The student teacher observed their mentor teacher's classroom management techniques over 3 weeks, including sticker charts, marble jars, verbal praise, and classroom jobs. They noted the organization of materials, morning routine, and daily schedule. They attended IEP and 504 meetings to learn strategies. For their first formal observation, they taught a 40-minute math lesson on even and odd numbers using manipulatives and group work, which went well though they ran short on time. The principal and psychologist met to discuss challenging a gifted student.
The student teacher observed their mentor teacher's classroom management techniques over 3 weeks, including sticker charts, marble jars, verbal praise, and classroom jobs. They noted the organization of materials, morning routine, and daily schedule. They attended IEP and 504 meetings to learn strategies. For their first formal observation, they taught a 40-minute math lesson on even and odd numbers using manipulatives and group work, which went well though they ran short on time. The principal and psychologist met to discuss challenging a gifted student.
The student teacher observed their mentor teacher's classroom management techniques over 3 weeks, including sticker charts, marble jars, verbal praise, and classroom jobs. They noted the organization of materials, morning routine, and daily schedule. They attended IEP and 504 meetings to learn strategies. For their first formal observation, they taught a 40-minute math lesson on even and odd numbers using manipulatives and group work, which went well though they ran short on time. The principal and psychologist met to discuss challenging a gifted student.
The student teacher observed their mentor teacher's classroom management techniques over 3 weeks, including sticker charts, marble jars, verbal praise, and classroom jobs. They noted the organization of materials, morning routine, and daily schedule. They attended IEP and 504 meetings to learn strategies. For their first formal observation, they taught a 40-minute math lesson on even and odd numbers using manipulatives and group work, which went well though they ran short on time. The principal and psychologist met to discuss challenging a gifted student.
The first several days of my student teaching experience at Forest Avenue Elementary School in Glen Ridge, NJ, I took notes of many different aspects of the classroom and my mentor teachers’ techniques.
We put sticker charts on the students’ desks. They can earn stickers for positive behavior and can lose them on the third warning. Warnings are directed at the whole class and at individuals. There is also an entire class reward system using marbles. The class can earn marbles if everyone is working quietly, if they receive a compliment at a special, etc. Once the class fills the marble jar, they will receive a reward such as pajama day, extra recess, a party, etc.
I noted that the teacher points out when students are demonstrating excellent behavior by making a verbal compliment such as “Sarah looks great” or “I like how Johnny is working quietly at his desk”. This allows the students to look at their classmates for an example of how they should be acting at that moment. It also provides encouragement to the student who is behaving appropriately to continue doing so. If a student is not sitting correctly, she will say “fix your seat” or “check your body”.
My mentor teacher has been teaching at this school for 14 years, and the items she has around her classroom demonstrates that she has experience in this profession. She has a pencil holder on each desk and tells the students to “park” their pencils when she would like them to stop working. There are two light buttons at the door (one for the boys and one for the girls) to push when they go to the bathroom. This is a great method to know when someone is out of the classroom. Also, the name tags on the desks have a number chart, number line, how to spell colors, how to write letters, etc. This is a great tool for students to refer to throughout the day. We also placed a water bottle holder on the leg of each desk chair. Having a holder allows students to stay hydrated without the bottle being in the way throughout the day.
In terms of organization, each student has a sticker with their passwords for every online account in the inside pocket of their classwork and homework folders. When the students come in every morning, they take their homework out of their homework folder and place their numbered clip on their homework and put it in the homework bin. The pin is a great method to keep track of who did not turn in their work. It also gets the students into a routine for every morning entering the classroom. They put their bags in their cubbies, place their homework in the bin, and then take their magnet off the board for attendance. Then, they immediately begin working on the tasks listed on the board. This typically includes working on the star student poem, daily math and language arts work, any unfinished work, and their monthly packet.
After they have time to get their morning work complete, there is always a morning meeting held on the carpet. This is where they students review the calendar, number of days they’ve been in school, expressing the number several different methods such as using coins and expanded form, go over learning goals, practice telling time using the clock for specials, and review a fact about the number of days they’ve been in school (for example, Spiders have 8 legs for 8 days of school). Several students have a job during the morning meeting for active participation. Students also have various jobs within the classroom such as paper passer, note runner, lights, caboose, substitute, etc.
