Wk 1

Wk 1 Field Experience
Mar 20: Today was the first day I was feeling a little nervous about meeting my cooperating teacher (let's call her Mrs. R). You just never know if you'll get someone you mesh with well & I think my cooperating teacher is a good fit. The classroom is not very colorful, it's more neutral colors and plain. The cooperating teacher is very energetic and outgoing, I admire her energy and confidence. The class is very diverse and the energy level is not low but not too high. So as the first day my cooperating peer and I just observed how the classroom is run and observed the students. What I observed most was how she interacted with her students even when they were acting out or not wanting to do something. She talked with a respectful tone of voice and wasn't threatening but the student knew she meant business. Those particular students who did act up/out changed their attitude and went about the lesson. It was really nice to see how she could get her point across without having to raise her voice or even get a mean or nasty tone of voice. I've done field experience before where I observed a teacher (let's call her Mrs. S) talk rudely to students who were acting out. But it was very apparent in her classroom that Mrs. S had no respect from the majority of her students. But this teacher Mrs. R commands respect in her classroom, towards each other and towards her. She does this all in a very calm and polite way. It was just really interesting to see how they each handled their students in similar situations.

Mrs. R has asked my cooperating peer and I to do a read aloud tomorrow on our second day to start practicing before we do our actual read aloud lesson. So my cooperating peer is reading a book and I will be asking questions about the book. So we are doing a co-teaching read and response practice mini lesson :) I'm a little nervous but excited!

I was disappointed that Mrs. R did not introduce my cooperating peer and into the class the entire 3 hours we were there. The students awkwardly stared at us wondering who we were. I don't think either of us felt comfortable to ask her if we could get introduced as it got kind of busy. Tomorrow I plan I talking with her and asking if we can introduce ourselves for a few minutes during snack time. But overall it was a good day and I can't wait to go back! I also would like to add that I saw my "big idea" was already implemented into this classroom. Sign language for classroom management. The students use the bathroom sign, the same sign (for when they have the same answer or agree with a classmates answer), etc. It was one thing to see a video and research it but to see it in person being implemented and that it works was reassuring that I picked a good topic. Something I definitely plan on implementing in my own classroom one day!

Mar 23
Today I did my practice read aloud where I read the book and my CP (cooperating peer) asked questions. The reading went really well, I was nervous but was able to control my stuttering with this calming oil my mom got me. I put a little under my nose so I could smell it and it did the job! Because I was nervous I kept stepping on my CP's toes with the questions being asked. I liked her questions a lot but I had practiced reading and asking questions the night before and wanted to ask my questions too. Over achiever over here..haha Before I started reading my CP and I talked about some vocabulary that would be introduced that they may not know so we read the words and after each one asked the class to tell us what they thought it was. After that we gave them the correct answer if they weren't able to guess. Then we talked about phrasing when we read and I did a test read to see if they could tell me which was the correct way to read. They picked the correct one :)