Crazy Thursday

I am going to do some thinking on my feet today.  I was scheduled to do only one handwriting lesson this morning, but it sounds like we are also going to try to squeeze in a quick math review and test lesson that I have been preparing for tomorrow. 

I am planning on using the handwriting video for the letter K at www.netrover.com/~kingskid/Printing_Alphabet/Printingl.htm to illustrate how to write a k.  My Cooperating Teacher has been using these videos but I find the voices really irritating and I’d like to find a new website or tool to use.  Any suggestions?

During Daily 5 today, one of the compound word games on the Internet didn’t work.  Also the file that my Cooperating Teacher uses for students to choose their centers each day became corrupt and wouldn’t open.  I thought it was good how she quickly decided to let the students choose their centers.  She has been working towards them making independent decisions anyway, though she will continue to watch which centers they choose and ask them to switch to different centers if they continue to choose the same ones over and over.  I am also keeping an eye on their choices.  When one student chose “read to buddy” we realized that there was no simple way of having them know who else wanted to do read to buddy.  My Cooperating Teache quickly realized that we needed a meeting place for anyone who chooses this center.  This worked out really well and it seemed like a lot of kids then decided to do “read to buddy.”

Wow, I have a headache.  Writing and math today were pretty tough.  I think it’s definitely harder to teach lessons at the end of the day when the class is starting to get tired and antsy.  The lessons went pretty well and I got some good feedback from my Cooperating Teacher.  I find that the hardest thing for me is transitioning still – getting them settled in between lessons.  For math today, I transitioned right from snack and I forgot to tell them to get their white boards that they needed for my lesson.  I decided to forget the white boards and do it without them.  It worked ok but it threw me off a little.  Instead of working in pairs with the white boards I had them whisper to the person next to them, all say the answer out loud, etc, varying the types of responses.  Then I had them take the tests back to their desks and set up their offices so that my Cooperating Teacher could give the test.  I had told them to start the test, not realizing that my Cooperating Teacher usually goes through each question individually.  Next time I will remember that and know what to instruct them to do when they are getting ready for a test.  Overall the lessons went well, I think I just need to build up my own stamina and ability to transition, manage behavior, and keep lessons running well.  It’s a lot to juggle, but I’m getting better at it (I hope!)