I walked into Mrs. Loftis's classroom terrified of what was going to happen. Mrs. Loftis smiled at me and that reassured me that everything was going to be okay. For morning work, they worked on greater than and less than. Mrs.Loftis introduces me to the class and the students went around the room and told me their names. Mrs. Loftis had to deal with a discipline issue about a child wearing halloween makeup. I went to the smartboard and went over morning work with the kids, and I was extremely nervous. Mrs. Loftis then worked with the kids on word problems.
11-1-11
Today was less nervewracking than yesterday. Some of the students remembered to call me Miss Paige, but others didn't. It is obvious that some students are more advanced than others, because some came to me and asked for help. Mrs. Loftis taught adding real numbers and money, using the smartboard. She called on students to be "teachers" for the day. I helped students one on one and sat in the back and observed alot of the time. I'm not sure why Brian sits in the very back corner away from all of the others kids. He tries to be involved but nobody seems to notice him. He seemed surprised when he was called on. Mrs. Loftis encouraged students to read the whole problem, not just the answer. She smiled at the students and encouraged then when they did a good job. She told students to check after her work because "Even I make mistakes".
11-2-11
Mrs.Loftis was in a parent/teacher conference this morning, and she had a substitute lined up to sit in while she was gone. Some students did a math warm up while others did a reading warm up. After students finished their warm up, they had the opportunity to read books until everyone was done. Mrs. Loftis came back at about 8:30. She informed me that next week we would start with reading skills and multiplication. The class started going over the story for the week and talked about setting and characters. They also started discussing cause and effect. Mrs. Loftis has a bucket with all of the kid's names in it and she draws a name so she does not single any child out.
11-7-11
The class started working on reading worksheets. Mrs. Loftis often tells the students what is important, and what to underline. They continued to learn about cause and effect and how to recognize it. One thing I've noticed is that the kids get very excited every time they get a question right. Mrs. Loftis encourages them and pumps their energy up when they want to speak aloud in class. The class talks about the story before they start reading it. In the middle of class, a child mentioned something about religion. The teacher quickly steered away from the subject and told the student to ask their parents when they get home.
11-8-11
The kids were very talkative today, which put Mrs. Loftis a little on edge. She said that she likes it when they are energized but sometimes it gets a little hard to handle a room full of kids that won't be quiet. She threatened to take away outside/recess time from them if they didn't settle down. The students quickly got quiet, because they realized what the consequences would be. Afterwards, the teacher told me that she cannot legally take away their P.E. time, but it can get them to be quiet. I helped Mrs. Loftis teach the warm up today, after the class quieted down.
11-9-11
We did the warm up a little differently this morning. Mrs. Loftis's smartboard was messing up, so she decided to hand check papers. I went around and helped students one on one who needed it. After the students finished their papers, half of the class gave their papers to Mrs. Loftis. The other half gave them to me. We checked their papers and told them what their mistakes were and how to fix them. The students took their papers back to their desks and worked on those problems. If they could not understand it on their own, we went to their desks and tried to help them. A little before I left, the class started working on their pronouns, and preparing for a test.
11-10-11
The kids were very tired looking today, and acted like they didn't want to do anything. Mrs. Loftis was feeling a little under the weather so it was difficult for her to perk their attitudes up. They worked on a warm up and Mrs. Loftis called the students up to work out problems on the board. Another teacher called Mrs. Loftis out of her classroom and said that she needed her. We were almost done with the warm up so I finished it for her. I told the students to stand up beside their chairs and wiggle around so they would wake up. They laughed and enjoyed this so it helped them to wake up a little.
11-13-11
The class took a practice test on the pronouns that we went over earlier in the week. They took this to prepare them for a test they will have to take later in the week. She assigned me a student that was falling behind in this subject, and I helped him through the whole test. I think this student has a disability because of the way he acted. If he talked, it was one word sentences. If I pointed to an answer, he would mark down a different answer. He was a very difficult student to work with.
11-14-11
The class did their warm up sheet and went over their vocabulary words for the week. The vocabulary goes with the text in the stories that they read. Mrs. Loftis spent alot of the time on the words, making sure that the students knew what she was teaching. She tied real life situations to the words and used them in sentences. She also asked the students many questions about the word. She tried to make the word realistic, and make it relate to each student.
