My thoughts....

"Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best." – Bob Talbert

As I have been completing my journey through student teaching, I have come to realize that the most valuable skills that I can teach my students are to be a good and respectable person inside and out.  Students need to learn how to make good decisions on their own.  Having this experience in first grade has shown me that students need guidance to learn how to act and make good choices.

This may seem silly to outsiders, but if students aren’t taught these skills at home, how are they expected to make those good decisions?  It has been evident in my classroom that students need to have expectations that they are expected to follow, and consequences if they do not follow those expectations.  It has been a goal of mine to always talk with the students when they make a bad decision, as I want it to be a learning experience for that student.

From observing my students on a daily basis, I have noticed that majority of the time students will learn from their mistakes/bad choices.  When students repeat those bad decisions, I step in and discuss with them what they can do to fix the situation.  I think this step is extremely important, as students may want to change their actions, but do not know how to do so.  Helping young students, especially primary students, become a good samaritan will help them throughout their entire lives.  I see these skills as life-long skills that students need to learn in order to help guide them in their future.

I did it!!!

          As you already know, I have been full-time teaching for about a month or so!  This week has been the real test, as Mrs. Young has allowed me to see what it will be like during my first year of teaching (without her assistance).  She has been stepping outside of the classroom this week for five full days to let me have full control of the classroom (she is right next door in the teachers lounge if I need her for an emergency). 

         This experience has been incredible.  Throughout the week I have been in situations where I had to be flexible and switch up the lessons.  There have been times where I had to make the “teacher” decisions, and there have been times where I felt like I was going to fall over with all the demands.  This week has pushed me to be more confident with myself and take full control of the classroom.  The experience has also been a change for my students, as it has pushed them to fully trust me.

         I have come home every single night feeling absolutely exhausted, but what I have realized is that my students look up to me and work with me as a team throughout the day.  This week has shown me how demanding a classroom of 21 students is!  Having the extra hands of Mrs. Young in the past weeks has been extremely helpful.  Since I realized this before, I contacted a parent to come in throughout the week to help me in areas where I needed it!  She has come in every day to help me with my math stations.  Having this extra support and ongoing communication with parents is something that I want to implement in my future classroom.  It not only helps me as the teacher, but it helps parents feel like they are more apart of the learning circle!

My thoughts on homework....

The definition of homework is different in each and every classroom.....here are my feelings about homework!

        Growing up, I never enjoyed doing homework.  I can remember being in grade school and feeling the sense of freedom when I ran off the bus and immediately started running around the neighborhood with my friends.  After being locked up in school all day, this was the one opportunity I had to be active and socialize with my friends.  Always being studious, after 10-15 minutes of playing, I felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt because I knew I needed to complete my homework. 

         My feelings about homework haven’t changed from when I was a student in grade school.  I still feel that students should get a chance to be a kid, and not have to worry about doing hours upon hours of homework. With the being said, I do think it is fair to give students homework that reviews concepts that are being covered in class.  Since the objective of assigning homework is to provide review and practice of concepts that have already been taught, the assignments should not take an excessive amount of time to complete.  If students are having a difficult time with the material, I would be fine with parents writing in a note that stated that it was too difficult for their child to complete at home.  This would give me an understanding of what I needed to practice more with that child in my classroom.  When parents push their children to spend an excessive amount of time on homework, this tends to discourage the student and then it makes the situation worse.  Homework should not be a punishment for students; instead it should be assigned for extra practice.

         Mrs. Young, my mentor teacher, mentioned to me that it is important to take into consideration the diverse needs in the classroom.  If students have disabilities or need extra accommodations (or modifications) teachers and parents also need to take that into consideration when assigning or helping with homework.  She also stated in our discussion that she believes that homework should not be graded; instead it is more beneficial for the students to have homework graded on completeness for each individual child.  This way each student is assessed by his or her own individual needs/goals, and the teacher can use the homework as a way to strengthen the students’ abilities in class.  Not only does this system help with assessing individual student understanding, but it also helps to encourage students to work hard and not worry about getting the right/wrong answers.