Oct 10

·         Today the students presented book reports. Mrs. D does not make them write book reports, they present oral book reports. They have to tell the class what the book was about, relate it to real life or their person life, answer 3 questions, and create a project relating to the book. This was so great because once again I got to see their creative side and how confident they were talking in front of the class. Some of the students did a fantastic job and their projects were so creative, and others lacked and did not feel comfortable talking in front of the class. It is important that Mrs. D does this because it helps them with their speaking skills and also comprehension. The students really enjoy listening to these and some of their projects had a lot of time put into them. One student created a board game to go along with his and it was very cool. I will definitely use this in my classroom.

Oct. 7

·         Today was a fun day because it had a great activity. Throughout the day Mrs. D had me correct papers and do other prep work for her. The best part of the day was I got to observe a Readers Theater. During the Readers Theater the students received a play, with parts talking about a serious issue. The Readers Theater comes to Mrs. D every month in a magazine. There was two plays and one was about Katrina, and the other was about a family living in a foreign country  Mrs. D  had already divided up the students into two groups and they had practiced the day before and today was the performance. The students did so great and it was so much fun watching them. There was this one student who is very dramatic and she did so great. I can see her being an actress someday because she was so confident in her abilities and was so wonderful in the play. It was nice to see all of the students come out of their shells and I got a chance to see who they really are! I also could see the students who struggled at reading, but it did not matter because everyone is supportive in Mrs. D’s classroom. I would definitely use this in my classroom!

Sept 28

·         Today Mrs. D had to attend a conference for all 5^th grade teachers in the  area at 1. Therefore, after lunch a substitute would be present. Mrs. D asked me to do the read aloud and present a lesson about almanacs and read some important facts from both of them. The students were well-behaved for me but I think that is because they know me and I am use to them and their routines. They sort of have free rains in the class room and if they have to go to the bathroom, they just go and sign out on the board. The same thing is for getting a drink, sharpening their pencil, getting a Kleenex and other duties. The substitute had a problem with this and when someone got up to sharpen their pencil during the read aloud, she got extremely upset. Also, she got very upset with my case student because she constantly blurts out questions, which they are intelligent ones. She almost kicked her out of the room, but in an ordinary day Mrs.D  tolerates it and is use to it. The case student asks intelligent questions about what is coming next, and kind of ruins it for everyone in the class and that substitute got really upset by that. The substitute then taught science, and was told to teach the vocabulary words for this science lesson. We were running out of time and she went really fast and the students could not keep up. Another student in the classroom just moved to the class from Kenya a couple of years ago. She is an ELL student and struggles a lot when it comes to reading and writing. I had to help her write down the vocabulary words because she could not keep up with the substitute.

Sept 23

·         This was my second day and I was still getting familiar with everything in the classroom and school. I spent a whole day in the classroom. After lunch the students were having map testing which would take from 1:30 to 2:40. Because of map testing, the morning was very hectic because Mrs. D was trying to cram everything in or at least make sure the students knew what their homework was over the weekend because she did not know how much time they would have at the end of the day to fill out their planners. During the map testing, I was advised that I could not help the students, only repeat words and possibly give them a different meaning. I really saw who the struggling students are during this test and that are use to receiving help. They almost constantly had their hands up and I heard them say numerous times they could not do it. Also, I saw who the gifted/talented students are because they never asked for help and was done within a half hour. Mrs. D did a great job of telling me who they were just so I could watch and observe them. My case study student did not do very well on the map testing because she just did not want to do it. She wanted their Para with them constantly and the Para couldn’t help and this really bothered her. She constantly wanted to go to the bathroom, or get a drink and not work. Finally she got  settled, and she just rushed through the test and was done before anyone else. After the test Mrs. D told me that they are unsure what she exactly has, but that this was a good day. They do not know what she has because she is very smart. She is very artistic; probably the best in the entire class and loves doing art. She also is smart in subjects, if she takes her time. It is very hard for her to sit still and also refrain from blurting out comments or constantly asking questions. According to the map test she is in the middle of her class, so she is smart. After map testing class was over, but I stayed after and discussed her with Mrs. D.

Monday, Sept. 21

My first day of the practicum was today in a 5^th grade classroom. I am going to name my cooperating teacher Mrs. D and will address her as that for the rest of the blog. When I arrived at the classroom, the students had just finished their snack break and now were starting literacy. On this particular day, Mrs. D had reserved the library during their literacy time because they would be having school pictures at 11:45 a.m. So right away we went to the library and the kids showed me the books and which ones they like to read. They also showed me this computer system that lists all the books and where they are located. Therefore, if the students are struggling to find a book, they can go to the computer and see if the library has it. Right after we arrived at the library, the picture ladies came in and said they were ready for the 5^th graders to take pictures. They were running 30 minutes early and wanted to get the pictures in. I saw firsthand how important decision making is with this scenario because these students could not get into the library last week, and it was booked the rest of the week. Mrs. D politely told them that they would like to keep their normal time and that her students really needed the library. I thought this was a good decision and really saw that students are the number one priority, even when it comes to library times!
After the library and pictures the students went to lunch. During lunch, Mrs. D gave me a tour of the school, staff room, and lounge. The school is bigger than what I am use to and what I grew up in. There are four 5^th grade classrooms, whereas in my 5^th grade classroom growing up there was only 21 of us total! After lunch, the students back and she did a read aloud. During the read aloud the students are free to do whatever they want that is quiet. I thought this was strange because their full attention was not on her and I thought they were not paying attention. But, she would stop and ask comprehension questions and they all knew the answers and at the end of the 15 minutes they all wanted her to keep reading. So they were listening and it was something to keep them occupied and also to see that reading was fun. During the read aloud I noticed one student was acting different than the other students. She was pacing around the room, would not follow directions, and blurted out words when it was quiet time. I later asked Mrs. D and she said that the student has severe ADHD and possibly could have Asperger’s syndrome. This student will now become my case study and I want to watch she actions very closely. They ended the day with science, talking about weather. My first day went very well and I really like Mrs. D and the 5^th grade class.