Week 1

I keep comparing the experiences from last semester’s and there are quite a few differences. Our daily tasks of listening to the students individually during read to self time proceeds at a slow pace. Although there are times occasionally that one of the students needs help with a challenging word it feels more like the job of listening is in place to make sure each student is keeping on task. We lead our first reading session, with the red group, and it really dawned on me the differences in reading and writing level these kids have. It’s not like I didn’t believe there would be a gap but the girls in this group were having trouble with level H books. It’s tough to categorize these areas needing improvement as simply a lessened ability because inability to stay on task and emotions seem to further saturate the issues. Friday resulted in a few shiny moments. I get to bring my camera in Monday for individual portraits for the students’ About Me books they’ve been working on all year and I started having an ELL student who recently moved to the United States begin to write down words he is unfamiliar with (or has trouble sounding through) so that we can work on them together the next day…yay! teaching moments. I have begun to write down all the little everyday things that the teacher uses in her routine that I want to use or adapt in my future classroom. Even the “Take a Break” chair, pretty much an evolved time out, is of note. If a student needs to “take a break” they usually proceed to the chair no questions asked. There is a chart by the chair which has two steps. Step one asks why are you current taking a break? The second asks have I done what’s needed to learn from this and rejoin the class. From what I’ve seen, it seems at the very least to provide a short term calmness which is usually much needed relief. There is so much time spent reading while we are in class. When we spend class time on non-reading activities even some of the well-behaved students stop listening to instructions to be silent, eyes forward, or take turns. Last semester I feel like I could easily control the entire class if I had to by myself and now I don’t know if I would be able to successfully calm these twenty students without bribery or extended time. After one week I have definitely felt as though I have had many great opportunities to effectively learn but I’m not receiving the same daily gratification my last class provided; never ending smiles and praise from the students and CT.