peacebe76

 The class did well on this assessment.  Mor the most part, they stayed on task.  They received an S for working nicely and staying focused on the program.  They received an S- for misbehaving or not listening.  Sam stayed on task and received an S.  The students had clear expectations and they followed them. 

Sam has been put up for Child Study several times, but each time, his mother refuses to sign anything, saying that there is nothing wrong with him.  As stated previously, Sam has extreme behavioral issues.  He also seems to have problems with his eyes.  He looks off into space much of the time.  It also seems like he has difficulty focusing his eyes.  Neither of these issues have been able to be addressed through Child Study because of the mother’s refusal to sign the forms.  Because of this, Sam does not have an IEP.  Technically, he is not a Special Needs student.  However, it is clear to anyone around him that there are definitely needs that are not being met.

Today, I interviewed the Art teacher.  I asked him if he sees a different side of students than the general education teachers do.  He said that many times this is true, but that it is not true with Sam.  Last year, Sam cut off all of his eyelashes while in his class, causing him to be banned from scissors for the rest of the year.  He also liked the smelly Mr. Sketch markers.  Sam would sneak them and suck on them.  Sam always denied that he ever did this, but when his mouth was covered in ink, he was hard to believe.  He was also then banned from the markers.

Although Sam does not have an IEP, the classroom teacher still needs to do what she can.  This is difficult when she has 25 other students that have needs.  I came into this classroom in January, so I do not know exactly what has been accomplished since the beginning of the year.  However, at this point, this teacher has had it.  While the rest of the class sits at group tables, Sam sits at an individual desk in the back of the room.  When Sam is not doing what he is supposed to be doing, the teacher rolls her eyes and yells across the room.  The students are also frustrated with him.  I think everyone wants to have a peaceful learning experiencing and they are tired of not getting it.

I know that Sam feels the frustration.  He told me today that he hates school and “all of the people that are telling me what to do.”  I asked him if he meant the teachers and he said that it was the other students.  When teachers or students do not give Sam what he wants he will also go pout.  He will turn away from everyone and cross his arms.  This action has happened more often recently.  Sam saw something terrible happen this summer and, this coming week, he is testifying against someone in the case.  I’m sure this is terrifying for Sam.  Unfortunately, because his behavior is so out of control, it is very difficult to help him, talk to him, or comfort him.

I have heard that his home life is terrible.  I said in my last post that his mother will not sign off on any services that Sam obviously needs.  His family has a low SES.  Last year, a teacher stopped by his house and noticed that there was no furniture inside except for a table and a t.v.  When I ask Sam what he does on the weekend, he only says that he watches t.v.  Sam has a brother and grandmother that buy clothes for Sam and his 3 other brothers.

This is such a sad situation because Sam has very little support at home.  His teacher and classmates are fed up with him.  It seems that he is not getting the love he needs anywhere so he is acting out to get any attention he can.  There are other issues besides this, but this need for negative attention definately adds to the problem.

Although Sam has poor grades in both Reading and Math, he is very intelligent.  Most of the reason he has poor grades is because he has a difficult time keeping his attention on one thing.  He likes to get out of his chair and walk around the room.  He also seems to have an issue with his eyes.  His eyes do not move at the same time.  This causes a problem, especially when reading.

Sam is in a first grade classroom.  His classmates are very diverse.  Of the 24 students, there are 3 white children, 5 black children, 2 Asian children, and 14 Hispanic children.  The boys and girls are split equally.  The students range in abilities.  Some have lived in the United States their entire lives, while others have only been here for a few years.  Their reading levels range 26 to 4.  The students are also quite diverse in their writing and math abilities.  For the most part, the students get along well with one another.  There is a sense of a classroom community.  This community is much more apparent when Sam is not at school.  Sam seems to have an ability to disrupt the flow and sanity of the daily routines.

There is some communication with parents.  There is a monthly newsletter that is sent home.  Also, if there is a problem with a student, the teacher will call the parents.

Because Sam has been suspended so many times, there has been ample opportunity for the classroom teacher to speak with the rest of the class about Sam’s behavior.  The class has said that Sam is very disruptive.  They do not like how he interrupts and runs around the room.  They like it much more when he is is not at school.  The teacher has had a few conversations with them, instructing them to ignore Sam.  When he is being irritating and interrupts lessons, the students should pretend they don’t hear or see him.  This has been somewhat effective, but many times, Sam is hard to ignore.

