Long-Term Subbing

I had the opportunity to sub in a fourth grade classroom for 7 weeks and it was like night and day compared to my last classroom. It helped that the kids already knew routines, were respectful and felt comfortable in their room, but it truly was an amazing experience for me. I learned so much about myself as a teacher and what I am capable of doing in a classroom. This experience has given me so much confidence that I was lacking because I proved to myself that I CAN teach a room full of students on my own while also planning, teaching based off of student's weaknesses, testing, differentiation and all the other aspects and duties of a teacher. I loved the consistency and knowing what I was going to do the next day. I also had the chance to get to know some awesome students and network with teachers. There are so many things that I took away from this opportunity and ideas that I have for my future classroom.

- Post Homework outside of classroom: It wasn't as big of a thing for the fourth graders, but I saw middle school kids looking at their board all the time and writing down what homework they had for the night or double checking that they got everything. It's more convenient for the teacher too because the student can just check the board to see what the homework is for the night instead of asking the teacher.

- Write Schedule on Board: I did this on the first full day I was in the classroom and I told the students it was to help me get to know their schedule. I ended up writing the schedule on the board everyday because it helped keep students on task, since they knew when we would switch gears to another subject, and it helped the students know what specials they had and when throughout the day. I will definitely do this in my classroom.

- Must Do vs. May Do/Good Choices: This is something the teacher put in place in her room before I started, but on the board there are activities students 'Must Do' or need to finish and 'May Do' activities if they are to finish an assignment early. Students learn and know that the 'Must Do' activities, which is typically just their spelling, needs to be done before they can do a 'May Do'. In the third grade classroom they do something very similar by have a 'Good Choices' poster. It's a list of activities students can do if they finish with an assignment before the rest of the class.All activities are fun, but also educational.

Individualized spelling: We had individualized spelling in the 2nd grade room last year, but it was different in the fourth grade classroom. Students are given a spelling pre-test every Monday of 20 words. They check their words on their own and any they spelled incorrectly they have for a spelling word for the week. If they got it right then they chose a word from the 'challenge' list to have in place of the one they knew. In the end, all students have 20 spelling words, and it's tailored to their needs. They have to complete 2 spelling activities before their spelling test and one has to be writing the words in sentences. On Friday, they partner up and their partner gives them their spelling test, very similar to what we did in the second grade! I had 3 students that were such good spellers that they would be tested on the challenge list and then would use an even more challenge list to get the rest of their spelling words.

'While you were Gone' folders: These are folders that are placed on the desks of students that were absent with all of their work they need to complete inside of it. It helps keeps things organized for the teacher and students know that they can work on this work throughout the day when they have time and anything else is taken for homework.

Finger Scale: This was something I've heard of other teachers doing and I believe it's based off of Manzano's classroom strategies. I used this system typically during math, which it was as simple as putting the number of fingers up for how confident you are feeling on a skill we just learned and your understanding. Students would put a 1 up for if they had no idea what they were doing all the way to 4 fingers which means they complete understand and could teach it to someone. What I did was took all the people that had 1 or 2 fingers up and pulled them to the side to give them more instruction and those students that had 3-4 fingers worked on an assignment independently (the 1 and 2 fingered kids would work on the assignment with me. Once they felt they knew what they were doing they worked on it independently as well). After I was done with my small group I would check on the students that felt they knew what they were doing just to make sure they were doing to problems correctly. Sometimes I would have them walk me through a problem or explain their thinking to make sure they truly understood. This system ended up working great because I could give those students that were struggling more one on one attention and those students that didn't need any more help could keep moving forward.
   Something I didn't do but what I would do in my room is sometimes have numbers pair up with each other and work together where the 1's paired with a 4 and the 4 would have to explain the skill and teach their partner and so on. I might use a different system in my classroom, but I want to use this in the future because it will allow students to take control of their learning and understanding as allow me to work with those students that need the most help and let those that understand keep moving ahead. It will be important for me to explain what each number means and the importance of being honest with their understanding because it will only help them learn concepts in the long run.

- I also did some really nifty projects with the fourth grade class over the course of my time there including a 'Book Mobile' which was a book project they did for their book club books, where they had to write and draw a picture for different elements of their books, such as main characters, setting, problem, solution, favorite part and opinion. They turned out awesome!

