Last Day of Dyad

So the last day of my placement in my dyad was bitter sweet. The students wrote us thank yo letters which were super sweet. It's always hard to say bye, especially if you have made connections with the students.

The last day was also a half day for us because we had to go to another observation at another school. We were able to see a sixth grade class being taught literacy. It was quite an interesting experience. The teacher used a lot the concepts that we are using now. Using small groups as well as encouraging and having fun with the students.

The students seemed to respond very well (it may have been because there were 10+ adults observing them). All in all, it was very interesting to see and observe.

Technology + Engagement + Thanksgiving

A fun way to use technology, thought this was entertaining and a good tool to engage the students! Happy Thanksgiving!

Small Groups

I love that the school that I am working in right now is consistent in working in small groups. I think that working in small groups is beneficial to the students because they receive more one-on-one personal attention. I have been working with a group about 6 students (always rotating) with reading and understanding and also with math. I can see that it helps a lot with the students being able to understand and allowing them to ask questions in a more personal manner. My only concern is that we are not teaching in the same way, so we wouldn't be sure which students work better and learn better with what teacher and teaching style. Most of the students seem to be understanding and learning well now, so I guess this isn't too much of a concern.

comparison bars

What a challenge. I got to teach a math lesson to these third graders. There were a few challenges though: 1. The concepts learning were completely new, 2. time restriction, 3. too many new concepts in one lesson. Overall, the students were able to understand, but I have to admit, I was a little nervous. The curriculum used was a part of Math Expressions. I definitely did not use the book word for word. I ended up using unifix cubes, which helped with understanding the how to draw comparison bars. The confusing part of the lesson was identifying the new vocabulary and understanding that the meanings of these new words were things that the students already knew.