My lesson was on sorting by two or more attributes. I started by sorting a group of shapes on the SmartBoard by color, shape, and size. (*side note: I got so tickled during this part because the SB was messing up on me, which is a pretty regular thing and all at once as if they had rehearsed it for days the students all shouted "its not you Miss Jennie! Its the SmartBoard!!!" It was cute.. this is what their teacher always says and I think they were looking for any excuse that day to shout) Instead of doing math rotations that day, they each did a sorting activity at their table that modeled the one we had done as a group. This worked okay but I was kind of disappointed that the shapes and criteria to sort by (they were precut by a parent volunteer) were the exact same as the ones we had done on the SB together. I think it would have been a better learning experience if they had different ones.
I also finished up a writing lesson that had been started earlier in the day during grade level instruction. After my lesson was over, I was reflecting particularly on the management skills that I still need to work on. Chapter 6 of Lemov is a great resource and I went back to read over parts of it after my lesson. I think the 100 percent technique is extremely important. As a guest in their classroom, the students (who are very very well behaved on average) see people other than their lead teacher as someone who will let them get away with less than 100%. I know it will be easier when it is my own classroom to use this technique but I will not forget what I have learned from teaching this class. To get 100% response from students, the teacher must enforce the rules 100% of the time!
This week, my partner and I are going early in the day to watch Mrs. Lacey teach phonics which she claims is her favorite subject to teach. I am looking forward to seeing other subjects and other times of the day!
i think the greatest lesson I have learned from field this year is the importance of classroom management and procedures. Being able to set these up in the beginning of the year where the students practice the appropriate behavior so much that they become second nature is so important. it creates a classroom that is easier to learn in and to teach in. Also, i think there really needs to be concrete repercussions for poor behavior. The only think I've observed in my class is that they don't get a sticker on their calendar that goes home each night. I don't think this effect, especially for early childhood. I think the repercussions has to immediately occur after the action to be really effective. I also think it needs to be something concrete. I've seen in another classroom where the children's names were each written on a fish and the students had to move their name to a certain color each time they misbehaved. If they got into the red circle their was no treasure box for them that week.
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