Today was a great day. You know one of those days where you see growth in all the students you work with and where you come up with some amazing ideas to deal with challenging situations. It has taken me three weeks, but my first grade math group is starting to use the number line. The group is three boys so when I saw Spider-man flash cards I thought they were worth a try. I made the rule that while we were playing Spider-man flash cards they had to get their answer on the number line. For the last three days the first thing they ask me was, "Can we play with the Spider-man flash cards?" They not only do they love playing the game, but they are learning to add and subtract at the same time.

A new little girl has joined my first grade reading group. She is a great new addition. Her presents is helping push the other little girl who has been in the group all along. They like reading together and they help each other and encourage each other. Because the two girls move together and the little boy in the group is height then the girls I needed to find something for him to do. I wanted it to be meaningful work, so I found a book with stories for him to read that have work sheet that go along with the stories. He has been wanting to work independently so this will give him that opportunity.

I started my work sample three days ago and it is going great. Everyday I see growth in these two young students. They both want to read and they are working very hard. I have found a lot of good resources on the Internet. I found the best little letter books that I can print off the Internet. I am trying to bring in a variety of letter game and fun activities. Good week....Great day!!!

Started my work sample today. It went very well. One of my two students was not there so I only had one student, I hope that doesn't happen very often. I do like the one on one time so I can really focus on that student and their needs. I just feel so bad for these little guys. I know they are doing their best but they just can't keep the information in their little heads. The thing I kept thinking is this is just the beginning. They have twelve years of public education ahead of them.

I am starting my work sample this morning. I have decide to use my kindergarten reading/writing group. This group contains two kids who are learning the names and sounds for letters. I am going to start my lessons with a review sense we are coming off spring vacation. I will be interested to see what these young kids retain after being off for a week.

After working with middle school kids for the past twelve years I am finding it hard to modify my vocabulary to fit the younger students. The other day I told my first graders they were going to learn a new concept. They had no idea what the word concept meant so they sat there staring at me with blank looks on their faces. I have to really work to use words and ideas they understand.

My First Week of Student Teaching

After one week working in a primary resource room I am really beginning to love it. The kids are so cute and so eager to learn that it makes every day a fun and exciting experience. I have decided to use my kindergarten reading group for my work sample. Of all my groups this is the one that I feel I can add to the current curriculum and not through their whole program off. The first and second graders that I work with have been using a direct instruction curriculum sense the beginning of the year and it would be hard for me to add my own ideas to these groups without upsetting the students academic growth. I am using my talents to change tedious lessons into games or other fun activities. I still believe that when done right the best way to educate students is by using direct instruction and adding other activities to keep things interesting. I want to bring books, rhyming games. and other attention getting activities to all my reading groups. I want the give the students the gift of enjoying books so that they will work hard to become better readers. I want to bring fun activities to my math groups as well, but I am finding this harder to do. I want to look for some ideas on hands on math. One of my students only wants to add. He doesn't quite get the minus means going backward. When I gave them a add/subtract test, I could hear him saying the problems to himself. "Five plus three equals...five, six, seven, eight," he said for the first problem. "Six minus four equals...six, seven, eight, nine, ten," was his response to problem number two. No matter the problem he always counted up. So I tried working with the number line, but it is too early to see if that is helping. He has some behaviors and is short on attention so it may take some time to get him to understand the difference between adding and subtracting. I think this week I will add in some manipulatives too see if that might help. In my other math group I have one student who is on the spectrum. On Thursday he decided that he was only going to say and write numbers that ended with eight. I did my best to come up with add and subtract problems that ended in eight. The problem came when he had to complete his progress monitoring assessment. On the first side he wrote eights on every answer, so this was not a good measure of his abilities. On side two I told him he could have a Sponge Bob sticker for each problem he wrote the right answer to. I had to give him eight Sponge Bob Stickers.

Day three of working in a primary resource room. I am finally getting use to some of the differences between middle school and primary elementary school. In the middle school I didn't have to tie shoes or help blow noses, but I did have to watch for hand holding and inappropriate clothing. Nose picking is something both age groups do (along with adult male who was next to me at the stop light this morning). Both age group also like to have fun, want you to like them and want to feel successful. These are just kids who get out of bed every morning, come to school and try their best. Sure the have some behaviors and they don't always want to do what we want them to do, but they aren't bad. It is our job as the adults in the situation to make learning as fun and interesting as possible. It is our job to make each child feel important and cared about. I know I learn better when I am not weighed down by stress, judgment and pressure. In fact I have a hard time even paying attention in situations that cause me stress. So it is my plan to always make school a positive situation for every child I come into contact with. I will do my best to smile when I see a child, greet them with a friendly comment and compliment them as often as I can. I think I am succeeding because today a second grade girl I work wire said, "Will you be here again tomorrow? I like school now."

Day One of Student Teaching

Today was my first day of student teaching. It was a big change. I have been working in middles schools for the last twelve years and now I am working with kindergartners and first graders. They are so darn cute. They came in with big smiles on their little faces. The hardest part was keeping them moving and on task. The class room is very busy which makes it even harder for the children to stay on task. The teaching staff is very warm and positive. Each group comes and goes at their own. The room is in constant movement. Overall this was a great first day!

Friday was my last day at Agnes Stewart Middle School, because I start u student teaching at Riverbend Elementary School on Monday. This made me feel very loved. They gave me cards and small tokens to show how much they would miss me. The students, even the ones I don't work with very much, all came to say good bey to me and that made me feel great. One group of girls, who I only see at lunch time, said they will miss me because I stick up for them when other staff seem to be picking on them. I thought all the well wishes would make it harder to leave, but it actually made it easier.

I am feeling a little nervous about student teaching. I have worked in middles schools for the past twelve years and I am comfortable working with this age group. My student teaching is going to be in a primary (K- 3rd) resource room. I will need to be careful about my approach. These students will be so much younger and their humor and feelings less developed. The teacher, whose room I will be working in, already has my groups planned. The curriculum he uses is very similar to the curriculum I have used in the past so that part should be fairly easy. It's the student interaction that has me concerned.