The first few weeks have come and gone, and overall I couldn’t
be more pleased with how the class has been run. Many of the students have had
my CT before and already knew her classroom rules and procedures which have
made it almost easier than it should be to begin a daily routine. I have had
students come to ask me what the daily plan is on the rare occasion that a
morning bell work is not posted for them via overhead when they first enter the
room because they know that there should have been one waiting. The responsibility
the students have shown has been very encouraging, to say the least! This
experience also leads me to further understand and see firsthand the words of
Dr. Wong in his book entitled The First
Days of School: how to be an Effective Teacher (2009) when he states that
the “first two to three weeks of school are critical in determining how well
students will achieve for the remainder of the year” (p. 6).
Classroom management, one of my personal goals, has been
amazingly simple due to the management skills of the classroom teacher.
However, there is a noticeable difference in the students when the CT leaves
the room for any reason and I am left in charge. Their behavior doesn’t change
in that the students refuse to acknowledge what I tell them, but the atmosphere
of the room feels more lax in their expectations of side conversations and
volume level. At times it makes me wonder if, following under the pre-set
expectations of my CT, I have failed to lay my own foundation. Or could it just
be that the students are still adjusting to having a second teacher in the
classroom with them? I believe it may be a bit of both, as the students and I
are both in a new learning environment together.
Armed with this knowledge, I have been excitedly working on
building a three to five day thematic unit to teach to the class. It is my hope
that during this time I will be able to teach more effectively in terms of what
my own procedures and expectations are. My CT has given me the opportunity to
work with the class on their first assigned book by Jean Ferris called Bad. We, the CT and myself, will be
piloting a new strategy with this book (if all things go as planned) by using
voice recordings of the chapters for the students to hear as they read. This
may be used in class and at home (especially for those who were absent). Since
the classroom I work in is a special education English classroom with many ESL students,
we are hoping to test and see if an audio recording of the book will improve
student comprehension (and perhaps even motivation). It is an exciting
challenge to take, however it may turn out! This new set of audio accessibility
and online streaming have opened up a lot of potential for future projects that
can provide a great benefit for the students. I can only hope that, with this
new technology being introduced during my thematic unit, the planning will work
out and not be too hard on me with technical difficulties! Either way it will
be a learning based experience. Without putting the effort in to try there can
be no possibility of success!
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