Reflection

THE END!!!

Just kidding

I really enjoyed this book. There are some really good ideas that can help build and connect a classroom the way it needs to be. I am excited to implement the things I learned from this book in my classroom. I think the more ideas I can gather to try at the beginning of my teaching the better teacher I will become.

I am excited to try

•  Morning meetings
• Book Keeper
• Mixing lessons
• Small groups
• Large groups
• Different seating charts

I am nervous for 

• Parent teacher conferences
• First day of school
• New students to move in during the year
• Students to not feel safe around each other
• Parents to not know how to help their students 

I really am excited for this new adventure to begin. I am thrilled for what I have learned the last 3 semesters and to apply them into my class. I am excited to be a student for life and now a teacher for life. 

Why do I want to be a Teacher

This quote sums up exactly why I want to be a teacher. My favorite is quote of all is "I can be Mom and Dad, Therapist and Hug-giver, Judge and Rule-foller, and never stop loving."  As a teacher we have to be all of these things even when we want to give up! 

      I had a teacher that was every one of those things to me. It was in 3rd grade she was my idol. I think that she has a huge impact on the reason I wanted to be a teacher. I also had a teacher in 5th grade that taught me to respect myself and then to do my very best work always. This teacher also read the Giver to our class and during that time I HATED reading but I was so into the book. I asked my mom if she would buy it for me and I finished the book that night. I couldn't put the book down. I learned that day that there were some good books I just had to find the one for me. I recently read the rest of the series and could not put the books down. I want to be a teacher to make a difference in a students life just like these teachers did for me. 

Keeper of the Book

I think this section is so important to have. I would probably have a Keeper of the book for the week not for a day. That could get a little confusing. But for the students who are not going to be there or for students that have to leave for specialties it is the best thing for some students. I will have a binder that looks like this.

I would also have a designated spot for this binder to be with enough hand outs for students that were absent and a few extra for students who lost their assignment or that wanted a new copy. I will also have the student who is in charge of the "book" for the week be assigned to do a small explanation of the assignment that was missed. Students will have to earn to be the book keeper. These students will have to have no missing assignments, also they need to use their best handwriting in this book. When I was in 7th grade my English teacher did something similar to this and I thought it was extremely effective. I was absent one day and the rule was to find the "book keeper" ask them the items that were missed and do a quick revamp of the lesson. I will make it a requirement to talk to the book keeper before an absent student can talk to me about what they missed. 

I will have some sort of sheet that looks like this "depending on the grade" Then each section will have a color and behind the correct color the assignments will be placed in that order. I think the more responsibility the students have the better they will understand the lessons. 

Working Successfully with Text

Any teacher who wants to ensure learner success simply must learn to teach the skills required for competence with texts to any student lacking those skills. 

• Determine its structure 
• Predict what will be in the chapter
• Ask questions as they read
• Finding main ideas
• Linking ideas in the text to personal experience and prior knowledge
• Monitoring one's attention, thinking and understanding while reading 
• Making adjustments in reading in response to self-monitoring

    These simple prodding questions can be the difference to if the student understands the text they are reading. I really like the "predict what will be in the chapter" I think as readers students need to know how to predict to keep themselves interested in the book/text they are reading. I have recently learned to love to read, when I say recently like over Christmas break. I have never been the type of girl to pick up a book and carry it everywhere with me and read at every free second I have well over Christmas I made a goal to read 4 books and I DID IT!!! I found myself making predictions constantly, I was also talking to my husband about the main ideas so the books were sticking with me! It was kind of exciting. I never knew reading could be fun I always thought it was punishment. Not anymore!!!   

    Another thing I think could and would be extremely helpful is for students to get in groups and have a "book club" of some sort to keep each other excited and interested in the readings. I also really like the double entry journal we learned about in our Literacy classes. I think the more engaged the students are in the book/text the more excited they will be to reading the material. 

