May.2: Teaching Block Day 17

Ms.Carson wasn't here today, but we had a nice supply teacher. The students were great today, and they like the supply teacher.

The students wrote about what they learned in April. Ms.Carson brainstormed with them yesterday. When Ms.Carson asked them what did they do in April, they said "Eggshell People!", "The puddles!", "Spring letter", "Buying things", and all sorts of other things that I did with them. I'm surprised by how much I've taught them, and that they actually learned and remember.

I gave them a working period this morning. I told them that I'll hand out the unfinished work, and if they have nothing on the desk, then they can do something new. I showed the whole class how to write an acrostic poem -- not exactly an acrostic poem (it doesn't have to flow), but using the letters of their name to make words or sentences. The students understood what they were supposed to do, and they got a lot of work done. The students who did everything didn't need to find things to do because they could write the poem. And the class was calm and quiet when they were working. I was glad!

The students are pretty good at making change, which I would be assessing tomorrow. Since they are always doing Math without noticing it (getting the washroom pass, buying things in the morning and in the afternoon), I think I can use the afternoon period to do some Art with them. After recording the temperature after lunch, I "sold" a few things just to review how to make change, and then I taught them how to make an origami tulip.

I planned to have each student make a bundle of tulips, but it didn't work out. We spent the whole period making only one tulip! It was hard for them. If I can do it next time, I'll show them with a bigger paper. Also, I'll give them softer papers, because construction papers are hard to fold. In fact, I'll probably teach them to make the tulips again before Mother's Day!

May.1: Teaching Block Day 16

Before we began our blocks, Peni has said that we are responsible for teaching 50% of the day, but we can take up more during the last week if we feel comfortable. At first, I thought that Periods 3, 4, 6 and 7 are the only periods that I would be doing for my teaching block. However, I started writing the morning message, and Ms. Carson let me read it with the students. Then I began to do the verbs and nouns with them as well, and then led them through the calendar and word wall. I just took up more responsibility smoothly, and even the students noticed that. One girl came up to me and said, "You're teaching us everything now!"

During my first week, I was exhausted everyday after school. I was tired when I woke up in the morning. But by the middle of the second week, I already felt much more comfortable. By now, I'm always waking up before 6:00am, before my alarm clock even goes off. Teaching takes time to get used to, and I learned a lot throughout the process.

I discussed about seasonal clothing with the class today, and I let them draw in the different clothes and colour them. Since a lot of students have work that are not finished, I asked them to draw the clothes, then finish up their previous work before doing the seasonal clothing writing. The students who were efficient and finished everything weren't bored 'cause they had the seasonal clothing work to do, and the rest of the students had the time to catch up. They got a lot done, and I'm going to give them more time tomorrow because I'm not introducing new topics by this time of the unit.

In Math, I taught them how to make change if we're paying dimes. Most of them got it, since it is similar to yesterday's lesson. I let them finish their Art work from last week when they were done the Math. It was a catching up day, but also a productive day!