It is obvious that the rest of the class has a difficult time with Sam, but it is unfortunate as well.  Sam definately has behavior issues, but I think that part of his disruptive behavior is due to the need for attention.  He says that he hates his classmates, but I truly feel that he wants to be their friend.  I think he is upset that his classmates do not like him.  To counter their negative feelings he acts even more irritating.

To introduce my plant unit, I wanted to get the students excited.  Usually, when I think of plants, I think it is rather dull, so I thought showing the students great pictures of plants might intrigue them.  The lesson I taught was different than the one I planned.  Originally, I thought I would have the children form discussion groups in quite an elaborate way.  The more time I have spent in first grade has shown be that the simplest activity can become quite a disaster quickly is one is not careful.  I decided to adapt this lesson to a more simple form, concentrating on the objective.

I began the lesson with a PhotoStory video I created (I attempted to attach this, but the file was too big).  The video had beautiful pictures of the many parts of the plant.  It showed pictures of blossoms, stems, leaves, roots, fruit, and seeds.  I wanted the see each of these parts and to think that they were beautiful and amazing.

Once the PhotoStory was over, I asked the students to talk with a partner about what what they thought each part was for.  They did a Think-Pair-Share.  The children liked doing this.  They generated some very creative ideas about what a plant could do.  I wanted to get their creative juices flowing.  I also like when the students work and talk together.  After this, I turned on the SmartBoard and drew an outline of a plant.  We then talked about what each part was for.

This lesson went really well.  They were very excited by the video.  Every time I use technology, it grabs the students’ attention.  Showing the students vibrant and strange plants and plant parts also made them want to know more.  They also enjoyed the Think-Pair-Share and the SmartBoard activity at the end of the lesson.  Each part of this lesson was interactive and I think this is what held the students’ attention and desire to learn.

I am glad I made the decision to focus on the main objective for this lesson and not include the intricate grouping game.  Although it would have been fun, it would have shortened our time immensely.  They were also not ready to apply what they knew about plant parts yet because they did not know anything yet!  Later in my unit, I was able to incorporate this grouping idea into another lesson.

Beginning the Carniverous Plant PPT

As I was nearing the end of my plant unit, I saw that I had covered all of the information I was supposed to cover.  The students knew the plant parts and their functions.  They had each even planted their own little bean plants.  Some of the children were begging to learn about carniverous plants.  I thought this was a great idea.

I started off the lesson by giving each table of students pictures of carniverous plants.  As a table, I asked them to discuss how they thought each plant trapped and ate its food.  The students had a very good time doing this.  They generated some very interesting and creative answers.  The most important part for me was that they were excited about learning.

They were so excited about this activity and they wanted to spend much more time than I had anticipated talking about each plant.  We were not able to look at as many pictures as I had thouht.  We moved on to watch a PowerPoint (http://www.slideshare.net/peacebe76/carnivorous-plants).  I made about how these plants actually did eat.  I also added more pictures of the carniverous plants, which I thought would interest them.

The students were very excited about the PowerPoint.  They liked seeing the bright, colorful pictures and reading the information about the plants.  Because the pictures were so large on the SmartBoard screen, I was able to easily show the students how these fascinating plants worked.

There were a few students that became somewhat nervous about what they were seeing.  My CF had warned me that some of the students might be afraid of what they saw.  I made sure to tell these students that the carniverous plants cannot and would not eat people.  I also told them that they do not live around here.  After this reassurance, these children seemed to feel much better about carniverous plants and even joined in on the conversation.

This lesson definately went well.  Having the students participate in an interactive activity helped to involve each child.  I also liked that it got their creative juices flowing.  As stated in previous posts, the children love technology.  The PowerPoint with its large and bright pictures, always grabs their attention.  Before I came into the classroom, the SmartBoard was rarely, if ever, used, so the children are also thrilled with anything that has to do with the SmartBoard.  The mix of a hands-on activity, along with technology, made this lesson out to be one of the best of the entire plant unit.

