Reflections

Day 1 - February 23, 2015

Today was my first day (of two weeks) at Red Bank Elementary School! I was a bit nervous going into a new school, but also very excited. My mentor teacher is Mr. Hale in 4th grade. I came into the classroom towards the end of math. Once math was wrapped up, Mr. Hale began the introductions. About half way through this process, I was shocked when three ladies came in hootin' and hollerin', with pompoms and all, about rockin' the test! Apparently, the faculty and administrators will give pop tests once a week to help prepare the students for the TCAP. I was a little taken back, but thought the idea was cute and the enthusiasm genuine.

After this, I spent a lot of the day observing Mr. Hale's lessons and guided reading groups. I also spent some time getting to know some of the students and working with them one on one. One of the students in Mr. Hale's class has only been in the US for three weeks. She is from El Salvador, and in the beginning stages of learning English. I found it so rewarding to work with her on her alphabet and sounds. I even broke out a little Spanish. I would help make connections with the words she knew and the sounds, then helped her connect them to the English words. For example, the letter G sound like the beginning of gato, which in English is cat. It was a wonderful experience to see her making these connections between the words.

Mr. Hale also has a student teacher, Mrs. Fugate, who I enjoyed getting to know and learned a lot about how the class is run from her. I am excited to see how the rest of this practicum will turn out. I look forward to the adventures ahead.


February 24, 2015

SNOW DAY!!


Day 2 - February 25, 2015

Today had an early dismissal due to the threat of inclement weather. We ended up getting 8 inches, so an early dismissal was probably a good idea. Mr. Hale was also absent today, for a curriculum meeting. Because of the weather and change in dismissal time, today was slightly chaotic. The office kept asking teacher to check their e-mails for announcements about the day's schedule and announcements, which was a bit problematic for a substitute, a student teacher, and a practicum student. We did not have any emergency contact numbers to call parents of students who normally go to after care, which was closed. However, Mrs. Fugate and I held down the fort! We began the day with math, and studied the relations of millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, meters, and kilometers. Following this, the students completed a science activity, indoor recess (with their iPads), then a short social studies profile on patriots versus loyalists. Finally, we picked up lunch from the cafeteria and ate in the room. By this time, we were ready to pack up and hunker down for the winter storm, Remus!


February 26, 2015

SNOW DAY!!


February 27, 2015

SNOW DAY!!


Day 3 - March 2, 2015

Dr. Seuss Day!! Today was a little hectic. We began the celebration by attending an assembly where several students from GPS and one from McCallie came to put on a skit for us, sing songs, and kick off the day with a bang! The kids loved it! They also announced the completion of the "neighborhood library" during the assembly. The neighborhood library is a small mailbox-like box that is just outside the playground, and in this box, there are always books. The children from the community can come and take a book or give a book to the library. After the assembly, we had guest readers come to our classroom to read Dr. Seuss books to us. The first lady, was a colleague of the librarians husband. She was very kind and expressive. Next were Mr. Hale's mother and aunt. The kids loved this surprise! By the time our guest readers had finished their books, it was time for recess. Because we missed all of our morning math and writing, we opted to have a mini math lesson on metric units of capacity, during our normal social studies/science time. After lunch, we finished the day by beginning a unit on "Stone Fox" in literacy. The kids were captivated right off the bat!


Day 4 - March 3, 2015

Today's math was over units of mass. The students struggled some to understand the correlation between the metric system and American standard. However, towards the end of the lesson, they were definitely beginning to understand the concept. In social studies, the students began researching a person from the American Revolution (some of the choices included: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Paul Revere). They were preparing to do a report/presentation about their person and their contribution to the American Revolution. After lunch, we continued "Stone Fox." Mr. Hale asked if I would like to read this chapter, and I was delighted to. Once again, the kids were captivated by the story of a young boy with a wolf-dog who was determined to harvest their crops in order to help his very sick grandfather. It was so fun to see the students enjoying the book and it's story so much as I had the opportunity to read to them.


Day 5 - March 4, 2015

Today was a little spastic. The kids have heard the rumors about another snow day tomorrow, and after last week being mostly snow days, they are ready for another break! It was definitely much harder to keep the students on task today. We began with our math lesson. Because we have been studying the metric system of measurement, but the students were struggling with how to relate metric with the American standard, we used rulers to measure in both. I could definitely see the kids begin to connect the two today. Next they combined writing and social studies (picking up after recess), by working more on their American Revolution profiles. Some students continued to work on their drafts, while others began putting together slide shows, newscasts, and FAKEbook pages that represented their person and be presented to the class. During related arts today we had a literacy grade level planning where they had time to discuss the topics they would be introducing and developing over the next couple weeks, along with brainstorming strategies that they could incorporate into the lesson plans. Finally, at the end of the day we began chapter 3 of "Stone Fox." As before, the kids were intrigued and the best behaved during this part of the day. After, they began working on their chapter questions and TCAP practice. I guess a little chaos makes the day go by faster, because today flew by.


