Student Teaching- Prep for Kindergarten

I am excited to say that my first eight weeks, for student teaching, I will be in a Kindergarten class! I am very excited to teach in this grade because I have not had the chance to work in this setting before. I have been doing a little research on how to prep students for kindergarten and what school will be like for them. I have been looking at some of the things that I would need to prepare in the classroom, and I found a great tool that can be used at Parent Night or Welcome Week, or be sent for parents and kids to watch at home before the first day of school. The link below, to Brain Pop Jr., includes a video on introducing and showing students how to prepare for kindergarten.


Link-Kindergarten Prep


Scholastic also provides parents and teachers with tips and strategies to helping children get ready for Kindergarten, and where children should be in development for their age. The link below gives a great article on the seven important parts of a child's development that they should be at when entering Kindergarten. This article helped me to see how I might assess my students at the beginning of the year and what I need to be looking for in their strengths and abilities in the classroom. This will help me to find a starting point and see what kind of support or accommodations I must make to help guide these students in developing Kindergarten-level skills and abilities. The link below provides the full article.

Link- Ready for Kindergarten?


I also started following another teacher's blog that focuses a lot of her information on Kindergarten and primary grades. I found her article, "How to Survive Kindergarten" heartwarming and encouraging. She gave many helpful pointers on how to "survive" Kindergarten and how to teach without losing all management in the classroom. She also provides other teachers with materials she has used and gives support to other teachers who have helped her along the way. I really encourage any teacher to read her article on Kindergarten, it is helpful and supportive for first year and seasoned teachers.

Link- "How to Survive Kindergarten"


I hope some of these tools you find creative and helpful for starting Kindergarten! Keep following all summer long and I will continue to dig deeper into learning more about Kindergarten level and what to include in my plans for teaching and classroom management.

Swtiching Over-Student Teaching/England

As some of you may know, this blog has been used in my last semester to blog on my experiences during my clinical setting. I will be shifting my blog to talk about my student teaching experience which starts after this summer. I will not be blogging much until that starts in August, but I will be using the blog to talk about my student teaching experiences, and to blog about my trip to England in the fall. I will not be doing much blogging until student teaching starts, but please feel free and I encourage you to continue to follow my blog to read and connect with me about my students teaching experiences and keep in touch with me while I am in England. There will be a lot of good pictures and reflection on my trip and the work I am doing, so don't miss out! Stay connected and have a great summer!

Chantal

Saying Goodbye...

After this semester, I had grown so close to my students, working with them and teaching multiple lessons in the classroom helped me to see ho much effect I have on my students. Saying goodbye is never easy, but this year my students gave me so many great gifts in return and I wanted to share them with everyone. Here are some of the things they gave me: 

 I will definitely miss this great group of students I worked with and have learned so much from! Have a great summer everyone!

Looking Back...

From reviewing my goals at the beginning of this semester, I feel that I made a lot of progress in teaching in my clinical placement. I feel that throughout my time during my placement, I was able to use the knowledge and experiences from my past clinicals and what we were learning in classes to use in my clinicals. I felt I got to practice some of the things that I will be doing in student teaching, like assessments, planning a curriculum, and working with parents and staff. I felt that this semester I kept looking back on what I did in past clinicals, past lesson implementations, and working with children before and how I could incorporate what I knew to establish new knowledge and ideas. I think that throughout this clinical placement, I really got to learn more about what I already knew, like Guided Reading, Close Reading, and Math Workshops, but I felt that I also got to learn about new ideas and strategies like teaching Mind Missions for Social Studies, teaching science in different ways, and using what I learned in my classes for my clinical placement lessons. I really enjoyed being able to teach a Science lesson and a Social Studies lesson in this placement, and I felt that it prepared me to see how I would collect materials, organize my lesson, and teach vocabulary and content. Also, I felt that doing these lessons led to discussion and support for improvement from my CT, which I felt was so beneficial for my future teaching. Having science and social studies classes this semester helped me learn how to incorporate the subjects into classes and I am glad I got to use information that I was learning in my classes in my placement this semester. My CT was very helpful and supportive when I taught lessons, asked her questions about teaching and planning, and classroom management. Being with a seasoned teacher for this semester was a lot of fun because I got to talk with her about what I was learning, what I knew and what I was confused about, she gave me a lot of good information and tools that I can use for the future.

