Day 2 in the field...

 

This week the lead teacher was in the class after having been out with a sick child.  The experience I had with her this week was very uncomfortable and disappointing.  Despite this, there was a lot of valuable “lessons: I learned.   Our teacher spoke to us a little about the format of the EDI lesson plan.  She told us that there was research saying that it was very effective, but it required a lot of work for her and the other teachers. When I received a copy of the document, I visually could see how much time and effort goes into it.  I love the idea of this type of plan where you access prior knowledge, teach a mini lesson, guide the students in practice, and allow them to try it independently. The flow of this type of lesson makes so much sense.  But seeing this document that is put together weekly, the daily schedule that is adjusted every day to state the specific standards being taught on that particular day, and the daily forms that the teachers have to fill out or send home reminds me of how much bureaucracy there is public school.  I feel that so much effort is put towards a “specific process” when a lot of it could be spent on really good teaching instruction.

 

Back to the EDI lesson plan…our teacher explained that each kindergarten teacher writes a specific section of the plan for the week.  So someone always writes all the phonics lessons, another writes all the social studies lessons, etc.  I think this is wonderful.  It breaks up the workload and forces all the teachers to really work as a grade team and be accountable.  However, I also saw the negative effects of this.  During a phonics lesson our teacher was reading off of the EDI lesson plan that had been put together for the week.  She got to a section in the plan that she did not understand and proceeded to tell the children that she didn’t know what she was supposed to do for that particular section and that she was going to have to contact the teacher that had written it.  I find this not only a waste of time, but also unprofessional.  I don’t feel a teacher should give her students the impression that she is unprepared or clueless of what is going on.  We’re supposed to be role models and leaders and this is not showing that.  If you are given a lesson plan before the week that you are teaching it, it is your responsibility to look it over and ask questions any questions you have.

 

On a more positive note, I saw what is so far my favorite Lemov technique work effectively in the classroom… Cold Call.  I saw it being used during a phonics lesson on blending initial sounds of words with the rest of the word and during a math lesson on ABB patterns. The teacher alternated by calling on students individually by first name, by the color row that they were sitting in, by their math group (pigs, fish, cow, horse), and as a whole class (mixing it with the call and response technique).  I saw that this helped to keep the students engaged in what she was doing, while at the same time kept the flow of the lesson moving a quick and effective pace.  The questions she would ask were required short, one or two word answers.  I am definitely going to use this technique in the lessons that I teach.    

 

Our teacher misunderstood the family assignment we have.  Instead, she would like for us to go to certain students’ homes and tutor them.  The students that she selected our ones that are very low academically, but also do not have a strong support system at home.  A particular student was being asked by the aid that she lived with (mama, grandma, great grandma) and the students could really answer her, which was really sad.  The aid was explaining to the student that she needed to contact someone at home, but this poor child couldn’t come up a person that she feels is her “real” guardian. I did not read the case study on Dionte, but his situation reminds me of how difficult it can be to work with a child or get that child the appropriate help he or she needs when the communication between the teacher and guardian is either minimal or non existent.  The other problem is when there is not a sole person, but multiple (mother, social worker, grandmother, etc) and not knowing to whom the channel of communication should go through to be effective. 

This week we are moving to a new Kindergarten class at Spann and I’m really excited!!