Blog #4

This last week with my second graders was very fun but also very sad. I definitely wish I did not have to leave. I have learned so much from this class. The one thing I am going to for sure take away from this experience is the idea of bucket filling. My CT said her class had a lot of issues at the beginning of the school year with bullying and students being disrespectful. Every day for the first month of school she would read them a book called “How full if your bucket.” This talked about how every person carries around an invisible bucket with them and when people put them down, it is dipping their bucket, but when people are nice, it fills their bucket. There is a wall in the classroom that says “We are Bucket Fillers” and every student colored a bucket to hang up. Multiple times a week I would hear the students say something about bucket filling or bucket dipping. It really made the students form a classroom community. They respect each other and work together better than any of the other second grade classes. This is definitely a concept I want to bring into my own classroom.

                I also now realize how important it is to have solid classroom management and to not be afraid to lay down the rules when needed. The students in my class had so much respect for my CT. That was really nice to see. She could joke and have fun with the students but she also got strict when she had to and the students would listen right away when this happens. Overall, I could not have asked for a better placement this semester. I already miss my students and I cannot wait to go back and visit them someday. I hope everyone had a great last day!