Week 10

This week was the start of my full week of takeover. Over all it was very successful, I did have to do some readjusting since I was out Monday and the plan were changed a bit. I really enjoy having the full days to myself. I would say that the only thing I wish I had done is make backup plans for science and social studies both of these content areas in my district seem to be less organized. The social studies curriculum is phasing out next year so it’s a little bit more laid-back in what needs to be done. With team planning, seems to be thrown off quite a bit. I would say I think that I should be more flexible in being open to changing my lesson plans. This week one of my students is moving to Poland his last day was Friday and this really opened up my eyes to classroom expectations and setting expectations early on. It was a very hard last day for him and his behavior was, rightfully so, very erratic. I wish I had more support for him on his last day.

Building off this idea, this really got me thinking about what type of behavior system I have set up in place and what type of reflection system I would have in my classroom. About halfway through the day my student who is leaving and the student who is his best friend but also the worst behaved student in class really had a hard day. At the peak of their disruptive behavior I did pull them to the side to tell them that if their behavior did not stop that we would be having a reflection time before lunch. I found a reflection sheet that I think works really well, but it was on the fly. I would’ve loved to have that reflection be something that was in instituted idea before an instant occurred. I think the reflection sheet was really amazing and easy adaptable to the lower level students. However could work as well for my higher readung and writing students. I would like for student to have access to this if they were having a moment where they need to reflect on their behavior good or bad. I’ve seen this work very successful in classrooms, I just wish I had it in place earlier and now that the students have worked on one with me they may be able to do it independently if they need just a moment or a couple minutes to reflect in a isolated area.

This week my focus is really building a solid science curriculum, the curriculum that is currently in place can definitely be utilized to be more engaging. I really leaned on the information I learned from our methods of science teaching. I referred back to the website that I’m included the five E’s of him a successful science lessons; Engage, explore, Explain, extend, and evaluate. Within this week I hope to come up with lessons and experiments that the students can really get excited about science. I have a couple ideas about two specific lesson plans I’d like to incorporate into the pacing schedule that science has already been set to. And I found it really helpful website that will help with planning.