Today my voice was a lot better...still not normal but better. Thank Heavens for that:) My students are learning!! I was so excited. My favorite assessment is individual whiteboards. I bought shower board from Home Depot and had them cut it into little whiteboard size for about $1.25 for 40 boards. So cheap compared to $5 a pop anywhere else. The markers were the most expensive. Anyway, so they each have their whiteboard, an old sock they brought from home to use as an eraser and a marker. We have a very strict procedure they have with them. They can't draw on them, etc... Well I use them all day with making words, phonics, and especially math. I just write a problem on the board and I tell them to solve it on their whiteboards. Then I say 3-2-1 show me (I sometimes sing it) and I can in 3.2 seconds see who understands and who doesn't. Then I tell them to put them down and I will ask a few students to explain how they got their answer without saying if they are right or wrong. I just want to see their thinking. Then I will model out loud how I got the answer and I will solve it. We will have a 3 sec cheer for those that got it correct. Then I ask who did not get it correct and ask if they need re-explaining. Well I taught on ones and tens and expanded form..everyone incl. my struggling students got it 1st try! I was so happy..I was high fiving the kids, literally skipping and jumping around, hoping none of the administration walked in at that moment. Of course my students loved it...me making a fool out of myself. I was speaking in Spanish, in English and some made up language I was so happy!! My students are learning:)))
I received their standarized test scores back and we had a faculty meeting about them. Everyone was like, "oh your students are struggling." Hello, no solid teacher for 3 mo, yeah they are! However, I was thrilled with the test scores. This next sentence I am not writing to say I am a great teacher or whatever, it it is just the facts (I still have a lot to learn). All but two of my kids jumped from failing grades to an equivalent of a C in the 3 weeks I have been there. Ok, yes we are still behind the rest of the first grade but that is huge improvement. In their other tests, they all (but one) jumped 30+ points higher from the week before I came to yesterday!! I could not be prouder!
Yeah so when I came to be observed, she suggested that the children act like 2nd graders because they are nearly second graders. However, my students didn't really understand how they were supposed to act. So I asked my mentor, who is a 2nd grade teacher if we could observe her students for 15 min. She obliged and my students were very impressed with how 2nd graders act. Actually so was I. Now all I have to do to get them to listen is say, "Act Like 2nd graders."
Teaching is a lifestyle, not a job:)
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