October 24th, 2012

         This week has been crazy. I noticed that as my student teaching continues to progress I have been more and more stressed – which results in less blogs! I need to work on this. Yesterday we had parent conferences until 8:30 and tomorrow we do too! So I have been very tired at the end of the day. I have learned a lot about prepping and conducting conferences from Mrs. Irvin. I was very thrilled yesterday when the parents directed questions to me and held meaningful conversations with me. From the sound of it, these parents really consider me their child’s teacher! It is an awesome feeling and I really enjoyed contributing. I have been really stressed lately with everything coming up. This week we have a student teacher meeting where we have several things due. Next week is Halloween and we have a lot going on in our classroom that we our not very prepared for. Also, I dedicated this weekend to get ahead in my internship class and plan for November  (since I will be teaching the whole month). I would like to get as much as I can done sooner rather than being stressed every week I teach. I want to enjoy the experience as much as possible and avoid as much stress as I possibly can!

         My highlight of the day today was when one of our students befriended his bully. Instead of screaming and fighting with each other today one of our students decided to reverse the negative attitude and return a positive attitude when he was bullied. He ended up befriending the other student and they spent the whole day acting as though they had been best friends for weeks! I love seeing our students making positive behavior choices.

October 18, 2012

         Today was very different than the last three days. Mrs. Irvin called me at 8pm last night to inform me that her plane was delayed and that she called in another substitute teacher, which whom she was unfamiliar with. I knew that Mrs. Irvin had her plans done for the whole week, so I wasn’t nervous about teaching the class again. Once the substitute arrived I could immediately tell that her expertise was not working in Kindergarten. I had a very hard time keeping my comments to myself about her teaching (yelling) style. At one point in the day I had to go against what she said and explain to the students that they were not in trouble. I then nicely explained to the substitute how we handle “loud noises” in our classroom, and that we don’t send them all to their seats to put their heads down. Instead I put on our “Fit for Kids” video to have our students release some of their energy in a more efficient and positive way. The substitute spent a lot of her time sitting off in the corner, which I did not mind, and because of this I really felt like the only teacher in the room. I have really learned a lot about teaching and working with substitute teachers this week.

         My highlight of the day was hearing all of the laughter in my room today, not counting when the sub lost it. But today I noticed that all of my students were excited about learning, completing their work, making new friends, making good behavior choices, and encouraging their classmates. As a “teacher” this is the best feeling I think I could take away from this experience. I have truly had an amazing week.

October 16, 2012

         Today was another great day. It was a little stressful but awesome in the morning because it was just me in the classroom. Our sub had to go down to the 3^rd grade hallway to help with the MEAP testing that has been going on for the past two weeks. A parent also had asked me if we would need any extra hands without Mrs. Irvin this week, so I invited her in for the morning to help me with our art center. I am starting to realize that being a teacher for twenty five kids really should be a two-person job! Two of our students, out of four, that we chart their behavior got all greens today! Which means prizes and happy notes sent home. Both of the students were so excited about their “green day” that they skipped down the hallway holding hands. It was great to see them cheering each other on, especially because these two normally do not get along. Just like yesterday, today I ran all of the lessons and taught the class the whole entire day. I do miss Mrs. Irvin, but I have been enjoying all of this teaching time and experience.

         My highlight of the day today was watching all of my students interact with each other. Not saying that we didn’t have any crying or tattling, because I don’t think it would be a kindergarten classroom if we didn’t. But I am saying that for 95% of the day all of my students had smiles on their faces and were excited about their learning. Now that is a great day!!

October 15, 2012

         Today was not our typical Monday. Mrs. Irvin is out until Thursday and we have a sub (a previous intern) in our class the whole week. It was very fun but also overwhelming preparing and teaching the whole day. Our students were extremely well behaved, unlike any other Monday that I have experienced with this group. I enjoyed, finally, getting the chance to input some of my own strategies into the classroom. One of the things that worked very well was inputting a structured free time in place of the typical free-for-all free time. A structured free time consisted of 5 areas, or centers, where we placed specific toys and manipulative’s. This worked really well with our group, and the mess was quick to clean up. Another strategy that I thought worked really well was putting on a song on the CD player and telling the students they had until the song was over to clean up after free time. All of the students worked quickly as a team to clean up the messes that they made – and it worked! They cleaned up their mess just in time for the song to end on the cd payer. The last strategy that I thought worked really well that I implemented into the classroom today was a dance party at the end of the day. I don’t know if this is technically considered a "classroom strategy" but it worked for me so I am considering it a fabulous classroom strategy! At the end of the day I told our students if they could get their last worksheet finished we would have a surprise before it was time for them to leave. Once they completed their work we spent the last 15 minutes singing, dancing, and being silly in the classroom. It was so much fun… and yes I did join them!

