Week Four

I faced a lot of discouragement this week. While I have a very supportive cooperating teacher I struggled with the students. Some days are really good and the students are ready to learn and other days I cannot engage them.

On Monday, we reviewed complete and incomplete sentences. While this may sound like something that need not be reviewed in fifth grade, my cooperating teacher and I noticed that the students were not writing in complete sentences. We both figured that maybe they just needed a reminder that they were expected to write in complete sentences so we decided to have a short, fun lesson just to remind the students what a complete sentence looked like.

What I decided to do was quickly review what made a sentence a complete sentence. After that each student received a sticky note with either a complete or incomplete sentence. I drew a horizontal line down the middle of the board and labeled one side complete and the other incomplete. Their job was to read their sticky note and determine whether they thought it was a complete or incomplete sentence. One at a time, the students placed their sticky note on the side of the board they thought it belonged on. I thought this was a fun way to informally assess how well the students could differentiate between complete or incomplete sentences.

I was at a loss for words by the end of the lesson. Not only did I receive blank stares during our activity, many of the students didn’t put their sentences in the right column. At the end of the sentence, I reviewed the difference between a complete and incomplete sentence. It seemed like the students understood it but when I looked back at the board the sentences were all in the wrong place. I couldn’t figure out if the problem was the lesson or the content. It was incredibly discouraging. I felt like the students didn’t care to pay attention. During the activity I could tell that many of the students were spacing out.

On Friday, progress reports went out. The majority of our class had failing grades in more than one subject. When we looked back at our data, it was discouraging to see that the students completed class work fine, but were failing their homework assignments. I addressed this concern by returning a homework assignment that most of the class failed. I asked the students to explain why they thought their score was low. Many of the students admitted to rushing through the assignment, not listening during class, or choosing not to complete the assigned reading that came with the assignment. I gently, but firmly explained to the students that the grade they see before them will go in the gradebook and their parents will see it. I asked the students how they think they could make sure they get higher scores next time. I was glad to hear them say that they should take their time, complete the reading, listen in class, stay on task, and other really good work habits to practice. Since then, there scores have been a little bit better. I am hopeful that I will see improvements from my students.

I really care about my students. I believe in them. I want to see them grow and I will them my very best every single day.

Classroom Confidential

Establishing a classroom culture is critical in having a healthy, positive classroom. I’ve encountered the importance of classroom culture several times during my studies at Trinity; I’ve also dealt strongly with this at my school. My school is in a very diverse neighborhood. My students are global and come from all over the world. My classroom represents dozens of cultures and ethnicities. Being at this school has shown me how important establishing a strong classroom culture. This chapter was so relevant to me because of my placement. I needed this chapter to remind of how important it is to be intentional about how I am representing my students. I serve and teach a diverse group of students and it’s my job to be sensitive and accepting of each religion and culture represented.