First Blog of Spring Senior Year!

   When I got the email that I was going to be student teaching in a kindergarten classroom, I was definitely not thrilled. I was hoping to be in first or second grade, but wow am I glad I'm in kindergarten. Spending three days a week in my clinical classroom this past month could not have gone any better. I absolutely love my clinical teacher and all of my students. It is awesome to be able to help direct and teach these kids for their first time ever going to school. We have the responsibility to introduce them to the school rules and help them start their education career. It definitely takes a special person with a lot of patients to be a kindergarten teacher.

   The second day that I was in my classroom, my TA was out of the room covering for a teacher who was testing so it was just my clinical teacher and myself in the class. One of the boys in the class was sick and had to go home so my clinical educator brought him down to the office and waited with him until his mom got there. I stayed with the class and had them clean up from their centers. My teacher asked me to stay with the kids while she ran down to the office so I took the initiative to have the kids clean up the classroom and said "lets be sitting silently on the carpet so we can impress the teacher when she gets back." The students thought that was a great idea because they love making their teacher happy. They were quiet when she walked in and the teacher was so proud of them that she gave them a point on class dojo. It made the students really happy to earn an extra point. This is NCPTS 1 "Teachers Demonstrate Leadership" under "Teachers lead in their classroom." I took the responsibility to make it my job that the students were cleaned up and quiet when their teacher got back to the room. 

One of the topics we talked about in this months meeting was "How do teachers develop effective redirection strategies?" This was one of my SMART goals so I was able to watch this happen quite a bit this week and record when it did happen. The teacher had to ask a student to turn around on the rug and stop talking, she told her the first time with no punishment. The second time the same girl was turned around talking, the teacher made her go to her seat because she had already given her a verbal reminder. When students were getting a drink from the water fountain, she had to tell them to stay quiet, get in line, and to hurry up. Another time my teacher had to redirect her students was when they were transitioning to centers, the students started running to their centers so she told everyone to come back and sit down on the carpet. She then asked them why they had to come back and sit down, and they all knew what they did wrong. They all answered and said "because we were running." She then told them it is not appropriate to run in the classroom because someone could get hurt so they got back up and walked to their next center. I think my teacher handles her kids and redirects them really well. The kindergarteners need non-stop redirection because they are so young and love to talk. If I am a kindergartner teacher I will handle redirection the way that my clinical teacher does. She gives a verbal redirection nicely and if the kids still do not listen then she will send them to their seats or take away a class dojo point. She also tells them that her "mean momma voice" is about to come out if they don't start listening. You have to have a lot of patients in kindergarten and realize that they are only 5 and will need help with basically everything they do.

    I have already learned so much from my teacher this past month and have made many connections. This past week I was able to sit in on a "data dive" meeting. During this meeting, all grade level teachers, EC teachers, guidance counselor and the principal are in a room looking at test scores and talking about which kids need to be grouped where and what tier each students needs to be in to best meet their needs. It was a really cool experience. I also found out that the principal at my school grew up in Syracuse, New York....how crazy?? The whole four years that I have been at Gardner-Webb I have not met anyone from Syracuse and now my principal grew up where I did and knows exactly where I went to high school. She said she knew there was a reason that she liked me so much and then told me to fill out a substitute form online so I am in the system and will be able to get hired when I am done with student teaching. Making connections and building relationships are key.

   Building relationships with your co-workers and students is the path to success. It is especially important in kindergarten to build relationships with your students so they feel loved and accepted. I have been following an assistant principal named Amy Fast on twitter and read her tweets daily because she offers so much advice. One of my favorites in below. It's simple and to the point and emphasizes building relationships and connecting with your students. If your students know you love them, they will love you and want to listen to you and make you happy. 

  This past weekend I had a professional development training called Core Clarity Team Workshop through strength finders with my lacrosse team. This was an awesome experience and training camp that really emphasized how important building relationships are. Even if someone has different strengths than you do, you can still connect with them and feed off of each others ideas. As a team we had to come up with a SMART goal. There are 23 girls on my team and we all had to contribute and agree on a common goal we wanted to work towards. This is what I need to do as a teacher as well. Even if I do not have a lot in common with my co-workers, we need to work as a team and build off each other and help each other grow. I also believe that core clarity is a workshop that teachers could do. In my future school, I will suggest that to the principal in order to "take our business or organization to new heights." To learn more about Core Clarity the website and information is below.

https://www.coreclarity.net

  My first month as a soon-to-be student teacher has been successful and I look forward to the next few months I will be in my classroom. I am excited to see the growth I will continue to make over the semester!