Tuesday: Wow!! It's the first day and I love love love Mrs. Sutliff's class! The children are so sweet and all work so hard! I've jumped right into working with them. During my time at Britton, the students are in math, so today I helped them find a mystery number, which was tons of fun because it was a lesson that kept them thinking, but was still interesting for the students. I was able to learn lots of names working with these students, and I'm starting to figure out who is struggling and how I can help them! After this, the technology was rolled out, as there was a multiplication game the students played on the iPad! You could tell they all loved it and they were learning. While these students were busy quizzing themselves, Mrs. Sutliff pulled other students into the hall, gave them a number and a number line and asked them to teach the "audience" how to round the number up or down to the tens place. Now who is the audience? Not Mrs. Sutliff, but their parents. They were recording themselves using this app "Seesaw," which I have never used before, but they scanned into their class, recorded themselves teaching, and then Mrs. Sutliff sent it home to the parents! The parents can then see what they're learning, and if these students can teach the topic, it's obvious that they completely understand the topic.
One of the students I worked with, is one of Mrs. Hart's students, who is again on a behavior IEP! He moved to this school this year, so I never really worked with him before and I haven't quite built the rapport I need with him. Hopefully, with time he will slowly warm up to me, and I will be able to help him through his behavior struggles. Mrs. Sutliff is the perfect teacher for him because she creates such an enthusiastic environment with an underlying sense of peace, from her soft voice and her gentle words, it's obvious the students in her class are always calm. But, tomorrow Mrs. Sutliff is going to have a sub, so she's going to incorporate me into her lesson plans, so that I can help all of the students tomorrow and give the substitute a break from the overwhelming classroom! I'm excited to have the opportunity to take over the class for a little bit, and I am so thrilled that Mrs. Sutliff trusts me to work with her students in her class! Today was so fun! And I can't wait to come back in tomorrow!
Wednesday: With the substitute in the room, the classroom had a much different tone, but all of the kids were a bundle of joy! The lessons that were planned included fun math games, and I got to play a game with one of the students! Additionally, they played a game on their iPads, which stimulates the learning. Transitions are something that lots of teachers struggle with, but the substitute did such a wonderful job with a wind chime that immediately caught the students attention, and then kept them silent by holding an air bubble in their mouth! I am learning so much in this classroom, and I know I'm eventually going to have such a difficult time choosing between special education and early childhood!
Thursday: There's nothing better than some super cool science! Or, that's what the kids were saying today about the Carnegie Science Fair that traveled to Britton from Pittsburgh today. They set up these complex experiment materials that allowed to students to learn about some scientific equations while they were playing games, such as baseball! Towards the end, the scientist even created some colored fire, and the students were so excited. They all behaved so well, and later in the day they will get to go to science centers! I can't wait to hear about it.
After this, there wasn't a whole lot of time left in the classroom, but I helped the students find their mystery numbers, and worked with them individually!
Overall, I have had such a wonderful time building strong rapport and improving my teaching skills. Mrs. Sutliff has encouraged me to demonstrate as much patience as I possibly can! But, she has told me that I've done a great job jumping into her classroom!
One of the students I worked with, is one of Mrs. Hart's students, who is again on a behavior IEP! He moved to this school this year, so I never really worked with him before and I haven't quite built the rapport I need with him. Hopefully, with time he will slowly warm up to me, and I will be able to help him through his behavior struggles. Mrs. Sutliff is the perfect teacher for him because she creates such an enthusiastic environment with an underlying sense of peace, from her soft voice and her gentle words, it's obvious the students in her class are always calm. But, tomorrow Mrs. Sutliff is going to have a sub, so she's going to incorporate me into her lesson plans, so that I can help all of the students tomorrow and give the substitute a break from the overwhelming classroom! I'm excited to have the opportunity to take over the class for a little bit, and I am so thrilled that Mrs. Sutliff trusts me to work with her students in her class! Today was so fun! And I can't wait to come back in tomorrow!
Wednesday: With the substitute in the room, the classroom had a much different tone, but all of the kids were a bundle of joy! The lessons that were planned included fun math games, and I got to play a game with one of the students! Additionally, they played a game on their iPads, which stimulates the learning. Transitions are something that lots of teachers struggle with, but the substitute did such a wonderful job with a wind chime that immediately caught the students attention, and then kept them silent by holding an air bubble in their mouth! I am learning so much in this classroom, and I know I'm eventually going to have such a difficult time choosing between special education and early childhood!
Thursday: There's nothing better than some super cool science! Or, that's what the kids were saying today about the Carnegie Science Fair that traveled to Britton from Pittsburgh today. They set up these complex experiment materials that allowed to students to learn about some scientific equations while they were playing games, such as baseball! Towards the end, the scientist even created some colored fire, and the students were so excited. They all behaved so well, and later in the day they will get to go to science centers! I can't wait to hear about it.
After this, there wasn't a whole lot of time left in the classroom, but I helped the students find their mystery numbers, and worked with them individually!
Overall, I have had such a wonderful time building strong rapport and improving my teaching skills. Mrs. Sutliff has encouraged me to demonstrate as much patience as I possibly can! But, she has told me that I've done a great job jumping into her classroom!