School Culture

     Last Friday our school had their first school improvement day of the year.  The students were released at noon, and the principal held a meeting for the entire staff.  It was interesting to see the camaraderie amongst the staff.  Each month three teachers take on the task of hosting lunch for the day.  As the teachers ate and talked they discussed the needs of their students, the challenges that they faced in class and problem solved solutions.  I have attended many schools in service days, but it was interesting to see the dynamics in a different school.  I found the teachers here at Kimberley Heights very supportive of each other.  I also think the Principal does a great job of maintaining the needs of the school, while still encouraging each teacher’s style of teaching.  I also enjoy how the school incorporates the community in school activities.  The neighborhood fire chief is retiring and the school rallied together to have all of the students sign a huge banner and surprised the chief with cake and ice cream.  It was a great way to show students how to have respect for authority figures, instill pride for community, and rally around an important community figure.

Routines, Routines, Routines

      The most important thing that my kindergarten friends learn this year, I believe, is learning how we learn.  They learn how to investigate, how to question and how to manipulate to find answers.  The beginning of the the school year has been almost completely dedicated to routines and norms.  We are teaching kids how to navigate in this new environment.  Learning how to navigate, for me means that as a teacher I need to give as many details as possible when instructing my students.  I can not just tell my students to cut out a picture, I need to tell them in exactly what way and how to cut the picture out.  This can be challenging, but so rewarding as you see the children start to learn how to do things independently.  We have been in school for sixteen days, it is amazing to see how they have gone from needing to be told how to open their folders and empty papers in the morning, to now watching them come in, take homework to the homework bucket and check in for the day.
     As I enter into this coming week feeling hopeful about my edTPA taping, I wonder how graders will take into consideration that most of what we are currently teaching are the important routines that it takes for a five year old to navigate kindergarten.  Our students are still learning to sit appropriately on the carper and to transition from one station to another.  These things take time to learn, and I hope that our graders will be gracious in knowing that this is still extremely early in the year.  I hope that they know that our students are learning so much everyday, and on top of these things those very important social behaviors that are necessary for kindergarten.

Little People with Big Stories

          This week in Kindergarten was extremely eye opening!  I started each day by asking for God to grant me wisdom and help take away my fear and nervousness because I knew that it was not of Him. Each day I found myself growing more confident in my abilities. I am blessed to have an extremely talented cooperating teacher and a great class of students.
     One issue that I encountered this week was my class of students being told that I was not a teacher.  My cooperating teacher wanted to explain the appearance of the camera in the classroom, so she explained to the students that I was a student learning to be a teacher.  I'd planned to explain to the students that the camera was there to take pictures of how we learn.  I worried that this would lessen my influence and authority in the classroom.  Since learning that I am a student, the children ask, multiple times a day, "Are you a teacher yet?"  I realized that the beauty of kindergarten is that they respond more openly to how you make them feel, than the words that you say.  They can not understand why I am not a teacher, because I feel like their teacher.  
     I am enjoying my experience in the classroom.  The students are bubbling with ideas that they want to share.  I have been trying different techniques to encourage students to share and also know when it is appropriate to listen.  We spent the entire week working on appropriate speaking and listening rules during literacy.  I also, as a teacher, know that their attention span can only be maintained for so long, before we need to move into activities that are interactive.  So this week I am working on engaging the students, limiting the amount of time that I am talking, and encouraging more student involvement.

Student Teaching: First Week in Review

     Entering student teaching has been one of the most fulfilling and gratifying milestones that I have accomplished in my educational career.  I have dreamed about this time and imagined the experience. While I am enjoying getting to know my cooperating teacher and the students, the experience has not been what I've imagined.  Being in the classroom for years as an assistant, I assumed that the transition into being a lead classroom teacher would be seamless.  It has been difficult leaving the mindset of  an assistant and crossing over into the more authoritarian role of teacher. I have always been confident and knowledgeable in the classroom.  I have always been able to be a great resource to my classroom teacher.  I am not comfortable with making decisions in the classroom currently, and I do not feel like I have the right to make decisions.
     I have so many new ideas and I am completely capable of taking control of the classroom, but I definitely do not feel as comfortable as I initially hoped.  The approach that my cooperating teacher and I have taken, is taking on one subject area and perfecting my teaching skills in that area before moving on to other responsibilities.  Right now, I am teaching reader's workshop.  This twenty minute time period allows me to try classroom management techniques and build relationships with the students while also working on the craft of teaching.  I am becoming more comfortable with teaching this segment as each day goes by and I am looking forward to reaching this level of comfort in all areas of the classroom.
     I feel extremely blessed to be working with such an experienced and gifted teacher.  I feel like there is so much that I can learn from her.  I think that there are times when I feel discouraged because I am not as amazing as my cooperating teacher.  She has given me a very high bar to reach, and I work daily to reach that bar.