Getting Into the Swing of Things

Last week was a wonderful week at school. I regained my voice and was feeling much better than I had been feeling. I really feel as though I am truly getting into the swing of things, and wouldn't you know it it almost time to go? It seems like that is always the way it goes. Once you have gotten used to something it seems to change. I have started some new reading programs in my class that I hope my teacher continues doing even after I am gone. We start reading off with a class poem, and then we move into shared reading. We have a different goal each week that we are working towards (fluency, expression, questioning, full stops, etc.). I pick out a big book and we read it as a class, and I must say that their reading has truly improved since the beginning of the term. We have continued our celebration of Dr. Seuss month and read Across America. We read the story, Oh The Places You'll Go and I connected it with what we are discussing in topic about our vision and dreams. We talked about dreams and goals that we had for the rest of the school year, the next couple of years, and when we grow up. Then, I had students create a dream book. A special place where they can write down all of the dreams that they have and be able to remember that. The kids loved doing this and it really got a lot of my students thinking about what they want to accomplish, and we discussed the importance of having dreams. I think it is wonderful to cross section subjects and for this lesson it worked out very well.
We met with our reading buddies again and things once again went so well. The kids are really getting a lot out of this experience and it is truly an amazing sight to see. I created a tracker sheet so that the buddies can keep track of the books that they read and what they thought of the book. This will be a wonderful thing for the students to look back on and see what they have accomplished in their time together. My students are almost finished creating their flat stanley characters that will come back with me to America, so that is very exciting! Overall, they look great and the kids really did a nice job with them. I am learning that it is difficult at time dealing with the pace that kids work at. I have a few students who do a wonderful job but get right to work and finish very quickly, and then on the other end I have the kids that get off track and take forever to get things done. I have work for those who finish early always to complete, but it is difficult in some else's classroom to get those that cannot get their work done to get going. In my own classroom I have learned that I will have a policy about completing work during class time and when things need to be done, and that way students are really working during the time that I give them in class.

I Love You

Well this week I have had a terrible cold and I barely have a voice, but I was determined to still have an awesome week at school! I must say that I have had yet another wonderful week of teaching. Great learning has occurred in our classroom this week. On Tuesday in writing we continued to work on our adjectives and sang our adjective song. Then, I gave students ten minutes to draw a creature or a monster and add as much detail as possible and colour it in. While they were doing that I drew a creature on the board and as a class we wrote describing words about my creature. Then, I gave students fifteen minutes to write a paragraph describing their creature. Then, the students got into partners and read their describing paragraph to their partner and their partner drew the picture based on the descriptions given. Then, we discussed whose pictures were close and discussed how it shows the importance of using descriptions while we are writing. I talk a great deal with them about painting the picture and how important that is.
In topic we are discussing confidence and what makes us unique and special. We had a large discussion about this and I shared stories of myself and then had students share their stories. Then, we created our own shields that explained what makes us special. I am becoming a much better swim coach and understand now much better what to do and it is so neat to see my students gaining confidence in the water. This one little girl who has been terrified to swim now loves the water, it is amazing! In reading before we split up into our guided reading groups I have started a new routine in our class. One student reads the class a poem and we discuss the poem, then we read a big book together (shared reading). Each week we have different goals that we are trying to accomplish. For example, this week we are working on expression and the importance of expression in our reading, and so we have read different books with lots of expression.
On Wednesday we had a special St. Patrick's Day celebration. While the children were at the library I went back into our classroom and changed it around a bit. I hung up a note on our classroom door telling students that a leprechaun had visited our room and that he had hidden his gold and that they should try and find it before he did. Then, I made leprechaun foot prints which I scattered around the floor in the room, and random pieces of gold on the floor. Then, I flipped some of the chairs over. Students were then split up into teams and given clues to try and find the gold. The students had to work together. Then, we talked about the idea of leprechauns and hiding gold at the end of a rainbow. Then, I asked students what their gold would be if they were a leprechaun and where they would hide their gold. We did a creative writing activity with this and the students had a lot of fun and they did a great job with the writing. All day students were asking me about the leprechaun and telling me that they saw it. It was so precious all I could do was smile.
Thursday was a great day for two specific reasons. Amanda and I decided to start a program with our classes. We paired up her middle school students with my elementary students and they are reading buddies. They meet twice a week and read to one another and get to know one another. They will do different activities. Our teachers were both very excited about us starting this and they have said that this is something that they will continue to do even after we are gone. I did not know how it would go but as I walked around the room I nearly cried. It is a beautiful sight to see older children and younger children working together with reading. I think that both classes will get a lot out of this experience and I am so glad that we are doing this.
There is a little girl in my class *Amy who has asbergers. She is very bright, but she struggles socially and does not have any friends and is very shy. I have been working with her quite a bit and we are forming a friends circle for her, and I have had conversations with her trying to get to know her better. When she has no one to play with on the playground and I am on duty she walks around with me, and I see this different side of her a bright and happy girl. She just needs someone to take the time to talk with her. Today she came up to me and hugged me and said, "Bre, I do not want anything bad to happen to you ever because I would be so sad because I love you so much." This little girl who lacks social skills and has a very difficult time expressing herself said this to me. I nearly cried. It was beautiful. It is little moments like that when you see a child developing and succeeding that make you realize that THIS is what you want to do for the rest of your life.

