Subbing

Subbing

• My teacher joined a group of other teachers to attend a professional development about universal design. She said that she would teach me some of the things that she learned. I'm glad that she's going to teach me more. Aside from a little talking, the class was mostly pretty good today. This was the best day that I have led so far. We even stayed on schedule, except for where we had to drop the second math rotation because the musical took so long and then we had to wait behind another class while we waited for our restroom break. 

Personal Narratives

• I expect almost every student to be finished with their personal narratives by Wednesday. Most of the students are revising or rewriting their papers. I will post journal prompts for students to answer when they finish their stories. I hope that my teacher allows me to let students tape the stories to their cubbies for other students to read during silent reading time throughout next week. The whole point of reading to publish is for other people to read the stories. 

Alice in Wonderland

• Everyone forgot to tell the substitute teacher and me that the class was going to attend the fifth grade's performance of Alice in Wonderland today. When we went to pick up the students from art, the room was empty and the lights were off. By the time that we found out where they were, the children were singing the last line from the musical. I wish that I could have seen the musical, but I am glad that the students enjoyed it. 

Magazines

• I used educational magazines for reading and social studies today. I like that I had the children read in small groups for most of the time before regrouping to discuss the articles. While discussing the articles, I asked students to summarize the article and to give me any connections/thoughts that they may have. I also shared my connections. This activity worked well. 
• I did not expect the children to make it all of the way through the magazine that we read for reading, so I assigned some groups to read the magazine from the back page to the front page. This activity showed me that not only would some of my students be willing to eat bugs, a few of my students have actually eaten bugs because they are Cub Scouts. 

Quiet Cues

• While the students were waiting in line for lunch, I asked them how they think I should have them get quiet. They mentioned clipping down, which I do have them do when it takes too much effort to get their attention. I continued by asking them for any tips for teaching math. One of the boys said that I should ask them about how they got their answer more often. I told him that I am working on that. He replied with "Don't worry, you're still a new teacher. You'll get it." He melted my heart with that comment.

Compliment Party

• The students earned the last compliment that they need for their compliment party today because they were very quiet as they walked back from lunch.

Clip Chart

• I used the clip chart a lot today, especially while they were reading. 2 students were off the chart (hanging on my lanyard), 6 students were at the top of the chart, and 3 students were on slow down. One of the students who was off the chart let me know that she intended to clip up again (so that she could be in my hair, this is my teacher's idea). The three boys who were on slow down lost their privileges for Fun Friday. 

Meeting with the Principal

• Two of my girls got into it today and apparently one girl accidentally hit the other girl's stomach as she was pulling away. I helped them talk it out while I got the full story. I told them that they had both  made rough decisions that led up to the hitting and I had them apologize and hug each other. The girl who accidentally got hit was still mad about it, so before she left, she told the principal that she had been hit during recess. When he asked her if she told an adult, she dropped my name. The principal asked the other teachers from my grade what the girl's name was. I am so glad that the teachers asked me if I knew anything about the incident. I had planned to write about the incident in my sub report anyway, but take a copy with me when I went to the principal's office. I knew that it is better to approach someone when you may be in trouble than to wait for them to approach you. I also knew that he could receive a phone call from the girl's mother and that he wouldn't be able to help me if he did not know the story, so I decided to go to the principal's office to discuss the issue. I am so  glad that I went to talk with him. He said that it sounded like I did the right thing and that we could send the girls to him in the morning if we would like. I'm sure that taking the responsible role of going to his office to set the record straight also made me look good.