This past week, I invited some students to eat lunch with me. The students were so excited about it, which was surprising to me since I came from a middle school! I really enjoyed getting to know the students on a non-academic level. We discussed our weekends, our families, and of course, our favorite foods. I enjoyed talking with some students that are normally shy in the classroom. The students really opened up to me and showed their true personalities at lunch. I was able to experience their unique senses of humor and stories since we were in a non-academic environment. I feel that I became much closer to the students after eating lunch with them. I would like to invite all of my students to lunch by the end of the school year.

I had my first observation this week in math. I was very nervous for the observation, but it went pretty well! I taught the students how to classify triangles by their sides and angles. So, students were exposed to the words equilateral, isosceles, scalene, right, acute, and obtuse. It was a lot of content to cover in one lesson, and I spent too much time reviewing the types of angles. I’m working on cutting down my review time. However, I really believe in activating background knowledge. Also, I think it’s especially important to make sure that students understand previous lessons in math since the topics build on each other. However, I definitely need to cut down on my reviews. My supervisor said that I had a great PowerPoint and a lot of great resources, but I couldn’t get through them all because I spent so much time reviewing. I made an anchor chart, a mini version of the anchor chart for the students, paper triangles for them to sort, a PowerPoint with a variety of pictures, and a checklist to help students classify the triangles. However, I did not get to utilize all of my resources because I let the students spend too much time sorting the triangles. My supervisor said that I should have set the timer every time the students sorted the triangles to help with the pacing of the lesson. Pacing is also challenging in math because two of my students leave halfway through the lesson to see a special education teacher. So, I have to have the core of my lesson done halfway through this lesson. This happens a lot in my classroom because 18 out of 25 kids leave throughout the school day to see other teachers or specialists.

My supervisor noted that I should make sure that I am able to see the entire class when I work with individual students or pairs of students. She said that I should also give students multiple questions to ponder so students who finish early will not get bored. However, she said that overall I did a great job with management. I used a lot of Whole Brain Strategies, such as “Class Yes” and “Beat the Teacher” to manage the students. I will definitely use these strategies in my own classroom.

This week, I will discuss how rewards are used in the classroom. The amount of rewards in elementary school is very different from middle school. The middle school I was at last semester had a reward program called Comet Cash. Teachers could give out Comet Cash for students for reasons such as following directions and participating in discussions. The students would then use their Comet Cash to buy snacks at lunch on Wednesdays. Unfortunately, my cooperating teacher rarely used the Comet Cash. I tried to use it during my lessons to motivate students, but it rarely had that effect. The elementary students at my current placement are a lot more motivated by rewards. It really affects their behavior, unlike the middle school students. The elementary students love when they get to clip up on the clip chart. The students really enjoy being recognized for good behavior in front of the rest of the class. The students constantly put their fingers over their mouths and up in the air to signal that they are at “Level 1” on the noise level scale. They do this because the teacher often tells them to clip up when they do it. The clip up chart is an individual reward and way to manage the classroom. However, sometimes my cooperating teacher, Mrs. T, will ask entire tables to clip up if they are being quiet or following directions. Therefore, the students often work as a team to behave well so they can clip up as much as possible. I like how the clip chart encourages the students to behave well in teams.

There is an official class reward called “brownie points”. Mrs. T attached a small pan to the whiteboard. She puts up a picture of a brownie, or a “brownie point”, every time she catches the whole class behaving well. The students get a class party when they fill the entire pan. This usually happens about once a quarter, but it depends on how the students behave. Mrs. T can take away brownie points as well. I like the brownie points because it encourages the students to behave well as a class. However, I think that some students could get frustrated at other students who cause Mrs. T to take away brownie points. Therefore, I like how Mrs. T also has the clip chart to reward individual students for good behavior.

Another reward for students is tickets for “Mrs. T’s Market”. The students get to buy different rewards with their tickets. Some examples of rewards are a sitting by a friend, picking the game on Friday, using a pen or markers for the day, sitting behind the teacher’s desk, and eating lunch with the teacher. Mrs. T gives out tickets to individual students or groups of students with good behavior.

Another individual reward is called “Character Counts”. This is a school-wide reward for students. Every teacher chooses a student for this award each week. The awards are sent to the office where finalists are chosen. The finalists get to attend a breakfast with the principal as a reward.

I recently taught a math lesson at my student teaching placement that was very successful. I taught students about fractions. I implemented Whole Brain Teaching strategies into my lesson such as “Teach-OK”. This strategy is similar to Think-Pair-Share, except students “teach” a concept to their partner. The students were very engaged and enjoyed being the “teacher” during the lesson. Additionally, I used “Class-Yes” and “Hands and Eyes” to get the students’ attention during the lesson. For “Class-Yes”, the students say the word “yes” according to how I say the word “class”. For “Hands and Eyes”, the students clap and put their eyes on me.

I reviewed difficult concepts and important vocabulary words with students to start the lesson. Then, I engaged students with a Mimio lesson that contained pictures, colored and bolded words, real-life examples, and problems with the students’ names. I also used reveal boxes to conceal instructions so students could focus on one step at a time. There are many English Language Learners, in the classroom, so I always try to break down directions and use a lot of visuals. I engaged students in the lesson by using asking them to read the objective and vocabulary words. Also, I asked students to come up to the board and create problems for the class. Additionally, I had students divide up their individual whiteboards into four sections. The students worked on four problems while I circulated around the room. The variety and amount of problems allowed students to work at their own pace. Finally, I constantly asked students to share their answers with the class or discuss with a partner. I found that my lesson went well because the students were active learners and really engaged in the lesson.