         My highlight of the day today was at the end of the day when I walked one of my students out to his parent. Another student drove by us in his parent’s car and rolled down the window screaming, “Bye Miss Switalski, I’ll miss you.” Another highlight I had today was definitely just the whole day in general. The day went so well and all of our students were engaged and excited about learning the whole day. It was awesome!

October 8, 2012

         Today was madness. It was Monday; there is no doubt about it. All of our students were very wound up throughout the whole day and had a very difficult time listening and following directions. We spent a lot of time redirecting behavior and working individually with students who had a hard time staying focused. Monday’s are usually crazier than any other day of the week. When students leave on Friday they have two whole days to loose sight of the rules and behavior that is expected from them on Monday. If I have learned one thing about the age group I am working with, it would be that there needs to be constant reminders and many different ways to motivate students! I tried to spend a lot of time with the class today, but Mrs. Irvin also had a lot on my “list” for the day. I was running around and I’m not sure if I sat down once the whole day… until now that is! I am starting to really get the feeling for how much work goes into being a teacher. There are so many things going on all the time, on top of keeping track and educating 25 students. It’s a lot, but at least I’ll never be bored!

         My highlight of the day today was finding out that I will be teaching the entire 2^nd half of the day tomorrow. Mrs. Irvin will be out for a doctors appointment and I will be teaching for her. There will be a substitute in the room, because it is required by the law, that will act as I usually do (helping out with behavior issues and monitoring the classroom). I am very excited to see how the students behave and respond to my teaching without Mrs. Irvin in the building.

October 3, 2012

         Wahoo, it’s hump day! Today went very fast and I was very busy all day. When I wasn’t with the students I was running around making copies and running errands to get things done for the second half of the day. Mrs. Irvin stayed in the classroom until 8:30 last night running all of the worksheets and dittos that we need for the next two weeks. It was awesome to walk into class this morning and have the room set up and being prepared for the next two weeks. It relieved a little bit of my stress, since I am usually accountable for those responsibilities. I have learned some amazing organizational skills from Mrs. Irvin that I definitely plan to incorporate into my future classroom. Today was yoga day - and if you couldn’t tell I needed it! I am just a little stressed and could use a good day or two to hibernate. However, I am looking forward to teaching my “first planned lesson” for our kiddos tomorrow! It will be fun and I know our students will enjoy it because there is candy involved, and who doesn’t love candy during the school day!

         My highlight of the day today was when one of our students, a girl, during calendar time in the morning asked me why I was wearing my pajamas. I responded by asking her what she meant by my pajamas. She answered by pointing to my pink dress pants (pastel pink) and said they were pajamas. I asked her why and she said because they are pink. This little girl happened to be wearing pink leggings so I asked her why she could ware pink pants but I could not. She said I couldn’t wear pink pants because I am a teacher. So, I think I am going to be incorporating some fun colorful (professional) outfits in the future. Just to prove to my students that teachers can wear fun colors too!

Octoboer 2, 2012

         Today was a little hectic. We started the morning off with calendar time, and within the first five minutes we were interrupted to go down to get our pictures taken. All of our students were very hype about getting their picture taken and I would say we lost their full attention right there, for the rest of the day. After we came back from getting our pictures taken we went right back into our morning routine and then into centers. I introduced three new centers to our students, all of them relating to our “C” week (the letter Cc). I was very impressed because although our students were very energetic and wound up from breaking their usual morning routine with picture day, all of the students were very productive. Today I had a short day in the classroom because we had an intern seminar with our university coordinators. We spent the afternoon discussing and learning about classroom management. I thought the class was very informative and I learned a lot that I plan on incorporating into our classroom.

          My highlight of the day today was when I was working with on of our students at his desk during center time. I knelt down next to him, so I could be at his level. He was looking at me very intently, and not at his paper, so I asked him what he was looking at. He answered by saying, “your eyes”. I responded quickly by telling him that he should be looking at his paper. He didn’t look at his paper, and continued by telling me that my eyes were "very blue". Coming from a student who didn’t know his colors coming into kindergarten a few weeks ago, I took this little moment as a moment to recognize his progress – rather than acknowledging his admiration for my eyes!