It seems crazy that it is the end of first quarter...in some ways it has gone by so quickly, but in another it seems like we have already done so much this school year! I am adjusting in at Aquarian and I also go to visit on Fridays at Spring Hill, which is fun because I get to see how far some of the kids have come since the start of the school year. I am going to be talking more with Brittany next week about planning because the focus has been on assessments so much in the last two weeks that I've been there. I know my mentor at Spring Hill had to turn in a monthly curriculum calendar to the principal, which was really just a overview of what the Hartcourt theme was for those four weeks. She also did weekly plan, but most of the planning was just filling in the pages from the scripted literacy program, Handwriting w/o tears, and Everyday Math. For the other pieces, like centers and art, she used a lot of her lesson plans from last year and filled this years' in with the same.
My current mentor, last year when she was hired for 2nd grade, used Guided Reading a lot in creating her literacy program. She uses the Science kit for science curriculum and pulls from other resource for spelling/social studies. The Math is entirely scripted. The one thing I am disappointed with from my internship this fall is that I haven't been able to see an integrated curriculum being used in the classroom. I had hoped that because Aquarian is a little more flexible than Spring Hill I would see it, however, the day at Aquarian is "blocked off" just like at Spring Hill. It would just be nice to see it in action and not just in theory!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Catching up...
Oops, I haven't posted since the transition two weeks ago, so here goes...
It has definitely been nice to be in a school environment that prizes respectful relationships so highly. The teacher I am working with is very respectful in her interactions with the students and includes things like brain breaks and cooperative learning strategies. The students also are given the responsibility of completing their work during reading block themselves. I love the half hour of independent reading in the morning because it gives everyone a chance to greet and get comfortable as the students filter in.
My mentor teacher is very proactive in making sure I get a good grasp of teaching second grade, since it is so foreign to me. That has been one struggle of mine...I feel very confident and kind of "know" the tricks of the trade with preschool/K classes, but those don't translate well to 2nd grade. So I don't feel as comfortable/confident as a teacher like I did in K. For example, my second week at Aquarian I took over running the lesson time during Math block and that has been a struggle for me! I spent the first week trying to make it "more fun" only to find that the time block does not allot for adding anything into the lesson. So today I aimed more for following the lesson but the timing was still difficult! Because the class is a mixed class, (we teach the 3rd grade math for those second graders who are ready) it is very important that the last practice worksheet that is done together as a class is finished exactly on time because you can't go over the hour fifteen minute block. Tomorrow, there are three worksheets we haveto get done in that time, on top of the lesson! All in all, I am struggling a bit with wanting to make it more meaningful and interesting, which doesn't appear to be an option. So far, in my week and a half of teaching the math, we haven't used any manipulatives at all :(
Anyway, it is a struggle for me to do the lesson "well" as the curriculum requires and get it all done in the time frame...I am feeling like I really struggle as a teacher of Saxon math. This is hard for me, because Pre-K and K just come so natural for me and I feel like I really have to struggle with the 2nd grade curriculum. I was also really surprised how important the final grade is to the teacher, students, and parent...I think I envisioned Aquarian as a more "process, not product" oriented school, but I hope to have a better understanding of all of this next week during porfolio shares and conferences.
It has definitely been nice to be in a school environment that prizes respectful relationships so highly. The teacher I am working with is very respectful in her interactions with the students and includes things like brain breaks and cooperative learning strategies. The students also are given the responsibility of completing their work during reading block themselves. I love the half hour of independent reading in the morning because it gives everyone a chance to greet and get comfortable as the students filter in.
My mentor teacher is very proactive in making sure I get a good grasp of teaching second grade, since it is so foreign to me. That has been one struggle of mine...I feel very confident and kind of "know" the tricks of the trade with preschool/K classes, but those don't translate well to 2nd grade. So I don't feel as comfortable/confident as a teacher like I did in K. For example, my second week at Aquarian I took over running the lesson time during Math block and that has been a struggle for me! I spent the first week trying to make it "more fun" only to find that the time block does not allot for adding anything into the lesson. So today I aimed more for following the lesson but the timing was still difficult! Because the class is a mixed class, (we teach the 3rd grade math for those second graders who are ready) it is very important that the last practice worksheet that is done together as a class is finished exactly on time because you can't go over the hour fifteen minute block. Tomorrow, there are three worksheets we haveto get done in that time, on top of the lesson! All in all, I am struggling a bit with wanting to make it more meaningful and interesting, which doesn't appear to be an option. So far, in my week and a half of teaching the math, we haven't used any manipulatives at all :(
Anyway, it is a struggle for me to do the lesson "well" as the curriculum requires and get it all done in the time frame...I am feeling like I really struggle as a teacher of Saxon math. This is hard for me, because Pre-K and K just come so natural for me and I feel like I really have to struggle with the 2nd grade curriculum. I was also really surprised how important the final grade is to the teacher, students, and parent...I think I envisioned Aquarian as a more "process, not product" oriented school, but I hope to have a better understanding of all of this next week during porfolio shares and conferences.
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