  

Students also create a 'State in a Bag'. They had been learning about the East Region of the United States and had to research a different state and present their information in the form of a bag. They were required to find a map of their state, land features, industries/natural resources, fun facts, recreation and people. Inside of their bag they had to put in 3 objects that related to their state. Students had a great time learning more about their state and designing their bag!

Also students created Great Lakes Flap-books because we had been talking about water during our PYP unit. Students worked in partners to create a flap-book, but they first had to do research by reading books, encyclopedias and searching online.

Last thing I want to make sure I don't forget about is student-led conferences. We talked so much about this in my TE 401 class with Jan Alleman and how these conferences allow for the student to pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses as well as set goals for themselves for the rest of the school year. Students had to do a lot to prepare for conferences, but once they were completed I could see the benefits from all that hard work. Students had to complete reflections on each subject and how they thought they were doing as well as complete a goal sheet. Students practiced throughout the week with a partner so that they felt prepared to talk with their parents and had a general idea of what they were going to say. The way the fourth grade room does conferences is they have stations. The first station was meeting with the teacher and going over those reflections with their parents. Next students would grab their checklist and go to the other stations, which were set up inside and out side of the room. There was a project table where students showed off the projects I mentioned above, a portfolio station where students showed their parents some of the important pieces of work from throughout the year, including tests, writing pieces and other work they were proud of. Students also shared their PYP portfolios which relates to the curriculum this school uses and lastly they showed off their Hershey's similes and acrostic poems that were posted on the walls around the classroom. Some other options used in the past are going to the computer lab to show off different things they have done with technology, going to the Spanish classroom to see work they have done there and visiting the book fair, which always takes place during conferences. This school I was at does student-led conferences in March, but they have 'normal' parent teacher conferences in the fall, which I liked because it gives you a chance to meet the parents and let them know where their students are at in the beginning, but allows the student to show how they have grown come spring time. This is something I would love to do at the school that I teach at.

Teacher Station

Checklist on clipboards

Portfolio Station

Project Table

 As I said, I learned so much from this experience and finally feel ready to be in my own classroom. Now, it's just the right school for me and having someone give me that chance to show off what I can do!

Organization is Key

   Wow. The past month has put me under more stress than anything I have ever done before. I was consistently subbing in a first grade classroom with 22 students, in a huge classroom. I thought 22 students would be easy considering I dealt with 32 at one time during my internship, but when you have multiple defiant students, students with anger issues, students that refuse to do work, and more tattling and bullying than I've ever seen in my entire life, it makes things a lot more difficult. I am not writing this blog to bash other teachers and their styles. I did learn a lot from being in this classroom though, some things that were positive and some negative.

   First off, I learned how important it is for students to learn routines and expectations. The classroom seemed really disorganized and chaotic because students did not know what they were supposed to do most of the time. There were two doors in the classroom and if I asked students to line up for a special some would walk to one door and some would walk to the other, showing me that they did not know the routine for lining up. Simple routines, such as going to the bathroom, lining up, packing up for the day, entering the classroom, walking in the hallway etc. need to be taught, especially at such a young grade, so that students know what the expectations are at all times.

   This classroom also reminded me how much I dislike centers, especially when you have no extra hands to help. Very rarely did I have a parent come in and help with centers in the morning, but when I did the extra set of hands were very helpful. But most of the time I was on my own and had to create back up plans on the fly, which I have become really good and thinking on my feet and changing the direction of a lesson based on the student's response/reaction. When I was on my own I could barely focus on my reading group because it was so loud, students would come to me and interrupt, or students were fighting/not getting along. Students looked at centers as a time to goof off, play games or sit around and talk to friends instead if practicing their reading, phonics and writing. When you do centers by yourself students are not working at their best, they try to get away with doing what they want, or they see it as a social time and not a working time. Centers are only beneficial when most of the groups have an adult keeping them on task or if students know what the expectations are during centers.

