Language Arts has been a struggle this week.  We are doing Lit Groups with the book The Rats of NIHM. For Lit Groups some students switch classes based on reading ability.  I have the middle reading group.  For our class we split students  into two different literature circles and my cooperating teacher and I each take a group daily.  However, regardless of which group I am in, the students are much more off task and noisy than when working with my co-op.  I know that this is somewhat normal because I am not 100% viewed as a teacher with these students, but I am not sure how to proceed at this point.  One group is much worse than the other, and it is always particular students, but I don’t know if I should be separating students or assigning seats, or to just keep at it and little by little it’ll get better.  Additionally, there are always students (always boys) who do not write things down on their papers.  When approached about this they say they already knew that, or it wasn’t interesting or surprising to them.  I am working on getting the students to see me as another teacher and treat me like they would my co-op.  I think with time it will all work out  but it’s just something I have been thinking about this week.

Today was an interesting day, the students had a half-day because of conferences and tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  Because of this, the whole school has an hour at the end of the day for a class party.  The room moms are in charge of organizing this event.  I have never seen such an extravagant school party in my life.  The kids got to hand out valentines and eat some of their candy before the moms arrived.  In addition to that candy, there were cupcakes, cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, juice boxes and more.  When the moms came in they brought a “photo booth” and tons of games and prizes.  The students were all about the room playing games and making things.   The hour went by quickly but the students were so hyped on the food I was glad it was a half day.  It was fun to see the kids have a break to relax and play with each other instead of doing work all day.

At this point I have been able to see the students growing and improving in many ways, which has been exciting.  I have been working one on one with some of the low students in math.  One student really hates math and struggles with many topics.  We are just starting probability and she does pretty well with that.   She hates math so much that she tries in every way not to do it – whether it is by going to the bathroom during class or trying to get me to write for her.  She is very comfortable with me and as great as that is, she seems to be taking advantage of it at times.  She has stressed to me so many times that she hates to do things with the class, like whole group lessons, because they go too fast for her and then she is lost and confused.  But working with her one on one she is able to go at her pace and show me what she knows.  I am learning how difficult it is to work with students with such a variety of abilities.  Math is especially difficult with my class because we have a handful of kids who should be in the higher group and understand concepts quickly.  Then we also have a large group of very low students who struggle a lot.  Unfortunately, there are often such ranges in classes and it is difficult to meet everyone’s needs.

Well this week was a bit nuts! The first two days of the week were so cold that my school closed! I had been feeling a bit overwhelmed with the combination of student teaching and going to Champaign for my own classes.  Although I enjoy student teaching and learning about my students, I must say it was a nice break to calm down and relax a bit.  Hopefully this isn’t how I feel throughout the whole semester!

With the two days off of school, and Friday down in Champaign for class, I only had two days at school this week.  It was short but I was still able to get some valuable time of learning about my students.  I have only been in the classroom for 6 days now but I know the name of every student.  I am generally good with names which is pretty helpful going into the teaching profession.  I am starting to understand some of the students personalities too.  I know who gets along and who doesn’t, who should and should not be seated together, etc.

There are already some students who have really opened up to me and enjoy my presence in the classroom.  But, there are other students who have not yet warmed up to me.  I hope that in a few more days these students see that I am here to help and am fun! There are only 17 students in my class and there are lots of students who go to different rooms during different times of the day so my class seems pretty small most of the time.  Hopefully I get the chance to spend some 1-on-1 time with each student so that we can connect and get to know each other better.  Fingers crossed!

Friday has come and I am done with the first week of student teaching!   It has all been great so far!  It is very different going from 8th grade with 120 students to 4th grade seeing the same 17 students all day.  I feel like I already have a good understanding of who these kids are and I am understanding some of their personalities and quirks.  The kids are so excited and interested in learning, even if it’s a subject they don’t particularly enjoy.  I have gotten to lead reading groups and work individually with struggling students.   I always like to work 1-on-1 with students because I get to know them better and I am helping them through a difficult subject, whatever it may be.

I am also adjusting to the different routines of the classroom and school.  The students are pretty self-sufficient and have their own jobs for the class.  There is an organizational chart that have a list of students’ names and different jobs listed on clothes line pins that are moved weekly.  My favorite job, and I think the students’ favorite too, is the calendar.  They write the date and weather.  At the end of the month the students find the mean, median, mode, maximum, and minimum for the month’s temperatures.  It seems very fun!  I only go to school Monday-Thursday for the first six weeks so that I can attend my own classes to keep learning the best ways to teach.  The short weeks make everything go by so quickly.  I am excited to see what next week will bring!

Hi everyone!

My name is Miss B. and I am a senior in the Elementary Education program at U of I.  I am just about to start my student teaching in 4th grade and am very excited! I will be posting here periodically to tell you about my ups and downs along the way!

I am excited to begin my final semester of college and am so thrilled to be able to spend my time teaching in the Chicago suburbs.  It will be a change to go back home and be essentially a full time teacher, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

I begin my first week of student teaching soon!  It will be fun to get to know the students and learn what goes on in the 4th grade world!  I was in a middle school in the Champaign-Urbana area last semester so this will be quite a change!  I met the students and my cooperating teacher over Thanksgiving break and they seem like a fun bunch.  I wonder if the students will remember me.  I was only there for the morning and they are only 10.  I have had such a long and relaxing winter break it will be hard to get back into the swing of things! I hope the first week isn’t too rough!  We’ll see!! Wish me luck!