Using ALL the resources available to me

I have discovered that being a teacher is WAY harder than I ever thought. I constantly feel like I'm trying to juggle five or six balls all at the same time. This is no easy task. What I am learning is that I do not have to do it by myself. I have two MMR students in my class. They are in and out of the classroom throughout the day and I felt like I was not meeting their needs when they were in the class. I knew that my exit slips for science were beyond their abilties and I was tempted to  just let them slide. That is when I realized how much help the special ed. teacher can be. I have been collaborating with her and she helps to adjust the exit slips to meet the needs of these students while still holding them accountable for learning. She has also been breaking down the lessons into pieces that these students can understand. At first I was afraid to ask her for help because I felt like it was my job but then I realized that I could not do it by myself. Things have been going much better and I have discovered that when I use the resources around me I not only benefit but so do my students. Just like the Field Guide to teaching says "the classroom teacher does not teach in isolation."

reflection

This week I have started a new unit in science. The unit is on weather, which is a fun topic, but I had a lot to learn about weather before I could teach it. I have to say I have learned a lot about teaching this week. The one thing I keep trying to master is that I have to be very specific. I need to tell the students exactly what I expect of them. I need to model even the little things. I need to tell them where I want them to put their papers when they are finished. Does this go in the homework folder or the science journal? I have definitely improved...but it still needs work.

The other thing that has been clear to me this week is that the goal is to teach until the children master the concept...not until the material is covered. I am working on time management and it seems like I'm always running out of time before I run out of lesson. Toward the end of the lesson today I found myself rushing through the plans just to get through.  BIG MISTAKE! It was clear how ineffective this was when I started reviewing the exit slips.  So, now I will need to go back and teach the stuff I rushed through today. Thank heavens I did an exit slip as a formative assessment. What an injustice to the kids if I had not done this and waited until the end of the unit to find out that the students hadn't got the concept. Now I can go back and re-teach the information they need to know in order to understand the stuff that's coming up.

What I've learned this week

This week has been a learning experience. As I'm getting into teaching science, I have learned that you have to be VERY clear about the directions. I thought I was being clear but two times this week the students didn't quite seem to understand what they were supposed to be doing. Since this never happens with my supervising teacher, I must assume it was my fault and not the students'. When I looked back on it, I can see in both cases that I needed to have the attention of the students before I started explaining and that I needed to model what I wanted them to do. Then the final step...which I may not have done so well was, to make sure they understood the directions.