I have had the difficult task of trying to teach 5th graders about poetry. Some are naturally into it, but most are pretty indifferent. We do our ELA at the beginning of the day, so some are still tired and still waking up. But, through using a couple different techniques (only revealing the poem one stanza at a time then pausing for questions/predictions/wonders/reactions, having them guess what the title of the poem is (or what they think it should be), and trying to make connections to some of their interests, I have been able to get some hand raises and engagement from students who I wouldn’t have expected to lean into poetry.

This is significant child interaction in the sense that it was a student who was encouraging me. As we were walking back from specials one day, a student asked “Mr. Bahorik, is it true this is your first year teaching?” I chuckled and replied, “Yeah, is it pretty easy to tell?” And the student said, “Well, on your first day, I could tell, but now you’re like an expert!”  :)  I told her I appreciated that and told her that I still have plenty to learn but you all (the students) and Mrs. Rocha have helped me learn so much already.”

Still struggling with technology. Connecting to the speakers in the room, projecting to the right screens, navigating my presentations from my computer and the smart board. Also, having a hard time responding to students who give incorrect answers, or answers that are way off. I know with time and experience I’ll get better about redirecting and encouraging, but it feels pretty clunky and almost disingenuous. 

Struggle - One of the biggest struggles is having to depend on the teacher to help share content because everything has to be online and the textbooks that we use is also online and I cannot login to her account we continuously have to swap out my computer for hers.

Success story- We’ve been ACCESS testing for the past 3 weeks and tomorrow is finally our last day!!!

Significant child interaction- I haven’t had the chance to work “in person” with my students due to testing, but I’ve been testing them in person. It’s been great to see our 1st graders learn to yet navigate another new set of technology, per say. They’ve been using iPads (touch screen) and they had to test using chromebooks. It’s been amazing to see how fast they have figured it out and have successfully completed all 4 language domain areas of testing (listening, reading, speaking and writing). 

Struggle- Hybrid. Working on zoom with multiple people who are also on zoom continues to be difficult. 

I received a special thank you note from a parent as her child talked about our interactions in the class. The parent mentioned that her child is excited to come to school and looks forward to working with me. The note has been a highlight of my week and truly made all the other hard work worth it.

I had my observation this week, and when my supervisor was leaving the room, she was telling my CT that I did well. A student overheard her and said, good job Mrs. Sakhi. We helped you pass 😊

The current challenge that I have is not student teaching. It’s due to the month of Ramadan I am not sleeping enough, and I want to make sure that my work and student interaction are not affected by it. Overall, it’s been a great two weeks. 

Take over is off to a great start.  Students have transitioned well with the take over.  Students enjoyed learning about fractions. We even started signing songs as attention getters.  My entire class did an amazing job at citing quotes from nonfiction text.  It took some time as this was a long writing assignment.  Students wrote an opinion piece, introduced their topic, took a stance and supported it with evidence from the text.  I’m extremely proud of the hard work they put in.

Significant Child Interaction

I truly enjoy being in fourth grade and feel like this is where I belong.   My class does writing prompts a few days a week.  This allows me to engage with students and learn about them.  We usually spend a few minutes talking about things.  Students are now trading in their class dojo points and making a silly activity for me to do. Dressing up in a princess costume may be in my future.  

Challenges

I have a couple of students that are tired of using pear decks. Unfortunately these students are remote so it’s hard to see what they're working on.  Pear deck allows us to see if they’re working on their assignment.   I’ve given students options on ways they can turn in their work.  But honestly I feel as the school year progresses  students lose focus.