My second goal was to organize and prepare myself for the future and for student teaching. I felt that this semester was very beneficial for my preparation for student teaching. I am working in the district I will be at for student teaching, I got to practice a lot of things I didn’t do in past semesters, and I have made a lot of progress in teaching and learning content. I think that I really prepared myself by always looking for more resources, always trying new things and becoming more familiar with new ideas. One thing I felt was beneficial was being able to tutor kids after school with my CT. She let me tutor third graders in math and reading. I got practice in focusing on student’s needs to benefit what they are learning in class and knowing how to challenge students but allowing them to have fun in the process. I really think that in my first or second year I will try to set up tutoring for kids like my CT has.

I also felt that I made a lot of progress in showing my professionalism through my work and my abilities and strengths in my teaching and clinicals. I made it a goal all semester to work hard within my clinicals and exceed in my work through my lessons and my motivation as a teacher in clinicals. I felt that staying after to help tutor, meeting with the literacy coach and going to professional development meetings each month allowed me to show my professionalism, build professional relationships and become more connected within the school. I really enjoyed going to the professional development meetings, talking with staff and working with my CT before and after school, and meeting the literacy coach for the district. Doing these activities for me taught me a lot about the district I will be in for students teaching, gave me the opportunity to work with other teachers and staff, and learn about job opportunities that I could have a future in, like being a literacy coach. I was so excited the first day of clinicals when I met the literacy coach and she suggested to me that anytime I could meet with her because I am getting a reading endorsement so I can possibly work in a position like that. My CT and I have talked with the literacy coach many times and I enjoy and find it very interesting to listen and have a discussion with her because I realize that I understand the work and the teaching techniques she is suggesting using in the classroom. I enjoy having an educated conversation with her because it helps me learn what I could be doing in this position in the future. I also learned this semester that being able to know more people throughout the school and know more about the district helped me feel more comfortable throughout my clinical placement and I felt that it helped me practice building professional relationships.

In moving forward this semester, I feel I will continue to try to incorporate what I have learned in the past to try and help me for student teaching, because I feel I learned a lot of new and helpful knowledge that will benefit me in student teaching. Also, I want to try to continue studying science and social studies content and how I can teach it in my classroom, because this information was so new to us this semester, I felt that I learned a lot but still want to practice this knowledge and build on what I learned this semester.

Overall, I really loved this clinical placement. I loved the grade level and would now love to teach second or third grade, but still love kindergarten and first grade too! I felt that working with these students challenged me to know my content and helped me to see how I could challenge myself as a teacher and support these students at this level. I really liked that I got the chance to do tutoring and that I got to go to the professional development meetings every month. I also felt that each lesson I did I became stronger in my teaching skills, in using classroom management tools, and in knowing how to assess children throughout and after my lesson. Lastly, I felt that this semester’s classes incorporated what I was learning and doing in my clinicals very well and I felt that I got to use a lot of what I was learning in classes and that it made me more confident and prepared for the future.

For the end of the year, I decided to write cards for each student in my clinical class. I found a couple ideas on Pinterest for gift ideas for students and for my CT to show appreciation:

 Card to students: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/217932069438649312/ 

Gift for students:  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/449585975271476285/

Appreciation gift for CT:  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/410038741045852352/

Science Instruction in Clinical Setting

The science instruction in my second grade clinical classroom is done in large group, mostly at their desks. Science instruction happens in the afternoon, depending on the day either my teacher is teaching Science or Social Studies. I have only seen science instruction a few times, but from what I have seen I know that my teacher uses discussions to ask questions to students to find out what they know, uses guidance and reasoning to encourage thinking and responses, and uses discussion to encourage interest and hypothesis. The last time I saw my cooperating teacher teach science, she used real world connections, daily experiences, and real life examples to encourage thinking and discussion in the topic on nutrition and daily intake. Students used prior knowledge to discuss the different kinds of food you find in each food group and why the daily intake is different for each type of nutrition.

 A lot of times the teacher will also have students use their science notebooks to record information, graphs, and data from investigations to record this for later use. My teacher will show students what to do sometimes using her document camera, other times she will have them reflect on the lesson or activity in their notebook. I like the idea of using a notebook to record and document information and I will definitely want to try to use this in my future classroom. My teacher encourages children to discuss and respond in the large group by asking prediction questions, connecting to students real lives, and using visual examples on the Smart board. Some students are distracted at their desks during the long discussions, but my teacher encourages them to focus and be engaged by walking around the room and engaging with students and questioning their ideas or opinions. I think students like the large group discussion because they make connections to their world and can investigate and argue ideas and facts. My CT gets most of her lesson ideas by incorporating the social studies topics with science instruction. As a past teacher in Texas, my cooperating teacher did this kind of instruction and incorporated these two topics in instruction. The science instruction is more focused to explore ideas, make predictions, and brainstorm ideas, whereas in social sciences students are applying what there are learning from literature and real world to understand the concepts through application. 