For my first week of IT, I created my first podcast.  It was a very interesting process. I wanted to find a way to make Center Time fun and interactive.  I think if I had more practice making podcasts and facilitating Center Time, it may have gone more smoothly.  However, I learned a great deal and now know more about what to do better the next time I try to make a podcast.

For this plant unit, my CF gave me all of the resources that she had on plants.  She handed me a giant folder filled with worksheets.  Although I do not think that using worksheets is a great way to teach children, I thought that looking at the worksheets might spark some ideas of how to make the plant unit interactive and exciting.  I hoped to be able to adapt some of the information from the worksheets to more hands on activities.

One of the items in the folder was a booklet on plants.  I liked much of the information given on plants.  However, I knew that not all of the students in my class would be able to read the words in the book successfully.  I also did not think that the black and white pictures were very eye catching.  I remembered the information we were given on podcasts and gcast.com.  I decided to try to create a podcast that the students could listen to while they read the booklet.

Gcast.com was a very easy website to use.  It told me to call a phone number and record my information.  I did just that.  I re-recorded my message a few times to get the best take that I could.  At one point, I tried to add music to the background to make the recording as pleasant as possible, but I could never hear the music when listening to the message later.

The next day in school, I pulled up my gcast website (http://www.gcast.com/u/peacebe76/main) so that the children would be able to listen to my podcast for Center Time.  It was a great deal of work to make sure the computers were ready for this activity.  The classroom I am in is somewhat disorganized, with random wires strung from here to there.  Each computer had multiple pairs of head phones, but the wires were plugged into strange places and some of the head phones did not work.  It took me quite a while to get this station ready.

The children were able to listen to the podcast successfully.  Four children at a time were able to sit at a computer, listen to the podcast, and read along with the book.  They could hear the information clearly.  This part of the center went well.  The downfall of the center was not having an activity for the students that were not yet using the computers.

I feel that the mistakes that were made during this experience had mostly to do with the fact that this was my first week of Independent Teaching.  I was excited, but nervous, and encountered problems that I did not think I would encounter.  I was thrilled that I created a podcast and that it seemed like it would work as a center.  I did not think that some children might be sitting around with little to do or that the podcast was less that three minutes and Center Time is 15-20 minutes.

Once podcast was over, I told the students to now read the book together and to take turns listening on the computer.  This was somewhat effective.  However, I should have planned this section of this station much better than it was.  Since this experience, I have had computer centers that have been much more effective.  I now have an activity for the students not yet using the computers and also an activity for all of the students once they are finished using the computer.

If I were to do this listening station again, I would do a few things differently.  I would take the time to see if I could find splitters for the head phones.  The guided reading groups are large, and this way each student in the group would be able to listen at the same time.  This would avoid wait time and  room for a small group activity once the podcast was over.  I could have given the students questions to answer as a group.  If I was not able to use the splitters, I would have an activity ready for those students not yet using the computers.  This way, every student has something to do.

Overall, I feel that this station went well.  I did make some mistakes.  However, my goal was for the students to read about plants and for them to listen to the information at the same time.  This occurred.  Also, I think that the children had fun.  I do not think the children were aware that the station did not go as planned.  They were just excited that they got to use the headphones.

I plan on using this type of technology in the future.  If gcast.com was still free, I’m sure that I would have used it already!  It was exciting that I was able to take something relatively boring, add some technology, and see how it could excite my students.  I now try to do this as much as possible.

I have never seen a computer station done in this classroom before.  My CF has said that she has done listening stations and computer stations in the past, but the computers have generally been turned off when I have been in the classroom.  I wanted to give the students a fun center at the start of my IT, and I thought that playing a fun computer game about plants would be a great way to do that.

I found a very fun site on the BBC website where the children would get the chance to try to make a plant survive (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/activities/plants_grow.shtml).  The plant needs just the right amount of water and sunlight to survive.  Too little or too much of either will cause the plant to die.  If the plant gets what it needs, it turns into a beautiful flower.

The students did have a fun time playing the game.  Most of them were able to keep their plants alive.  They were having fun and learning at the same time, which is a great benefit to using technology in the classroom.  The difficulty I had with this center was not the use of the website, but the time and effort it took to get the students from one station to the computer station smoothly.  Everybody wanted to be on the computers at once.  There are four computers and six to seven children in each group.  I told the students that they would need to take turns.  For the most part, this instruction was followed, but there was probably at least one issue each day with taking turns on the computer.

