This week was my first week of teaching all of reading (which I think will be my biggest challenge). I was really looking forward to this since I have really fallen in love with literacy over the course of the program. Planning for this week was definitely more difficult than I thought. Since it is not broken into separate and specific topics like the rest of the day, you really have to plan your time well. This has always been my biggest challenge. However, after the week was over, I looked back and realized that I actually did pretty well on timing. More times than not, I finished what I needed to finish, and had time to do some extra activities. 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.
It does seem as if there's never enough time for planning for everything we'd like to accomplish. There were many times when I was in a public school classroom when I came into school for at least part of a day on the weekend. It's important to have time for a life, too....so it'll be interesting to see how you decide to juggle everything you have to accomplish.
It's seems to hold true....no matter what you plan in a classroom...that some students need more direction and scaffolding for others. Your experience seems to support the fact that we do need to know our students...their level of prior knowledge and the prerequisite skills they have as well as the ones they need to develop. Sometimes this doesn't become apparent until after we've implemented something....but it sounds as if you've developed a strategy for addressing this....you'll want to document what you do in your teacher researcher journal....why you've made the decisions you have...as well as reflecting on how effective/successful they are in meeting your students' needs. Hopefully you will get them up to speed so that they can fully participate in the centers....as they might view the fact that they spend less time at the centers as a punishment. I'm sure they need some intense, individual attention....but I'm wondering how you might make use of audiotaped directions at some stations for some students. Your experience seems to point out how we need to differentiate our instruction/workstations for our students...maybe what students are expected to do at the station changes....they may all be learning the same concepts, but possibly their process or the product they develop might change.
I am so happy to read that, although you're very busy and wondering where you'l find the time, that things are going well.
This week was my first week of teaching all of reading (which I think will be my biggest challenge). I was really looking forward to this since I have really fallen in love with literacy over the course of the program. Planning for this week was definitely more difficult than I thought. Since it is not broken into separate and specific topics like the rest of the day, you really have to plan your time well. This has always been my biggest challenge. However, after the week was over, I looked back and realized that I actually did pretty well on timing. More times than not, I finished what I needed to finish, and had time to do some extra activities.
ReplyDeleteThe 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.
It does seem as if there's never enough time for planning for everything we'd like to accomplish. There were many times when I was in a public school classroom when I came into school for at least part of a day on the weekend. It's important to have time for a life, too....so it'll be interesting to see how you decide to juggle everything you have to accomplish.
ReplyDeleteIt's seems to hold true....no matter what you plan in a classroom...that some students need more direction and scaffolding for others. Your experience seems to support the fact that we do need to know our students...their level of prior knowledge and the prerequisite skills they have as well as the ones they need to develop. Sometimes this doesn't become apparent until after we've implemented something....but it sounds as if you've developed a strategy for addressing this....you'll want to document what you do in your teacher researcher journal....why you've made the decisions you have...as well as reflecting on how effective/successful they are in meeting your students' needs. Hopefully you will get them up to speed so that they can fully participate in the centers....as they might view the fact that they spend less time at the centers as a punishment. I'm sure they need some intense, individual attention....but I'm wondering how you might make use of audiotaped directions at some stations for some students. Your experience seems to point out how we need to differentiate our instruction/workstations for our students...maybe what students are expected to do at the station changes....they may all be learning the same concepts, but possibly their process or the product they develop might change.
I am so happy to read that, although you're very busy and wondering where you'l find the time, that things are going well.