Thursday, September 6, 2012

Today was a little melancholy for me. It was the first day that I would have worked with Teresa but was student teaching. I must have thought about her 20 times during the day- wondering if she was feeling ok, if she was being a stinker for the new girl, and wondering if she missed me as much as I was missing her! It is amazing how attached I got to that girl! 
This is a video of a song that RM sings with the kids. They laugh and giggle the whole way through- but explode in laughter when she gets to the "bottoms out" part. Now of course RM doing this song isn't as cute as these little kindergarteners, but my class definitely comes a close second! 

Our school day went well. I witnessed a practical "light switch" in the classroom behavior department. We went from a completely "in control" classroom full of eager learners to 27 kids just watching the clock and not really paying attention to their lesson. It all happened around 1:30 when RM took the class for their afternoon bathroom break. Up to that point I would have said our day was going incredible and our kids self control and behaviors were perfect. We have our specials the last session of the day so we get them ready for dismissal before leaving for specials. This means we have instruction time until 2:20 or so when we have them pull out their planners and write in them then pack backpacks and stack chairs. Since we had PE today, that also means changing into those shoes and out of them after. Since the class was already out of their seats and moving around from the bathroom break, we had them change into their gym shoes before we began our afternoon math lesson. Like I said earlier, it was like a switch went off in their little heads and suddenly we had lost them. In one five minute span, we had three time outs! I don't remember any time outs in the morning- so this was a significant change. It seemed like every tick of the clock was a struggle for one or two students. We did manage to get the math lesson presented and taught with a successful completion of a worksheet to confirm they understood; however our students were still so distracted that they were late getting to gym because they weren't ready in time. It was a good thing our day ended when it did- I think everyone just needed a break and tomorrow will bring fresh minds ready to learn.

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