Fishermen Are Reel Men

I went to my school twice this week for full days, and had a blast as usual. There was a dead bird in gym class, and all of the kids freaked out over it. I got to observe their music class for the first time and it was amazing, and the music teacher was so great. They made rhythms out of their names. On Fridays, my teacher usually moves the class around, and every one gets a new desk. So today we did that, and she moved two students right at her desk, because they are struggling so bad. I got my very own Bethware shirt Friday, and I am super excited because we get to wear them on field trips! My teacher started this new thing this week, where she will play a popular song on the Smart board form Youtube with the lyrics, and the students will sing along with it and they have to read the lyrics as they go. This helps with reading fluency and the students get very engaged. We watched The Lion King today, and compared it to the novel that we just finished in class. A little boy in my class was balling his eyes out the whole movie, and it was so sad. I was working one on one with a little girl on a math assignment, and I noticed that every time she did not know an answer, she would put the number 7, and leave it at that. So I had to break her from that habit. 

My CE does an amazing job making her classroom feel safe and productive. I have complemented her many times on this process, and I saw a great article on Edutopia, that reflected how she makes her classroom a safe enviroment. In order for your class to be positive, the teacher needs to lay down expectations in the beginning of the school year. If the students know what is expected of them, this will help the atmosphere of my classroom become peaceful. Most of the time when people think of the environment of the classroom, they think of the behavior of the students, but the environment includes the teacher. Teachers must also focus on their behavior and be very careful not to send mixed messages to students. Another way to plan on making sure the classroom has a positive environment is making sure that the students come up with the classroom rules that are fair to all the students. I understand that I should not have rules for the classroom and only apply them to one student and not apply them to another student. When one student is allowed to break the rules and not be corrected, this allows the other students in the classroom to feel there is favoritism going on in the class. Communication is the key to a successful classroom, is what I think. When there is clear communication misunderstandings are at a minimum. When presenting or reviewing a lesson in my classroom I understand that it may take some students a little longer to answer a question. I should allow the student think time in order to answer the question. If a teacher quickly moves to the next student when a student does not answer as fast as expected, this could cause the student self-esteem to become low and it could possibly make other students think little of the student also. 

Creating a positive and productive enviroment in the classroom falls under the NCPTS number two, of teachers establish a respectful enviroment for a diverse population of students. We want our students to strive in our classrooms, and for them to be productive and do their best in the safe enviroment that we establish.