March 5, 2015

Snow day/Inclement weather!


Day 6 - March 6, 2015

I guess the kids got their wish! There was barely anything yesterday, but Hamilton County closed! It was supposed to come in at 7am, then 10 am, then noon. Well, it never came, but I am glad they put the children's safety first and called school as a precaution. That being said, the day off seemed to make some kids very reluctant to get back to school, and other were full of energy! It was a challenge for them to focus either way. Today seemed to be a bit more laid back, like a make up day for the students to catch up on whatever project they were behind on, or practice whatever concept they were confused or struggling with. I worked a lot with Alexandra today, and most days for that matter. She has recently moved here from El Salvador. She is so bright and eager to learn, but knows little to no English. I have spent several nights since practicum began, brushing up on my Spanish to help connect certain words or phrases. She isn't always pulled out for ELL and when she is, it doesn't seem for long (or maybe the time just flies!). Being in the U.S. less than a week, we began with letters, sounds, numbers, colors, and very basic items. (After 4 years of taking Spanish in high school, I only recently discovered that the "th" sound does not exist in Spanish. It has been a confusing concept for Alexandra to grasp, and even more difficult for her to pronounce. She pronounces it sometimes like a 'b' or 'd.') We have now begun less familiar words, like members of the family, and articles of clothing. She has caught on so well! She was also finally given her own iPad to use!!!! I have downloaded an app called Duolingo that has her practicing a lot of words and she is excelling!! Thus far, working with Alexandra and seeing her progress from speaking no English to what she can do now, is so inspiring!


Day 7 - March 16, 2015

We spent our morning on Benchmark testing (Hamilton County distributed) for math. During this time, I read the test aloud to a couple of the students with read-aloud accommodations in their IEPs. After the benchmark, Mr. Hale reviewed some of the questions she saw the students struggling with on the test. Following recess, we transitioned into science, where we began studying adaptations and survival. Our first lesson on this topic was about camouflage. The students were able to use their iPads to find pictures of camouflaged animals, and present them to the class to find. After lunch, the students had Cross Country tryouts. Then, we ended the day by using an anchor chart I made to introduce the first elements of poetry: verse, stanza, rhyme, rhythm, meter, repetition, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and imagery. We read the poem, "Dreams" by Langston Hughes, and identified some of the elements we found in the poem.


Day 8 - March 17, 2015

Today was a lot like yesterday, we spent the morning focused on CRA/Fluency testing (TNCore/State of Tennessee distributed). However, in this testing, it was not a scantron. This test required the students to justify their answer by drawing out how they reached their answer. While these are not turned back into the state for grading, it allows the teacher to see the process they students are using and where they may be struggling to find the answers in equations. Again, after this test, Mr. Hale focused on reviewing some of the questions that the students had struggled on throughout the test. While Mr. Hale was doing this review, he was evaluated by the assistant principal. After recess, the students worked on a PBL newscast focused on the Revolutionary War as well. This was a group projects, where they collaborated to construct the newscast. Following lunch, the students had the second round of tryouts for Cross Country. During this time, we sat in on a teachers meeting, with a focus on reading and literacy as well as test prep strategies. At the end of the day, we continued to learn about the elements of poetry. Today we added simile and metaphor to our anchor chart. We read "Eagles Flight" and looked again for the elements of poetry we learned yesterday, in addition to the elements we added today, simile and metaphor.


Day 9 - March 18, 2015

The last day. We began the day by learning bout variables and expressions in math. Using a symbol/letter to symbolize a number was a very abstract idea for the students. They struggled to grasp the idea that an "x" or "t" or "a" represented a number. After this, we completed some TCAP practice. After recess, we continued our science ideas from Monday by carrying over the idea of adaptation. However, instead of focusing on survival, we changed to extinction. Because most of our minds link the word extinct with dinosaur, the boys were especially interested in this lesson. After lunch, we sat in on a grade level planning. At the end of the day, we focused our literacy lesson on pulling meaning from the elements of poetry that we have been learning over the past two days. We read "The Walking Horse of Tennessee," and discussed why some lines rhymed and why others did not. I noticed how focused each student became when they were asked for their own ideas and opinions about the meaning behind the poem. I really enjoyed this placement, and felt that it gave me a another perspective about education and schools. I attended a Title I school for several years when I was young, but one reason McBrien was Title I, was because it was so culturally diverse and many of the students who attended had not been born in the U.S. and their parents were still establishing their roots here. At Red Bank, while there was some diversity, they were primarily Caucasian; however, their socioeconomic statuses met the requirements for the school to be Title I. And the difference between the two scenarios provided me with a new opportunity to learn and experience various school environments that will greatly benefit me as I pursue a future in education.