Posts

Nearing the Finish Line

This month has been an incredible learning experience that has opened my eyes to many aspects of the classroom that I have not yet had the opportunity to see.  I have gotten to see just how much work students do outside of the classroom, how creative teachers must be when they are not given a plethora of resources, and how important it is for someone to take leadership among a group of teachers to get things accomplished. I was able to see just how much time and work my CE puts into facilitating learning for her students.  There have been multiple days when my CE and I have spent over two hours after school preparing for whatever stems activity or learning experience we had planned for the next day.  I was amazed to see just how much time and effort my CE puts into what she plans for he students every week.  I will say that her ability to use arts and crafts, acting, and stems activities to facilitate students' learning on a deeper level has been incredible for me ...
3 comments
Read more

November Already...?

This past month has been absolutely crazy!  However, I have had many incredible learning experiences.  Just to give a "snipit" of our past month, I'll share our schedule for the week of Halloween a few weeks ago.  In one week, we had the day off on Monday for a teacher workday, on Tuesday, the Honors Society students from the high school came to our school to provide a trunk or treat for our students, and on this day students were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes for the event.  Wednesday, we had our Halloween rotations where every teacher hosted a different event, and every student went around the hallway to visit every single other teacher.  Thursday, we had our school's fun run fundraiser that every student in the school took part in.  This absorbed the entirety of the afternoon.  That week was by far the craziest of the month, but there were many more crazy weeks and days added on top of that one.  My largest takeaway from this crazy m...
1 comment
Read more

Apples, Pumpkins, and Leaves

     Fall is finally here! Though, it may not quite feel like it in the air, we are definitely welcoming it with open arms into our classrooms!  We have studied apples and how to cross breed them to make them the yummiest.  We have made apple pizzas and apple sauce.  We have learned about pumpkins and how their life cycle works.  And now, we are in the process of transforming our classroom into a bat cave for the next two weeks!  It is crazy how quickly this semester has flown by! I feel like we just began school yesterday, and somehow it is already October!      This month, I have seen the importance of collaboration among teachers in the school.  Between the five teachers in first grade, there are five times as many resources as there would be if they simply kept to themselves!  I am fortunate to be able to spend my student teaching placement with teachers who really are happy to share with one another and put their ide...
1 comment
Read more

The Wonderful Whirlwind Begins

Image
The past few weeks in my clinical placement has been an absolute whirlwind, but the best kind there could possibly be.  The first few days of school are a wonderful, crazy, exciting, chaotic mess! I am so thankful I got to be there right in the thick of it all to really experience what it is like before I am given twenty two of my own little bodies to care for on the first day of school. The students have no idea where to go, who to ask for help, where to put their things, what their lunch number is, how to find their supplies, or how they are getting home.  However, I experienced my CE fully embrace the craziness and calm the chaos with confidence.  I was amazed at how she handled various situations and questions.  She truly was an example of the professional teaching standard, "Teachers demonstrate leadership."  I watched her fully hold her classroom together singlehandedly the entire first day.  As soon as she put the last student on the bus that day, sh...
8 comments
Read more