In my profile I said that I teach first grade ESL. While that is true, I also teach 6th grade. I service a 6th grade 6-1-1 twice a day. In this particular classroom there are only three students and I've been working with them since November. Today one was absent.
The past few days have seemed very futile. At times I feel like I've lost my touch. My students aren't responding the way I want them to or even how they used to. Today in 6th grade we were doing the research component of our unit. We developed our research questions on our chosen topics, and I sent them to the computers confident that they would be able to locate the information on websites and be able to transfer that information to a word document. We've only done this a million times this year! By the end of the lesson I thought I was going to loose my mind. Both of them whined and complained about every step of the process, refused to paraphrase, only copied directly from the websites, and yelled at me when they made mistakes on their documents. For today I'm just going to chalk that up to having a four day weekend and it being the end of the school year and the fact that I wasn't as explicit in my directions. I forget that certain scaffolds need always to be in place (like giving instructions) for these kids to function.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Four Weeks and Counting
Perhaps I'm beginning this reflection blog a little late in the year for it to benefit my teaching this year, but I can't not write anymore. I have to figure out some way to deal with the issues that I face every day in my classroom, behaviorally and otherwise, and it seems that writing is the only way that I can process this somewhat anonymously.
I'm teaching first grade for the first time this year. For the past two years I've been teaching middle school ESL. Moving to first grade was quite a leap. I had no idea what I was getting into either. I had no idea that the class I would be spending most of my time with would need as many behavioral interventions as it did and I didn't know the first thing about working with 6 year olds. Before this post becomes one big whine fest and totally counter productive let me just say that I have also never felt so supported as I have this year in teaching. The last two years were a bit isolated.
It's the end of May. Last week we finished up the NYSESLAT tests and for the first time in about six weeks I am back in the classroom. Back to my normal schedule the day flew by and I am hoping that it continues for the next couple of weeks. My main concern (as it has been all year) is what to do with my first grade group. I started working on their vowel sounds before all the testing started. . . a little late, but I didn't have any data before I began so I did what the book told me to. That was a few months ago and we're still not getting it. Well, a few are, but for the most part, we're still stuck on how to differentiate between a short a and short e, never mind the various combinations of other vowels. After all my time out of the classroom I foolishly planned a lesson where the students would craft sentences using a combination of words that I had on the board (I have _________. I like ________________. I am ______________________). It wasn't until 10 minutes in that I realized they were a) totally zoned out, b) playing with their pencils and sharpeners, or c) looking at me with blank expressions. How do I keep doing this? I've done this so many times - totally misjudged their levels and/or capabilities and over shot the mark. I think I'm scaffolding for them but am I? I must not be because something that shouldn't be too hard for them (and I'm not talking about the lesson today but in general) crashes and burns and results in a huge classroom management concern. Tomorrow I'm going to go back to the basics. Maybe group work?
I'm teaching first grade for the first time this year. For the past two years I've been teaching middle school ESL. Moving to first grade was quite a leap. I had no idea what I was getting into either. I had no idea that the class I would be spending most of my time with would need as many behavioral interventions as it did and I didn't know the first thing about working with 6 year olds. Before this post becomes one big whine fest and totally counter productive let me just say that I have also never felt so supported as I have this year in teaching. The last two years were a bit isolated.
It's the end of May. Last week we finished up the NYSESLAT tests and for the first time in about six weeks I am back in the classroom. Back to my normal schedule the day flew by and I am hoping that it continues for the next couple of weeks. My main concern (as it has been all year) is what to do with my first grade group. I started working on their vowel sounds before all the testing started. . . a little late, but I didn't have any data before I began so I did what the book told me to. That was a few months ago and we're still not getting it. Well, a few are, but for the most part, we're still stuck on how to differentiate between a short a and short e, never mind the various combinations of other vowels. After all my time out of the classroom I foolishly planned a lesson where the students would craft sentences using a combination of words that I had on the board (I have _________. I like ________________. I am ______________________). It wasn't until 10 minutes in that I realized they were a) totally zoned out, b) playing with their pencils and sharpeners, or c) looking at me with blank expressions. How do I keep doing this? I've done this so many times - totally misjudged their levels and/or capabilities and over shot the mark. I think I'm scaffolding for them but am I? I must not be because something that shouldn't be too hard for them (and I'm not talking about the lesson today but in general) crashes and burns and results in a huge classroom management concern. Tomorrow I'm going to go back to the basics. Maybe group work?
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