Thursday, November 13, 2008

Reflection Field Week 2

This week in field was a lot better than last week! On Monday we started out just working with our reading groups like normal in the morning. That day our cooperating teacher was being observed by her principal because she is still a newer teacher. After our cooperating teacher was observed she had to leave to conference with her principal. At this point Annie and I were left in charge for about an hour to an hour and a half. We were going to be doing, "Today's Number," with the kids, doing a read aloud, and working with the kids on word sorts (from Words Their Way). It actually went really well. We were so glad we were able to keep the kids on task and behaving appropriately. On Tuesday I did a read aloud in the morning (reading comprehension study). I read a picture book about a rainy day. I feel like I did a good job with this and the cooperating teacher gave me some feedback on what I did well or could improve on. Tuesday was also the first day we taught our science lesson and we were being observed by our supervisor from the college! I think the lesson went pretty well, but not perfect. What was really nice is we also taught the lesson again to other classes on Wednesday and Thursday. I feel like the lesson got progressively better each day. It was also really nice to get feedback and suggestions from our supervisor and cooperating teacher to help us improve each day. The first day I think went okay, but it was the first time so we did make some adjustments for the next day. The second day it felt like we knew more about what to expect, but we still weren't on top of the management part. Thursday was awesome! I feel like since we knew what to expect and more about how to handle it and what to do it was great. It's too bad we couldn't do it as well the first time, but what can you do? I am really grateful that our teacher allows us to work with guided reading groups everyday. I feel like if we were only doing the one guided reading lesson required by our Literacy class I wouldn't be learning nearly as much as I am. Thursday we also taught a craft lesson on writing a title. I think it went okay, but I think the concept might have been a little bit over their head. It would probably just be a lot better if we could be more explicit and explore the concept more. Overall it went well, but I don't think it's something every student has a good grasp on. Friday was pretty good. I did some running records during reading time because we don't do guided reading groups on Friday. We also taught a lesson on sensory detail and had the kids write poems using the five senses. I think it went well, but timing is so hard. There were a lot of kids who I felt needed more time, but many also who got done so fast! We found out today that we will be going to do science lessons for all of the classes next week again so we need to get planning for that. Also Annie and I will be doing all of the teacher read alouds next week too so I need to take a trip to the library to find some good books. I am really glad that our cooperating teacher is giving us so many opportunities to teach! Getting so much more experience is making me feel a lot more ready to become a teacher! I am so excited and can't wait to be in a classroom of my own!

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