Week One

When I walked in the door of school on Tuesday morning for my first day of student teaching, I was nervous.  I had gone through the Trinity Christian College Education program and done well in all classes.  I had met with my cooperating teacher the previous week, at which time she gave me a lot of information and answered every question I had.  Though I walked into school on Tuesday morning teeming with information, I was still unsure that I would be able to successfully undertake the critical task of turning my knowledge into action.  The cure for this nervousness and lack of confidence was jumping in with two feet. 

The most important thing that happened in my first week was teaching the second graders procedures.  Through a combination of verbally explaining, physically modeling, repeating, and in some cases visually representing with words and/or pictures, my cooperating teacher and I taught the nineteen second graders in our class how life works in our school and our classroom.  Some examples of what the students learned include procedures for arrival, going to specials, lining up for lunch, bathroom breaks, turning in papers, and dismissal.  My cooperating teacher led the way on teaching these things, and I supported her efforts.  Even after the first day it became very apparent to me that unless the students learn the nuts of bolts of how things are done at school, the academic side of things would quickly becoming a tremendous struggle.  I am thankful that I am student teaching in the fall semester and that I am getting to experience the beginning of the school year under the guidance of a highly-regarded teacher, because I had no idea how critical it is to teach these procedures or how much repetition is required to teach them.

By the end of the week I managed some moments on my own.  I brought the students to art and bathroom breaks, oversaw activities and managed the children while my cooperating teacher conducted individual reading assessments, and helped the children organize school supplies and assemble folders.  After a morning filled and practicing procedures, I read the class a story called That Rule Doesn’t Apply to Me by Julia Cook, which they enjoyed. 

There was truly no academic content delivered this week, as my cooperating teacher predicted in our meeting last week.  However, there were two incidents that stick out in my mind as specific learning experiences for me with regard to classroom managements.  The first is that on the first day of school, a little girl was standing in line with her father, quietly crying.  Her quiet crying continued all morning.  My cooperating teacher was well aware, but did not address it.  My first inclination was to check with this student, make sure she was okay, give her a hug, and assure her that everything was going to be just fine.  However, I followed my cooperating teacher’s lead, and by the time the children were done with lunch and recess, this student was totally fine and done crying for the day.  This made me think that I need to decide what kind of teacher I am going to be with regard to affection.  My own daughter was a second grader last year and her second grade teacher was as sweet as can be (and my daughter gave her plenty of hugs).  My cooperating teacher, at least in this first week, is primarily concerned with establishing order.  She is businesslike and extremely effective.  I have some reflecting to do about how I can make my students feel loved and cared for, while firmly managing the classroom.  I truly just want to give them all hugs, make them healthy lunches, play with them on the playground, joke around with them, and read them stories, because that is what I do with my own kids, nieces, and nephews who are of similar ages.  I am beginning to see that who I am as a teacher might have to have a different façade.  I have to learn to be professional, and in order to be professional I may need to dial back my intrinsic silly and affectionate sides.

The second incident involved a student’s misbehavior.  This student did not bring any school supplies to school, so when the class is using specific supplies he is limited in his activities.  Today during one of these moments this student was spitting, which the cooperating teacher saw but I did not see, and shortly thereafter he used a word that was not appropriate at school.  My cooperating teacher handled it like the professional she is, though she was clearly angry.  She told the student what he did was unacceptable and handed him a reflection paper to fill out.  The rest of the students continued with their work.   The reflection paper was effective, because as he filled it out he broke down crying. It was clear that this boy knew his words and actions were wrong and that he felt bad about them. When the other students lined up for lunch, the cooperating teacher spoke with him.  Part of me feels badly because this child did not bring any school supplies and that was not his choice.  He said that his family did not get him any because they are moving and he will be going to another school.  During those times that he is limited because of his lack of supplies, he just gets bored.  I got the impression he was acting out because he was feeling left out and had nothing to do, but clearly this does not make his behavior acceptable.  Being a guest in the classroom, I deferred to my cooperating teacher and her experience.  She has not given him any school supplies beyond a pencil, and classmates shared other supplies like crayons with him.  What will happen to him if he remains in our school?  Will he bring supplies?  Will my cooperating teacher provide him with supplies?  Will he actually move?  I will be very interested to see how this situation plays out next week.

Next week I will be teaching at least one social emotional lesson as well as at least one math lesson.  My cooperating teacher and I have agreed that math will be the first subject that I take over, and as this will be my edTPA subject, this is ideal for me.  She is grading the baseline assessments for math and reading over the weekend, so I am looking forward to knowing what we are dealing with now that we will be digging into curriculum.  I am looking forward to finding out how the students will be grouped for these subjects, and to try to map out where we will be in a couple weeks in math so I can determine the subject matter and standards that I will be teaching for the edTPA.

Based on my experiences this week, there are a number of things I will do differently in the future than I would have done previously.  First, I am going to use my cooperating teacher’s example to manage the classroom.   (I think I have finally seen the true meaning of the adage, “You give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile.”)  I have learned that some keys to this are setting the behavior expectations, modeling, and setting a logical consequence for noncompliance.  Secondly, I am going to include as much learning support as possible.  This nineteen-student class is comprised mainly of ELL students and students who have performed at low levels on academic assessments.  There are three children who have IEPs.  The kinds of supports that will benefit all of the children include: giving directions orally, modeling, writing directions on the board, repeating, carefully enunciating, rephrasing, preteaching vocabulary, and using visual representations for vocabulary when possible.  Previously I may have chosen a couple of these supports, but now that I have been in the classroom for a week I can see that multiple supports can and should be incorporated to serve and help these children. This is in accordance with Illinois Professional Teaching Standard 3C which states that, “The competent teacher understands cultural, linguistic, cognitive, physical, and social and emotional differences, and considers the needs of each student when planning instruction.” 

My goal for the upcoming week is to teach one social/emotional lesson and at least one math lesson, in which I can convey information without stumbling over too many words because of nervousness, while managing classroom behaviors, and while using multiples supports.