No Excusses

"People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives."

by: J. Michael Straczynski

     I really liked this section of the reading. I think that in the elementary setting there are to many parents who do not care, or do not have time to care about their child's homework. That is where I come in as the teacher. I have observed where teacher have a before school program where students can come in 20 minutes before class everyday and just have time to work on homework. That is the only thing that can be going on during this 20 minutes. I have also seen teachers let students stay after school for the 20 minutes everyday. I really like this idea. I think I would prefer the before school program. I also noticed that those students who came and got that additional help were the students who would not need to go in the "reteach" section of class. I think this is an effective way to allow students to get homework done in a COMFORTABLE environment. I really like this quote from the reading "A no-excues teacher is formed with one part Mother Superior and one part Marine Drill Sergeant at the core." I came from a home and that was my mom. She was loving but she made sure our work got done. 

   I hope to have that comfort in my class that my students who cannot get the help they need at home that they are willing to come to my classroom to receive that help. 

The Simple Hard Truth

"Those of us lucky enough to make connections with students once or twice or three times know this to be true, because it truth" 

• Students consistently want teachers who respect them, listen to them, show empathy towards them, help them work out their problems, and become humans by sharing their own lives and ideas with their students
• Effective Teachers consistently emphasize that their love for their students is a key element in their success 
• Caring teachers intentionally develop awareness of their students cultures outside of school 
• High levels of teacher motivation relate to high levels of student achievement  

I think as a teacher if you can effectively implement these four bullet points in your classroom every single day your students will react so differently to you. They will gain respect for the classroom, and everyone in it. I can not wait to be able to do all of these things every single day.  

• Effective teachers reteach materials to students who need additional help
• Effective teachers match instruction to learners' achievement needs 

During field my Principal focused so much on reteach. There was suppose to be a set time everyday to do some sort of reteach. The teacher I was with mostly retaught Math, but sometimes it would be a reteach on writing. I was able to observe another teacher during their reteach section and she had groups that needed certain things so she specifically helped them. One group focused on Math, and the other group focused on writing. I thought this was really effective because it make smaller groups so the students can see examples better and they can also work and feed off of each other. 

R.A.F.T.

R- Role
A- Audience
F- Format
T- Topic

R.A.F.T. is an easy way to differentiate any lesson in any subject. I really like the idea of being able to put aside your point of view and writing from someone else's point of view. I think writing is going to be the easiest way to implement this "Tool" but I think there are some awesome ideas for all lessons.

For example this math lesson could be a great idea for a beginning lesson to link math and writing together. It will also help students understand the concept that much better if they are able to write and remember it down.

Another R.A.F.T. I really liked was the First day of school, every student could be the Classroom Sheriff and make a wanted poster to help each student remember what the classroom rules are. I think in my classroom I would have them staple/tape this to the front of their notebook so they will see it everyday. 

After doing the research for R.A.F.T. I think it is going to be easier and a lot of fun for the students to see and research other points of view.

Communication in the Classroom

There is four main reasons there needs to be effective communication in the classroom they are

• Building a group identity

     I have noticed in the classroom to let each student know they have are an important part of the group, to have a group identity ever student needs to have a role in the classroom that they are proud of what ever that role is. In my classroom I will have "class leaders" they will switch weekly but every student in my classroom will have some sort of job every day. It teaches responsibility which requires communication to get the job.

• Ensuring that the teacher has ways of getting to know the students better

   The first few days of school are so important for me to get to know my students. I have already started to gather a few games and ideas for the first few days of school to get to know my students and for the other students to get to know each other as well. I am excited to start building my classroom and for the students to start depending on each other. 

• Enabling the teacher to share his or her thinking about teaching 

     The way a teacher teaches must reflect the personality of the teacher but the classroom must adapt as well. I have seen where teacher that have taught for a long period of time an they teach lessons the same way for all the years but they students personalities change so it does not always work the same. I am excited to try and experiment with different ideas in the classroom. 

• Providing a shorthand for quick communication among members of the classroom community 

    I will have a "Mailbox" for each of my students and when the students want to say something to another student that needs to stay more of a secret they can put it in their mailbox. Also if students have questions, concerns and complements the students can write and put a note in my mailbox and I will address what needs to be addressed. I will also have a question and complement jars and the end of the month read the the complements to the class.