Student Teaching

Aww, littlek, I'm not surprised you're tired. The first week on any new job is always the toughest. Have a good weekend!

Sunday: planning those classes, k?

er, no!

I am not at the planning stage yet. I've presented one small activity and maintained the routine while the teacher was out on friday. I just started my seminar and the first thing to do is plan all the meetings and then figure out what we'll be teaching during those times. I'll teach the curriculum that the teacher has already got for those days/weeks, with some items I designed myself. Beyond that, I'll need to come up with my own unit based on the classroom population. It's all a bit confusing still.

Littlek--

You don't have to be an expert in Classroom Management until mid-December.

By which time you'll be a guru!

Everyone loves my teacher-mentor. The students who have her are excited (so far), the other teachers swing by to talk shop with her, the vice superintendent changed his attitude towards me when I said I was student teaching with her........ This is great news for me!

Anyway. She was not in class on Friday, as I said above. A student who is new to the class and had seemed fine to us the first two days, suddenly exhibited serious issues on Friday. Today has been a world-wind of trying to figure out what to do to support her. The ELL (English Language Learner) specialist assessed her, the resource center teachers spend time with her, the brand new school psychologist came by for a chat.

The child didn't eat lunch because she was "too sad to eat". We didn't find this out until half way through the afternoon. The lunch ladies had gone home. I checked in at the office for suggestions. The principal came out to see what was going on, the janitor got involved, then the school nurse. Z is testing us. She was clearly told that she needed to eat something for lunch and that she should not do this again - such complications.

Of course, she was also clearly told that she could get 6 adults to work for her. Sigh. She had to eat.

littlek, it's great that you have such a good mentor! No doubt you'll learn much from her that will be invaluable to you!

So, do you think Z was really that sad about the teacher being gone? Or just trying to push the limits, and see how much attention she could get?

Z sadness stems from outside school - she moved away from her dad. She ate today and she seems to be less clingy with us. She's pulling the pout-face less often. But, now she'll stage whisper "Ms. B........." from across the room when I am studiously ignoring her between visits to her desk. She'll get there. She has also made a friend in class which should help.

Do your kids eat in the playground or in classrooms/lunchroom? Under supervision?

How many children at your school k

Z is eating..... This kid gets herself together in the morning (she's 9). She forgot her snack and lunch. She said she had prepared it, had it in her hand, but her big brother made her take his dogs out and when she put them down she forgot them. There are many more issues. Her mother was called today.

Advice from 4th graders to me:

- "Do you have any kids? You should have them - they're so much fun, you'd really enjoy them." (from a boy)
- "Ms. B....? You really should be a Mrs. by now." (from another boy).

And Commentary:

- "Yo yo yo, Ms. B... Somethingsomethingsomething. That's why she's so cool!" (a rap from two girls)
- "Do that funny voice again!" (same two girls)

Oops, to the rest of your questions..... I'd say there are roughly 300 kids at this school (in the k-5 levels - or 5-11 year olds). They eat inside, two grades at a time (3rd and 4th) and have assigned seats. The teachers took great care in assigning the seats and put her with a table full of simpatico types. There are usually a few adults there, more at the start of the year and the lunch ladies have some series respect.

Funny voice?

Qwaaaak, qwaaaak!


I'm enjoying all this, Ms. B!

They were supposed to be flipping to page 367 (or something). The teacher had given lengthy instructions of a series of things they were to do. One of the girls is bad at listening to directions. And the two were working together (they really aren't all that bad at working together). So, I went over to redirect their chat to the task at hand. They said where in the book? I said in the section with the orange pages. Where? Here. What page? 367. <flipflipflipflip.....passes 367...flipflipflip>. "Ya just went right passed it!" I said the last line with a high, almost squeaky voice. It was a mask to my frustration. They found it very funny, found their page and got to work.

That makes sense. I was afraid you were doing Donald Duck or something...

Ha! No.

Glad Z is eating again. Sounds like you're doing a good job, littlek. I'm still reading along!!

Tomorrow they'll do their first team work project. We picked pairs to do a book review sort of thing. We intentionally chose strong kids to work with weaker kids. And considered personalities as well. Well see how that goes.

And, it happened already. First full week of school. The principal asked me to cover a lunch in a totally unrelated classroom. I'd done that as my job last year and he said he was stuck due to absences for Rosh Hashana. Not sure I like that.

Littlek--

TGIF.

Hell yeah! I forgot to lock my car two nights ago and I fell asleep at the desk last night. Otherwise I feel good.

There's an odd dynamic in that classroom. All the kids are good kids, but there's a lot of free-will. You'd think by 4th grade they'd have none left (she said wryly).

Again, today, the principal asked me to cover for an emergency. Yes it was indeed an emergency, but I'm not working while I'm there, I'm in school. I don't get paid so he's getting free labor out of me (2 hours in 2 days!).