I Blog... You Blog...

We all...Let me start by saying WOW! So many teachers choose to incorporate blogs into their life - be it classroom blogs or places of personal reflection. I've discovered some great new blogs. Below, read about two that stood out among the crowd.

• A Year of Reading Two teachers who read. A lot. This is such a great blog if you are a lover of books like I am. The blog was created by two experienced teachers. From conventions, to conferences, to book reviews, this blog covers the k-8 literacy gamut! As I was carousing this blog, I noticed new books I want to look into reading over the holiday and conferences that I hope to attend next year. On top of suggesting great titles to get your hands on, they also offer some great links to other teachers' blogs and resources for teachers such as Read Write Think and NCTE.


• The Dream Teacher Written by the state of North Carolina's teacher of the year, this blog is nothing less than wonderful. After being prompted by a student asking why she wanted to teach, Mrs. Rigsbee responded with: "So...I told her that every student in my room 'is someone's dream come true.' Cheesy, I know. But it made me think... And after that day, I have delivered my 'First Day of School Motivational Dream Speech' every year as school opens." One particular post that I enjoyed was Melee in the middle. After scrolling down, Mrs. Rigsbee recommends some simple, yet effective, ways to engage students; for instance 'zapping' students with the Focus Fairy's wand ;).

First quarter Reflection

"Now that you are nearing the end of your first quarter of your internship, what has been your biggest surprise about being in the classroom and working with students?"

The year is speeding by. It's already the time of year when turkeys are gobbling, rain is falling, and snow might be covering. Reflecting on my internship thus far, I have had a lot of surprises. My biggest surprise you ask? - Easy. Fourth grade is amazing!!

Although a simple statement, there much is packed into this enthusiasm. Prior to my internship, most of my teaching experience had taken place in a primary classroom. I have always known that I love working with grades k-3. When I found out my placement, I was both excited and nervous to be spreading my wings in a 4th grade classroom. On top of this excitement and the normal nerves, I was extremely anxious - what could I possibly have to teach fourth grade? Lots!

I knew that I would be challenged in this classroom, but I never suspected that I would become so passionate about fourth grade. Our students are excited to learn, enthusiastic, responsible, capable, motivated, and still young. Here I was worried that fourth grade would be drastically different than primary grades, and certainly there are some major contrasts. However, on the whole, the content is still the same, only the level of sophistication is increased. While still focusing on narrative elements in stories, we can also take the time to delve into books wrestling with persistent social issues. Without hesitation, I can firmly state that fourth grade IS awesome!

Eve Bunting Author Study

After building some background about the author and pre-assessing last week, the fourth graders have started an incredible narrative elements study through the works Bunting. As of today, I have already had the privilege of teaching 2 lessons to 2 different classes. This back-to-back teaching has been such a privilege and learning opportunity - I get to make improvements to my lessons that teachers usually have to wait a year for!

This first week has been geared toward direct instruction and guided practice with identifying the narrative elements in a text. Specifically, we will be looking at: characters, setting, and plot (conflict, resolution, and ending). Throughout this week, we have been reading Fly Away Home to model these elements with the students. For instance, on Tuesday, we read the story with the explicit purpose to identify and describe the main characters. Below, you can see this lesson in greater detail.


Lesson: Main characters in Fly Away Home


(1) Learning target: students will be able to identify and describe the main character(s) in narrative text. As a class, we re-read Fly Away Home with a focus on identifying the characters. Following this reading, I modeled how to fill out a Character Mapping worksheet, something that students will be required to complete in pairs next week with a new Bunting text. The worksheet has students write down information about the character's: appearance, emotions, actions, traits, experiences, and reactions from other characters. This entire process was completed both by modelling and asking for student contributions.

(2) Evidence: Using this worksheet, I first modeled information for each character facet and provided text evidence to support my claim. Students who provided contributions that followed this same process of providing text evidence were successful in meeting the learning goal.


(3) Reteach: As we move into next week, students will be working in pairs to finish the worksheet that was modeled on Tuesday. If they are having difficulty, they have both their peer and Tuesday's example to help guide them in the right direction.


(4) Extend: For students who are successfully meeting expectations, they will have time to translate this study of the narrative elements of one author into their own writing. A further extension could be to have them work with students who are struggling since teaching is one of the best ways to enhance one's own learning.

Where's Waldo

Yesterday, on a beautiful and crisp fall day, the fourth graders of room 103 set off on foot to the Burlington Public Library. This was our second trip. Rather than admire the colorful kites hanging from the rafters, or carouse the new books shelf, we were on a mission - a mission to find Waldos.

Our previous visit to the library was in prepartion for yesterday. A lovely librarian helped our class gain knowledge about the information found in resources such as atlases, dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographies, and almanacs. With these new insights, we spent yesterday hunting down the most recent and relevant resources to answer questions like, "What were two of Benjamin Franklin's inventions?" and "What was the temperature in Burlington on Monday?". We could rest assured that our resources were the most recent and relevant when, you guessed it, we found a Waldo!

For each question answered and Waldo found, the students were to cite their source (i.e. author, title, publication date, publishers, and page number). As if this experience were not fun filled enough, each completed question rewarded our class with a new book for our classroom library! In total, we brought close to ten new books back to school with us!

Blog Prompt #1 - Personal Growth

"Describe, briefly, one strong conviction about teaching that you brought to the classroom that has changed considerably during this time. What changed, and why is this a sign of personal growth?"

One of my strongest teaching convictions is to be a nurturing and supportive mentor to students. I came into this internship with a high degree of experience working in the primary grades; I was well aware that my teaching style may need to be adjusted to best suit the needs of fourth graders. Although I still hold onto this conviction, the way I live it out as a teacher is evolving for all grades.

In the past I tended to bend the rules for students. I would give multiple reminders of the expectations and not follow through with the natural consequences of failing to abide by them. My CT is extremely nurturing and supportive to students, and yet she also encourages them to be self-dependent. My ideal of a nurturing and supportive teacher now encompasses tough love. If I want to encourage students to be self-dependent, I need to see how my reminders and bending of the rules prevents them from taking the reigns.

This evolution is a huge sign of personal growth. Although it still bums me out when students forget to put a proper heading on their paper and lose points, or leave their completed homework at home, I know that these are opportunities for them to learn and be more prepared for next time. Ultimately, the fourth graders have an incredible amount of respect for my CT - I too hope to give support and receive respect from my students.

Welcome to My Blog

 Thank you for visiting my student teaching blog.  I am looking forward to having this blog as a place to record my thoughts, experiences, struggles, and successes over this year.  

- Alyssa