Day 14: Differentiation

September 28, 2015

In just about every single one of my college classes related to my major we have learned over and over about differentiation. We've read about it, watched videos on it, and developed hypothetical scenarios of how we would differentiate. Well, I've finally been able to witness real life differentiation for the last few weeks. For this post I am going to limit the discussion to reading groups.

There are 8 students in my class, they are broken into 4 groups of 2 based on their reading level. The students range from the lowest group struggling to decode CVC words to the highest group breezing through Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones chapter books. The students have a reading textbook series, leveled readers, sight word lists and vocabulary words that are all differentiated for their level. Some students start right at the beginning of the reading textbook series, while others skip ahead many stories. Although that the text may be a lower level for the higher groups, there are important comprehension skills and strategies that need to be taught. The students have a hard time understanding that and just want to read more challenging books. The leveled readers are assigned to the students based on the "level" they are on. There are different assessments used to determine the level such as DIBELS and DRA's.

The vocabulary words are assigned by story. So naturally whichever textbook story the students are on determines their vocabulary words for the week. Lastly, their sight words come from the Dolch list. The lists are numbered and each contain ten of the 220 words. List one contains 10 words from the pre-primer list, while list 22 contains words from the third grade list. Students are given a sight word assessment to determine which list they will begin on.

Have students on so many different levels could definitely get confusing. My co-op however does an excellent job at keeping everything organized in binders, folders and plastic bin organizers. I definitely wouldn't categorize differentiation as an easy task yet but I feel much more confident about doing so in my own classroom after seeing it work so well in real life.

Day 13: DRA's

September 24, 2015

Today we started DRA testing. DRA stands for Developmental Reading Assessment. DRA's assess three different things; Reading Engagement, Oral Reading Fluency. The student gets a score in each category. The goal is to have the students score on an independent level. We have students on all different ranges; from a 4 to a 30. This is what drives the need for differentiation. 

The DRA began by asking the student reading engagement questions. Some of these include, who reads with you at home, do you prefer listening to a story being read or reading a story yourself, what is your favorite book and why, etc. Then my teacher handed the student their book and told them to look at the pictures and predict what the book was going to be about. After this she preformed a timed running record of them reading the book. The concluded with a retell of the story and some opinion based questions like, what was your favorite part of the book? 

You may need to complete a few DRA's on a student until you find the correct level for them. For 2 students the first level we tried was the one that was right for them. Other students we had to re-assess a few times.

I found DRA's to be fairly subjective. One teacher could score a student pretty differently than another teacher. We saw this when comparing the DRA scores the reading specialist had of our students from the week prior. She tested 4 of our students to see if they qualified for reading support.

Lastly: I attached a picture of my fall bulletin board that I mentioned in an earlier post. Two of the students have been absent so their writing pieces are yet to be added. Overall, I was pleased with my first classroom bulletin

board and I have already been looking for some future ideas.

Day 12: Technology

September, 22 2015

Today is all about technology!! (My favorite!)

As I may have mentioned previously I have a minor in Educational Technology. I am a firm believer in students reaping the benefits of such a  tool. There are so many different ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. In the first grade classroom I am currently in there is a set of iPads. I was excited when I found this out and I began looking into 'apps' to use with the class. When I began showing them to my co-op she told me that they haven't been able to download any apps onto the iPads and only use the internet browser and websites. This puzzled me. She told me that she didn't have access to the password necessary to complete the downloads. Today I decided to talk to the principal about it and asked him if he would be willing to enter the required username and password when apps needed downloaded. Through this conversation we discovered that there was never an account set up on the iPads. He asked me if I would take care of this. I spent some of the afternoon then creating an e-mail for the iPad account and setting up an account on all of the iPads. I began to search for some apps that could be used throughout the year. After talking with my co-op we decided that I would generate a list of apps for students to use. This is something I will be working on throughout my internship and I will share it to my blog when it is completed. I even set up the entire set of iPads to automatically download the app on all of the devices once it is added to one. I'm so excited that the students will be able to take their learning to a new level using these tablets now.

Day 11: Reachable

September 22, 2015

Previously in Day 8's post I talked about my Monday one-on-one time with Tyler*; the seventh grade learning support student. Last week he was very shy and I had time getting more than a word or two from him. Today it was like I was with a whole new student. He was much more engaged in the material we were working on and he also shared a lot more about himself with me. One task we completed was a practice spelling test. He took the test on the wall mounted white board. This definitely gave him a better attitude towards the activity. There were only 4 words out of his 26 that he misspelled. I talked to him about spelling always being a challenge for me. He asked me what I do to improve my spelling. I showed him a few strategies, an example of one is below.

