Urban Semester

I just had my second observation. I think that the students are a little more comfortable with visitors in the classroom. They are still talkative and very active. The observation itself went ok. We did a lesson on magnets and the students enjoyed getting hands on to do the experience. There was one item that confused the kids but otherwise they understood the experiment. If they understood the concept I'm not just sure yet. I have to check the observation papers and give those to Mrs. C for a Science grade.

At the end of this week, it has not been too bad. The weather has been cooler and then warmer, making it hard for the students and teachers to concentrate. Mrs. C has been a 'whiny girl' and not taken the kids out for recess because it has been so warm.

So, I had my first observation today. We did a trial run of the game I was going to play with their vocabulary words from the story we are reading before my professor arrived. I think it helped but some of the students didn't want to play the second time around. I gave her a side note about that. I hope that everything is going to be good. I had a couple of the better students testing me big time. Mrs. C was not happy about that at all.

We rearranged the classroom into groups. I like this set up much better than the rows because students are given more responsibility to take care of themselves. This morning, Mrs. C told them they have to prove that they can sit in a different setting or we are going to have to move the desks back to the rows. So far, they are not holding up their end of the deal.

So I have a really funny story! I was setting up the phonics learning center yesterday and I was making sure that all the parts were there. There is an activity where you match the words with the correct blends, examples being fl-, tr-, oo and ou. I was matching the vowel blends when I came across the word punod. I was at a loss for what this word was and where it went! As I got to looking at it a little more, I noticed that it did not go with any of the vowel blends or consonant blends. So I decided that maybe it was a trick word. I turned the word over and low and behold.... it's the word pound! Pound fits into the ou vowel blend! I told Mrs. C about it and was laughing so hard the students noticed my face getting red. I thought it was the funniest thing ever and realized that we need to make sure that word is turned the correct way when the students do that center.

I am really wondering when teachers get everything done. I know that my classroom teacher has stayed late almost every night. There is so much to do and I try to help out as much as possible, but I think there is so much going on after we leave that we can't help with! I am trying to do some of my lesson plans and I am having a hard time because we don't have all the materials from the book companies. When the teacher guides are in line with the kits they provide, it is hard to teach when you don't have the kits.

So, the second week is over. I think that there are a couple of days out of the week that are just short. We have class in the morning, class in the afternoon and lunch in between. So over all we have about two or so hours in the classroom. Those days are hard because you have to go from student mode, to teacher mode, back to student mode. It's going to take some getting used to but I believe we will be ok!

My name is Autumn and I am a student at Ball State University. I have been in an Indianapolis school for one full week and a couple of days. Before school started all of the BSU students participating in the Urban Semester met for a day of beginning instructions and introductions to classes we would be taking in Indy. We also helped our classroom teachers set up the room, put up bulletin boards, make nametags, and whatever else needed to be done before the students arrived. That whatever else turned out to be a variety of things that most of us never thought had to be done.