R.I.P Riley and Chris

Today is not one of my usual days to write for my midtier.  It is a wednesday and I was informed this morning that two of my midtier students have passed away.  I don't have much to say at this point as I have not been to West to fully experience the pain the students are feeling.  I am trying to put on my typical brave face and hope they know everything will be alright...time heals pain.

10/20/11 Substitute

Today was a very different kind of day in Mrs. Rode's classroom; we had a substitute teacher.  Mrs. Rode had a family commitment for the weekend and ended up taking Thursday and Friday off to prepare.  I was interested to see how the class would go without her there to keep things in order and surprisingly it went very well.  I was surprised when I got to the classroom and found that the sub was my age (maybe a few years older) and was a lot shorter and younger looking than me.  The classes went smoothly, with the two of us walking around and assisting students with their worksheets and answering questions.  The rest of the time was uneventful, but still as usual a great learning experience for me.

One-on-One 9/29

This week the students are reading a story called The Rise of the Red Chief.  It is a cute story that the students have in their literature books.  I have enjoyed watching and observing Mrs. Roed teaching this story and the reading techniques students need to master.  One of the activities I enjoyed and hope to implement in my future classroom is to have the students make predictions about a story by the artwork that is on either the cover or a picture that goes with the story.  In the students literature book each story has "cover art" and the students can make predictions about characters, plot and story line from this artwork.  The students seem to enjoy this activity and like hearing their peers' opinons and ideas.  Mrs. Roed always encourages her students to read their writing aloud to their peers; either in small groups or to the whole class.  I like this portion of the class period because the students get practice reading aloud and this boosts their confidence with public speaking.

During the last hour of the day I got the opportunity to go in the hall and assist students who had missed class throughout the week.  I helped them get caught up with their work, and tried to keep them on task.  I was amazed at the struggle a few of the students had while reading the assigned pages.  I was amazed that they were opposed to reading 4 pages of text and that it was that big of a deal.  I had trouble encouraging them to read because I saw it as the easiest assignment ever.  I will have to learn and work on a few ways to help students want to read.

Book Club:
During book club today we wer asked to bring a quote from the first 100 pages of Hourglass.  I chose a quote that I thought represented the overall feelings of the main character, but the quote was also funny.  One of the book club members Hailey was struggling to complete her required book summary about a book she read over the summer.  Mrs. Roed asked me to help Hailey complete her summary and I gladly accompanied her to the library to begin typing.  We worked on the summary and after a bit of a struggle we completed what she thought was a fair attempt.  I later learned that Hailey often struggles with this type of assignment and that Mrs. Roed felt bad about asking me to help.  I obviously took this opportunity as a great way to learn about working one on one with students and enjoyed the chance to help Hailey do her best.
The quotes the girls chose were all interesting, and its cool to see their individual personalities coming out of their shells.  I can't wait for more opportunities at book club.  

9/27

Today I learned how to work a Scantron grading machine.  It is not rocket science, but I feel really cool and accomplished because it is one more thing I can say I know how to work.  I often help with making copies and running small errands if Mrs. Roed really needs the help.  She is always appreciative of my help and I feel like a valued member of her classroom.

Most days I arrive at West about 15 minutes early and get to sit in on Mrs. Roed's "team" planning hour.  I enjoy listening to the teachers talk about problem students and how they are going to fix issues with students.  This short observation period is a great way for me to learn about dealing with problem students in an actual classroom setting.  I like hearing about the different issues the team is having with particular students because I can be on the lookout for those behaviors while I am teaching in Mrs. Roed's classroom.  The other teachers on Mrs. Roed's team seem to enjoy hearing my "views" about students, but I try not to interrupt their meetings with unnecessary questions or opinions.     

Book Fair 9/20 and 9/22

This week was not a typical week at West Intermediate.  Both days I worked the book fair in the library.  The first day I sold 0 books, but the second day I sold a whopping 1 book.  During my time in the library I read the book Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley's Believe it or Not.  It was boring, but I now know how to work the Schoolastic computers and how to run a book fair if I ever encounter one in my years as an educator.  Overall it was an uneventful week, but I always try to learn something from my experience!

8th Grade Dance 9/16/11

Today was not a typical midtier day.  I volunteered to attend and help out with the after school dance that was held for the 8th graders.  I was assigned the duty of "front door guard".  Myself and the other midtier students at West were assigned different locations throughout the school.  We were equipped with walkie-talkies and were lead to our individual spots.  My job was relatively easy, but keeping the students away from their lockers; especially when "hair emergencies" were a huge issue was difficult.  I was amazed at the amount of drama that goes on in a middle school dance.  I saw at leas 5 girls leave the gymnasium crying and at least 5 boys be disciplined; one for "grinding" on Mrs. Roed.  I had to laugh when I heard that story!

Overall the experience was fun and I learned a lot about crowd control.  I am pretty good at manning the doors because I have grown up watching my Dad keep his schools under control.  Thanks Dad :-D

First Day of "Book Club" 9/15/11

Today was day 2 of my midtier experience.  The classroom experience today was relatively straightforward.  I did some running around and then listened to the lecture as I organized the bookshelves in Mrs. Roed's room.  She really seems to appreciate the help, and I am happy to do anything she needs assistance with.

On Tuesday of this week Mrs. Roed told me about the "book club" she holds every year.  I was invited to join her and the students after school every Thursday.  The book club group consists of all girls ranging from 7th to 9th grade.  Mrs. Roed has some 9th graders who loved book club so much they wanted to return, even though they are now in high school.  The 9th graders add a very different dynamic to the group, as they are much more outspoken and comfortable with the group.  The younger girls are all soft spoken and often get talked over by the 9th graders.  Most of the time the group gets along wonderfully, but I can see both negative and positive aspects to the 9th graders attending book club.  A positive aspect is that the younger girls will have friends when they reach the high school.  A negative aspect is that the younger girls often feel their opinions aren't as important as the older girls; therefore they keep their thoughts to themselves.  I really enjoy "book club" so far and think it is a really cool program for the girls to attend after school!

I found out we are reading a book called Hourglass.  I am excited to begin reading and can't wait to see what the girls think of it!