I read the word "reachable".

Tyler spelled the word "recheable"

Strategy (I told this verbally to Tyler): Break the word into two parts reach-able. Look at the first part, "reach". What words do you know that sound like reach?

Tyler replied: Teach

I told him to write  "teach" on the board. As soon as he wrote "teach" he realized "reach" was spelled r-e-a-c-h. He wrote that and added the suffix -able.

I felt like I could see the light bulb go off for Tyler when this strategy clicked.

Later in the day my first grade class worked in their "Kidwriting" notebooks. Students draw a picture and write a story to pair with it. Once they finish either myself or the classroom teacher do adult writing in the notebook and set a goal for the student for the next story. The students vary drastically for each student. Some students are already to the point where we want them to work on extending their stories by adding more detail. Other students have goals that are much more basic, like using punctuation and capital letters. I flipped back in the notebooks to the student's first story and it is remarkable how much improvement has already been made. I can't imagine the difference there will be by the end of the year.

*Name changed

Day 10: Teacher jobs

September 17, 2015

I didn't spend a ton of time in the classroom with the students today, but I did get a look at some of the other "jobs" teachers have to do.

I took down and re-did 2 bulletin boards in the hallway. I was very happy with the end result and got many compliments. I also spent most of the morning copying, cutting and laminating math and phonics games for the class to play next week. Although I was doing these things during "class time" I kept thinking how a teachers job truly does not begin at 7:30 and end at 3:00. There are so many additional tasks that need to be done and they can't all possibly be completed in a prep period. It took me nearly all day to get the games prepared and the bulletin boards done. I also stuffed folders that go home weekly with the students and prepared reminders that had to go in the homework folders. The reminders were easy to make and I think they can really help some parents/students. The ones I made were to remember to bring back library books tomorrow and one to remind parents that students need to be memorizing their computer log-in information.

Today my co-op and I found out that we may be getting another student. This was exciting! I think if this happens this would be a great learning experience for me. I would love to see how the teacher works in a new student after the school year has already begun.

Day 9: Picture Day

September, 15 2015

Today was picture day. I enjoyed seeing the students dressed in outfits that were not their uniforms. This gave me more of a look into their personalities based on how they dress. This was the first dress down day of the year. The students, across grades, had a complete behavior change. It was interesting to see how a combination of different clothing, and a messed up routine effected them. It seemed to take students 10x as long to transition from subject to subject, they were more chatty and could not sit still. Along with all of the students I also had my picture taken today to go on an ID badge. This was exciting for me; I will feel more "professional" and "grown up" having to wear one.

During my class' special today I went to observe/work in the fourth grade classroom. The teacher threw me right into the class and had me lead a literature circle. Typically this is something I would plan ahead for by reading the book, preparing questions, etc., however I didn't have the opportunity to do that. I was pleased with how well the discussions went with having to think and plan on my feet. I realized that will be the reality sometime and it is great to have my senior year of college to get some of those "firsts" out of the way before I start in my own classroom.

I got assigned my first bulletin board today. It will be fall themed and display samples of student work. I befriended the die-cut machine today in preparation for the board. Stay tuned for pictures to come.

Day 8: Music Class

September 14, 2015

Throughout my time in the classroom I wanted to spend some time observing the students' specials (art, music, gym, etc.). Today I got to observe their music special. I found it interesting because the music teacher conducted her classroom very different than my co-op. One thing I really didn't like was how she used her behavior chart. She has a keyboard print out for each grade and uses a clothes pin to move up and down the keys. In the 45 minutes the class was there she moved the clothes up and down 7-8 times. All but 2 of the times she didn't even tell the class when/why their clip was being moved. This defeated the purpose of the behavior chart if the students weren't told when their behavior was appropriate or when it needed fixed. Besides that, I liked the activities the teacher chose. They were age appropriate and the students were engaged. I know when I was in elementary school I always had a difficult time keeping myself on task during music. When my class was packing up to go home for the day they were singing one of their songs from the class.

During the semester I will be spending an hour each Monday working one-on-one with a seventh grade learning support student named Tyler*. I don't have the dual major in Special Education but I still wanted to get time with special education students. I will be working on reading material with him assigned by the reading specialist. Today all we did was vocabulary flash cards and I spent the rest of the time working on building a rapport. He seemed very shy and a boy of few words. By the end of the session I could tell he was already opening up a bit more. Hopefully within a few weeks that will grow even more.

