It was a very good week of teaching. The highlight of the week was the investment so many students displayed related to leading their own learning. That leadership was evident in their questioning, choice of seating, the people they chose to work with, and the practice efforts accomplished. I knew that almost every child was invested in the week's learning menu, and because of this I was able to make good time for those who were struggling and those who had questions and needed help. This is one ideal I strive for as I teach.
I also enjoyed working with the student teacher this week to organize her planning and prep for her takeover week next week. Due to the shared model, she and I will both teach the math unit so we'll be able to discuss how it is going for the homeroom she's teaching and the homerooms I'll teach. My colleagues have graciously agreed to work with the student teacher to guide her teaching in reading and writing too. I know that the student teacher is ready for this take-over week, and I know that the students will profit from her organized, enthusiastic, and well-prepared approach.
The fact that the student teacher will take over means that I'll have time to catch up on a number of school matters that require phone time, reading, research, and prep such as copying and preparing materials for upcoming learning experiences. This will be particularly helpful for the science teaching ahead since that requires lots of material prep.
A big focus of the work I do next week will include the kind of explicit teaching, coaching, and support that leads to mastery in the coordinate grid unit that the student teacher and I will teach. This is an enjoyable unit of study for students, one that lends itself to creativity and tapping the whole brain in new and interesting ways including learning why coordinates were invented and engaging in the many ways they are used to locate objects, draw pictures, and solve problems.
In a week's time when that study is complete, we'll move forward to multiplication review and then new teaching related to working with whole numbers and decimals related to the traditional algorithm for multiplication, multiplication models, and related problem solving.
This morning I'll go in extra early to prep the room for the student teacher's takeover week. It's clear that now that I know my students well, it's time to reorganize a number of materials as well as get rid of many more. This will make space in the room for students to spread out more and access needed materials and supports with greater ease.
As a team we'll get out the newsletter, share ideas for RTI at PLC, support students' completion of the unit two math test, and help students complete their portfolios as we prepare for a week of family-student-teacher conferences. This year every family signed up for a conference which is awesome. The conferences always shed light on curriculum revision and enrichment too and make for a very busy teaching-learning week. Onward.
