Week 1 - As for my work stations, I will begin to introduce them through mini-lessons starting on Monday. I am a little worried about this process, since it is introducing a completely new procedure to these students. This will set the model for how they will run, what is expected of the students, and how the stations will be in their hands. Therefore, my modeling must be specific, organized, and broken down so that they can understand what they are to do. I am so excited to plan activities for the students to do in their work stations. My biggest goal as a teacher is to make learning interesting and fun for my students. I know how boring school can be, and how that can ruin your perceptions of school for years to come. I want my students to look forward to coming to school, and be excited for projects they may be doing. I hope the work stations will be something the students can look forward to, and will incorporate activities that meet various learning styles. I'm off to work on mini-lessons, work station materials, and cutting out laminated objects (story of my life :)). I look forward to next week when I will get to teach more! I think my days will be a lot more interesting and fun when I am able to teach and interact more with the students. Yey!
Week 2 - was planning on starting to introduce my work stations through mini-lessons on Monday. So, I worked all weekend on getting my management board perfect, getting materials ready, and preparing myself mentally. However, I still felt uneasy about starting on Monday. There were just many more things that I needed to prepare for the lessons to go smoothly. But, I came in Monday morning planning on getting started. As Marjie and I observed the students that morning, I noticed that they were still getting used to the classroom schedule and expectations. We also noticed that they were struggling with some concepts we originally thought they would excel at. In addition, the plan for the week was all screwed up because of DIBELs testing and times when the teacher would be out of the room. Therefore, Marjie and I made a last minute decision to put the stations off until next week. Honestly, I am very happy that we made this decision. It gave me more time to observe the students, get a more keen sense of their abilities and interests, and prepare better for this. I, actually, changed my lessons and the activities in them several times throughout the week (sorry Marjie). haha I wanted to make sure that the students would be interested in what they were doing, and the activity was simple enough for them to do while we introduced this new concept. I hope Tuesday goes well, and I'm not introducing too many new things at once. I am planning on doing the activity as a whole group, and then giving them a chance to do it in their work station groups. Throughout this week, we also decided on our differentiated groups. I'm surprised how well I was able to guess these by just knowing the students for three days. Marjie and I worked together to look at the results from the DIBELs testing, as well as their performances in class to decide on these groups. Then, I was able to put together the work station groups. It was actually a fun process to try to figure out who would work well together. I decided to keep the students in ability groups for the time being since I will be differentiating the materials in the stations. When we feel the students are ready, we might introduce mixed-ability groupings. But, as for now, differentiating the materials to meet their individual needs seems like the best choice for our students. I'm hoping to take on more responsibility this week, while I introduce my stations. When you're not teaching during the week, things can get kind of dull. I'm just one of those people that likes to be constantly doing something. Whether it is teaching, grading papers, preparing lessons, or preparing materials, I hate to just sit there and do nothing. So, hopefully we can find more things for me to do this week, and we can get me into more teaching in the next couple weeks. I'm definitely looking forward to this.
Week 3 - It was great to get started on my work stations this week. Getting back in front of the classroom felt as natural as could be, and set aside a lot of my anxiousness. I discovered how hard it is to introduce a band new procedural concept to a group of second graders. As I observed through Marjie's teaching, you must break down every little detail to their level of understanding. I tried to think about this as much as I could before I taught the lesson, and Marjie reflected that this showed in my teaching. I was glad to hear that my preparation and attention to the details came out in my work station mini-lessons. I was very surprised how well the students caught on to the cleaning up procedure. For the first two mini-lessons, six out of the eight groups had everything put away in the correct places, work turned in, and materials accounted for. I rewarded these groups, and encouraged all the groups to do their best the next time. My second word study mini-lesson had a less than satisfactory result. The students were very excited to get started on their work stations, but didn't grasp the concept of word expert cards. Although I stepped them through this in whole and with their small groups, many were confused. In addition, the vocabulary dominoes that I had made did not work the way I planned. Therefore, I chopped up the dominoes so that they can just match the work and definition. I think this will work better, and be more easily understood for the students. I also plan to reteach this station next Thursday before they are expected to do it again in a work station format. Hopefully breaking down the word expert card even more, and having the students all do one at their seat, will make this concept easier and understandable. Overall, I am so excited to be teaching more, and can't wait to do more this coming week. As a goal for the week, I want to try to differentiate my instruction even more for my students, and help those who have special needs. I've been trying to do these in my work stations, and love that it seems to be working. Since I have assigned the groups by ability, I can differentiate the materials in their stations to best fit their needs. I am so glad that Bethany and I have decided to do this, especially with the wide range of abilities we have in our classrooms. I think the differentiation is accommodating these students, and helping them enjoy their stations.
