Journal for 11/13/09 Friday Thoughts...

Domain Methodology
Hmmmm...let's see; what do I want to journal about today?

Well, one thing that I was thinking about today is just how hard it is as a beginning teacher because you have nothing. I mean, if I had taught third grade for 10 years already, I would have a better understanding of the curriculum/standards and what kids are to know. I was going to say that I would have lessons planned already, but that is not correct seeing that each class will be different from year to year, and I will need to plan instruction based off of so many factors...at least I would have a basis though of which to go off.

I started one of my students (probably the "smartest" as they would call her) on a extra project today to give her a "challenge". I am going to have her do some sort of report on China (because she is learning Chinese). She was interested, so I jumped upon that. I am going to give her freedom to do what she wants...a paper, a poster, a game, etc. So we'll see how that ends up. The library there only gave her one book, so I guess I will need to find more for her.

I think my relationships with the teachers/aides are continuing to grow; it's cool. I just love it.

I used a water bottle to help keep my students focused today. They were doing probability experiments, and I threatened to squirt them with the overhead bottle if they talked, so they all started talking. Then I said I would spray them if they were focused on their work...look how that negative reinforcing turned into a positive one! They loved it!

I also started a game of 500 today at recess, which got a few kids moving and playing that don't normally. I also played jump rope with them during their Fantastic Friday reward time for a few minutes...just a small way to get connected to them and one way to move from being a good teacher to a great one.