Patience is Key

This week has been filled with lots and lots of highs and a few lows. I am really getting a grasp on the kind of teacher that I want to be. I am learning the effective ways for getting students attention, disputes between children, teaching and giving instructions. I found this week that I need to be much more precise with my instructions and to make sure that I give them all clearly before I pass out the assignment. I have gotten better with this as the week has progressed.

We are working on descriptive writing and detail, so on Monday I had the students do an assignment that they absolutely loved. I told them that I was an alien and that I had never had or seen candy before. I also told them that they were the candy experts, and using their five senses they had to describe the candy that I gave them. We went through each sense and I really tried to pull words out of the children and get specific detailed words. The things that they came up with were amazing! They loved the idea that they had to teach me something. I believe that it is so important that the teacher is not always teaching and the children are just learning, a good classroom has these roles reversed and intermingled constantly. The next day we had a discussion about those words that we used to describe the candy and how those are adjectives and adjectives add so much life to our writing. Then, I told them how adjectives paint the picture of something for us. So I had students close their eyes and I described something with great detail and then had them tell me the picture that they painted in their minds. Next, I had an adjective song printed out that we learned and sang together and then glued into our writing books (we will practice this everyday).

The Noise of a Noisy Story

Today was another wonderful day at school. The thing I love about teaching is that everyday there is something different and you never really know what to expect. I love the challenges and the joys that this job brings. Today brought lots of learning, fun, laughter, tears, victories, and challenges. Every morning I take attendance and greet the students by saying, "good morning_____." Inserting the child's name and then the say, "Good morning, Bre." They are so cute because they are proud to learn other languages, and so they will greet me in other languages. I told them that they can teach me, and teach me the greetings in the language that they choose. They just love this.
We had a noisy story writing activity. I put the students into groups and had them finish up the noisy stories that they started last week. I had them work in teams that they do not usually work in to encourage team work and what it means to be part of a team. I realize now that I was a bit strict on them talking. I should have been a little bit leniant seeing as how the activity was called a noisy story. The groups took turns standing at the front of the class sharing their noisy stories. They were very well written and so creative. My students are so creative it amazes me. I thought that the lesson did not go so well, but my teacher thought that it went very well. I am realizing at times that I may be a bit too hard on myself, and I have to realize that eventhough I am still learning that I am doing a good job and I do know what I am doing. My teacher told me something that gave me quite a bit of confidence she told me that in her thirty years of teaching I am the best student teacher she has ever had. She told me that if she were a principal she would hire me on the spot. I was shocked to hear this, and it meant so much to me. It is nice to hear things like that when you are in a new country and being a new teacher to hear that you are doing something well. Knowing that my teacher believes in me and supports me has helped me so much throughout this experience.
After our writing activity we had morning tea, and then the children had swimming. I have the children who somewhat know how to swim but they are not confident swimmers. I work on floating skills, kicking skills, and breathing skills with them. I have the largest group and it is difficult at times but I am very pleased to say that the children listen very well while they are in the pool and do what is asked of them. My clothes always get soaking wet during swimming time becuase of all the splashing and everyone wants to show me what they can do, but I do not mind.
After swimming we had reading. I worked with our lower level readers and had them read with me (guided reading). I had the students that were not reading follow along with their fingers and point to the words. The more a child sees a word the more likely they are to know it and understand it. We also worked on reading with expression.
Then, it was time for maths. I had made up this fun game dealing with place value that the children absolutely loved. They were so well behaved and staying on task. It is interesting if you put a little bit of a spin on ordinary things how much the children will love it. We had a competition of who could work the hardest and quietest. No one got anything but children love the idea of competion and they were so quiet! I think the students are really starting to understand the concepts in maths and that is so exciting!