Week 4 - This week, I continued with my work station mini-lessons, and got to see how all five stations we've learned were implemented. I think the students are really getting the hang of the procedure, and I'm excited to say that when we implemented all five that we learned on Thursday, it went very well! Although about half of the students are still very dependent on my help, a lot of the students were able to read the directions, do the activities, and turn in their work.
Week 7 - The biggest problem I am running into is getting my work station materials planned, ready, and set up before the weekend. I don't have the time to come in Monday morning and put everything into the folders. This is very hard for me, since I am also planning for reading, grammar, spelling, and science, while I am trying to get my work stations planned, and materials made. I am lucky this week, since we have an IS day on Monday. This at least gives me time to get everything set up for Tuesday. I'm hoping that this coming week, I can have everything ready by Friday. Crossing my fingers. This is the second week that the work stations have been in full rotation. As I have observed these stations, I have started to think of ways that I would do it differently in my own classroom. My students with lower-abilities are having a really tough time reading the directions and figuring out what to do. Although I can walk them through it now, I want to incorporate small group instruction sometime, where I won't be able to assist them. As I talked to my teacher about this, I discussed that in my own classroom, I might take this work station time to work more specifically with these lower students. I would still allow them time in the stations maybe twice a week, but I would like to spend the rest of the time working specifically on skills they need. I feel that they're not getting the individualized time they need during the day, and they would benefit more from my instruction than practice work they can't really do on their own. I would still meet with the higher and medium students as well, but less frequently. I think this is a great breakthrough in my research, and has actually surprised me. While my other students will become more independent in the stations, I can begin working with students that need the extra attention. I hope to begin this theory in the next couple weeks to see if the students make more improvement.
My work stations have been going very well. I have seen so much improvement from the first day I began them. The students are becoming more independent and on-task. It is difficult for me to see some of their work afterwards, because I just want to push them to do better. However, I do have to realize that their work is going to be different when they work independently, than if I'm guiding them through the whole thing. I think that having this independent time really makes them take ownership of their learning, and rely on their skills to help them. This week has been a little harder because we haven't done stations for a week or two. Because of assemblies and such, we have had to take a week or two off. Therefore, I didn't realize how hard it is for students to get back on track with independent activities such as work stations. It's like they forgot how to read directions. I did have students redo their work afterwards if they did not follow the directions. Sometimes I think they believe that if they write anything down, they are doing it right. But, I want them to practice specific skills, which they have forgotten. A little reminder of our process has really gotten them back on track: read directions, get materials, and get started. The small group instruction is really going great. I love having the time to individualize my instruction even further with my students. I meet with all 3 ability groups throughout the week. Although, I do meet with my students with varying abilities different amounts of times. I also can make the activities more fun and hands-on in this type of situation. I do wish I had a bigger table and more room in the classroom. However, that is hard when I am using someone else's classroom as my own. This is one thing that would be very important in my room. I want to have a large horseshoe table with designated chairs set aside from the bulk of the classroom. This would allow me to comfortably instruct my small groups, and clear away from some of the noise.
