Clinical Observations #5

This week was VERY short. Because of a teacher workday on Monday and Election Day on Tuesday, school was out until Wednesday. There were only 3 days this week. Honestly, I really do feel like I got nothing accomplished, but I know I did.

This week, I worked on finding some things I would include in my Unit that I'm planning. The Literature Books at the school really do not have a lot in them. Teachers have to pull from many outside sources since the books do not provide much help....unless you are going to do 2-5 days units.

In class this week, the students did an activity on Monday to get their brains thinking again....since they had been away for 5 days! They did some brain teasers that were really good.

Then, the classes did another quiz and practice on Infinitives and Prepositional Phrases like last week. Mrs. J told them that if they can pass, they can stop doing these. I think most of them tried a little harder this time. They did seem to take a little more time with it anyways.

They also did an introduction to drama. In their English I classes, the students are going to be going into drama. So, Mrs. J did an intro. into how to read plays for them. They have a book that tells strategies for how to read different types of print/non-print texts. It has most everything from websites to newspaper articles to classified ads to drama.

The students took notes on how to read plays on Wednesday. On Thursday, Mrs. J wasn't there. So the sub had them read a play (which was the plan anyways). Then the students had to choose one of the strategies for reading a play and do it. BUT...they could only use their OWN notes. So...some of them had nothing to look at because they had not done their notes on Wed. I love the play (part of a book from what I have been told) that the students read. It's called "The Sideways Stories from Wayside School" (by Louis Sachar). If you have never heard of it, like I hadn't, you need to check it out. It is really cute and funny.

On Thursday, I also gave some reading and vocabulary strategies to my Case Study participant. She did not bring them back on Friday, but I did ask her to make sure I have them on Monday.

On Friday, Mrs. J did fluency testing on all the students. She tries to test them every week, but with Nov. here, it might be more difficult. They only have ONE full week for the entire month.

Next week, will be my final week of observations. I am hoping to collect my case study materials from the student. I am going to be teaching on Tuesday. I have already completed the hours required, but I needed to be there for the Lesson Plan and Case Study, so I have been going for the past couple weeks.

I am looking forward to teaching next week. However, I did not get to be very imaginative in my lesson plan. I am using an Image Grammar strategy. I'm doing their spelling words for the week (5 of them anyways). I have a journal that I'm going to collect from them (and help them with and let them share). Then they are going to have the last 30 minutes or so of class for study hall (which is required for this class). So I did not have to stretch much at all for this lesson. Which...to me...personally....is unfortunate. However, I will have plenty of stretching to do next semester in my Student Teaching! :)