Week 6 - Green Eggs and Ham

 Paulina Kedzierski

March 4, 2021

This week definitely made me realize that we are getting closer to teaching in person. I spoke with my MT, and her class will still meet remotely next week. Once the students come back for in-person instructions, she will have about seven students in the class, and the rest (about 15students) will remain remotely. It will definitely be an interesting new experience to manage instructions in class and remotely. As much as nervous I am, I am eager to get my hands dirty. I do not think that remote learning will ever go away. The teachers will have to incorporate remote learning for snow days and accommodate parents during parent/teacher conferences. 

Also, today was my second time teaching a lesson- literacy. Because of Dr. Seuss's week, I incorporated a Green Eggs and Ham read-aloud. I think it did pretty well, but I still struggle with differentiating during the instructions. I am good with differentiating the google slides to assess the students, but I have to develop ways to do that during the lesson.  

As far as experience with students, I did a break-out room with math. Students are still working with Place Value problems, and today dimes and pennies were added. I have noticed that they are getting better every day and are more comfortable with me around. Today, in break-out rooms, students started asking me questions right away versus before I had to start the conversation. 

At the end of the day, my MT invited me to join her and two fifth graders to help them with their exhibition project. Every year fifth-graders pick a topic and present it to their families during the family engagement day. This year because of the covid-19, the presentation is digital. As part of the project, students must present their work to kindergartners, so today, we help them choose and simplify their presentation. The topic is Germs and flu. 

Week 6 - Asynchronous

Emily Pinto

EDEC 4571/81 

04.03.21

    Today was not a very exciting day. We started off with the morning meeting, my MT went over some new things that will be happening when the students return to school, and talked about a guest speaker they will be having next week. I appreciate that my MT allowed me to observe and moderate GoGuardian today to keep getting my hours in for the week, and to still do my small groups as I've been doing. I think my MT is feeling a little frazzled about getting her classroom set up for returning to in-class instruction -- and understandably so. It will be interesting to see how it works with half the students in class and half remote, but teaching them all at the same time. 

    I have discussed my first lesson I will be teaching next week with my MT today, and I'm feeling pretty good about my lesson idea. My main concern of course, is keeping the students engaged for the whole duration, but like I've said before, I think the students enjoy my activities and instruction methods so it should be fine. I am very excited to get into the classroom next week and I'm glad the rest of my lessons will be taught in person rather than on the computer. I think it will be easier to keep the kids engaged and it's just overall less awkward I think. Talking to a screen just hasn't become normal for me yet, even after several semesters of it!

Week 6: teach day 3 math

 Sara Kent 

3-4-21

Today I taught my 3rd lesson in a row! I taught a math lesson which went over greater than and less than numbers. Going into this lesson I was really nervous as math is not my favorite subject and one I struggle with greatly but to my surprise it went over really well! I did have a minor technical difficultly with getting my sound to work but once I got that to work it was smooth sailing from there. The kids all loved the lesson and were really engaged answering my questions. Most of the time they told me the answer before I even finished writing the problem out which was funny! My favorite thing I used today was my doc cam. It was my first time using it and I enjoyed it and the kids did to. They were able to see my screen and what I was writing on my paper as they wrote on theirs. It will definitely be something I look forward to using again. 

We got some good news which is that we will be able to go into our MT's classrooms starting next week which is amazing. I cannot wait to see the kids in person even though only 8 of them will be in person. I think it is going to be much easier to teach in person than online so that's a relief. Overall, today went really well and I'm happy with how my lesson turned out considering it was one that I was really nervous about doing.

Week 5- Half Day

Yasmine Mustafa 

2-25-2021

We are in week 5! The weeks are seriously flying by. This week was different compared to the previous weeks we've had. This week we had half  day! The kids were so excited, they were ready to log off before we even got started! In the morning, we began with our morning question which was, "Would you rather eat pizza or spaghetti?" It honestly surprised me how many kids disliked pizza. I loveeeeee pizza, especially as a kid. Anyways, the kids were off to art after that and my MT and I talked about how the rest of the day was going to go because it was a half day. When the kids rejoined, we had them break out into breakout rooms. The students read a story and were given parts that they had to act out while reading. They had a blast doing so! It made my day watching them imitate characters from the stories!

Since we were only able to put in a couple of hours, I was able to watch Atlas videos to make up the rest. Before doing so, my MT invited me to one of their meetings. She asked their principal, and he had stated that it would be great to have me see their planning and what they discuss. It was a pretty short meeting but, it was really fun meeting the other teachers and see what happens in different kinds of meetings. One of the teachers asked "Who is Yasmine Mustafa? Do we have a new staff member?" It was funny, I was able to introduce myself and let them know how I am working alongside my MT and how I am currently a student at Governor State University. My MT tried to have me in their breakout rooms with the other staff members but, unfortunately it did not work. She informed me that they were just discussing things for classes and told me she would inform me more if I was interested. My MT is truly great, she helps me out a lot and teaches me new things everyday.  