Week 1 - As for my work stations, I will begin to introduce them through mini-lessons starting on Monday. I am a little worried about this process, since it is introducing a completely new procedure to these students. This will set the model for how they will run, what is expected of the students, and how the stations will be in their hands. Therefore, my modeling must be specific, organized, and broken down so that they can understand what they are to do.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited to plan activities for the students to do in their work stations. My biggest goal as a teacher is to make learning interesting and fun for my students. I know how boring school can be, and how that can ruin your perceptions of school for years to come. I want my students to look forward to coming to school, and be excited for projects they may be doing. I hope the work stations will be something the students can look forward to, and will incorporate activities that meet various learning styles.
I'm off to work on mini-lessons, work station materials, and cutting out laminated objects (story of my life :)). I look forward to next week when I will get to teach more! I think my days will be a lot more interesting and fun when I am able to teach and interact more with the students. Yey!
Week 2 - was planning on starting to introduce my work stations through mini-lessons on Monday. So, I worked all weekend on getting my management board perfect, getting materials ready, and preparing myself mentally. However, I still felt uneasy about starting on Monday. There were just many more things that I needed to prepare for the lessons to go smoothly. But, I came in Monday morning planning on getting started. As Marjie and I observed the students that morning, I noticed that they were still getting used to the classroom schedule and expectations. We also noticed that they were struggling with some concepts we originally thought they would excel at. In addition, the plan for the week was all screwed up because of DIBELs testing and times when the teacher would be out of the room. Therefore, Marjie and I made a last minute decision to put the stations off until next week. Honestly, I am very happy that we made this decision. It gave me more time to observe the students, get a more keen sense of their abilities and interests, and prepare better for this. I, actually, changed my lessons and the activities in them several times throughout the week (sorry Marjie). haha I wanted to make sure that the students would be interested in what they were doing, and the activity was simple enough for them to do while we introduced this new concept. I hope Tuesday goes well, and I'm not introducing too many new things at once. I am planning on doing the activity as a whole group, and then giving them a chance to do it in their work station groups.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this week, we also decided on our differentiated groups. I'm surprised how well I was able to guess these by just knowing the students for three days. Marjie and I worked together to look at the results from the DIBELs testing, as well as their performances in class to decide on these groups. Then, I was able to put together the work station groups. It was actually a fun process to try to figure out who would work well together. I decided to keep the students in ability groups for the time being since I will be differentiating the materials in the stations. When we feel the students are ready, we might introduce mixed-ability groupings. But, as for now, differentiating the materials to meet their individual needs seems like the best choice for our students.
I'm hoping to take on more responsibility this week, while I introduce my stations. When you're not teaching during the week, things can get kind of dull. I'm just one of those people that likes to be constantly doing something. Whether it is teaching, grading papers, preparing lessons, or preparing materials, I hate to just sit there and do nothing. So, hopefully we can find more things for me to do this week, and we can get me into more teaching in the next couple weeks. I'm definitely looking forward to this.
Week 3 - It was great to get started on my work stations this week. Getting back in front of the classroom felt as natural as could be, and set aside a lot of my anxiousness. I discovered how hard it is to introduce a band new procedural concept to a group of second graders. As I observed through Marjie's teaching, you must break down every little detail to their level of understanding. I tried to think about this as much as I could before I taught the lesson, and Marjie reflected that this showed in my teaching. I was glad to hear that my preparation and attention to the details came out in my work station mini-lessons.
ReplyDeleteI was very surprised how well the students caught on to the cleaning up procedure. For the first two mini-lessons, six out of the eight groups had everything put away in the correct places, work turned in, and materials accounted for. I rewarded these groups, and encouraged all the groups to do their best the next time.
