Adventures In Student Teaching

This is a place for me to post my thoughts and feelings while I begin my journey into student teaching.

[learning2teach]

During the last post I discussed how important structure and routine are to my cooperating teachers form of classroom management. This week I have come to realize that there is another vital aspect that helps my teacher to maintain order and that is the school rules. 

There is a school wide pledge that the students recite every Monday morning and the words to the pledge are found repeated in each individual classrooms rules. The school pledge states that each student will be respectful, make good decisions, and solve problems. In our classroom my cooperating teacher has helped the students to describe how they can see and hear, being respectful, making good decisions, and solving problems. 

In addition to the school rules and individualized definitions for being respectful, making good decisions, and solving problems the classroom also has their own classroom rules. Above I have included the basic classroom rule song, which uses language very similar to the school pledge/ rules. 

[learning2teach]

Classroom Set Up:

The bright, colorful, and engaging classroom I get to spend three days a week teaching in. Admittedly the first time I walked into this classroom I was overwhelmed. The colors were too much, the many pieces of art and posters on the walls felt cluttered, and the high level of activity was way too overstimulating. 

I spent the first two weeks just observing my cooperating teacher. I sat on the carpet behind the students. I watched Ms.G move seamlessly through the many classroom routines. As the days passed I slowly began to understand the structures she put in place that allowed her to teach but also gave the students small opportunities to make decisions for themselves. 

Every lesson is structured similarly. The students start at the carpet, Ms.G does her instruction of the lesson, she models how to do the given assignment, she excuses the students to their tables to work on their guided practice assignment or independent practice, and as the students finish their assignments they turn it in and go to an center for an extension activity. 

Now that I have been observing for a while I can see the method to the madness. I now realize that the subtle structures and routines Ms.G put in place at the beginning of the year are the secrete to her classroom management success. 

[learning2teach]

Finally found out my first student teaching placement! I will be entering the chaotic world of kindergarten lol. I am super excited, energized, and eager to get started. I am also really nervous. I haven't done a lot of volunteering with this younger age group. This will be an adventure.

[learning2teach]

Your cohort community is important!

My first semester of graduate school went by fairly quickly (as it should when you are taking 5 classes and have little time to ponder while you push to get things done). One of the things I grew to appreciate as this first semester came to a close is that my cohort is small (maybe 80 people). By the end of the semester I really began to feel a strong sense of community within my different classes. At first I didn’t realize how close we have grown in our short time together but that said I am really happy that I have my peers to turn to for support. I am definitely going to need them this semester as we each begin our first student teaching placements. It is comforting to know that we are all going through a similar situation and we will have eachothers backs.

[learning2teach]

First post and I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Katelynn. I am 24 years old and I am a full time graduate student. I am currently in a teaching credentialing program and working on my masters degree. (Yikes! I know… lol ). I will be using this blog as a way to organize my thoughts, share my feelings, and post different insights/advice I get throughout my student teaching experience. I really can’t wait to see where this journey leads.