The parts I like of my cooperating teacher’s practices is that she uses large group discussion and engagement throughout the activity, she provides children with a high amount of reasoning and information when using discussion in her lesson, and she provides exploration and engagement by making real world connections. I think she guides and supports children’s thinking and responses in discussion very well and when she engages students in discussion she provides good examples of real world connections and explanations that show she understands the topic and can guide students to explore the concept.

I have not science instruction in my clinicals before, nor have I had a science class in education until this semester, so from what I have learned in my science class this semester, my CT has very engaging and interesting discussions. I can easily make connections to my class readings on how to provide application to learning science and I can see how I would plan a science activity that could extend my CT’s discussion. When my CT taught the nutrition circle on the plate, students could have used different pictures of foods and their amounts to apply it to the plat and show visually how much food should really be consumed in each category.

 I think some things that I would do differently is having children sit at their desks the entire time. Children start to get distracted and are not as engaged in discussion after about twenty minutes and I think I would get children out of their desks and transition so they stay engaged in the lesson. I also think I would change how students share their ideas and responses in the lesson because my cooperating teacher usually have students raise hands and respond individually. I think I would sometimes have children talk within their small groups at their desk and then have a “reporter”, someone to report what was said in their group, so that students are still engaged in discussion and are working collaboratively in groups. But the science instruction I see in my clinicals helps me to see that in the future I can use some of the positive aspects of her lessons and discussions but also build on that by providing more engaging discussion and formative assessment tools that I believe would benefit children’s knowledge of the topic and participation in the discussion.

Here is a link I found on guidelines for forming groups, group work techniques, and ideas for forming groups:  https://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/sections/groupwork.html

From UCD Dublin Teaching and Learning Resources I found very helpful teaching toolkit on large and small group discussion techniques. The toolkit has a very organized way of explaining each type of technique and the advantages to using each technique in a small/large group.

 http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/ucdtlt0021.pdf

Here is a link I found that has examples of formative assessment tools that can be used during the science discussion: http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21/FormativeAssessment.html

This link has 22 easy formative assessment techniques for teachers, something I definitely want to keep for the future!     http://www.nwea.org/blog/2013/22-easy-formative-assessment-techniques-for-measuring-student-learning/

Social Studies Instruction in Clinicals

Social studies instruction takes place after physical education and is done in small groups. I have not actually seen social studies instruction happen, but my cooperating teacher and I have talked about it a lot because I will be teaching a social studies lesson. My cooperating teacher explained that she tries to do social studies instruction at least two-three days a week because from her past teaching experiences in Texas, she incorporates science with social studies. The teaching strategy she uses are called, “Mind Missions” which have students read a passage on a topic and then apply their knowledge by doing an activity or responding in some way. For example, my cooperating teacher explained students read a factual passage on the State of Liberty and the way it was constructed and why, then students broke into small groups and had to recreate an actual model of something that symbolized the State of Liberty and the history of the symbol. My teacher reads the passage aloud with students and gives guidelines to their small group activity, and then students break off into small groups to work together o their activity. After students are finished, the class gathers as a large group again to share their activities. My cooperating teacher supports students by observing small groups and gathering permanent documents of student’s work. I think students are highly engaged and are curious and motivated to apply their learning in the activity. Also, I think students like working in small groups and sharing ideas to create something together. I have talked with some of my students, who share their experiences about some of the social studies activities they have done, like the President’s stories they created together after studying each Presidents biography and the requirements and job of the President. Many of the students could recall a lot of information they learned, factual information, President’s names,, and were excited to tell me what they used in their stories. I think using “Mind Mission” lessons allows children to think creatively and work together to apply what they have learned to create something that exemplifies their knowledge and response to the information they have gotten. I really like that children take control of the activity, while the teacher gives guidelines and then observes students working in groups. Also, I like that using this teaching practice allows the teacher to incorporate literacy, science, and math in social studies lessons. I have never seen social studies instruction in any of my other clinicals, so this kind of teaching practice for social studies is new to me because what I do know of social studies instruction is that I just have seen students reading from a textbook. Also, this kind of teaching practice is somewhat similar to what I am learning in my social studies class this semester because when making workjobs, students are able to use these activities to practice and apply what they know to review and engage in the information. I actually think that if I could suggest to my cooperating teacher to use workjobs in her classroom for assessment and for extension to activities that it would help support student’s knowledge of what they are learning in social studies instruction. From what I have seen in my clinical classroom this semester, I really like the teaching practice that my cooperating teacher uses and I think I would use these strategies to incorporate social studies instruction in my future classroom. Also, I think as a future teacher if I were to use this teaching practice I would use workjobs to support my student’s knowledge and extend what they have learned in our activities to practice their skills. I think the workjobs would be a great tool for assessment and I think it would provide children with activities to use during free choice time.