Reading is Such a Beautiful Thing

I love reading. Anyone who knows me knows that I love reading, and one of my big goals as a teacher is to instill that in children. I want to show children the endless possibilities and worlds that reading can take you to. I want children to want to read in their spare time and be confident as a reader. It is so amazing to be in New Zealand where reading is a priority and guided reading practices are done right, and I hope to learn a lot from this. On Friday I worked with a group of students with guided reading. It just so happened that the group that I decided to work with had *Dan in the group. I had each student read a paragraph outloud to me while the other students followed along. We worked on projecting our reading voices and adding expression when we are reading. I was so impressed with *Dan becuase he is an amazing oral reader. I immediately gave him positive reinforcement and his face just lit up. Then, another little boy *Mike read outloud and he was also fantastic. I told the group how proud I was of them and their awesome oral reading. However, I had strict rules that while one student was reading aloud the other students were to be following along pointing to the words. *Dan was not doing this and when it was his turn he never knew where we were in the book. I had to pull him aside and talk with him about the importance of following along and how it will make him a better reader. He started to follow along much better then. The students really enjoyed the book that they read and then I had them do a fun activity to go along with their reading and they loved that.

A Tough Job at Times

I wish that teaching could just be about helping children succeed, learning, and making children realize that they are special. However, I am quickly learning there are some not so glamorous sides to teaching. I am learning that some home lives that children are coming from are horrific. It breaks my heart, but makes me strive to make the eight hours that they spend at school amazing. I am also learning that discipline is a HUGE part of what we do as teachers, and for me that is not a very glamorous part. Nonetheless, I am learning and having to learn quickly due to some of the students in my class. I wrote the other day about my student who had a breakthrough excellent day, well Wednesday was not such an excellent day for him. My teacher was away on Wednesday and so at lunch time I was working on lesson plans in the classroom for the day and getting some stuff done. All of the sudden this little girl from my class comes running inside the classroom crying hysterically. I calmed her down and told her to tell me what had happened. She told me that *Dan had kicked her when they were playing on the monkey bars. *Dan has had quite a bit of trouble with the monkey bars, and so has *Eileen. I went outside and pulled *Dan and *Eileen aside. I had *Eileen tell me her side of the story and during this time *Dan could not talk, and then vice versa. They had two completely different stories, and since this had happened in the past I told them until they could prove to me that they could handle playing nice that they were not to go on the monkey bars. *Eileen understood this and went away and played something else, but *Dan went to the other set of monkey bars and asked if he could play on those. I told him that no monkey bars meant none of the monkey bars, and he went off and did something else. I headed back into the classroom to get some work done, but our classroom overlooks the playground and all of the sudden I looked outside and sure enough *Dan was playing on the monkey bars. I thought to myself "you've got to be kidding me." I ran outside and in my best stern teacher voice I told him to come here right now. *Dan came right away and I asked him what he was doing and he told me that he was playing on the monkey bars. I asked him what I told him not to do and he told me not to play on the monkey bars. I then told him how becuase he could not listen to my instructions (that have been repeated numerous times) he would spend the rest of his recess inside with me. I had him sit down and finish some work (he is very behind on his work because he does not focus in class and disrupts other children). Then, I sat down and had a talk with him. I told *Dan how I was not mad at him but I was disappointed that he did not listen to my instructions. We talked about respect and what that means, and why we are at school. I have faith in him that by the time I leave he will be a hard working student who knows how to behave with other children, and I will NOT give up on him. However, I have decided that I really dislike punishment and having to be stern with children like that, but I know it must be done for their own good and the sake of other children.

