Some Pictures

So this week has had it's ups and downs. Planning ELT has proven to be a lot more work than I anticipated. Planning 2 small group math activities and an independent math center every day is already taking its toll. Nevertheless, I did remember to take a picture of my room and my new desk! So that will be the extent of my post today! Now I have to go read The CAFE Book and get the down low on this before taking over reading next week!

Beth, This One's For You!

So I participated in my first Writing Workshop experience in an elementary classroom! Until now, everything I've seen in a classroom has either been nothing like the writing workshop model. After reiterating to my teacher how much I really value writing workshop, she agreed and started planning it that way. After using the 4-square model and other prewriting tools for several days, my teacher let my students just write. They were so eager to actually take their prewriting and make it a solid piece of writing. There are several teachers during writing: my mentor teacher, myself, the EIP teacher, and three days a week the gifted teacher. So we were able to go around and have mini conferences with each student. I was so excited to read what they were writing. Oh, I think I was able to give some good suggestions, something I'm not always confident about. What's great is that we all collaborated and planned the mini/focus lessons for next week, rotating the lead teacher every day. We also got everyone on the same page and agreed that the students should have the majority of the time to write, and to write about what they WANT to write. I really pushed for no prompts, at least not yet. What's really cool is that we are each going to have student-teacher conference notebooks. Each of us will work with a few students all the way from prewriting to publishing, and we are going to use our notebooks to track our conferences and set goals with the students. Having so many teachers means that we can really hit every student and conference with them multiple times a week. I'm really excited about all of this, which probably sounds ridiculous and lame to non-teachers, but I don't care. I can't wait to start!

A Place of My Own

I got my own desk today! So far, I have been taking over the kidney table at the back of the room, which was fine. However, one of the janitors told my teacher about an extra desk he had, and my teacher asked if I could use it. So after school we rearranged things and put our desks facing each other. I feel so official now! In other news, I stayed until after 6 this evening. We had another team planning meeting and then my teacher and I moved the desks, organized a lot of stuff, and basically started getting our shit together. I feel better about a lot of things, but still overwhelmed with other things like lesson plans. Not to mention, I take over reading in 2 weeks and my teacher hasn't even figured out how to implemented her own way of teaching reading. She uses The CAFE Book, which I am not familar with. But she hasn't done anything from CAFE since week 1. How am I supposed to plan using CAFE if I've never seen it? Anyway, that's my mini issue right now.

So Much To Do; So Little Time

I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this blog up. It's only the second week and I already feel so overwhelmed. If I'm this busy now, how is it going to be when I am teaching everything for 3-whole weeks? Anyway, tomorrow my mentor teacher will be gone for the afternoon, which means there will be a sub. What this really means is that I am teaching Social Students and ELT (Extended Learning Time). Even though I officially take over responsibility for ELT next week, I have taught the students during ELT all this week. I basically do things off the cuff, and luckily it seems to be going pretty well. I will be glad when I have actual lesson plans to follow next week. I like planning ahead and putting more thought into lessons before teaching. In fact, I'm going to start on my lessons now.

My First Friday

So I missed the jeans memo for today and wore a dress while all of my colleagues chilled in jeans, but that's okay. I planned morning meeting yesterday and today, and they both went great. I also jumped in and taught a little reading yesterday and math today so that my teacher could get some last minute things figured out. Although I would prefer to plan out when I teach, it's still teaching which means I still loved it. The kids are starting to see me in that 'teacher' role, which is definitely a good thing. Next week I "officially" start planning Morning Meeting. I have to upload the plans to the 5th Grade lesson plans on this website. It feels so official. Anyway, I'm having fun planning morning meeting activities and discussing lesson ideas with my mentor teacher. We decided on my Calendar of Requirements for the semester. She really is great to work with! I am glad it's Friday though. I am wore out!

Starting to get into the swing of things...

Today was another great day. Mon., Wed, and Fri. one of the gifted teachers collabs with my class for part of the day. It's always interesting to see how collab teaching works in different classrooms. Sometimes the main teacher still runs the show, sometimes not. It's a delicate dance of teaching, when done correctly. However, my mentor teacher was perplexed with what to do when the gifted teacher ran over time. They sort of wing it when it comes to the day's lesson. I feel like more communication would benefit the teachers and the students. But it is still early in the year. I'm sure everyone will get the hang of it.
I also sat in on my first grade level meeting. Since we submit one lesson plan as a grade level team, the teachers divvy up subjects. My teacher does S.S. and sometimes math. It'll be nice to see these subject areas, especially since I was in an ELA 5th grade all last semester. I feel like I know that curriculum like the back of my hand.
My teacher had to leave a little early today, so I was left to write tomorrow's morning message, plan a morning meeting activity, and grade some math tests. I have to be honest, it felt pretty good being the only one in the classroom working on things for the next day. It was like a little glimpse into the future. Tomorrow night is curriculum night! I'm excited to meet my kids' parents. Anyway, that's all for now.

My First "Official" Day!

So, although I went to the first day of pre-planning and the first day of school, I did so on my own time. My first official day was today. Yesterday everyone met with their supervisors to get the low down on our student teaching requirements this semester. Basically, I slowly start taking on more and more responsibilities in the classroom and build up to at least 2 full weeks teaching everything. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Today we had Data Team during planning. Basically, the whole 5th grade meets with the instructional coach and they go over assessment data to determine how the kids are doing(aka. boring). Nevertheless, the majority of the day was trying to make copies while the copier was on the fritz and trying to remember my kids' names. I think I've got most of them. Oh, and I also gave a few students reading assessments this afternoon. So now I'm off to look at the curriculum guides for 5th grade so I know what I'm in for this semester!

The First Day of School!

So I've decided to follow in the footsteps of some of my peers and turn my Writing Workshop blog from last semester into a place where I can tell my tales of student teaching.

I was able to go to the first day of preplanning for this year, which was great. I was able to meet my mentor teacher, many of her collegues, and get an overall sense of the school. But today was the real treat. I was there for my students' first day of school as fifth graders. I was so nervous and excited. It ended up being a truly great day.

My mentor teacher incorporates morning meeting and Morning Messages into her classroom every day. I LOVE this! The Morning Messages require the students to actively participate in something, like drawing a flower in the "class garden,"or drawing their face on the morning message poster paper. I'm looking forward to seeing the classroom grow as a community through these daily activities.

My mentor teacher is fabulous. From the minute I stepped into the room, I felt like an important member of the classroom through little things throughout the day:
- "Ms. Turner" was written on the board right next to hers.
- She said "our kids,""our classroom" and "Ms. Turner and I..."
- She gave me responsibilities and tasks to do
- She included me in every aspect of the day and even let me write the morning message for tomorrow.

I wish I could spend the whole first week with my new class of bright-eyed fifth graders, but my 3 year-old's back in Marietta still need me for 4 more days. 3-year-old's and 11-year-old's have a lot of differences, but they'r all children... and I love teaching children!

So that's all for now. My next post will be next week when I return to my 5th graders and my awesome mentor teacher!