Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall in the 3rd day of Field III!

Last week in Ms. Patte's kindergarten class was so much fun! The kids did a math lesson that involved raw eggs, blocks, and estimation! Ms. Patte explained to the class that they were going to estimate how many blocks would need to be stacked up for an egg to fall from and crack. The students wrote their names on a piece of paper along with their estimation, and then they gave them to Ms. Patte to paste up on the board. Ms. Patte took a raw egg which she had painted the face of Humpty Dumpty on and set the egg on the first block. She called a student up front to help her hold the egg on the block. In unison, the students chanted the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme. When they got to the part where they said "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall," the student holding the egg gently lifted his finger off of it and let the egg tumble off the block. Ms. Patte then looked at the numbers to see if anyone had guessed if it would take one block for the egg to fall off and crack and saw that no one had guessed just one block. She continued to repeat this exercise as she added a block to the stack after each time the egg fell from it without cracking when it hit the floor. Finally, after block number 11 was stacked , and Humpty Dumpty was let go, he fell to the floor and cracked! One student guessed 10 blocks and another guessed 12, so Ms. Patte explained that these students both had estimated the closest number of times to when the egg would fall and crack. This was a great exercise to use to engage students in a lesson on estimation. I definitely would like to use this lesson in my own classroom!
I noticed that Ms. Patte used great classroom management skills upon teaching this lesson, and in past lessons I have seen her teach to create a strong classroom culture as Lemov discussed in chapter 5. For instance, Lemov explains that the five principles of classroom culture that must all be asserted are discipline, management, control, influence, and engagement. I have noticed that as Ms. Patte teaches she seems to have mastered balancing all five of these principles as her students are always so well behaved, and they know what is expected of them in her classroom. I notice that Ms. Patte uses a lot of positive reinforcement in her class. She focuses on encouraging and engaging her students. I think that this is important for teachers to do in their classrooms because it lets the students know that the teacher respects them and believes in their ability to succeed. In turn, students are more likely to show respect in return towards the teacher and more of a willingness to learn and continue to be engaged in the lessons the teacher teaches them.
Since I am not there in the morning to see if Ms. Patte uses a "Do it Now" technique, I can imagine that she does because she seems to use it throughout the day. For instance, her students always seem to know what is expected of them when transitioning from one activity to the next. I notice that Ms. Patte rarely has to continuously remind them what is expected of them. I can remember in my own elementary classes where we would have a " Do it Now," expected of us when we came into the classroom in the morning. Usually, it had to do with a writing prompt that was written on the board for us to write about in our student journals. We all knew that the first thing we must do once we sat at our desks was to pull out our journals and begin to write. I think this a great way to maintain control of the classroom when starting off the day!

Kindergarteners learn the ABB pattern!

Last week, Mrs. Patte's kindergarten class worked on learning about patterns in Math. I thought it was interesting to watch Mrs. Patte's control over the class, and her ability to keep them engaged in the lesson as she taught. Mrs. Patte had the class sit in a circle on the reading rug. She began her lesson by showing her class the familiar math cubes that they had used in previous lessons. I watched as she engaged her class by showing her class the ABB pattern that she could make with the colored cubes as she put them together.The class was able to identify similar patterns they saw within the classroom, such as the ABB pattern that was used in their class calendar. I thought that it was so neat that Mrs. Patte had thought to set her classroom in such a way that there were many ABB patterns that the students could identify throughout the room. I hope that when I have my own classroom, that I too use creative ideas to set my classroom up i a way that I know I will be able to use it in some of the lessons I shall teach my class throughout the school year.
Upon doing my reading of Chapter 4 in Lemov's book, I noticed that Mrs. Patte also uses the Cold Call technique with her class. For instance, when Mrs. Patte had her students in a circle during the math period, she would call on students who had their hands up, along with those who did not. Through this technique she was able to assess who understood the ABB pattern concept and who did not. I can remember that as a student throughout elementary, middle ,and high school, my teachers would all similarly and frequently use the cold call technique. This technique not only helped the teacher to assess who knew the information, and who needed more help, but it also allowed the teacher to have control over the class. The students were better prepared for class because they anticipated the the possibility that the teacher may call on them even if their hand was not raised. I liked how Lemov showed the best way to use the techniques was to have a series of questions prepared to asked students that increased in difficulty. This system is not to be used as a way to pick at students, but if used properly, it encourages students who may know the answer but may not want to raise their hand to be acknowledged for knowing the correct answers and for being prepared.

My first day of Field III!

I absolutly love the kindergarten classroom that I am in at Summerville Elementary! The room is a nice size, and the teacher has collected many great reources to use with her class. Interstingly enough, my copperating teacher graduated from the M.A.T program, and she has been teaching for 20 plus years! She loves teaching kindergarten, and I blelieve that I will learn a lot from her this semester.

One ting I noticed about the way my cooperating teacher teaches is the fast pace in which she moves from one lesson to the necxt. I noticed that she does this in a very efficient way, and it reminded me of the reading we did about planning lessons so that they get direcly to the point of what you are trying to teach. I believe that with small children, such as kindergarteners, their attention span is short, so teachers must plan lessons that will be engaging, and will be able to be taught in such a way that the students quickly comprehend the objective of the lesson. If lessons are too long and drawn out, then teachers of this grade level are not able to keep the attention of their students. I am not syaing that it is not importabnt to thouroughly plan out lessons step by steo, but I think that in classrooms with younger students, the teacher will find it to be more efficient to plan lesson that quickly get to the point of the lesson.

I am excited about this weeks filed, and I cannot wait to learn more about the students' and the family that I will meet.

Field III

I am so excited about being placed in the kindergarten class for my field experience this semester. I have not worked with this grade yet, and I am glad that I will be able to have this experience. I was a little nervous about visiting the family of my case study child, however I think that it will be a great way for me to learn more about the student.
I think that the techniques that we discussed in last weeks class will all be good resources to use in my classroom in the future. I really like the "Right is Right" technique because it is so important for teachers to make sure their students are understanding correct information. I think teachers must uphold their students to high standards by making sure that students answers are 100% correct and not just 50%. I know that this is a technique that I will be sure to use with my students.
I really enjoyed watching the video last week about Dee. It is incredible how busy her days are, and that she is able to attend school. I think that as a teacher, it is important to get to know the families of your students. Dee helped me to realize that the students I will teach will come from all kinds of backgrounds, and I will need to make sure to get to know each of my students and their families.
From the case study I read, it seems that the student seems to be uninterested in doing well in school because he is not engaged. I believe that if the teacher could get to know what the child is interested in then maybe the teacher could use that information to help engage the child and get him interested in learning. The teacher may want to try to use one of Lemov's techniques such as the no opt out technique. If the student understands that the teacher wants him to do well, and encourages him to do his best then the students may begin to like to learn.
I am looking forward to this semester and to my Field placement!