel more comfortable with us being there and they felt more comfortable talking in English. We made some mistakes with pronunciation and they laughed, but it made the learning atmosphere more laid back which I enjoyed and I am sure the students enjoyed as well!

Yes, at times during the lesson it was super challenging because we had to find alternate words when the students didn’t understand or I had to remember back to when I took Spanish 1 and 2 in high school to remember how to say those words. Although it was challenging at the end of the lesson I felt super accomplished. It was rewarding that the students were able to complete a hands-on activity that was in English, record their observations in Spanish, and understand the idea/concept of the lesson in English when we discussed our findings. Hey! I even learned something out of the lesson too which was awesome!

I am looking forward to working with ELL students for the rest of the semester at Bent Elementary. I really don’t have much experience working with ELL students so it will be super beneficial and such a great learning experience. I hope to use the information I learn this semester at this school in my future teachings since I would love to work in a Chicago Public School when I graduate. As for reaching my goal, I would say I am definitely getting a better understanding of different ways to teach ELL students and I think by the end of the semester I will have different techniques to use as well. The link below actually will help me reach my goal as well because it is some pointers I can use so the students are comprehending what I am teaching better!

Lastly, here is a link to some do’s and don’ts when working with ELL students. I thought they were important tips to keep in the back of your mind when working with them. It helps the students succeed in learning and will help us as teachers make sure they understand! It might also give us a little ego boost if our lesson goes well! J

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/esl-ell-tips-ferlazzo-sypnieski

Exceeds:

-Over 500 word count

-Posted link to website with tips for teaching ELL students

- During our lesson, Chelsea and I were saying words in Spanish when the students did not understand the English words and we were also being taught words and practiced saying them aloud so the students felt more comfortable. It made the lesson more fun!

-Created our own lesson plan worksheet and two extension activities just in case the lesson went too short or didn’t go as planned. Students completed one of the extension activities by drawing a picture of what they did in the lesson on the backside of the worksheet they filled out.

First Day at Washington Elementary

Well, I woke up today with lots of nerves! I was nervous to experience a new school, classroom, cooperating teacher, and students, but at the same time I was super excited for all of that too! I am placed in a 3rd grade classroom at Washington Elementary School in Bloomington, IL. I have never worked with 3rd graders before so I wasn't sure of what to expect, but needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised!

The morning started off a little hectic! My teacher had a meeting early before school so when I arrived she was also just getting settled in the classroom for the day. The students started piling in and looked at my like who is this girl in our classroom. Once everyone was settled in my CT introduced me and I sat and observed the daily routine. The day was also very hectic because it was picture day so after we did Language Arts, the entire class went down to the gymnasium to take class pictures. The students were all dressed so nice for picture day! 

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. One major aspect of the classroom that I noticed was the PBIS system my CT does. She uses clips like on a clip chart, but it is a little different. The students can either move down two spaces or up two spaces and at the end of the day on their daily take home sheet they have to write which color they are on so that their parents know when they get home. I like the idea of this because not only do the students feel they need to behave for their teacher and themselves, they also have to go home and tell their parents how their behavior was throughout the day. I'm not entirely sure if there is a reward system attached to the PBIS board, but I am excited to see if there is!

The most exciting part of the day was that I actually got to help with the Math centers that the class does. My CT said I will be in charge of a math center every week and I'm a little nervous, but totally up for the challenge. It was super beneficial that today I got to help out a little. The students are in groups and have rotations. One group is on the computers working on a math program, the other group is playing a math game in the hall with a teacher that helps out with special, the next group is in the classroom with my CT working on information the students need extra help on, and the last group was with me in the classroom working on a timed math sheet and then had a worksheet following. A lot of the students struggled with the worksheet which had to do with number lines. I was able to help them and use the instructional strategies we learned in our Math class last semester. I never thought I would actually want to teach Math like that, but I tried to base all of the problems on base 10 and it actually helped them!

Lastly, I was also able to talk a lot with my CT about my expectations and the different assignments we need to do. However, I didn't have to go into too much detail because my CT has worked with lots of students from ISU that have done the same assignments our class is doing this semester. This is super helpful and makes me feel less overwhelming because we are on the same page. I was also able to work with the Social Studies teacher to talk about my lesson I'll be doing in two weeks. She gave me a book as well as a couple other resources to help me out with my lesson. Overall, today I felt super welcomed not only into the school, but my classroom as well. The nerves I had about being in a 3rd grade classroom are gone and it is all excitement now! I am looking forward to working with these students more throughout the semester!

My teacher talked about a lot of different websites she uses as resources for materials, lesson plans, worksheets, and much more, but one stuck in my head! In the website you can create an account for free and download stuff for free right now, but then when you become a teacher you can buy stuff off of here! Thought you would all enjoy this :)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com