Date: Thursday, September 8th, 2022
By: Hailey Palella
First Day with the First Graders:
Going into today, I felt really confident because last week went so smooth, even though I was only in the classroom for two hours. Last week, I felt so welcomed by my MT and we had a productive conservation about how things will go for the next fifteen weeks about lesson plans and teaching days. This morning, I was very excited to be in the classroom before the students got there because I wanted to see the look on their faces when they saw me again in their classroom. Their reactions were priceless! I am so very lucky to have a great MT and group of students for this field experience.
As soon as the students got into the classroom, they had something to do, which was their morning journal. Morning journal is something that the students do everyday and is something that they know they need to start working on as soon as they get settled into the classroom. I liked the morning journal idea for my future classroom; I would like to incorporate this into my classroom because all the students come in at different times, so having the morning journal to start their day gives students who are there something to do. Morning journal isn’t something that if students came in late would be a big deal to miss because it does not relate to content, so it is a win-win!
As soon the students got into the classroom, I jumped in. I walked around the classroom and assisted students who were struggling, not paying attention, or just had a question. I felt very comfortable in the classroom and I think it is because of becoming more and more confident within the school setting because of prior field experiences and also being a daycare worker.
After my first day in the classroom was complete, I debriefed with my MT and I asked her if she had any feedback or if she wanted me doing more in the classroom for next week. She told me that next week she would love for me to read a story to the class and she mentioned the theme of kindness. She showed some of the books that I can choose from that she already had picked out! Last week my MT mentioned that she wanted me to see her teach on my first full day, so I can get a better understanding of her schedules, strategies/techniques, teaching style, etc. I mentioned to her that as she was teaching today, I was jotting down some of her classroom management strategies, so I can familiarize myself with them before I teach so the students aren’t thrown off if I used other ones. My MT thought that was a great idea.
My goals for next week is to have all of the students’ names down and I am pretty sure I know most of their names already, read a story and ask three- five open-ended questions, and jump in more ways!
I had such a great day with the first graders and I can’t wait for next week!
*here is a picture of what the morning journal entry was about*
Student A answering the morning journal entry question and drawing a picture that represents their sentence!
posted at 6:35pm- Thursday, September 8th, 2022
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