In any other situation besides Center Time, I think I would have been able to better handle an activity using this website.  However, having to monitor four stations at once, making sure all three groups were doing what they were supposed to be doing, along with the guided reading group that needed my guidance, made the few problems that I had with the station more difficult and stressful.

The hardest part about doing this computer center as a station  was that another one of my stations that week (which I will write about in another blog) also used the computer.  Every day, for fifteen minutes one group would be using the computers for one activity.  I would ring the bell to signal the students to move onto the next station.  The websites that the children were on previously needed to be immediately switched to the BBC website.  This process usually took longer that I anticipated, and, knowing that my guided reading group was waiting for me, made this transition especially frustrating.

Originally, I had planned on having the children using this website in the computer lab.  Each child would have their own computer and they would play the game for about a half an hour.  I decided to change my plan because I wanted a fun computer station that was interactive for Center Time.

Looking back on this experience, I see that I could have done many things differently. It may have been easier and more manageable if I had taken the students to the computer lab.  I am also sure that  if the children had seen this website before and then it was used as a center, the children would have been less intense about using a new website.

However, I think most of the problem was that I was nervous about starting my first week of independent teaching.  I wanted to do well and have activities that the children would enjoy.  Because of this, I added three new centers that they had never seen before, and also used equipment that the students were not very familiar with.  The problem with the center was not the technology, but how it was planned and organized.

Although seemingly obvious now, I could have had both websites up on each computer ready to go in the morning before the children came in the morning.  I did have the first website up, but the thought of opening up two webpages on each computer never crossed my mind.  I consider myself a relatively computer literate person.  In saying this, it must have been my nerves about my first week doing IT that blocked my mind to seeing how to make these centers move more smoothly and effectively.

This experience has greatly influenced how I do centers now.  I make sure all of my websites are up and ready in the morning.  I do not just have the students sitting around waiting for their turn to play the game.  Now, I have another activity for this group to do, so when it is not their turn to be on the computer, they have something to do.  Halfway through the time, the groups switch.  I also chose to only have one activity on the computers during Center Time.

In the future, if I do want to use the computers for multiple activities during Center Time, it would be better for me to, as said previously, have multiple webpages up. Another idea would be to have a Delicious account on those computers so the students themselves could click on the webpages that they need.  Although this experience with the BBC website did not go quite as smoothly as hoped, I learned a great deal.  I am glad that I learned what not to do next time.

We are still working on our plant unit.  I wanted the student to do a fun activity that would help them to remember the plant parts.  Today, the students took big pieces of paper and drew rough sketches of flowers and their parts.  They needed to include roots, stems, leaves, and the flower.  When they finished their sketch, they glued different types of seeds on top of it.  It looks like they made plants out of beans.  When they were finished, they labeled each of the parts.  These look really good and the kids had a good time doing it.  Those plant parts were also reinforced while they did this fun activity!

I attempted to show a fun video on the SmartBoard today for Science.  I found it  on the SmartBoard notebook.  I had the video all set up and ready to go.  However, when I tried to play it, the sound wouldn’t work.  I tried to mess with the speaker cords.  It seemed like I would get the sound to work for a second, but it would immediately stop working after that.  That morning, I made sure that I could find the video on the Smartboard, but I didn’t play it.  I learned that I need to make sure that whatever technology I use, works in all the ways I need it to.  I need to check for all of this BEFORE I use it in front of the students.  Fortunately, it was a vey short video, and it it didn’t totally throw off my lesson.  After this, I gave the students different kinds of seeds and magnifying glasses.  I really liked looking at the different seeds and then guessing what plants they grew.  It went really well!

I planned some fun interactive activities for the plant unit.  Today, we talked about plants and their parts.  We started off the lesson by using the SmartBoard.  The students are really excited about the different ways they can write on the board.  They like all of the colors.  So, together we talked about the parts and wrote them down.  Next, the students formed groups by having to make a complete flower.  Each student was a plant part.  They needed to find students with other parts to make a plant with all the right parts.  They really liked this.  It took longer than I thought, but the kids learned a lot and had a good time doing it.