Here are two activities I found that I thought were great for using with the teaching practice that my cooperating teacher uses in her classroom and thought these activities use great materials to support children's engagement and application of instruction. These might be great ideas for my future social studies lessons that I will have to implement in my clinical classes.

 This activity would be great for children to do in small groups so that the could talk about what should be included in each level and how they want to set up each level of their globe from Earth to their city.

Social Studies Community Cups

This activity has students create geographic 2-d art after studying different forms of art that are seen in structure around the world, and in groups they must come up with a way to use multiple shapes, lines, and colors to create their own 2-d art. Rulers are required to measure and create symmetry.

Social Studies, Art, and Math

Here are two workjobs I found that I thought were very good at extending the topic and details provided and help support children knowledge on the topic. I think these are great examples of workjobs that I would include in my future classroom.

This workjob asks students to properly match the great inventors with their corresponding invention and date of invention.

Great Inventors Timeline

This workjob has students matching the facts and resources of the ecosystem with the picture of the ecosystem. This challenges students to recall information and identify facts about certain ecosystems. 

Ecosystems

Workjobs for Social Studies

A workjob is an independent activity that students can do during free time or as an extension to what they learned in a lesson or unit. I have made three workjobs for Social Studies, each at different levels and with different Social Studies strands.

Workjob for Economics for Kindergarten level. Title is, "Wants and Needs". Students match the words, "want" and "need" to pictures on the board to categorize them as either a want or need. Students can use the description provided of these words to help identify which pictures are a want or need. Pictures are labeled to explain the picture and I also included a text for students to use to look at different kinds of wants or needs. There is a picture answer key provided to have students check when their done.

Rationale: I chose this topic for this workjob at this level because students are introduced to the different types of goods and services we use daily and are identifying the difference between what they really need and cannot live without and what they want but can live without. This lesson helps young students start to think about different kinds of goods that are supplied and demanded in our world and how trade works. The text used helps students think about choices and how we much choose between what we need and what we want.

 

Workjob for Geography 1st grade. Title is, "How Do I Get Home?" Students use the school bus on the map to move around different place on the map to get home. Students use the compass and directions that are next to the school to know what direction they move. Students can open up and look inside locations, ex. library, post office, and home. I included two texts if students needed to use to help them look at the map and use the compass, which is instructed on workjob, but they can also use these texts to read independently or when they have finished the workjob.

 Social Studies Standard: ISBE: 17.A.1b   Identify the characteristics and purposes of geographic representations including maps, globes, graphs, photographs, software, digital images and be able to locate specific places using each.

Rationale: I chose to do a mapping from school to home because I felt it was something that many students could connect with on a daily basis. Also, I felt that for the age level, the type of map is easier to understand and is engaging and interactive. I felt that it is important for students to understand how to use a compass and practice using directions to get from one place to another. Also, I felt that this activity provided students with an introduction in seeing how maps and compasses are used and how to set a map up and what it looks like close up or with detailed locations.

 

Workjob based on History, for second grade. The topic is Important People in Black History. Students have to use the matching cards to match the person's picture to their description and place it on the board. The workjob also includes an answer key for students to check once their done, and I included books for them to read about each person which I included in the workjob to help them learn more about these people and also can assist them in matching the descriptions.

Social Studies Standard: ISBE: 16.B.1 (W) Explain the contributions of individuals and groups who are featured in biographies, legends, folklore and traditions.

Rationale: I chose the topic for History at this level because I felt that it was important for students at this age to be able to identify and match descriptions of important people in Black History. I believe this workjob will help students review the biographies they have learned and support them in provided important details of important people in our history. Also, I felt that including texts with this workjob would encourage students to find out more about these people and read about other things these people did throughout their life.