Week 5 - 1st Lesson! 1/2 day of school ! Happy birthday!

 

By Brenda Johnson

Today was very different! I thought my first lesson - math WG, it was a half day of school, and it was one of the student’s birthday. My MT had requested that students join the meet a little earlier because I was scheduled to begin at 9 AM (which was really when students start joining). Student were excited for this change and wondered what it was about. While we waited for other students to join the meet, students begin working on their DOL and the question of the day. My MT informed the students that we were going to have a guest in the room (Dr. K), but she was just going to be part of the class learning with us. When it was time for me to begin, I was nervous and worried about a couple of things - tech. issues, classroom management etc. Everything worked out well. There were no tech. issues, and we were able to take care of any behaviors/problems that came up during the lesson.   Students showed great interest in the topic and the activities I had planned. I taught them about currency around the world. When I began my lesson, I was not sure how it would go, but the kids helped make it a little easier for me and it became even easier as the lesson progressed. My MT was very helpful, among other things she informed me of kids that were raising their hands (since I could not see them while sharing my screen). I was able to continue with  and complete my lesson even when Dr. K left.

We celebrated one of the student’s birthday as a whole group. It was so much fun! I like my MT’s choices on ways to celebrate students’ birthdays virtually.  So, he picked his favorite songs, and we had those songs play in the background as we worked. There was also an all about me poster that helped us get to know the celebrant better. There was time allotted to asking the celebrant some questions. We also sang happy birthday to him and did the 2^nd grade cheer. Although the day was short, it was packed with plenty exciting moments!

Week #5 - Sight Words Assessments

 Paulina Kedzierski

February 26, 2021

This week I have observed three days to make up for Thursday's half a day. During my observation, my MT used a lot of free time to assess sight words. First graders, ideally, need to know 130 sight words by the end of the school year. I wrote "ideally" because, unfortunately, some of the students really struggled to read the words. For example, today, one student read 128 words without any hesitation. Yesterday, on the other hand, a student struggled to read simple words as "one" and read-only about 20 words. I asked my MT if the students who struggle get assistance such as RTI, but they cannot get help because of the remote learning. I just hope students who struggle will get extra help once we get back to in-person instructions. 

As far as participating more in a class, I was able to help students with math during break-out rooms. The students are working on tens and ones. They still struggle with determining the different ways a double-digit number can be presented. 

On Friday, I had some free time to collaborate with my MT about my upcoming literacy lesson. Since it is Dr. Seuss's birthday next week, I will incorporate one of his books. I have noticed that I learn to relax every week, and I am aware of different teaching aspects remotely. Multitasking is key to a successful day. Before, I was so stressed about completing my lesson that I did not look at the GoGuardian or the students' list that I prepared ahead. Cannot wait for my next lesson to utilize all my resources. 

Week 5: 1/2 day & Make up day

  By: Jamia Royal  

2/26/2021

 Thursday the students had a 1/2 day and they really excited about it. We started our day with the normal routine with the songs, calendar, weather etc. Students did their scavenger hunt and I also grabbed a few items of my own to participate with their class. Since it was half day my MT informed the students that the schedule would be a bit different today. One kid even noted that we will be in class for 3 hours and 15 mins which I found pretty amazing because he was able to tell time and how long we would be in class. They had a family fun night last night and my MT also informed that next week will be the start of Dr. Seuss week and also spirit week. 

    We moved along to the math lesson where students were learning about number bonds. She uses the if I do it, you do it strategy when learning about number bonds. After they completed place value BOOM cards and an exit ticket. After lunch break, we moved along to writing. Students are learning how to add more detail to their writing labeling their papers "B, M, E" (beginning, middle, end) and leaving space to fill in for detail. Students are also learning how to use transition words in their writing. Art was moved to an earlier time so we went to art after writing for a while and would come to back to continue their writing and breakout rooms. In art students drew among us characters and learned about Vincent Van Gogh, the children enjoy art time. We went back to class and students were put into break out rooms to share their stories. This is my favorite thing to do because I get to talk to the children and listen to their stories. We ended the day with a read aloud Henry's freedom box. 

    I joined my MT class on Friday as well. The schedule was a bit different in the morning usually on Thursday's we do a scavenger hunt but on Friday's it is show and tell. I enjoyed listening to the children share their cool gadgets and drawings at home. The students completed a math sprint where they completed problems in a minute, set a goal for their next set of problems and try to reach their goal. They are also learning how to count the place of ten ex. 10, 20, 30 and how many dots.... These first graders are really advanced and I enjoy watching them show off their skills. They are continuing to work on their writing skills by adding more detail to their stories and learning about story elements. Once the writing was complete they go to their read aloud on Epic and have lunch. 

    Every week is a new learning experience and is preparing me more for my lessons and my future classroom.