Chapters 3 & 4 reflection
November 6, 2013
1. “What did Victor and I do to get quickly started on the game?” (Discussion time – a key question to ask as a follow-up) (p. 66)
2. “Give children a sense of time and pacing expectations.” (p. 77)
3. “Set up an easy to use organizational system.” (p. 100)
4. Connection: I think that organization in the way you set up your classroom is really important. I recently observed Miss F. 3rd grade classroom at F. Elementary. I really liked how her room was super clean with minimal clutter. Also, all of her students had their own portable cubby to hold all of their folders and papers. Students did not have assigned seating, which I thought was interesting and wanted to ask about her reasoning. Also, she had a small can of pens on each table. Her reasoning behind that was because she did not want to deal with pencil sharpeners and them mess that went with that. She says that 3rd graders are old enough to handle pens. Everything had its own place in the classroom and was labeled. This probably helps the kids know where to go if they need something and created less of a distraction for them.
5. Connection 2: Pacing is such a difficult yet key thing to keep in mind as you teach and train kids to transition smoothly. The book says to think how much time the kids would need in order to transition to the next task. I worked with a student who had fine motor problems. He also doodled a lot and was not sure if that was somehow connected. I used to time him in transitions and in simple tasks. It helped a lot. He would all of a sudden get a burst of energy and be the first to finish clean up or whatever I was asking the whole class to do. This was a breakthrough for me working with him. Another example was watching my CT at H. Elementary. I did not witness the first month of school where she set up the guidelines and the routines, but transitions are always done in a timely manner and every student knows what she/he should be doing at any given time. I think this is a mark of clear directions, pacing and guiding.
6. Question: How can I get better at organization?? This part overwhelms me when I think of having 30 students in my classroom with no aide.
November 6, 2013
1. “What did Victor and I do to get quickly started on the game?” (Discussion time – a key question to ask as a follow-up) (p. 66)
2. “Give children a sense of time and pacing expectations.” (p. 77)
3. “Set up an easy to use organizational system.” (p. 100)
4. Connection: I think that organization in the way you set up your classroom is really important. I recently observed Miss F. 3rd grade classroom at F. Elementary. I really liked how her room was super clean with minimal clutter. Also, all of her students had their own portable cubby to hold all of their folders and papers. Students did not have assigned seating, which I thought was interesting and wanted to ask about her reasoning. Also, she had a small can of pens on each table. Her reasoning behind that was because she did not want to deal with pencil sharpeners and them mess that went with that. She says that 3rd graders are old enough to handle pens. Everything had its own place in the classroom and was labeled. This probably helps the kids know where to go if they need something and created less of a distraction for them.
5. Connection 2: Pacing is such a difficult yet key thing to keep in mind as you teach and train kids to transition smoothly. The book says to think how much time the kids would need in order to transition to the next task. I worked with a student who had fine motor problems. He also doodled a lot and was not sure if that was somehow connected. I used to time him in transitions and in simple tasks. It helped a lot. He would all of a sudden get a burst of energy and be the first to finish clean up or whatever I was asking the whole class to do. This was a breakthrough for me working with him. Another example was watching my CT at H. Elementary. I did not witness the first month of school where she set up the guidelines and the routines, but transitions are always done in a timely manner and every student knows what she/he should be doing at any given time. I think this is a mark of clear directions, pacing and guiding.
6. Question: How can I get better at organization?? This part overwhelms me when I think of having 30 students in my classroom with no aide.