*Name changed

Day 7: Tests

September 10, 2015

Today's post is going to focus on tests; specifically tests in a first grade classroom. When you are testing in older grades you will probably take for granted the basic requirements that there are for taking a test, writing and reading. My first graders took their first math test. It's been a while since I was in first grade myself, so at first it came as a shock that when the tests were passed out the students didn't begin silently working on it themselves. Less than half of the class was capable of reading the directions or word problems. This would inevitably effect their grade and would result in a grade that did not reflect their knowledge of the material. To address this issue the teacher reads the test to the class question by question. After she reads the last question she goes back and re-reads the test so the students can check their answers. This method seemed very effective.

My co-op was preparing the religion test for the next day. This is another test she was going to read to them while they complete however their was another problem she showed me that is common. First grade students are still building their vocabulary. Using 'True and False' on a test could cause an issue if students don't know those terms yet. The teacher used the words 'Yes or No' instead.

I'm interested to see how the test taking methodology will change throughout the year as students build their reading, writing and vocabulary skills.

Day 6: Sing Sing Sing

September 9, 2015

In first grade there is A LOT of singing. There are songs for just about any topic that is being covered. I decided for this to be the topic of my post when I caught myself in my car singing "A penny's worth one cent, a penny's worth one cent, heigh-ho, the dairy-o, a penny's worth one cent". This is just one of many songs I listen to the students sing on a daily basis. The song then continues with a nickle, dime and quarter. It is sang every day during the students' math warm-up. I can tell that it is really helping some students when I see them lip-singing the song to come up with the answer to how much 'x' coin is worth. 

Another song that is sung is the "Days of the Week" song. This one goes:

There's Sunday and there's Monday

There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday

There's Thursday and there's Friday 

And then there's Saturday

Days of the week (snap snap)

Days of the week (snap snap)

Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week (snap snap)

The students sing this one every morning during morning meeting. In my opinion it is their favorite because they all get really into the snapping and sing it louder than any others. 

The last song that is sung daily is for the months of the year. This one is very simple, the students sing the months of the year while doing the motions of the Macarena. This is still a work in progress. A lot of the students were not familiar with the Macarena. So in addition to learning the months they have to learn the dance moves. 

I'm excited to explore songs that I can use to enhance my lessons when I begin teaching. I don't like singing but I know it will benefit the students and it is obvious how much they enjoy the different songs. Today they began singing their own lyrics to "The 12 days of Christmas", using their version "The 12 days of School". This is actually something I may consider having them create an entire song of lyrics for (and possibly turn into a video). 

Day 5: Mass

September 4, 2015

Today began very different than any day of school I had in my K-12 education; we went to mass. Every Friday the entire school attends mass. This was actually my first time at a Catholic church so I found it very interesting to compare/contrast my experiences from my church with this mass. My first grade class behaved very well and I was impressed with how quietly and still they sat for the hour we were at the church.

After church "Fun Friday" began. This is just the term my co-op has for each Friday. During the centers (which are done daily), instead of the usual worksheets, there are different activities. The students loved the switch up. Instead of the writing station, there was a listening station. Students got to listen to a book, or books, on CD and follow along using the physical book. The math station and word work station each had games, math war and popcorn sight words, respectively. In order to participate in Fun Friday centers, students must have their "centers folders" completed. Throughout the week students have a folder they take with them to centers. One side of the folder is labeled 'Finished' and the other side is labeled 'Needs Completed'. They place all of their work from the centers in the folders. Today the teacher taped the worksheets to the board that were to be in the folder. She then placed a chair in the classroom where the students were told to put their folder when they were done. If they had all of their work completed and it was placed on the chair, the students would get a sticker to add to their folder and a prize from the prize box. My co-op explained to me how this is a big test of responsibility for them so she didn't want me to help them by showing them what needed to be completed or where to put their folder. Most students did very well with following all of the directions. Only 2 students were delayed in starting the centers because of their folders not being completed. I liked this concept a lot. I'm curious to see how they improve throughout the year with this task.

Today there was also a sight word test. Each student was called up one at a time. I was very excited when my intervention student that I have been working with one-on-one got a 10/10 on his test. This was very rewarding. It was great seeing how excited he was as well.

