Student Teaching: Can you believe it?

Yesterday I attended a seminar held by the organization I am a part of, ASCD, on how to create a portfolio and land a job.  I felt it was really informative because the person presenting was a recent graduate (2007) and is teaching in her very own classroom, making it seem possible that we can actually get a job.  It was nice to see how other people put together their portfolio, and although I started mine, I am looking forward to student teaching so I can add more to it.

Speaking of which, I will be student teaching in the Half Hollow Hills school district, right next door.  On Wednesday I went to their district office and met the assistant superintendent, Kelly Fallon, who was so nice and very approachable.  It was a group “interview” where we all introduced ourselves.  We were told to say our name and if this was a career switch for us, and why we want to be a teacher.  I was one of the few who was not an alumni or current employee, and oddly enough not a career switch — I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.  We were even offered to participate in their professional development program which I am really excited about.

I then spoke with Arlene, who put the whole event together.  She was very nice and told me Vanderbilt Elementary requested a Hofstra student (so luckily my university left a good name, even in this school district that has excellent ratings).  I was told to call Vanderbilt on Monday, but I was too excited, so I waited until the next day and called on Friday.  The receptionist was so nice it made me even more excited to be accepted there.  They seem very accommodating and it looks like I am going to be student teaching kindergarten, first grade,  and fourth grade (not in that order).  I should find out who my cooperating teachers are on Monday, and I am thrilled.

Teaching with Manipulatives

This past Friday I taught a math lesson in a small group setting at MLK elementary and the experience was wonderful.   I was asked to prepare a lesson for place value, and equivalent decimals.

On chart paper, I wrote out a large number: 547,650,321,489.432.  I had it arranged so every three numbers were in houses: the billions, the millions, the thousands, and the ones.  The children loved this and felt it really helped them remember how to say these large numbers.  Also, they just learned about the tenths, hundreths, and thousandths place, so we had to practice saying those numbers.

This was done through a game.  The students were paired off into teams.  They each got to choose their own team names, and tallys were kept.  Each group got a miniature dry-erase board with markers to write down their answer.  I wrote down a number and they had to write how you would say that number.  This was a great success!

Then, once I saw that the students understood this concept, we moved on to fractions.  I made eight circles, each cut into different parts.  For instance, circles included: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 1/5, 1/8, 1/10, and 1/12.  I wrote out a number, and asked students to find that number within the circles.  For instance, 1.5, or 1 2/12.  Interestingly enough, in some cases, there was more than one way to represent the fraction using these manipulatives, and it was interesting to watch the groups explore possible ways of finding a solution.  At times, the students had difficulties working in groups because they disagreed on their answers, but at times it was helpful because they did not feel confident enough in their responses to share aloud unless partnered up.

Once again, I found that teaching math through manipulatives was very positive and the students were able to have fun with a hands-on interactive lesson, with many visual aids.

Reading/Writing Strategies

Reading Strategies: Please take note of the Alphabox strategy.

Below are Scholastic charts on writing strategies:

Appropriate for grades 3-6, Wishlist: $1.99 each from Scholastic.com