Week 8 was exhausting but rewarding! This was the first week in which I was extremely exhausted. By Thursday, it really felt like Friday to me. I think that it felt this way because my 5th graders were really keeping me on my toes this week! In Math, we continued learning about decimals and I continued to alter my lessons based on their need for more review. I also taped every day this week for the edTPA during math, and I had my final observation (also during math). Overall, it was quite a busy week! My observations are always so encouraging and I was so thrilled to hear I am ready for my own classroom. I think that the year-long placement has prepared me so well for teaching and I am getting really excited!
My favorite math lesson this week was on Friday. On Friday, the students were completely exhausted as well. I could tell as I started the lesson that they were wiped out and basically staring into space. I decided to stop the lesson and do a brain break. I had three students come up to the ELMO and choose a brain break activity that I was projecting. We shook, and bowed, and yelled Yes! Yes! Yes! These things seem simple and goofy, but it energized them and got them to focus again. Next, I decided that the students needed more review of place value. Towards the end of the lesson I could see the students finally starting to "get it." I asked them if 0.4 is the same as 0.400 and at first they were all going to say 0.400 is bigger, but then one by one they all seemed to get it and exclaimed, "Ohhhhhh!!!"
This week my students finished their colony iMovies. They turned out fabulous! We spent time on Friday to watch them and I was very impressed. They will all be posted on the S.S. colonial mission website so that they can watch not only their classmates videos but the videos from the other classes as well. I am in the process of grading them and I think that it was a great authentic assessment. I am also working on grading my student's research papers. I have been doing a lot more grading lately and have seen myself growing in the areas of the professional teaching standard 7M "maintains useful and accurate records of student work and performance."
I am looking forward to this upcoming week for a few reasons. We are practicing PARCC more and I really enjoy doing that because I like making sure that my students will be as prepared as possible for this test that is going to be very challenging for them. On Wednesday, we will be going to Robert Crown on a field trip! I remember going to Robert Crown when I was in 5th grade so it will be interesting to go again as a teacher. On Friday, my cooperating teacher will not be at school, so I will be the "head-honcho." I am pretty excited to see how that will go and if they students will still respect me and be as well behaved if she is not in the room. I am almost done with my 20 consecutive days so finishing them by basically being the "substitute" will be a fun ending. I am getting quite sentimental about leaving, but I will leave that for another post.
Taking brain breaks is a great idea. Even if they are just 1-minute activities, it is well worth it to get students back to being alive and ready to learn. I also really like your iMovie idea. I hope you put a link in your blog so I can see them too. Of course it's not easy to grade products like this. I hope you have a good rubric that can guide you.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought also about grading the IMOVIES was I hope you created a rubric. Those are so helpful with assignments like that. I often let the students see the rubric before they began the project, so they knew what was required.
ReplyDeleteI observed you teaching your students about decimals and it was very evident the light bulbs in their heads were beginning to shine brightly! That is a testament to your excellent teaching strategies!