Well, we're halfway there! Next week, I pick up the eighth grade and begin full-time teacher, so this will be a busy weekend getting everything ready. I'm excited to see how everything goes next week (and whether or not I will lose my mind!).
We began this week with an IS Day. I wish that these days entailed working in the classroom a little bit more. I think that this would be really beneficial for the teachers to have a day to work on things. On Tuesday, Neal came to observe and videotape a lesson with the seventh grade. I hope everything looked okay in the videotape so that I can use it for my e-portfolio! Mr. Stutler finished up his observation on Wednesday.
On Thursday, I introduced stations to the sixth graders. Naturally, this was also a day that Mrs. McCutchan was not there. The stations were a bit chaotic, but it was a learning experience. I talked with Mrs. Desmuke, the middle school Title 1 teacher, about this. She suggested using her room for students to work for one of the stations and contributed part of the chaos to too many students working in one area. We didn't finish the stations in one day, so I decided to try again today. The stations went a lot more smoothly. I had Mrs. McCutchan take the writing station to Mrs. Desmuke's room, and I sent a group to Mr. Malnick's room. I could now manage the three groups that were left in the room and keep everyone on task. Things are not always going to go as planned, and I'm glad that I had this experience to learn from!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The video footage looked OK to me. The files could be seen on my wife's DELL laptop. I may give the CDs to Megan S at Wilsonburg, who'll get them to Katie (are they roommates?). I know they're friends.
ReplyDeleteStations: hard to know in advance what happens with stations, unless they're run the same, but at the middle grades, varying them can be useful to provide variety as well as some other grouping rationale. When you have your first full-time teaching positions you'll have a full year to figure out stations for x-students for y-content for z-learning outcomes.
I was really impressed with your demeanor in a middle grade c/room. You dish it right back at them.
Once the students get into a routine with stations, I think they will run more smoothly. Mondays are sometimes still a little hectic in my room when I introduce the new stations for the week and some days the kids are just more talkative.
ReplyDelete