December 6

My time as a student teacher is winding down and Mr. Curtis is starting to take back most of the instruction time as i help support the students (we make a good team). He has been very kind in his evaluations of my instruction and he says he is sure I will be a really good teacher which is a wonderful compliment coming from him.

I have loved seeing the growth in these 4th grader students. I have witnessed their "light bulb" moments as they come to understand the 4th grade content such as long division and figures of speech. The "light bulb" moments are beyond rewarding and I am so grateful to have experienced them. This is why I want to teach!

December 5

I ended the division unit today; consequently, we took the pre-test. I was very worried about the outcome because so many of the students didn't do the challenge question correctly today. But the outcome was tremendous! Most of the class passed the test. My students understood the concepts that I taught them. Thjis makes me feel so successful. I love using the Singapore method along with the mnemonic of DAD - Divide, MOM - Multiply, SISTER - Subtract and ROVER - Repeat of Remainder. Mr. Curtis taught me these strategies and I know they helped the students succeed.

November 30

Mr. Curtis has implemented more new changes this week in order to seem more progress in his students. He has paired each high student with a low student. They sit by each other at their desks and on the carpet. They help each other until each of them has succeeded at the new concept. The high students were, of course, disappointed in the approach but we explained that this classroom is a team and will work as a team until every student succeeds.....I LOVE this!

We no longer have table managers. Mr. Curtis now check the students' reading strategies and homework each morning. The students do seem more responsible now that they know he will be the one checking them.

November 29

We prepared for YPP language test before the students took it this morning. Mr. Curtis reminded them of strategies that would help them perform better...such as reading the question before reading the passage, what type of question...literal or inference. These strategies are ehlpful because test-taking is a fact of life for these students. But this is not authentic learning! Yet...I can picture myself doing the same thing because test scores are so important to a teacher's reputation. Sad, yes...but it is what it is.

I help Sean, our blind student, a lot during the day. He had the opportunity to take the language YPP test today because I was there to read the test to him. I don't know why we haven't done this all along my duration here.

November 28

Today I re-taught double digit division for the students that didn't understand the new concept the first time (which was about 2/3 of the class). Most of them understood it today but are overwhelmed with the length of each problem. Now I know why they named it 'long division.'

I taught a lesson of paragraph edit and inferring meaning from of it. The students responded very well to my questions.

November 18

Mr. Curtis conducted a student survey today in order to start some of the change he sees is necessary for the success of his classroom. The students enjoyed anonymously answering the questions....I could tell they liked the feel of giving some input into their education.

Mr. Curtis asked:

1. What do I like the most about school?
2. What do I dislike most about school?
3. How stressful is your school life? On a scale of 1-5
4. If I could change one thing how Mr. Curtis's teaches, it would be....
5. What is the thing I like most about Mr. Curtis's classroom....

November 17

PLC -- Generally speaking, our 4th grade is doing well. Language arts is flat-lining and we need to to work on it. Mr. Curtis thinks we are pushing maybe too hard (I agree, because we are always the first class finished with each math topic....leading by several days). We discussed ways, such as games, to make learning more fun and motivational....and testing more authentic. Some of our students freeze during the tests -- even some of the students that KNOW the content. Some change could be helpful. I feel that we don't spend enough time on some of the harder subjects because Mr. Curtis wants to always be the leader...but is this the best thing for the students?