The last observation from today that I wanted to discuss was from the second grade classroom. I was in this room for about 45 minutes while my class was at their special. During this time the second graders were taking a religion test. I found it interesting that their chapter test was in their workbooks that they keep with them at all times and take home with them each night. I never had a class before, or observed a class before that had access to their tests in advance. I'm not sure how I feel about it either. I think if I were the teacher I would take out the tests from the book in advance.

Day 4: Parent-Teacher Interactions

September 3, 2015

There are two topics I decided I wanted to address in Today's post; Math and parent-teacher interactions.

First, each day in between the math lesson and the math group work, there is a "math warm-up". There is number of the day activity. The teacher asks for a volunteer to pick any number. The student puts the number in the middle box on the smart board. For example "22" was today's number. There is a box on the left that says "1 less", a box on the right that says "1 more", a box above that says "10 more" and a box below that says "10 less". I really like this activity. I did something similar with a girl that I used to tutor. The main difference was that the box above was "10 less" and the box below was "10 more". I liked this method better. If you look at a 100 chart, that is how the chart is set up. The box above 22 on a 100 chart will be 12, not 32 like it is shown in the SmartBoard activity. The second part of the "math warmup" is a coin activity. Students begin by reviewing how much each coin is worth. The teacher then drags 3-8 coins down and the students add up the worth. This is definitely something I will add to my classroom if I am in a younger aged classroom. Even though what the students are learning in math currently (addition and subtraction word problems), has nothing to do with money I think this is still a great skill to practice daily since money is a life skill.

The second topic for Today is parent-teacher interactions. I was always curious how much parents contacted the teacher, what they contacted the teacher about, etc. My co-op today was sharing some encounters from last night. She had two different parent phone calls, both very different from each other. The first call was from Emily's* mom. This mom was calling because she felt like her daughter was too smart for first grade and should be moved ahead to second grade. My co-op asked me my opinion about the topic and how I would have answered her mom. From my observations over the past week and a half, Emily is definitely one of the brighter students in the class. She is on chapter books while some students have yet to master their sight words, and she is above average on the math topics we have covered thus far. However, her maturity is absolutely not on a second grade level. She struggles with sitting still on the carpet and lays down frequently, she also has to be told to do tasks such as unpack her backpack, clean up snack, write her homework down, constantly throughout the day. My co-op agreed with my thoughts and explained that that's exactly what she kept reiterating to the mom for an hour and a half the night before. The second conversation was involving James*. James' mom called to explain that her and James' father are divorced. She proceeded to say that James stays with mom one week and dad the next week. The call mainly revolved around the concept that she and the father have very different parenting styles. Because of this she wanted the teacher to 'okay' the fact that James' homework responsibility are basically exempt every other week. My co-op obviously did not agree to this and explained that regardless of where James is sleeping he is still responsible to complete the minimal homework that he has. This conversation led into a deeper talk at lunch with other teachers about divorced parents. I got a look into how different each students' situation can be when divorce is involved.

*Name Changed

Day 3: Whole Group

September 1, 2015

Today I talked to my co-op about my timeline of when I will begin teaching. This got me extremely excited. Beginning in October I will begin teaching Social Studies.I already started looking up lessons for my starting topic of American Symbols. I also began to think about a plan of action for my one-on-one student. Today we made it through 2 more sets of 10 sight words. By the end of our 20 minute session he was able to go through a total of 30 cards, twice, with no errors. For our next session I plan to finish the final set of 10 for the pre-primer words and incorporate the words into some type of activity/game. Although, I was surprised at how invested he was in just successfully getting through a deck of flash cards.

When I met with my co-op before the school year started she showed me how a lot of the beginning material in the students' workbooks was review. She explained that she usually can get through all of the review material by the end of week two. I can tell that her class this year is not following her norm. Many of the students don't have the review material mastered. I think there will most likely need to be some additional time spent on some of the review topics they have been doing. These topics include, but are not limited to, short vowel sounds, the correct way to write numbers, and sequencing of numbers. Another observation I have made is that during whole group lessons when the class is working on a page or pages from their workbook as a group there are some students that get the worksheet done in 2 minutes while as class we may spend 10 minutes on the page. This leaves some of the students getting off task while they wait to move on to the next page. This is something I will definitely remember when I have my own classroom one day and will try to address.

During the math lesson today, the SmartBoard was incorporated. I really liked seeing this since I have a minor in Educational Technology. I'm looking forward to finding ways to incorporate this type of technology into my lessons.