11-15-11
I got to teach a small reading group about a small book. It had the same vocabulary words that were in their story for the week. The group took turns, going around the circle, reading different pages of the story. After each page, I went over what had happened in the story, and related it to their individual lives. The kids called me old after finding out that I am 16, but I guess to them, everybody is old!
11-16-11
Absent
11-18-11
I took the EC kids into a seperate classroom and helped them take their test. This test was on the pronouns they were working on earlier. The kids were extremely talkative and I had to repeatedly tell them to be quiet. Afterwards, there was a puppet show in the cafeteria.
11-21-11
The class split into reading groups and I helped my smaller group understand the story a little better. They took turns reading outloud. A few students struggled reading the words, but I helped them sound them out. One girl was very eager to help her friends read when they had trouble. That helped the kids alot, to have help from someone besides a teacher.
11-22-11
The kids were very talkative again today. Many discipline issues took place. Some students couldn't keep their mouths shut and had to sign the bad behavior book. Others didn't do their homework so they had to sign the unfinished homework book. Mrs. Loftis does this so she can keep record of discipline issues. The students worked on Thanksgiving worksheets and talked a little about the holiday.
11-28-11
The class had laptops today and had to go on a website and take a few tests to report their progress in the year. I walked around and helped the students sign on, and after that they were on their own. Mrs. Loftis and I sat and talked about what we will be doing in the next week and how we could plan for me to teach the class soon.
11-29 --- 12-2
Absent
12-6-11
Today I worked with my reading group. We read a story and went over the vocabulary words while we read the story. I asked questions to make sure they understood the context of the story, and we tied in into their lives. One student kept getting very distracted and refused to read outloud. Two other students were very excited every time I asked them to read. One girl struggled reading, but her friend sat beside her and pointed to the words, and helped her read it to me.
12-7-11
I taught the math warm up this morning. I called the students up randomly and let them work problems out on the smartboard. If anyone got the problem wrong, or had a question, I took extra time to work it out for them. Sometimes, I even asked other students to come up to the board and complete the problem.
12-8-11
I went through the kids' santa letters and picked my favorites. Mrs. Loftis gave me a copy of them. The kids did a warm up on rounding and Mrs. Loftis went over it on the board, while I made sure that they followed along. The teacher would often ask the kids to raise their hands if they got the problem right.
12-9-11
This experience changed my thoughts on teachers, showing me that it take alot of time and alot of work to teach. Teachers have it really hard and don't get near enough credit as they deserve. The most important thing I learned is that you need to be patient with your students, no matter how frustrated you get. If you give up on your kids, they will give up on themselves.
12-12-11
Mrs. Buchanan observed me teaching the class their warm up. I went over the worksheet with the kids on the smart board. A few students had trouble answering some of the problems, but Mrs. Loftis and I helped them work it out. One student stayed up at the board for ten minutes, because we kept making him restart the problem. Finally, he worked the problem out right.
12-13-11
Mrs. Buchanan observed me again today, but this time I chose five students to be in my reading group for the day. I chose five totally different personalities so you could see how I work with each and every one of them. Some of the kids seemed excited that I chose them for my group. We read a book about guide dogs. The kids answered my questions as we read the book and we stopped on each vocabulary word. The students knew before I even had to ask, that they needed to explain the word to me,
12-14-11
Absent- Walmart Performance.
12-15-11
The kids went over their worksheets as usual. But this time, they worked in partners. This helped them to learn how to work with another person on a problem. The teacher paired up more advanced learners with slower learners so that they could teach each other what the other didn't know.
12-19-11
Today my class read "Twas the Night Before Christmas", and had a competition to see which group could find the most rhyming words in the poem. This helped the kids learn how to have a little friendly competition, and it helped them focus a little bit more on the story.
12-20-11
Today was my last day working with my class. They did Christmas worksheets as their warm ups. The kids brought in food for their party in the afternoon. When it was time for me to leave, I explained to the kids that I would be back next semester and that it wouldn't be very long before they got to see me again.
