What I learned...

Today was easy and went well. Laura and I were asked to regrade the math section of the gifted test and then to put percentages and raw scores on more of the tests we graded yesterday. This is the time we learned a valuable lesson. Mrs. Wall has two high school seniors who come in and help her out. They had graded part of the mulitple choice tests and math sections. When she asked them to put percentages on them, they did not know how to do this. At this moment, she realized that she had a problem. She asked us to regrade the work which was a good thing. As I was grading the math problems, I realized that the high school students were not able to correctly grade the tests. Some of them had specific answers and then on other questions more than answer was available. For example the answer for one was 1/4 or any other fraction that could be reduced to 1/4. In other words, 25/100 would work. However, since all the options for answers were not written, the students marked wrong everyone that did not write 1/4. From this, I learned that I have to be careful and know the students who are helping me and what they are capable of. Also, explicit directions on how an assignment is to be done is needed. In my classroom, I will have to know the strengths and weaknesses of those helping me. If a student is terrible at math, I might have them help in a different area.

This experience also worried me. Here these two seniors are graduating this year and they are unable to do simple fractions (even with a calculator), convert scores into percentages and do simple multiplication. As a teacher, I want to try my best to help studetns not get behind. I need to make sure that my students grasp the concepts and information before I move on or the students will be behind.

The students are well behaved and respectful. The mobile computer lab came to the classroom today. Each student knew exactly how they were allowed to use the laptops. They followed the rules and listened when they were spoken to. They did not horse around or misuse the equipment. I was really impressed by their behavior.

Tomorrow will be fun. It is Halloween and our first time with a substitute teacher!!

First Day of Field!

Today was the first day of our field experience. I am in Mrs. Wall's fourth grade classroom in Edgemont Elementary. The class was rewarded with a class party for fulfilling a class goal. When Laura and I arrived, we were put to work making popcorn and putting it into brown paper bags for each of the students. As the students watched a video, we took a list of students and their birthdays and converted their ages into months. The data is being used to decide which students qualify as gifted. After this was finished, we were in charge of recess duty. It was easy, just cold. When we came in, we worked on making root beer floats for the students and then we graded the multiple choice test that the students took to see if they were gifted. When we first started grading the tests, we were confused because all the students were doing poorly towards the end of the tests. That is when we found out it was for the gifted program. It was okay that they did not do well.

Today was nice to come into the classroom because it was so laid back. I know it will not always be this way, but it was nice to experience this side of the class. Our cooperating teacher had no problems with the students behaving during the activity. Also, there was a new student today and the class seemed to accept him with no problem. The experience today has helped to calm fears about being in the classroom. The students are well behaved and there is a sense of community in the classroom.

Navajo Indians!

I hope you are all getting excited about our upcoming unit on the Navajo Indians! We are going to learn about the environment in which they live and about their legends and art. Wait until you see the type of houses they used to live in! Also, we will learn how to dye wool using the plants they used and how to pull the wool! At the end of the unit we are going to make some of the foods that the Navajo's eat and we will get to taste them.