The classroom layout is also very well thought-out and matches information I have learned in previous classes. The students have the option to bring their cushions to the carpet for comfortable seating on the carpet. Throughout the day, students are constantly switching from sitting in their desks, spreading out around the room, or being on the rug for instruction. The rug is used for morning meetings, when she reads Harry Potter to students, and for whole class instruction, including phonics instruction. The teacher goes in a snake shape to have each student practice sounds. She also has several “fun” chairs that students can bring onto the carpet or into the class library when they are reading. She has a back table for individual/small group instruction. I have also used my desk for individual/small group instruction.
Our daily schedule is:
8:40-9:20 MM/LA 9:20-10:00 LA/snack 10:00-10:40 Special or Teach 10:40-11:20 Math 11:30-12:00 Recess 12:00-12:30 Lunch 12:30-12:50 DEAR 12:50-1:30 Daily 5 1:30-2:10 Special or WW 2:10-2:50 SS/Sci
During Daily 5, students rotate through the five stations (word work, work on writing, read to someone, read to self, or listen to reading – online sites such as EPIC). Daily 5 is a great time for students to improve on their skills, but it also allows the teacher time to pull individual students for any additional instruction necessary. The “word work” station has several bins the students can pick from that focus on their red word and word wall words. In each bin, there is a “must do” activity and a “can do” activity. One example of an activity is “Ghost Words”. The students write fifteen words in white crayon and then color the rectangle with marker. An activity like this engaged the students and it was evident that they were enjoying practicing their spelling. On Fridays, students have free centers if they have completed all their work for the week.
We have had several meetings with families, 504 and IEP meetings so far. It has been extremely helpful to sit in on these meetings and get a better understanding of how they operate. One meeting we had was for a student who has ADHD. Her counselor from home attended the meeting, which was helpful to hear strategies they have been working on. It was also beneficial to hear the student’s parents speak on the topic. They mentioned that private reminders are helpful because the student’s mind constantly goes to the idea that people are making fun of her. They stated that their child responds best to positive reinforcement. This demonstrated the importance of recognizing how students are feeling in the classroom. A few suggestions were having the student monitor herself through “calm body checks” and having the student choose if they are calm, in the middle, or noisy. Sometimes the student takes a bit longer to respond to questions, so the teacher suggested that we can ask “Do you need time, or do you need help?”
We also had a meeting for a student who is gifted and talented. We met with the principal, psychologist, and the young learner’s teacher to brainstorm ideas to make sure the student is being challenged. This student had the option to skip second grade, but for socialization purposes, their parents did not want them to. We discussed having the student create slideshows/presentations, have debates, and utilizing cross-curricular units. During the meeting, we reviewed the school’s obligation to identify gifted and talented students and provide services. The principal will meet with the student’s parents shortly to review the plan for the upcoming school year to ensure their needs are met.
Entry # 2
October 5, 2023
Today was my first formal observation. I taught a 40-minute math lesson on even and odd numbers. The lesson started with students talking to a partner on the rug about how many shoes are in a pair and discussing other things that come in pairs. I showed the students a BrainPop video to introduce even and odd numbers. Following the BrainPop video, I asked students to share new information they learned about the topic from the video. This is a skill I have observed my mentor teacher doing. It allows students to reflect on the information they heard.
After discussing key points from the video, I called up students using sticks to show the numbers two through ten. When the students came to the front of the class, one at a time, we discussed if the total number of students at the front of the room was “All in Pairs” or “Not All in Pairs”. I used a table on the whiteboard to display this information. Throughout the lesson, students began to recognize and share patterns they saw. It felt great hearing the students make these connections to the patterns demonstrating that they were grasping the concepts.
The students were then sent back to their desks to work with counters and two ten frame manipulatives to explore numbers eleven through twenty. They placed the counters on the ten frames as a visual aid. One student mentioned, “I realized that when the counter does not have a counter next to it, the number is odd”. We discussed the numbers zero and one and then reviewed remaining patterns we saw on the whiteboard.
Mr. Akey said I had great awareness of when the students needed to go back to their seats before their attention spans ran out. It has been very helpful to observe my mentor teacher and see when she believes it is time for the students to change their location in the classroom. Overall, I think the lesson went very well. I ran out of time for students to do their math journal page, but I said we would save it for tomorrow at the start of math. This happens often and teachers must adjust their lesson plans frequently.
The students were engaged throughout the entire lesson and demonstrated they were interested in the topic. Calling students up by sticks was a good decision instead of choosing students. This avoided students being upset for not being one of the ten to come to the front of the class to help us visualize pairs. Throughout the lesson, I called on students I hadn’t heard from yet even if their hands weren’t raised to make sure everyone understood the concept.