10-31-11
I walked into Mrs. Loftis's classroom terrified of what was going to happen. Mrs. Loftis smiled at me and that reassured me that everything was going to be okay. For morning work, they worked on greater than and less than. Mrs.Loftis introduces me to the class and the students went around the room and told me their names. Mrs. Loftis had to deal with a discipline issue about a child wearing halloween makeup. I went to the smartboard and went over morning work with the kids, and I was extremely nervous. Mrs. Loftis then worked with the kids on word problems.11-1-11
Today was less nervewracking than yesterday. Some of the students remembered to call me Miss Paige, but others didn't. It is obvious that some students are more advanced than others, because some came to me and asked for help. Mrs. Loftis taught adding real numbers and money, using the smartboard. She called on students to be "teachers" for the day. I helped students one on one and sat in the back and observed alot of the time. I'm not sure why Brian sits in the very back corner away from all of the others kids. He tries to be involved but nobody seems to notice him. He seemed surprised when he was called on. Mrs. Loftis encouraged students to read the whole problem, not just the answer. She smiled at the students and encouraged then when they did a good job. She told students to check after her work because "Even I make mistakes".11-2-11
Mrs.Loftis was in a parent/teacher conference this morning, and she had a substitute lined up to sit in while she was gone. Some students did a math warm up while others did a reading warm up. After students finished their warm up, they had the opportunity to read books until everyone was done. Mrs. Loftis came back at about 8:30. She informed me that next week we would start with reading skills and multiplication. The class started going over the story for the week and talked about setting and characters. They also started discussing cause and effect. Mrs. Loftis has a bucket with all of the kid's names in it and she draws a name so she does not single any child out.11-7-11
The class started working on reading worksheets. Mrs. Loftis often tells the students what is important, and what to underline. They continued to learn about cause and effect and how to recognize it. One thing I've noticed is that the kids get very excited every time they get a question right. Mrs. Loftis encourages them and pumps their energy up when they want to speak aloud in class. The class talks about the story before they start reading it. In the middle of class, a child mentioned something about religion. The teacher quickly steered away from the subject and told the student to ask their parents when they get home.11-8-11
The kids were very talkative today, which put Mrs. Loftis a little on edge. She said that she likes it when they are energized but sometimes it gets a little hard to handle a room full of kids that won't be quiet. She threatened to take away outside/recess time from them if they didn't settle down. The students quickly got quiet, because they realized what the consequences would be. Afterwards, the teacher told me that she cannot legally take away their P.E. time, but it can get them to be quiet. I helped Mrs. Loftis teach the warm up today, after the class quieted down.11-9-11
We did the warm up a little differently this morning. Mrs. Loftis's smartboard was messing up, so she decided to hand check papers. I went around and helped students one on one who needed it. After the students finished their papers, half of the class gave their papers to Mrs. Loftis. The other half gave them to me. We checked their papers and told them what their mistakes were and how to fix them. The students took their papers back to their desks and worked on those problems. If they could not understand it on their own, we went to their desks and tried to help them. A little before I left, the class started working on their pronouns, and preparing for a test.11-10-11
The kids were very tired looking today, and acted like they didn't want to do anything. Mrs. Loftis was feeling a little under the weather so it was difficult for her to perk their attitudes up. They worked on a warm up and Mrs. Loftis called the students up to work out problems on the board. Another teacher called Mrs. Loftis out of her classroom and said that she needed her. We were almost done with the warm up so I finished it for her. I told the students to stand up beside their chairs and wiggle around so they would wake up. They laughed and enjoyed this so it helped them to wake up a little.11-13-11
The class took a practice test on the pronouns that we went over earlier in the week. They took this to prepare them for a test they will have to take later in the week. She assigned me a student that was falling behind in this subject, and I helped him through the whole test. I think this student has a disability because of the way he acted. If he talked, it was one word sentences. If I pointed to an answer, he would mark down a different answer. He was a very difficult student to work with.11-14-11
The class did their warm up sheet and went over their vocabulary words for the week. The vocabulary goes with the text in the stories that they read. Mrs. Loftis spent alot of the time on the words, making sure that the students knew what she was teaching. She tied real life situations to the words and used them in sentences. She also asked the students many questions about the word. She tried to make the word realistic, and make it relate to each student.11-15-11
