Missing the Students

When I asked to principal of my school today how his day had gone, he responded that today was one of those days when he really missed being with the students. He then informed me that I was where the action was. I cannot disagree.

As you may know, some lessons you teach turn out better than others. Since I have last blogged I have taught many lessons, some were smooth all the way through, and some were rocky enough the students let me know. When I was teaching the students Word Knowledge today, (a list of about 20 informal vocabulary words), I wanted to play a game with the students. I thought it would be fun! It was a game they had all played several times before (every week, to be exact), and it was a game they look forward to every week. However, today is not Thursday, therefore we could not play it. Before I knew what was going on, I had the majority of 27 students telling me what to do! All of them were equally anxious to set me straight, and all of them were equally anxious to set one another straight when the first did not inform me properly or completely. I was teaching it "wrong" and the students were more than willing to let me know. I am anxious to see what will happen when I decide to introduce my own games as I begin to take over more and more of the curriculum. I also taught vocabulary wrong... apparently.

I will leave you with a good lesson, however. Last Thursday I taught Science. The lesson was already titled "Good Vibrations." (It makes you want to sing the song, doesn't it)? Well, the lesson came from a packet the students already had, but I had not...which was nobody's fault but my own that I had forgotten to study the lesson. With only 15 minutes to formally prepare, I pulled off a lesson in Scinece that my students will never forget. The lesson came with chimes for the students to play, and the object was to learn about how the length of the metal chimes changed the pitch when you hit it with a mallet due to the differences in length and the length of energy travel. I compared the lesson to the xylophone, and borrowed one from the music teacher to play for them. I received a great many applauds for my amazing performance of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", and "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Time did not permit for the encore "Happy Birthday", that I was suspecting. Needless to say, the lesson was engaging for all the students, and I am pretty sure that they at least understand how energy works to create pitch.

I Think He Has a Crush on Me

Today I received a plastic bracelet from a student. He said that he wanted me to have it. It was a "toy" from his lunch. How cute is that! Except that I think it made Bill a little jealous...Just kidding.

However, I am constantly amazed by the amount of cards, pictures and notes I now receive from my students. Fourth graders are anxious to give you anything that will make you happy. I love that they are young enough to want to do nice things because they know it makes you happy. Middle school aged kids seem to loose that a bit.

Teaching the fourth grade is coming along quite well. I am enjoying being in the classroom and having the opportunity to teach all subjects. Although the curriculum at this school is rather scripted, I feel as though the students are really learning, and it does not seem to prohibit their participation, but rather enhance it. Students know exactly what is going to happen at all parts of the day. There are few surprises and because students know what to expect therefore there seems to be fewer confrontations. This school has a high standard of academia, and the students understand the importance of learning, and therefore believe in respecting those who want to learn.

I do worry about my ELL students. I don't know a word of Spanish, and I can only image what it must be like to be in a school where I cannot understand enough of the language to even make a complete sentence. I do find that these ELL students are some of the sweetest an understand the value of hard work. With time these students will be able to reach their full potential inside the classroom.