Busy, Busy, Busy!

Hello everyone!

Wow, I am amazed at how fast time is moving by. It feels like it still should be August 1st, but we're nearing October! I am eagerly awaiting Student Teaching in the Spring, but I'm not ready for it to come this quickly.

I have fallen a little behind and struggled this week due to an out-of-town trip for a wedding, but I'm back and ready to catch up this weekend! I am constantly thinking "oh I need to complete this and then I can relax" or "things will be fine after Monday" but the relaxation or peace of mind rarely comes. I've been relatively calm this semester, but I need to continue staying on top of assignments so no panic attacks arrive.

The trip did not prevent me from going to my clinical twice this week, and honestly, those days are always my favorite parts of the week. I am so in love with all of the students (even though they can test everyone's nerves really quick). So far, I've been taking endless notes on all of the techniques my CE uses. What has been fascinating is how she teaches the students to write. She takes the approach of students writing by drawing pictures, initially, which I never associated with writing before. We chant the poem every day:

"I have stories, I have pictures.

They are sleeping in my head.

I wake them up. I write them down,

And share them with a friend."

The students love writing because it's exciting and encouraged in the classroom. Here is a link to tips on teaching students to write in the beginning stages. Mrs. Anderson uses a lot of these, and I plan to utilize them as well-following along with NCPTS.IV.a: "Teachers know the ways in which learning takes place, and they know the appropriate levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students." and NCPTS.IV.b - "Teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students." This relates to future science instruction, because it will allow me to teach the students in an effective and engaging way. Knowing how students learn to read, write, understand mathematic and scientific principles, etc. will better facilitate learning.

 Every time I go to school, I'm more proud of how I interact with the students. This week, I'm proud of asking "why" questions. Initially, I thought it would be difficult to implement an inquiry classroom in Kindergarten, but it certainly is not impossible. It starts with "why." Students will constantly come up to my CE or me and ask questions where they just want an easy answer (don't we all). However, we as teachers need to encourage them to think on their own. If they don't know how to spell a word - sound it out! If they are answering a math problem - why do you think that? The options are endless. We haven't moved into Science instruction yet, but I'm excited to see how my CE handles this and how I can further help the students with inquiry-based instruction. 

Though my interactions with my students are often proud moments, I was also satisfied with the edTPA lesson plan Mallory and I completed for MAED. I am slowly getting more comfortable with edTPA, but practice is still greatly needed. I have yet to work on my unit plan for SCED (ashamedly) and so my action plan is to hit this project hard on Saturday and Sunday. My CE now has a copy of the edTPA lesson plan format, so that I can teach a unit in October for 435. (Note: she was very overwhelmed like most who see this lesson plan template for the first time). We plan to sit down next week and discuss ideas on what to teach. 

Since we only had class once this week, I only contributed to the "Hurricanes" presentation. It's become amazing how quickly we can throw together a presentation and teach it. Sarah, Mallory, and I are also in charge of the text facilitation this week, so we will be meeting and working on that this weekend. Chris, Kelly, and Brittany did a good job with their presentation and I learned about how Science and Engineering differ. Science involved learning about the natural world, whereas Engineering is about modifying the world to meet our needs. 

With it being hurricane season, this has again been the current event topic of late. After completing the presentation, I noted two sites that will be beneficial in an elementary science classroom: Site 1 and Site 2. These links are to specific hurricane information, but they have a lot more on other scientific principles. 

Here are my tweets for the week: 

Every morning my CE plays classical music for the students as they enter. I have yet to see them run in and act wild/crazy. This music is calming and allows people to focus. I saved this tweet so that I can utilize these pandora stations for my future classroom!

I loved this tweet, because it will really help me and others as beginning teachers. It provides ideas to get acquainted with the school and staff. It's important to use this now, so I can get use to understand how things work around my Student Teaching school. 

Reading touched my life at an early age. I remember my mother reading Harry Potter to me when I was 5 years old and could not get enough of the fictional world. Whenever students read, they not only develop higher brain function, or learn about new things and ideas, they also learn about themselves. This article was touching to me and provided reasoning for developing a diverse library in your classroom. Please read if you get the chance!!

One of the major points in Inquiry-based learning is allowing students to fail. It's beneficial not only to let them fail, but show students that you, the teacher, make mistakes too. Idea #5 is "Failure Fridays" where the teacher shows videos of famous people, like JK Rowling, Michael Jordan, or Oprah talking about their failures. Students need to know it's okay to mess up, because you learn from your mistakes and become a better human for it.

Thank you all for reading my post,

Gabrielle :)