LauraEvans-EndOfTheInternship

I can't believe this semester is almost over, this is week 16 and I only have three days left. I have learned so much during my time with Mrs. Costello and her kindergarten students and I know that I will use this learning experience in the future. I have learned how emotional a first day of school is on not only the students but also their parents. I have learned that communicating with the parents is very important and that the lines of communication need to be welcoming. I have also learned to be prepared for anything when dealing with such young students, there needs to be a large amount of tissues, sanitizer, and extra clothing. I have became so attached to these kids and I honestly did not see that happening just because I am not their actual teacher and I am only here for half of the year. I think about these students all of the time, I wonder about their home lives and think of new ways to reach each of them while teaching them. I have also learned to always be positive and create a positive classroom setting for my students. Teaching kindergarten was quite a challenge, I have learned that even though something may seem easy and self explanitory, it may not to them. So you have to constantly be thinking of ways to explain certain things and show them because it may not come so easy to a five year old. I have learned more things this year than I can even put into this blog, I have been taking notes and writing down ideas that I will use in the future.

LauraEvans-UtilizingTime

Often times I have found that a lesson doesn't ever go exactly as planned. Some lessons take more time than expected and some do not. When a lesson does not take as much time, I usually will review a part of the lesson that the students were struggling with or even a part that they really enjoyed. We have very busy days in kindergarten so there is always something that I can have the students work on whether it be a review or something we did not previously finish. Something easy and quick that I sometimes do is alphabet or number flash cards because this always needs to be reinforced. I have learned that I must always have some kind of a back up plan incase the lesson doesn't take as much time as planned.

LauraEvans-InvolvingInattentiveStudents

In kindergarten, we do a lot of small group work so there isn't too much time spent with everyone a whole group setting. But, during reading the students are all on the carpet for 30 minutes each day and it has been a challenge to keep their attention at this time. Each day, I have been trying new ways to catch their attention and keep it for the entire 30 minutes. There are a handful of students who always pay attention, but then there are a few who have a very hard time focusing. There is one in particular who cannot sit still and needs special attention. I have tried moving him around and away from others who distract him, I have also tried seating him directly in front of me. Sometimes, I have him sit up in a chair rather than on the carpet so that he can sit still better. On the carpet, he rolls around and lays down so sometimes using a chair is successful. We have a star system in the school that monitors behavior and although I try not to always take his stars, I usually have to end up taking them because his behavior is unacceptable. I have tried praising his good behavior and he responds well to this but only for a short time. Another method that has worked for him is to have him come up and be the helper from time to time. I will continue to think of new ways to engage him as the semester comes to an end and this has showed me that I really must always try to teach to every student.

LauraEvans-AlternativeFormsofAssessments

This semester, I have been trying out new ways of assessing the students. I have made sociograms to decide who should and should not sit by eachother on the carpet during whole group reading and math. My mentor and I have also done some informal and formal types of assessments to decide the groups for centers. Dibels is the main way that we have placed the students with their proper groups of high, middle and lower level thinkers. I have also been doing teacher made checklists and inventories to monitor reading comprehension. I have realized that there are many things to take into consideration when placing students in groups, with partners, or in their seats at the tables. Their level of thinking, social skills, behavior and many others need to be addressed before hand.

LauraEvans-MyQuestioningTechniques

Usually, when I ask the students a question I ask it several times to be sure that they all heard and understood me. Then I give the students a few seconds to think and I encourage more to think and raise theirs during that wait time. Another technique that seems to be working well with the kindergartners is to pass a bean bag around to the students who are sitting crisscross with their hands raised. They have responded to this well and seem to want to answer more questions when we do this. Another technique that I have just learned is to encourage answers even if they are wrong, this keeps the student's confidence up and encourages participation. I have also tried letting the students stand up to answer questions, this isn't the best method, but it has kept their attention on a few occasions. Finally, I always try to give praise to the students whether their answers are right or wrong and they respond well to praise.

LauraEvans-TechniqueUsed

Last week,a lady named Joyce Evans came into the kindergarten rooms to teach a math lesson. Her lesson dealt with a 100's chart and a visual story problem. She began by cutting a large piece of paper into a pumpkin and as she counted, she had the students count how many times she made a cut. I liked this because it kept the students engaged and busy while she was cutting. Next, she asked the students to think of their favorite number while looking at the 100's chart. She called on a student to pick a favorite number and that was the magic number of the day. Then, Joyce began to tell a story problem about how her mother would only allow her to have nine pumpkins on her porch. (Nine was the number that the student chose.) The next part of her story was that a friend gave her four pumpkins, and how many more does she need to make nine? The students were prompted to refer to the 100's chart to find the answer. Joyce did this several times using different numbers as she wrote the equation on the pumpkin paper. As Joyce taught this lesson, she let everyone have a chance to answer and she encouraged them whether they were right or wrong. I really liked the idea of the lesson and the techniques that she used throughout. After the lesson, my mentor teacher and I decided that we would like to try this teaching technique and that we would continue to use this in the classroom. The next day I taught a similar lesson about slices of pizza using the 100's chart and it went really well. We are going to continue these math lessons and hopefully improve the student's math skills.

LauraEvans-ActionResearch

This week will be the eighth week of my action research study. My study deals with kindergartner's reading comprehension and whether the use of props during a story improves it or not. My study will last for ten weeks and during this time I have been alternating props in and out of three stories a week. I have chosen six students to focus my study around and after each story I have the students retell the story using a checklist that I have created. I also ask them several reading comprehension questions and take anecdotal notes in my journal. At the end of each week, I have the students circle a picture of which story they preferred that week. Thus far, my research has been going according to plan. The students have been able to recall more details from stories that I read with props. The reading comprehension questions have been about the same for stories read with and without props. The students have also preferred to hear the stories that I read with props more than ones without. I am glad that I was able to conduct this study because it was a topic I felt strongly about and truly wanted to know what the outcome would be.