Wk+3+Sept+13-17




 * Mon. Sept. 13, 2010** FLEXIBILITY and Crazy Switching of Gears

I know about teachers being and needing to be flexible. Today, I got another dose of it. I prepared and studied for the 2nd official group I took over today. (2nd grade Reading Intervention) Well, the group had gotten a late start on their Computer Time which meant the already short 30 min allotted time for studying Phonics and introducing this weeks' 5 Vocabulary Words was pushed and cut in half. (15 min) and I had to make it work. I did my best and was able to cover all I had to cover.

Imagine being in 10 different places throughout the day in 30-minute increments (some repeating). That's exactly how my schedule is daily. NON-STOP from 8am all the way till the very last car picks up their kid at 3:30. On top of the different locations, we have to switch gears constantly from Kinder to 5th. I find my head spinning on some days but I make it through :)

In my 3rd Grade Reading Mastery group, I made the table below to keep tally marks for students who follow the Reading Rules that make a S.T.A.R. Reader. They can earn up to 5 points each day for a total of 20 points at the end of the week for a trip to my Treasure Box. I find that my group really needs behavior reinforcement so they can focus on our reading task each day. Here are the rules:

S. - Sit up tall. T. - Track with your finger. A. - Answer together. R. - Respect each other.

**Ms. Hauser’s S.T.A.R. Reader Table**  **(Need 20 pts total for a trip to the Treasure Box on Fridays)**


 * Wk of: || **Monday** || **Tuesday** || **Wednesday** || **Thursday** || **Friday** || Total Points ||
 * Student 1 ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Student 2 ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Student 3 ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Student 4 ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||


 * Tues. Sept 14, 2010**

My supervising teacher gave me my first official feedback today which meant she was also writing comments and recording in my Internship Evaluation Rubric. She gave me both my good points and ones that need improvement.

Some of the Positives: -Giving expectations at the beginning of lesson (reminding students of rules) -Establishing a nurturing environment -Sensitivity to students' cultural background -Reinforcing good behavior

Needs Improvement: - Need to model proper handwriting on the board (I will write on whiteboard in advance) -Ignore student's distracting behavior, don't feed into students' drama.


 * Wed. Sept 15, 2010 1st Formal Evaluation**



What a super busy day as usual. Isn't it always? It started out with a 5th grade IEP meeting where I sat in, observed, and listened. Strangely though, the parent was not there which I didn't get to find out why.

Our first class with our Kindergartners was really tough today. They were extra antsy. One student's disruptive behavior at the beginning of class erupted to the whole group acting out such as not taking the lesson seriously by giggling and laughing out loud even though the teacher and I had very serious faces. My supervising teacher is very good in deflecting negative behavior so she was able to avoid a situation that could have very easily gone out of hand if she fed into the students' behavior.

The teacher in our next Kinder class had 8 extra kids. I learned today that Bonneville does not have any Substitute teachers due to budget cuts which means, when a teacher is out, the other teachers will have to take on extra students for the today. My supervising teacher and I stayed extra longer to help this class today.

My Clinical Coordinator from UCF came and did my first Formal Evaluation in one of our (co-teach) 3rd grade class as well as our 2nd grade class. She was able to see how my supervising teacher and I transitioned from one class to the next. I learned that along with being flexible is knowing how to adapt to the ever changing situations that each day brings.

One of my challenges in my Intern teaching is not having all the curriculum I need to be able to teach.

A quick constructive feedback today included giving students enough wait time to respond even though we have many things in our 30-minute-only alloted time. Definitely a challenge. As well as getting a good gauge of students' prior knowledge to a new topics being presented.

One observation down, 4 to go.


 * Thur-Fri Sept. 16, 17, 2010**

Ms. Wright showed me some of the wonderful **technology** that their school uses to enhance teaching and student learning. I learned how to turn on the projector screen to put up and project materials on the board. We also took out her writing interactive tablet out of it's box. I'm hoping to use that sometime soon with a quick training. I learned that the entire school has access to all this first class technology because their last principal was **big on technology**. It's so nice to see some teachers making good use of this resource.

At UCF, I attended a meeting with ACEI (Assoc of Children Education International). They brought in 2 new teachers to talk about their scary and exciting 1st year of teaching. **Here's some of their advice I took note of:**

During their nerve-wracking **interview, these questions were asked**:


 * Tell me about your lesson plans and how you would assess them.
 * What does your classroom layout look like.
 * What is your Behavior Management Plan

Other advice:
 * Let students know the Rules (have ready) and let them know the Consequences.
 * Demonstrate the Rules.
 * Online-Stop Watch is an awesome classroom tool!