My second word study mini-lesson had a less than satisfactory result. The students were very excited to get started on their work stations, but didn't grasp the concept of word expert cards. Although I stepped them through this in whole and with their small groups, many were confused. In addition, the vocabulary dominoes that I had made did not work the way I planned. Therefore, I chopped up the dominoes so that they can just match the work and definition. I think this will work better, and be more easily understood for the students. I also plan to reteach this station next Thursday before they are expected to do it again in a work station format. Hopefully breaking down the word expert card even more, and having the students all do one at their seat, will make this concept easier and understandable.
Overall, I am so excited to be teaching more, and can't wait to do more this coming week. As a goal for the week, I want to try to differentiate my instruction even more for my students, and help those who have special needs. I've been trying to do these in my work stations, and love that it seems to be working. Since I have assigned the groups by ability, I can differentiate the materials in their stations to best fit their needs. I am so glad that Bethany and I have decided to do this, especially with the wide range of abilities we have in our classrooms. I think the differentiation is accommodating these students, and helping them enjoy their stations.
Week 4 - This week, I continued with my work station mini-lessons, and got to see how all five stations we've learned were implemented. I think the students are really getting the hang of the procedure, and I'm excited to say that when we implemented all five that we learned on Thursday, it went very well! Although about half of the students are still very dependent on my help, a lot of the students were able to read the directions, do the activities, and turn in their work.
ReplyDeleteWeek 7 - The biggest problem I am running into is getting my work station materials planned, ready, and set up before the weekend. I don't have the time to come in Monday morning and put everything into the folders. This is very hard for me, since I am also planning for reading, grammar, spelling, and science, while I am trying to get my work stations planned, and materials made. I am lucky this week, since we have an IS day on Monday. This at least gives me time to get everything set up for Tuesday. I'm hoping that this coming week, I can have everything ready by Friday. Crossing my fingers.
ReplyDeleteThis is the second week that the work stations have been in full rotation. As I have observed these stations, I have started to think of ways that I would do it differently in my own classroom. My students with lower-abilities are having a really tough time reading the directions and figuring out what to do. Although I can walk them through it now, I want to incorporate small group instruction sometime, where I won't be able to assist them. As I talked to my teacher about this, I discussed that in my own classroom, I might take this work station time to work more specifically with these lower students. I would still allow them time in the stations maybe twice a week, but I would like to spend the rest of the time working specifically on skills they need. I feel that they're not getting the individualized time they need during the day, and they would benefit more from my instruction than practice work they can't really do on their own. I would still meet with the higher and medium students as well, but less frequently. I think this is a great breakthrough in my research, and has actually surprised me. While my other students will become more independent in the stations, I can begin working with students that need the extra attention. I hope to begin this theory in the next couple weeks to see if the students make more improvement.
My work stations have been going very well. I have seen so much improvement from the first day I began them. The students are becoming more independent and on-task. It is difficult for me to see some of their work afterwards, because I just want to push them to do better. However, I do have to realize that their work is going to be different when they work independently, than if I'm guiding them through the whole thing. I think that having this independent time really makes them take ownership of their learning, and rely on their skills to help them.
ReplyDeleteThis week has been a little harder because we haven't done stations for a week or two. Because of assemblies and such, we have had to take a week or two off. Therefore, I didn't realize how hard it is for students to get back on track with independent activities such as work stations. It's like they forgot how to read directions. I did have students redo their work afterwards if they did not follow the directions. Sometimes I think they believe that if they write anything down, they are doing it right. But, I want them to practice specific skills, which they have forgotten. A little reminder of our process has really gotten them back on track: read directions, get materials, and get started.
The small group instruction is really going great. I love having the time to individualize my instruction even further with my students. I meet with all 3 ability groups throughout the week. Although, I do meet with my students with varying abilities different amounts of times. I also can make the activities more fun and hands-on in this type of situation. I do wish I had a bigger table and more room in the classroom. However, that is hard when I am using someone else's classroom as my own. This is one thing that would be very important in my room. I want to have a large horseshoe table with designated chairs set aside from the bulk of the classroom. This would allow me to comfortably instruct my small groups, and clear away from some of the noise.