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!