Day 5

Day 4:

Miss Janyce's Pink Words are a combination of high frequency, spelling, and Text Talk words. I explained to the kids that my favorite color is pink, so their high frequency words are also pink so that they remember that they're very important!

Day 3

Today we initiated names on the board. I honestly think it's too little too late, but I guess it's not really up to me. Six names on the board on the first day? Enough said.

>>I can do this?<<

Day 2: January 24, 2012

 

My teacher handwriting needs work.... I need a board with lines on it obviously *shakemyhead*. Today was the first day I cried, and I'm sure it won't be the last. It's not that anything outlandishly bad happened. I was just very overwhelmed. I don't think I was read at all to take over the half hour ELA block when I haven't even had the chance to observe how an ELA block works in this classroom. I don't like flying by the seat of my pants in front of all the kids (or anyone for that matter) and that's how I felt. I know that I wasn't meant to be made feel as though I was completely unprepared, that's just how it ended up I guess. 

I understand that they're six, and that they're chatty, and they can't sit still, and I try to ignore the wiggling for the most part- but the TALKING! They just can't stop. I have to ask like 900 times for them to be quiet, for them to listen to directions, and they just DO NOT CARE. I need to find a way to gain their respect without coming off as a total jerk. I made my 2nd math group put their heads down for two minutes before snack because I was so upset that they weren't listening. "S" is definitely a spit fire, she just could not for the life of her accept that I was taking away part of their snack time to put their heads down, she kept saying "but what about snack?!?!?!" to which I responded, "You can have snack time when you're feet are on the floor, your head is down, and you're showing me that you're reading to go on." I was just so tired of the not listening. The third group listened so well, why can't they all listen like that? Because they're six, Janyce, get a grip. I just wanted to make a positive example out of the third group, but I didn't know how.  >>frustrated grumbles<< 

I hope I get better at this with time. There's just so many little things I don't know. I wish I wasn't thrown head first into the game so I had some blue clue of what I was doing, and what was expected of me. Le sigh. I'm so exhausted. Taking over ELA again tomorrow, but hopefully they'll be in reading groups so I don't have to do it. I'm not ready for this all at once, I'm not. I don't even know all their names yet.

>>Deep breath in.... I CAN DO THIS!<<

Day 1: January 23, 2012

 

First day...was... whoa. I rang the doorbell at 7:45 (nearly an hour before the kids arrive) and came inside to be greeted by Mr. P (the principal), and he just looked at me and said: "The room was hit by a tornado," and then he chuckled, "but all joking aside, there was an incident on Friday, and the room was trashed, we tried to put it back together, but it's not exactly what it was." I took a deep breath and followed him down the hall, and although I knew the way to the room, I let him lead the way. I was honestly expecting the worst... desks overturned furniture in pieces, but when I walked in at first I didn't see anything wrong... until I looked over to Mrs. C's desk and the other horseshoe table. Papers and books EVERYWHERE. Now, I wasn't there Friday, so I can't say exactly what happened, but the jist of what I got from other teachers and the kids was that one of the students, "K" went into meltdown mode and was throwing papers, pens, books, markers, everywhere and at everyone. Ms. M the paraprofessional actually injured her knee (possibly seriously) while trying to control the chaos. 

So today was pretty much the day for picking up what was left behind. I spent the first two-ish hours of the day reorganizing the leveled readers into their proper boxes, levels, categories, and themes. The mess in the picture doesn't look as bad as it was-- even the books that look like they were "organized" were just simply put in boxes for the sake of trying to clean up amidst the ruckus. Ms. M spent the morning putting all of the papers and some of the centers back together for Mrs. C (who's lesson plans went missing among the debris).

All of that aside, the kids are absolutely typical first graders. They're chatty, they're excited about and by pretty much every and anything. I like them already, but I can tell it's going to be a challenge.

>>Deep breath in.... I CAN DO THIS!<<

Grade 1 PE Bowe School room 111

 

My student teaching placement is at P.E. Bowe (Elementary) School in Chicopee, MA. Although Chicopee is not generally considered an "inner-city," the proximity to Springfield and socioeconomic backgrounds of the students help Bow to fall under the "inner-city school" category. There are 23* students in the class of all different ability levels ranging from ages 6 to 7 (and possibly even 8). 

The school day goes from 8:30AM until 2:30PM starting with a half hour ELA and reading block every morning, followed by  writing, lunch, specials, and math. 

Needless to say, I'm extremely excited to start student teaching. After all this Education Department nonsense, about my "not wanting to student teach" it's finally my turn to show my stuff. 

>>Deep breath in.... I CAN DO THIS!<<

*double check