    One thing we did during my internship year that was good for behavior management was the fact that the behavior of each student was recorded on their behavior chart and needed to be signed by the parent EACH NIGHT, along with doing their homework. In the situation I was in the only time the parents knew the behavior of their child was if I sent a note home at the end of the day or if I talked to the parent directly. It was very unorganized and very difficult to get to each of the parents and the notes were supposed to be signed and brought back to school, but they never were. Parents seemed to have no clue the procedure for students with bad behavior, so not only does classroom management need to be explained to the students, but also the parents. Plus there was no consequences for students and their behavior. they did not have to tell their parents what 'color' they were on and they did not make the connection between the fact that when they are well behaved they earn pennies to be used to shop at the class store. It was all done very secretively. Students did not physically put their pennies in their containers and when they shopped they didn't understand why their friend had a lot more pennies than them. It goes back to having set expectations POSTED in the classroom for the students to see and to be referred to when needed. (Classroom rules were not visible to the students).

   There are so many more things that I did not agree with in the classroom and things I took away that I do not want to include in my classroom, but I will keep the rest to myself. So all in all it was a very stressful position, but I know in my future classroom the importance of having a classroom management plan, having set expectations visible in the classroom and to teach routines for EVERYTHING you do in the classroom so students know what to do at all times.

JK/K Class

    I have now subbed in a classroom that has around 15 kids of ages 3, 4 and 5. Think of it as having 5 kids of each age in one classroom. Wow, differentiation at its finest. It is unbelievable not just the different ages of students, but also their academic and social levels. There are students that are learning how to write their first names mixed in with students that are beginning to read books and write stories. Yesterday I got a good understanding of how one could tackle a classroom with so many different levels, but one thing I noticed right away is that it is hard work. As a teacher with so many academic levels, one could just teach to the middle/average student, but the lower and higher students would not receive the attention they truly need. Instead this teacher looks at each individual students' level and teaches to where they are at academically. This means that there are two different spelling word lists, three different levels of math and 3+ different types of homework! Throw in the mix that your class looks different every single day, meaning that the kindergartners come to school every day (by the way it's a full day of school) while the 3 and 4 year olds come 3-5 days a week depending on what fits their parent's schedule and their parent's belief on how often they should be in school. This is an amazing situation that I believe shouldn't be happening because of how different the ages are academically and socially, but if I were put into this situation I would have to roll with the punches just like this teacher.

    As I said, I saw a bit yesterday how the classroom actually functions on a day to day basis and it is a lot of work. In the morning they do a group time, which is just like our calendar math, where you talk about the date, a pattern, money etc. For math (1 hour) the teacher does a 'Daily 3 Math' which is very very similar to Math Workshop I did in the 2nd grade classroom. It's a 15 minute rotation where the students go to the same three rotations, 1. Working with the Teacher 2. An activity related to their current unit 3. A math game or activity. Luckily, this teacher has two para pros/helpers that come in the morning to help out because I don't know if this would be possible without the help. These kids are too young to be able to stay motivated on their own. Personally I would have a couple minutes where the students could just share what they did during their Daily 3 or something they did just as a reflection period.

   Next the students have a literacy block (1 hour) where they are grouped in 3-4 students where the groups go to four different centers (there are five groups). The center they do every day is work with the teacher, where they work at their level on different literacy skills (because there are four rotations a day and five groups two groups meet with the teacher at once, but they are all the same level) while the other students are doing different centers. Not one group does the same center that day, so there are literally 15+ centers to set up or do every day. The centers range from writing, listening, writing the room to an art center, playdoh/water table where they practice writing/making words to games, lacing and computers. I like how the students do different centers so they could never become bored with one center because they only do it once a week, but that is a lot of setting up and prepping for the teacher. The only change I would make is to have 6-8 centers set up where a couple of the groups would do the same center during the day, so that it is not as much work for the teacher. The way students transition from one center to another is by listening for their teacher to ring the wind chime in their room. They know when they hear this that they need to freeze, listen for directions, and get ready to move to another center. Once again their are 2 para pros helping out in the morning during this time, which some centers are impossible to do without the help of an adult.

   Because of the huge gaps between the students by age and academics, I don't know if teaching could be done any other way other than centers or rotations. You can't teach to a full group all the time because some of the material would be too hard or too easy for a good chunk of the kids. By having meaningful centers or rotations the students are being taught to their needs and students are not working on one activity for a long period of time where they would become bored or off task. I think also it is important to have math and literacy taught in the morning because that is when these young students have the most attention because many of them begin to shut down or lose focus in the afternoon, since they are there a full day and that a long time for some students. There are definitely some good things I took away from this classroom and enjoy being there to impact those young kids.