Excited!

I can't believe it is already Thanksgiving!  This week will be a lot of fun with explorations on Wednesday and I am excited to be able to go to Fbks and see my family this coming weekend.  After that, I know it will be a blink before Xmas break is here.  I found out that I will be with a kindergarten class in San Jose, so I am very happy about that...the teacher has a background in teaching ESL which is something I would like to learn more about, so I hope it will be a good fit! 
I am also looking forward to the last week before Xmas break because I am going to observe at a different school (likely Polaris) and I am hoping to see "that room" that I have always envisioned as my ideal classroom.  I would so like to see my "ideal" teaching in action because even though I have my own beliefs and ideas, it would help me to see it in action.  It would help me to see the management of it all, how to get there, the process, etc, to see it working in a classroom.

Time is Flying!

That is the theme for me lately, for both good and bad.  Bad because it feels like crunch time with getting everything done and good because the closer it gets, the more excited I get about the cultural exchange!  With my placement, I am only going to be there less than a month more now (so about two months total, which feels so short!)  I have taken over Math and reading groups, two of the main subjects covered in the times I am there, but most likely won't have a chance to teach science/social studies before I leave because of the time they are covered (few and far between unfortunately).  Although Saxon math doesn't thrill me still, it has made me better at time managemen and keeping things on track and moving along (I am one for extending side conversations!).  And I do get an odd sense of accomplishment getting all the worksheets we have to finish done in time (never thought I would say that!). 
For something more engaging, I am teaching the day of Explorations right before Thanksgiving and my unit is all about Creepies and Crawlies....lots of bug fun, so I am excited about that!  My teacher will be out of the room most of the day and I get to independently plan/carry out all my bugtastic ideas, so I am excited/busy squeezing in the preparations to my every mounting "To Do" list :) 

Easing into things

I have been at Aquarian for about a month now and I finally feel settled into the swing of things and the schedule all is becoming more second nature for me.  Portfolio share/conferences were great because I got the chance to meet all the families for the first time.  Also, I have a good relationships with the parents who are regularly in the room volunteering and they have told that their kids have said how much they like it when Ms. Laurie teaches, so that made me feel pretty good!  I am leading reading groups now and we are talking about non fiction so that is something new and fun for me.  It is such a fun class and the atmosphere/environment are so positive, it is hard not to enjoy the days.  I still think my passion for teaching is with younger Pre-K/K students, but it is fun to be delving ito 3rd grade activities--they can do so much!  The kids in this class have a great community, too.  I find that in teaching specific skills, the curriculum isn't as project/discovery/exploration based as I would like.  I wonder if this is just a part of teaching older students--it seems like the expectations don't allow time for exploration based learning.  And I struggle with how important grades are to both the students and their parents--is this common with this grade or is this just the school/class environment?

And another thing...

I forgot to add that I don't agree with homework being given a grade.  The goal to me should be family engagement and involvement...kids whose families are in crisis or maxed to the limit shouldn't be marked for a lack of participation at home.  I also think it is way too much to send homework every night...it's too much!

Homework

I think that kids need time just to be kids...if you think about it, the spend about as much time at school as adults do at work.  What adult wants to get off work only to go home and do more work?!  One of the things I am going to work the hardest at as a teacher is to have a healthy, fun life outside of the classroom and to not take the class work home with me regularly.  I think that kids deserve that time off too.  Overall, I am not a fan of homework because I feel it takes away from families being able to have fun quality time together in the evenings.  Kids need time just to play...with dinner, baths, homework, what time is left for them to be creative and inventive in designing their own play?  Unstructured free time is so important for children, especially in early childhood.
Having said that, there are some "home" work that I find appropriate...basically, it must be fun, engaging, and involve families.  Books that children can take home and read to a family member, disposable cameras that children are to use to take pictures of their house/family and then later share with the class, games that families can play together that reflect classroom learning, etc.  I think that it is also important to give a time period in which it can be done because everybody has "those nights" where adding one more thing to the family plate would be too much.  I don't believe that homework should just be more practice of what is already covered in school...it has to be something that gets children and parents invested in the activity in a joyful way.  I am going to call it "homefun" instead of "homework" in my class!

End of First Quarter Already!

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!  

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.