Working in the Classroom

As you know, I am in a 3rd grade classroom in Bulloch County. As one of my assignments for my college class, I had to do a Read Aloud to my class. A Read Aloud is where I, the Curriculum student, picks a book to read to the classroom, have it approved by my clinical supervisor, and read it to the class as well ask the students follow-up questions. The clinical teacher will grade me on the Read Aloud. I will not see the grade that I received on it since the teacher sends it to my professor at the end of the semester. I completed my Read Aloud a few days ago. I tried to choose a book that was 3rd grade appropriate. This is a tough age to choose a book for because they are not quite into the chapter books and they are too big for the baby books. So I chose “Huge Harold” by Bill Peet. I’ll admit that I was very nervous as Mrs. Rollins called me to the front of the classroom to begin my read aloud. However, I had to do it so I took a deep breath and began. I was told beforehand that the students have discussed the author that I chose before and that they would be familiar with him. As I asked the students who had heard of him, they all raised their hands and volunteered information that they knew about him. It was going great so far and I had warmed up to the students and was comfortable once I got started. Before I began reading, I asked the students to look for “awesome” adjectives, “vivid” verbs, and contractions throughout the story. This, I thought, was a good way to keep them focused during the story. Since they have been studying adjectives, verbs, and contractions, I thought this would be the perfect book since it contained such a large variety of each. As I began reading the story, the students laughed at the scenes in the book. While reading the story, I maintained their attention by asking them what they predicted would happen next to. Some said that Harold, the rabbit, would be caught by the farmer while others said that he wouldn’t be. All of the students were eager to answer and seemed to be really interested in the book. As I got half-way through the book, I reminded the students to be looking out for adjectives, verbs and contractions. As I finished the book, I asked some follow-up questions. Firstly, I called on students to tell me what verbs were, were adjectives were and what contractions were. The first question that I asked the students was to name some of the adjectives that they saw in the book and what it was describing. Hands shot up all around the room. Mrs. Rollins even raised her hand to answer a question. That made me feel a little more comfortable to know that she was involved in it as well. The next question that I asked the class was to name some verbs that they spotted in the book. They named a few but not many. When I asked them to identify some contractions, they all answered. I walked around the room and flipped pages so that they could recognize the contractions on the paper. They all did well with it. When I finished the book, Mrs. Rollins told me that I did very well. She even asked me to read it to her second Reading/Language Arts group. That made me feel confident in my work. I felt as if I met the requirements. I can now relax since I have completed a task that I first thought was terrifying.

It's a New World

I am a curriculum student at Georgia Southern University and I have been assigned to a third grade class at an elementary school in Bulloch County. I have never been in a 3rd grade class before so this is a new experience for me because they change classes. In my opinion, I think it’s a little much for 3rd graders but they seem to be adjusting well. I guess it gives them a break from the same classroom all day long. However, I love it! On my most previous visit, I had more interaction with the students. It was my third visit and I finally felt comfortable in the classroom. As the teacher was teaching a lesson, I walked around the room to make sure that all students were paying attention and staying on task. It was a great class because I didn't really have to call on one student over and over again. They were also given a math timed quiz over division and multiplication so if they completed all of the questions in the given time, I was in charge of checking over the papers. That was fun to me because it made me feel like I had a little bit more initiative. It was good practice for me as well. After the timed tests were completed, the students followed Mrs. Rollins' instructions on how to make a math foldable. As she was giving the class directions, I walked around the room and helped those students who needed help. Needless to say, hamburger style and hot dog style folds on paper seem to confuse a few students. However, the process was quick and the students caught on fast and they began putting their multiplication and division problems that gave them trouble on the foldable so that they could study. Unfortunately, I had to witness Mrs. Rollin's take up a few students’ opportunity cards. I am not sure what it means when they don't get a sticker for that day but the students seemed really upset when it was taken from them. I am guessing the consequences aren’t very good. I also got a good idea from Mrs. Rollins. It’s a technique that helps children manage and control their behavior in the classroom. If a student was doing what they were told to do, if they were putting forth extra effort or if they did not have to be told what do, they were given a neon colored index card that had encouraging words on them. This technique seemed to really work. Some students would have 3 and 4 cards, while some had 1, and others had none. The students who received cards tried extra hard to get more. It is a very good strategy that she used. All in all, I enjoyed my visit to the school. The classes changed and Mrs. Rollins’ homeroom class returned. Some of the students came up and spoke to me. The students are so diverse and eager to learn new information, learn about me and much more. Needless to say, my scared feelings of being in 3rd grade have turned into pure love for it.

First Blog Post

I am a Junior at Georgia Southern University and I am a curriculum student. I was assigned to Mattie Lively Elementary School in a third grade classroom. Mrs. Cathy Rollins is my clinical supervisor and she is great at what she does. I can tell that she really loves what she does! I think this is great because teaching isn't just a job, it's a dedication! In the past, I have worked with both 2nd grade and 1st grade and I do have to say that I love all the grade levels the same. It would be really hard for me to choose which grade if I were presented with that option. It's a new experience with each grade. First graders are different than second graders and second graders are different from thrid graders. I learn something new with each grade level. I would like to teach first through third grade. However, I am going to take whatever I get offered. I can and will adjust and make it work for any grade that I teach. I would like to work in a small, rural town where I know all of the students in the school. I think knowing everyone in the school makes the success rate higher because everyone feels respected and comfortable around others.