Week 1 CES

January 8, 2013
Today,  I liked how Mrs. Britt reminded the students of her expectations before she started the reading lesson.  Today was the students' first day back from Christmas break, and they needed to be reminded of their routines for class.  Mrs. Britt asked, "Who can tell me what you do when we...?" Asking questions is more effective than simply telling the students the rules because they have to think and supply the answers.    I also liked how the students reacted to Gotcha and Sparklers.  I could see the excitement on the students' faces when they got to put a straw in their Gotcha pockets or pick out a Sparkler for their group.  These behavior management strategies motivated the students to stay on-task while Mrs. Britt was working with small groups.  I am concerned about planning my lessons for my unit.  I want to find out where the students will be in the unit when it comes time for my full time teaching.  

January 9, 2013
 I learned the morning routine today, and I feel comfortable taking over it tomorrow.  I am curious about how small group reading is going to go tomorrow.  I am going to listen to each group practice reading their story.  I think  this is a good activity to start taking over some of the instruction.  During the reading block, I liked how the students were given a vocabulary word and had to give an example of it.  I also thought that the students were getting great practice with their spelling words by spelling them together.  Each letter popped up on the screen while they were spelling.  I thought that the spelling activities were beneficial because the students needed repetition to learn new words.  I also noticed that the math activities were repetitive.  The students had many opportunities to practice what they were taught in the math slideshow.    I liked when the students had the chance to go up to the board to practice.  They were able to learn from each other this way.

January 10, 2013
Today, I saw my mentor tell the students what she wanted them to do next before she released them from the carpet.  This kept the students from talking and getting too loud.  I liked this because Mrs. Britt saved time by not having to get the students' attention again for directions.  She also counted down from ten where they would get the task done quickly.  I liked how the students held up their pencils when they were ready to move on to the next spelling word.  This makes it easier to see when the students have had enough time.  I plan on using this when I start my full time teaching.  I noticed that the students were taught a new sound that they got to practice during small reading groups.  This practice reinforced the new sounds.  The students had many opportunities to practice spelling their spelling words and review what they were taught in math during the week.  I would like to look over the slideshows before the next lessons to see what they are expected to do for the day.  I would also like to observe small group reading instruction closer to see how it varies.

January 11, 2013
In the reading slideshow, I liked how the students had a symbol for thinking and reading.  They had to think about words for a minute before they could read it together.  I think that the time for thinking is important because it gives all of the students the chance to read the word.  After the slideshow, Mrs. Britt called a few students at a time to go back to their desks.  She used the months they were born in to decide who gets to go to their desk.  I would like to use this management strategy because there was less noise during the transition.  The students stayed on task because they were not tempting to talk to their friends while they went back to their desks.  Also, they stayed on task because they had to listen to know when it was their turn to go back to their seats.

During the reading test, the students took the test one section at a time.  I thought that this helped the students because their teacher made sure that they understood the directions one section at a time.  I think that they would forget what to do on some sections if the directions were given only at the beginning. Mrs. Britt told me that taking the test this way keeps the students from getting overwhelmed.  I agreed withthis when I saw the test was twenty-five questions.  Next week, I want really want to focus on how my mentor teaches reading where I can start teaching.