The field experience is going well thus far. My co operating teacher has been very supportive and encouraging. She has had a kind word for me everyday and takes time to acknowledge and include me, along with my teaching partner. She has started stepping back more and sharing tasks with me and J.
Today I read the book Corduroy with the class. You all might remember it if you saw the cover. It is about a little bear in green corduroy overalls who lives in a department store. He goes on an adventure, searching out his lost button. In the end, he is purchased and brought to a little girls home. I read the book aloud then asked students to come up and point out shapes contained within the pages. Shapes are their focus for the week. After we pointed out shapes using a bean pod, I took out previously cut shapes and we collectively constructed a bear with green overalls. The students seemed engaged and eager to participate. I did have to wait a couple times for chattering to finish, but other than that, I was impressed with their composure and attentiveness. I did note that having a bigger book would have been better for picture viewing and word identification.
The class is made up of 17 boys and 7 girls. N seems to get the most flack for being off task and disturbing other students. I have started encouraging other students to not engage with him in off task behavior and started spending time with him one on one talking about his day and his projects. It seems like he doesn't care about school but I also know that the constant reminders for him to behave causes him to rebel (one of my kind!). It has been important for me to continue developing relationships with these students before I really step into a disciplinary role.
It sounds like you have taken a very active role in your classroom. As far as the discipline of N goes how does the teacher handle it? For my class the discipline is a three strike system, with the first strike being a break in a cool off chair, the next being a buddy break where the student goes to another class room to cool off and the final step being an office visit.
ReplyDeleteDanielle,
ReplyDeleteI am excited to hear that you are doing so well! Keep working with N, more often than not those students are the ones that need warmth/compassion and not a rigid set of rules. I really agree that a relationship has to be set before a disciplinary role is in place. Does your CT have a doc cam? Maybe with the next story run through it with them and then put a page on the doc cam, freeze the smartboard, and have students come circle shapes or whatever the lesson may be. I feel like you are doing a super job and I can't wait to hear more about your experience!