Wow! I can’t believe how short of
a month February was! With all of the winter breaks, “unannounced snow days”,
and me having to travel out of town, I never knew that I would learn so much
and grow as an educator. As I look back and analyze my TiP chart from February,
I have noticed that I have a lot of celebrations to make as well as a lot to
still be working on.
Literacy
A very common pattern that I noticed for last month was the
need for an increase in authentic literacy activities in my classroom. In the
past, the SuperKids reading program was supposed to be the sole source for
literacy instruction, however, I have seen so many gains by integrating other
resources in the classroom in order to teach literacy to students. I have found
a really great way to still use the SuperKids program in some aspects of
instruction but also use activities such as interactive sight word games
(drawing sight words in paint) and for students who need additional support
with letter recognition (making letters out of Play Doh). The best thing about
creating these literacy centers is the fact that I can make them as
differentiated as possible from the independent centers to the guided reading
small groups. I am exciting about seeing how much more smoothly things will go
in my classroom in terms of literacy by initiating these centers.
A Call for a Change
Another big
pattern that I saw in my chart was how often I was referring to behavior issues
that were arising in class. By
noticing this, I saw the need to revamp my entire Morning Meeting portion and
making it more meaningful for students. I re-introduced our Morning Song to
affirm each student every morning. We have also began to play a literacy
or community building activity immediately after singing the song. This has
started a new wave in our classroom and my students have been holding
themselves more accountable of making sure they are trying their best to be a
good friend.
This look at the behavior issues in my class also made me
consider the actual behavior management plan that I use in my classroom which
is not much of one at all. My students did not know the consequences for
breaking a rule although they were very well versed in what the actual rules or
expectations were. Reflecting on this, I decided to implement a unique reward
system to acknowledge students who had been working really hard to follow
directions and show kindness to friends. I implemented to use of Teacher
Coupons where if students earned a certain amount of points, they would be
eligible to receive coupons to do special things like walk around the class
with their shoes off or sit at my desk. I figured out what students were really
interested in and what they were willing to work for.
Need for Integration
Another common theme was not
having enough time to teach all subjects or teaching subjects in isolation.
This caused me to reflect on the need for integration. Because of that, I have
spent more time trying to determine how to integrate subjects amongst lessons
instead of departmentalizing each one. Thinking back on some of the literature
from the summer class, “Whatever the motivation for integrating the curriculum, it is clear
that the most common recommendation for effecting the transformation from
fragmented, departmentalized, or isolated instructional periods to integrated
contexts is to develop a theme approach. Authors and programs often assume that
thematic teaching is a self-evident way to achieve integration in the curriculum.”
(Lipson, 1993, p. 253),
I remembered how important it is
to make subjects cohesive and meaningful to students. The text reminded me that
the best way to do this was by creating thematic units and spending more time
in the planning process.
Challenges Ahead
Although I have
made many strides this past month, I still have some challenges ahead. I’ve
begun to face the fact that I’m probably not going to have an actual para for
the rest of the year and I’m going to have to start navigating ways to teach
students as if there is only one teacher in the room. This wasn’t what I was
expecting so this will be a bit of an adjustment for me.
Also, I am still trying to find
my voice in my school community. Despite being a rookie teacher, I know that I
have great ideas and have learned some phenomenal strategies for teaching kids.
I am hoping that within time I find my voice and let my thoughts and opinions
be heard in an effort to advocate for best practices.
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