I got to teach a small reading group about a small book. It had the same vocabulary words that were in their story for the week. The group took turns, going around the circle, reading different pages of the story. After each page, I went over what had happened in the story, and related it to their individual lives. The kids called me old after finding out that I am 16, but I guess to them, everybody is old!11-16-11
Absent11-18-11
I took the EC kids into a seperate classroom and helped them take their test. This test was on the pronouns they were working on earlier. The kids were extremely talkative and I had to repeatedly tell them to be quiet. Afterwards, there was a puppet show in the cafeteria.11-21-11
The class split into reading groups and I helped my smaller group understand the story a little better. They took turns reading outloud. A few students struggled reading the words, but I helped them sound them out. One girl was very eager to help her friends read when they had trouble. That helped the kids alot, to have help from someone besides a teacher.11-22-11
The kids were very talkative again today. Many discipline issues took place. Some students couldn't keep their mouths shut and had to sign the bad behavior book. Others didn't do their homework so they had to sign the unfinished homework book. Mrs. Loftis does this so she can keep record of discipline issues. The students worked on Thanksgiving worksheets and talked a little about the holiday.11-28-11
The class had laptops today and had to go on a website and take a few tests to report their progress in the year. I walked around and helped the students sign on, and after that they were on their own. Mrs. Loftis and I sat and talked about what we will be doing in the next week and how we could plan for me to teach the class soon.11-29 --- 12-2
Absent12-6-11
Today I worked with my reading group. We read a story and went over the vocabulary words while we read the story. I asked questions to make sure they understood the context of the story, and we tied in into their lives. One student kept getting very distracted and refused to read outloud. Two other students were very excited every time I asked them to read. One girl struggled reading, but her friend sat beside her and pointed to the words, and helped her read it to me.12-7-11
I taught the math warm up this morning. I called the students up randomly and let them work problems out on the smartboard. If anyone got the problem wrong, or had a question, I took extra time to work it out for them. Sometimes, I even asked other students to come up to the board and complete the problem.12-8-11
I went through the kids' santa letters and picked my favorites. Mrs. Loftis gave me a copy of them. The kids did a warm up on rounding and Mrs. Loftis went over it on the board, while I made sure that they followed along. The teacher would often ask the kids to raise their hands if they got the problem right.12-9-11
This experience changed my thoughts on teachers, showing me that it take alot of time and alot of work to teach. Teachers have it really hard and don't get near enough credit as they deserve. The most important thing I learned is that you need to be patient with your students, no matter how frustrated you get. If you give up on your kids, they will give up on themselves.12-12-11
Mrs. Buchanan observed me teaching the class their warm up. I went over the worksheet with the kids on the smart board. A few students had trouble answering some of the problems, but Mrs. Loftis and I helped them work it out. One student stayed up at the board for ten minutes, because we kept making him restart the problem. Finally, he worked the problem out right.12-13-11
Mrs. Buchanan observed me again today, but this time I chose five students to be in my reading group for the day. I chose five totally different personalities so you could see how I work with each and every one of them. Some of the kids seemed excited that I chose them for my group. We read a book about guide dogs. The kids answered my questions as we read the book and we stopped on each vocabulary word. The students knew before I even had to ask, that they needed to explain the word to me,12-14-11
Absent- Walmart Performance.12-15-11
The kids went over their worksheets as usual. But this time, they worked in partners. This helped them to learn how to work with another person on a problem. The teacher paired up more advanced learners with slower learners so that they could teach each other what the other didn't know.12-19-11
Today my class read "Twas the Night Before Christmas", and had a competition to see which group could find the most rhyming words in the poem. This helped the kids learn how to have a little friendly competition, and it helped them focus a little bit more on the story.12-20-11
Today was my last day working with my class. They did Christmas worksheets as their warm ups. The kids brought in food for their party in the afternoon. When it was time for me to leave, I explained to the kids that I would be back next semester and that it wouldn't be very long before they got to see me again.