after a month

So I have been student teaching for 4 weeks now. It has been quite an adventure. My CT is great - a self-proclaimed minimalist which is good because I have potential to make things much more complicated than they need to be and my future classroom could be more elaborate that it would need to be. He keeps things simple which allows him to be much more flexible. He inserts more elaborate things where necessary, but I think keeping it simple also keeps him less frazzled and a more effective teacher.

I have done storybook read alouds, taught most of a social studies unit, and will lead a math discussion this week, do a couple more read alouds and then the week after teach a writing unit about writing about important people in our lives.

I've had very good meetings with my field instructor is impressed with my thought process in my intentionality of doing things a certain way. I feel so fortunate to have so much experience with kids under my belt because I already know how to talk to them and have some sense of their abilities.

I'm having trouble finding a balance with management. I like order, but I know that it cannot be perfectly orderly in an elementary classroom. We have a class that is teaching us to create a classroom COMMUNITY which should create a peaceful, supportive learning environment, but on some level this sort of things feels a little unrealistic. I think I will have trouble not over-managing. I don't want to be the mean teacher! There is one student right now that is just really disruptive and when my CT is teaching I find myself hounding this kid to pay attention and sit still. He is so hard to ignore because he is so distracting. My goal this week is to sort of ignore him. He has allowed me to practice the stare-down technique of getting the kids back on task.

When I told my field instructor that I was working on management and being firmer, she said that just having met me once or twice, she felt like I was a person she would not want to mess with and that she was surprised that I needed to work on being firm...ha ha. It's different with 21 little faces looking (or not looking) at you.

I'm frustrated with our math methods class because there is SO much homework - so much reading, etc. and reflection REFLECTION! The classes really take a back seat to our time with the kids. They know that though.

My apt. is finally shaping up and feeling more like home. On another note, my right foot is smaller than my left. Which doesn't really make sense since I am right-handed. Go figure.

quotes from the 3rd grade

an ongoing list as I start my life as a 3rd grade teacher:

"Are THOSE ballet flats???" - little girl running up to me at recess

it's nice to have someone who appreciates the value of first day of school shoes:) (9/4)


"I really like duck tape..." - the start of one boy's "I like" paragraph (9/5)

"I love me some SHRIMP!" - a boy's response to me asking him if he liked seafood (9/6)

"Circuit City...where I got my PSP..." - a boy drawing his favorite place (9/6)

"Someone was whining the other day and I started singing "Hush Little Baby" and when I got to the line about "and if that diamond ring don't shine", 2 kids jumped in and finished the line with "papa's gonna buy you a bottle of wine"...yeah, kids grow up pretty fast around here..."

- My CT, 9/19

"When you get sick, does your spit taste gross?" - boy in class to my CT
"Um, maybe you should ask Ms. G****** that." - my CT

10/10

"Sally, it's all a mindf***." - My CT on the management of a classroom...boy was he right.

"Now you need to write a detailed reflection about this staff meeting...did you know that?" CT

"What if I don't WANT to push the tables that way (ignoring principal's need for the staff meeting arranged a certain way)...wait, I shouldn't be saying these things around you."

"I have a filter."

"You're going to need a LOT of filters."

CT-Me-CT 10/10/2007