After the first full week of field experience, I am really beginning to settle in to the ways of our classroom.
This week, the students got to spend time completing an assignment with their buddies from an older grade, which took about a half-hour. It was cool to see how the two grade levels interacted; the younger-graders were eager to work hard for their older-grade buddies, and the older-graders were eager to be good role-models for their younger counterparts. I think that when I become a teacher, I will also look to pair my students with buddies from another classroom to help foster this kind of relationship, as it is obvious that it is a good way to develop student leadership skills.
This week, we also started mixed-class reading groups. The students were all leveled according to reading ability, and then grouped. I am working with a student teacher from a different classroom to help lead a group of 11 students. The first day, for our 30 minute lesson period, we had the students take a pre-test to assess where they are at, and then we reviewed short and long vowel sounds.
I am really beginning to notice how critical it is to establish classroom routines as soon as possible--long before instruction begins. Students must know how to act and think in a classroom before they can begin to learn effectively in it. Despite our short lesson period today, I'm glad the reading group student teacher I work with (who does all of the lesson planning for our group, since she is the student teacher) incorporated some ice-breaker activities into instruction in order to begin getting our students acclimated to the culture of our mini-class.
I look forward to the upcoming second full week.
Kyle Vanoverbeke
I too have taken note of how important classroom routines are. I think that is why Mondays are challenging; we have to get re-familiarized with the routine. Simple things like needing a drink or going to the bathroom can easily become big distractions, so even routine water and bathroom breaks are valuable.
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ReplyDeleteThat's very true about the classroom routines! I noticed that a lot in my classroom of kindergartners. I think it's important for every grade to take time to devote to the classroom routines and how to act, but it is very crucial for the younger grades. I think it would be a vastly different classroom if my CT hadn't worked on routines and behaviors in the beginning of the year.
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