1. I really like my kids. I think I will love them soon.
2. My kids are going to drain me for all I am worth.
I am really privileged to have our ESE kids this year (and I say I but I mean WE because my co-teacher is sharing in this responsibility) and I am glad for this push professionally. I have a couple of kids that are on the autism spectrum - who besides being great kids - are super entertaining. I really like their quirks and nuances though I am sure some days not so much.
I had the ESE kids a while back and the biggest thing they need is just love and encouragement. Something I think I am good at, only because I know God's love on a personal level. He comes to the rescue when I feel swallowed up. Plusvthey might never score the highest score on the FCAT but that's not the goal. Not anymore. I just want them to grow and have confidence. I want them to see that they can still learn and like it! There has been a few students in the past that I have had the pleasure of seeing this happen in them. I love knowing I may of had a small part in that change. That is what teachers live for. I am aiming for that this year. If I can turn any of my kids onto learning, I did my job.
So let's recap.
Monday was rough. But no tears so that was good! From me or the students. Ha.
Tuesday was awesome. I incorporated lots of Kagan structures like Mix Pair Share and did a fun brain break where we ended up dancing the Macarena.
Wednesday a student told me that he was a Warlock. Uhhhh....ok.
My two Autistic kids work together well, minus some tears on Thursday because he was not the Zookeeper that day, and all he wanted was to hang out by my guinea pigs cage. One student must have the last word, and that will not work in the long run. I emailed parents faster than an eye could bat, and I fell really supported by my parents this year. Praise God.
Friday I managed to light a spark for reading with Voices in the Park, I highly recommend it for Character Point of View, and with my annual reading of The Tale of Despereaux. I even Differentiated my morning work with a tiered activity with our vocabulary words. Yep. I rock.
Some things that are working great!
1. Poem of the day - we have a great poem that is really catchy that we say as we transition everywhere!
2. Implementing Kagan structures. Mix pair share is the one that I have done the most. I also have reverted back to my Teach Ok! from whole brain because it is comfortable for me. I want to use Rally Reader and Rally Coach but I didn't feel comfortable with starting too many structures. My goal for next week is Fan and Pick.
3. Brain Breaks - Mirror Mirror and Freeze tag made it into the plans. Next week I am going to do a Congo line with only the leader's eyes open. That should be fun.
4. Carpet time - I have really used my rug for meeting time. Though I need to work harder with sharing a current event. My co-teacher is doing great with this but I haven't found my niche yet. We want a student to share a newspaper article each morning to make our students more Globally Minded.
5. Band-aid lesson on fairness. I did the lesson on Pinterest, where you ask the students to pretend they have a cut, then you put a band-aid on the same spot on each child like the wrist. The kids were already wondering why, telling me that didn't make sense. I am being fair, I answered. Then we talked about why that wasn't the best way to treat a cut. I explained that everybody is going to get what they need to succeed, not the same thing all the time. Fair is not everybody getting the same thing but everybody getting what they need to succeed. Since it was my first time doing it, I thought it went ok. They got the point.
6. Judy Rex inspired us to have new jobs each day and allot a time for them. So before dismissal every student has a job. Here is the list: Desk Swabber, Sweeper, Rug Doctor, Board Cleaner, Zookeeper, Pencil Monitor, Filer, Morning Message, Cubby Cleaner, Messanger, Librarian and Gardener. My classroom is spotless. Lovely.
7. My twitter board!
8. My Welcome Note for the first day!
9. My portfolio wall - Something to Tweet About!
1. Current events.
2. Reciting our motto.
3. Using Kagan strategies.
So not too bad.
What are you doing well? Need to do better? Drop a line!
Tiffany
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