No More Substitute Teachers

I learned this week that it is at times very difficult to be a student teacher and work with substitute teachers in the classroom. My teacher was sick this week and I have not begun to take full control of the classroom yet, but have control of some subjects. I found that it was very difficult on myself and the children having different substitute teachers in and out of the classroom all week. Every teacher has their own pedagogy and way of doing things in the classroom, and I think it was difficult on both the kids and I this week. The children were clinging to me because I was something familiar. Routines make children feel safe and their routines were definitely disrupted this week and it has been difficult to get back on track. I tried speaking with the subs about how we do things but most of them did not care and just did what they wanted. It was frustrating to me that my opinion and my ways of teaching were not taken into consideration. I feel like in a few months I will be graduated and I know how to teach and I am a good teacher and I found it very difficult to work with these substitute teachers that would not listen to what I had to say.

I taught a writing lesson today and it went very well and the students really enjoyed it. I taught them how to do a noisy story, and tomorrow we are going to share our stories with the class. I had them working in teams to create the stories and this was a difficult task for them. There have been some difficulties in the class of children not working together so I decided a teamwork task would be a great way for different groups of children to work together to achieve a common goal. It took a great big discussion about what teamwork is and what it looks like but it finally got through to them and they worked very well together.

Constantly Learning

I am trying to absorb everything that comes my way during this unique and amazing experience. I am trying to grasp every opportunity that I can and learn as much as possible, so that I can be the best teacher for my students. The assistant principal is quite impressed with our work thus far, and she is a lovely woman so that is great. Today was a very busy day at school, but we got a lot accomplished. The students really buckled down today and got a lot of work done, and were very well behaved. I love that my students respond very well to my nonverbal cues and they know just by a look that I give them what they should or should not be doing. It is wonderful and allows for instruction to carry on without all of the disruptions. The students really listen to me and behave the same for me, sometimes even better, than they do for the teacher.

Today was a breakthrough day for one of our students who has been having quite a bit of trouble. This student has had trouble following directions and just seems to always get into trouble. Today I came up with the idea of talking to him at the very beginning of the day about trying to have the best day possible. I told him how it makes me happy to see him succeed. I asked him if he likes it when I have to give him the "teacher stare" and he told me no, and I said don't you like it when I can give you a thumbs up and good job and he told me yes. I told him that we were going to make it a day full of good jobs and high fives. Everytime I saw him doing something good I gave him such positive reinforcement and his face lit up it was so beautiful! He had his first EXCELLENT day since school started! I was so thrilled! At the end of the day I told him to bring his mom over to the classroom so I could tell her how wonderful he was. His mom was so thrilled. I do not think he had ever had a good report home before. I am learning so much about individual children's needs and how to help them succeed it is amazing! I love this profession. Going to work everyday is going to be a delight!

"To Teach is To Touch a Life Forever"

I am having the time of my life in New Zealand and at school. I am learning so much about myself, about education, and that this is my true calling in life. I have slowly been easing into the teaching role and I must say that it feels pretty magnificent. I am really getting a grasp for the way the school does things and how my teacher handles instruction and classroom management. I have been working with the a group of eleven students on maths and have found it to be wonderful. It is at times difficult to work with such a large group of students with varied abilities but I am doing my best. The students seem to really like being in my group and I am making sure that I am constantly providing the students with positive reinforcement. I myself, not being a mathematician, know how great it feels to be told that I am doing a great job. I am finding new and creative ways to teach these math concepts to my students, and I hope that it will benefit them. I have also taken charge of doing attendance in the morning. I greet each student by saying good morning followed by their name, and in return they say good morning Bre. It is so cute and a great way to start the morning. I even have some students that greet me in different languages which is always fun. I have also taken over read aloud time during the day. My teacher has told me that I have a beautiful voice and that she could listen to me read all day long. I think the children like hearing a story told in an American accent because when I read their eyes are glued to me, it is very adorable I reckon. The teachers have also put the student teachers on recess duty which is nice to really feel like part of the staff. I have had lots of injuries and fights to take care of while I have been on duty, but it is all ultimately making me a better-more qualified teacher.