Entry # 3
November 27, 2023
During Language Arts, I taught common, collective, and proper nouns. After reviewing the meaning of each, I had students provide examples to check their understanding. There was also a worksheet for students to color the apples on the trees for proper nouns that needed to be capitalized. Once students were finished coloring, they had to get their worksheet checked to make sure they understood the difference between a common and proper noun. If students did not color the correct number of apples on the tree, I told them how many apples they still needed to color. This was a great formative assessment to gauge understanding and adjust further instruction.
In math I taught them the subtraction strategies counting up or counting back. We reviewed when each method is more useful. For example, students should count back when you are subtracting a small number and counting up is helpful when the start number and the number you are subtracting are close together. These strategies will definitely take a bit of time for all students to grasp, but many were already understanding them. Students used their packet protectors and Expo markers to solve subtraction problems using a number line paper. This helped me make sure everyone was following along. They drew the counting up and counting back steps on their pocket protector to demonstrate two subtraction strategies for each number model. In addition to allowing me to see which students were and were not following along, this provided them with opportunities to practice the strategies multiple times.
In writing workshop students began brainstorming for a creative writing piece “If I was in a snow globe…”. Students had to brainstorm three things that would be happening in their snow globe before we move onto the next step of the writing process. It was very interesting to see all the creative ideas students came up with during their brainstorming session. Throughout my student teaching experience, it has been neat to see the students’ writing skills grow as they continue to add more detail and creativity to their sentences.
Journal Reflection
During my 15-week student teaching experience, I kept a journal to write daily reflections in. Throughout the experience, I always had a notepad on me to jot down anything that stood out about strategies my mentor teacher used, specific things that occurred during the school day, and reflections of my own teaching practices. At the end of each day, I would type my journal entry and take time to reflect on the day overall. I believe this is something I will reference when I have my own classroom, especially since I constantly noted helpful tips that I learned from my mentor teacher. My first entry was different than the rest because it consisted of notes from the first couple of weeks at my placement. Those weeks consisted of myself and the students becoming familiar with the class routines. I found myself making note of new aspects of the classroom that I had never seen in my previous observation experiences or during my time as a building permanent substitute. The first entry is a great overview of the classroom dynamic, organization skills my mentor teacher uses, beginning of the school year meetings we attended, the behavior system (stickers and marbles), and more. During those first few weeks of school, I floated around the classroom and helped students one on one. I also assisted my mentor teacher with general classroom management and organization.
My second entry highlights my first formal observation with my site director, Mr. Akey, present. It was helpful to have this formal observation because it allowed me to feel a bit of pressure while practicing how to stay focused on the lesson. I think this was great practice for when I have my own classroom and will need to be observed by people such as the building principal. When I was observed, I taught a 40-minute math lesson about even and odd numbers. Following the observation, I sat down with Mr. Akey to review how the lesson went. Since I had someone observing me, I was a bit tougher on myself in terms of how the lesson could have gone better. This is a good skill to have after every lesson because teachers are constantly trying to improve their instruction to increase understanding. This demonstrates growth from my first entry which was about the basic function of the classroom. I am beginning to be able to reflect on the lessons I have taught and adjust instruction for the future.
The third entry above is a reflection after teaching the entire day and being responsible for majority of the classroom. Two weeks before this entry, on November 13, 14, and 15, my mentor teacher was sick, so I took over the classroom completely with a substitute teacher present in the room with me. These three days without my mentor teacher taught me a lot about classroom management and all the responsibilities a teacher has. These few days provided me with a great amount of practice for the future. Instead of only teaching one 40-minute math lesson for an observation, I was teaching the entire day and ensuring the classroom operated properly.
The next few weeks I continued to be responsible for all classroom instruction. I found that the more lessons I taught, the more comfortable I became planning and executing the lesson plans, and the better I became at reflecting on my teaching. After each lesson, I found myself questioning what I could have done to better prepare for the lesson or how I could have approached the topic differently. If some of my students did not understand the lesson, then how can I reteach it or make it more clear next time? Were there other materials that would have been more helpful? These questions demonstrate the personal growth and development I have made as a student teacher since the beginning of the experience. As previously mentioned, I look forward to continuing to refer to my journal throughout my teaching career.
**Click here to access my entire student teaching journal.
