Today felt like a really social day for some reason. I started my school day with a Technology Committee meeting. Seems like it'll be a pretty simple committee to be on and it's a subject that I care about. There aren't a whole lot of responsibilities other than being a Tech Rep to other teachers to free up our Technology staff member who wears more hats that I ever hope to own (she is also the gifted teacher).
Today was the first day of the hallway Open Court. Building 5 is comprised of just four classrooms. Not many of our kids earned Cupid Tickets so we didn't have that many kids standing in the middle doing the Cupid Shuffle. Of course, I felt compelled to join the meager few that get this reward. Cupid tickets are given out by teachers (5 per week) to students who demonstrate our schools committment to character traits: responsibility, safety, self-motivation, respect, and honesty. I am going to make a bigger effort this next week to hand out mine to intermediate students.
My lessons went fairly well. Since Wednesday is early release day, I only have time to teach reading. I was surprised, and slightly pleased, that so many of my students were upset that we weren't going to hold Headquarter Meetings (HQMs) on Wednesday due to our time constrictions. My reading lesson was all about getting ready to talk with a partner by picking out important parts and explaining why they were important. I used the Power Teaching technique to deliver the learning point. Then I modeled the sticky note work, then had the kids try it out. It went pretty well and I heard a lot of kids thinking deep about the spot they picked.
The best part of the day though with the kids, was Independent Reading. They read for 40 minutes sustained silent reading! It's so impressive that they are able to do this in the fourth week of school. I was able to do some more running records...only a couple more left in each class. I know have a pretty good idea where all 44 of my kids are as readers. I'm going to spend this weekend really planning out my small groups and setting up a schedule to follow.
We had Walk to Achievement meetings afterschool to get our small groups set up for our 30 minutes of intervention. I am planning the groups, the skills, and materials, but the implementation has to happen in my teaching partner's room because those 30 minutes is coming out of math. I have to say, while there is a lot of grumbling about the fact that we are losing math instruction time...the people in charge of planning it out and implementing have been extremely available and clear about how it will look and work. It makes it easier to feel like it will be successful for the kids.
I spent a long time after school talking with my old teammates. I miss working with them on a daily bases but I get to work with them in various other ways; newspaper staff, technology committee, vertical PLC, etc. I get such wonderfully honest feedback from these guys. It keeps me motivated and working hard to hear their opinions of lessons I'm trying out or behavior plan issues. They help and support have been crucial to creating the teacher I am. I am excited to see what my career holds. There are so many creative and motivated teachers at my school. It is comforting and exciting to be in a community of like-minded educators.
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