Week 9

This week was the first week of ISAT testing for Memorial School. Since I am placed in third grade this meant that my students were taking ISATS for the first time. The students were quite nervous during the week for the tests, but after taking the first one on Tuesday they came to realize quickly that they were well prepared for the tests and from then on there was very little talk of nervousness about these tests.

This week I started teaching social studies daily in our class as well as our Daily Language segment of the day. Both of these segments usually are the first two activities are class does during the day so it was enjoyable to get back into teaching and go back to some real teaching activities as opposed to just observing all day. My teaching went well all week, it took me a few days to get into the routine of how specifically certain activities during the day went. But overall I really enjoyed teaching again and I think the students enjoyed the fact that I was teaching some.

One thing that I found out today about my school is that the school has gone through a lot of heartbreak this past year. Early last fall I student passed away after getting a severe case of the flu and late last fall one of the fifth grade teachers committed suicide. My teacher brought these facts up to me today while talking about some of the anxiety that she sometimes has in the classroom and it really hit me hard that the school has gone through so much that I had no idea that happened. I think that the teachers are really doing well in coping with this now considering that I had no idea what happened, but still what a few horrible months last fall that this school went through.

On a more positive note I was very excited with the progress I was able to make with my students this week and in growing in my relationships with them. I think that I really got to know more of them better this week and I think that they feel more comfortable with me as well. It’s definitely easier to get closer to students more quickly when there is only sixteen students, but it also helps when I am taking on more responsibility as this leads the students to be able to trust me more quickly and realize that I can also instruct them and help them in their work.

            I think that one area of my teaching that I’m always looking to improve in is classroom management. This is an area that my cooperating teacher seems to be such a natural in. I think that my teacher is so respected by the students yet she gains this respect from treating the students’ fairly not by yelling at them like some teachers do. It seems that this skill comes so naturally to my teacher but I’m sure that it has been learned over the years as well. Sometimes when I am teaching I feel that I am somewhat in control of the class, but that the students just don’t do as good of work or are as focused as when my cooperating teacher is in control of the classroom. I think that I usually am pretty decent at classroom management, but if a class is super chatty or they are just super loud I feel that I struggle sometimes with keeping them in control. I think this is a pretty common problem to have as a student teacher, but still an area that I really want to improve on and that I hope to do better in as I continue in my teaching.