On Friday I did my first lesson in front of the whole class and I must say that it went very well. Valentine's day is not very big in New Zealand so this year while I was there I wanted to make it a big deal with my class. I wore my Valentine's day colors and greeted all my students in the morning with a happy Valentine's day. Then, I read them a book about Valentine's day that they loved. Then, I had the students go back to their desks and we brainstormed on the board what Valentine's day means to them, what words, colors, actions make them think of Valentine's day, and we made quite the list. Then, I told them some stories from Valentine's days at school that I had where we made boxes and everyone brought in Valentine's and exchanged them. I told the class about conversation hearts and then introduced our lesson. I had the students write a story or a card to someone they cared about for Valentine's day but they had to use the conversation hearts in their writing. The students loved this and worked so hard during the time that they were given! The work that they produced really impressed me and it was easy to see that they not only understood what I wanted them to do, but they exceeded the expectations.

I am having a fantastic time teaching and am so excited to teach more. I will fill you in on how this week of teaching goes!

Kia Ora

I know that I have found my calling in life, and working with children and helping them discover themselves and learn is the most fulfilling thing I have ever done. I have such bright Kiwi students, and they have taught me so much already in the short time I have been with them. I have quickly learned all of the children's names in the class, and I am really settling in quite nicely at the school. The staff is so wonderful here, and I am treated like a staff member and not just a student teacher. I feel as though they really value what I think and believe. The students are really starting to get into a routine since it is the beginning of the year here. It sure is exhausting setting up that routine though. The students are starting to understand what they should be doing when and that is very important. It has been incredibly helpful to see how the beginning of a school year is set up and what needs to be in place in order for there to be success. Overall, I would say that the children are very well behaved, lovely children. I reckon that I have gotten quite good at my teacher stare and using nonverbal cues to get students on task. The children are really listening to me, and comprehending that I am also their teacher. Since there were only three days in the school week last week I mostly observed and led small group activities. I also got to see the testing that takes place at the beginning of the school year to split students up into their math, reading, and spelling groups. I was also fortunate enough to grade those tests and to see what levels the students were at.

The Adventure Begins

Yesterday was my first day of professional development at Green Bay Primary and Intermediate School in New Zealand. Our session was on restorative justice approaches in the school, and how we deal with "punishment". It was interesting being new to the school to learn about the school values and what the school holds to be important. It was also interesting to learn what the issues have been at the school, and how the school handles issues when they arrise. Two men put on the seminar and they did a great job of keeping it fun and entertaining(a hard task to do when you are sitting for hours). It was interesting to learn more about the school that I will be spending nine weeks at, and how they run their school. We did a great deal of work with punitive, restorative, neglectful, and permissive ways of handling situations. I now more than ever know what kind of teacher I WANT to be and WILL be and how I will handle situations. I think too often teachers speak or act first and think later, and when dealing with children we must put thought into it as well. All in all, it was a very interesting day that opened my eyes to so much that I did not know prior to the development day.
Today, Wednesday, was the first official day of teaching and it was absolutely lovely! I feel so blessed to be with my teacher because she is fabulous and I know that I will learn a lot from her, and my hopes are that she will learn a lot from me as well. We got to school early which is good because I like to feel prepared and know what is going on, and set everything up before the children get there. The children got to school and were instructed to come sit on the carpet nicely. They were very good at listening to instructions and doing what was asked of them-I am curious to see if that is because it was the first day of school, of if it will be a regular thing. My teacher took attendance and greeted saying, "Good morning (student's name) and then the student responded good morning, Vivienne." They call teachers by their first name at this school, but having taught at Aldo Leopold in Wisconsin.