Last Day- Most Important Thing I Learned

Today was my last day with the kids, and I can honestly say that I am pretty sad! I grew attached to them and looked forward to seeing them every week. Luckily I finished now because basketball season is getting started and it would just get way too crazy! But even though it feels nice to finish the hours, I will miss them! As I was leaving, some of the kids made me things, and they were pretty sad. It was really sweet :)
Looking back on these last few months, it was truly just what I needed. I think that the most important thing that I learned, wasn't necessarily in the curriculum, but what I learned is that I am in the right major. I was pretty sure this is what I wanted to be doing, but having to go to a classroom, be with kids everyday, and see what the teacher has to do everyday was perfect! I know that it isn't going to be easy to get through everything that I need to, but it is exciting and I look forward to the day that I can have a class of my own. Overall, the most important thing that I learned is that I'm going to be an Elementary School Teacher one day!
If I was to think about another thing that I found extremely important, one of the talks with Mrs. M was pretty influential, and that was the talk about roles that a teacher plays. I didn't realize every little thing that teachers do, and what roles they play in kids lives. I learned that every student is different and needs something different from the teacher and it essential that you do that for them. You can't be the same with every student, it takes a lot of different styles of teaching and talking to the kids in order for them to truly understand the point that you are trying to get across and what you are trying to teach them.
Out of all of the great things I learned observing Mrs. Mazeika's classroom, the most important things I learned were to treat each child to their specific needs academically and socially, and that I definitely want to be an Elementary School Teacher :)

Classroom Rules

I decided that instead of asking the teacher this question, I would take a look around the room and ask the kids the questions. It was definitely interesting this way and fairly simple. Just by looking around the classroom I could see part of the wall designated for class rules. It was really cute, it had pictures and words describing the few classroom rules that they had. The rules were move quickly and quietly, treat others how you want to be treated, and treat the teacher with respect. I saw one specific way that she put these to use. When the kids were supposed to line up to go to an assembly, they did it quickly, but they were really loud. Mrs. M made the students go back to their desks and try it again. They did it a lot quieter that time.

When I asked the kids, they couldn’t think of what happens if they don’t follow the rules, but they definitely knew why they wanted to! Mrs. M has a few systems that she uses in order to help students want to be good. The first is individual incentive. When she sees you doing something good, she will ask you to put your name on a secret number chart. It is a chart from 1-100, and once it is full, she draws a number and that person gets a special prize. Next she has a stick on a base that she puts nuts on when the kids do something good in their table group. At the end of the week, whatever group has the most nuts, wins something. Lastly, there is the class system, which is similar to the group system. If the whole class is good, she will add nuts to the stick, and if they do something bad, then they get some of it taken away. I love that system because kids really respond well to it. It makes them want to be better and helps them and each other be accountable. I also like that Mrs. M doesn’t really have a lot of classroom rules, otherwise they would be harder to remember, making them harder to follow. 

Actively Engaging the Students

To start off the class I decided to start by counting how many questions she asked in a specific amount of time. I decided to look at the clock for just a minute and see. She asked about 10 questions, just about simple things, but it really just engaged the students. It seemed crazy that there were that many questions, but it made sense! Next, I observed a reading period, which was silent a lot of the time, but then she brought them to the back corner to describe a feature of books, this time it was status quo. Then she split them into groups and had them discuss what the status quo was in their books and how it changed. She then had them write it down and present it to a little bit of larger groups. I thought that was interesting because it made them be really involved, and then had them in a little bit larger of a scenario. Next, in social studied, she had them stand to answer true or false questions (stand if you think its true, sit if you think its false). That way everyone’s answer was heard and it worked out really well.
It seemed that she didn’t really have any big ways to involve them; it was just constant little things that made it work. She constantly was splitting them up into little groups and having them work for there in order for everyone to be heard. It was just like in the "active engagement" slide show. All of the options to do instead of pure independent work was used. She always had hands on projects for them to do as well in order to make her point work. For learning about simile's  they were able to draw a picture by numbers picture, and the kids worked together to figure it out. It was really cool to see that the ways used in the slideshow weren't just there for example, but it is actually used!