Another Day, Another Dollar

This morning I woke up a little sleepy and said to my roommate "Another day, another dollar."  Then I remember I'm not being paid. http://www.sadtrombone.com 

Last week, I worked on re-testing Ms. Grant's math students on Star Math and we saw much improvement but still had four students (3-Urgent Intervention and 1- Intervention) that need extra help with basic math concepts.  Upon brainstorming with the Math Coach and Ms. Grant, we decided that I would pull these four students daily and work on CMC (Connecting Math Concepts) with them, ensuring they have the mastered the basic foundations in math.

Today was my first day with the small group and we had 15 minutes to meet.  I was convinced we would get through the first lesson in no time:  counting money, place value, measurement, math facts, we could do it!  Ms. Grant looked at me like I was crazy, she knows her students much better than I do.  

Did I mention my University Supervisor was on hand to conduct and informal observation?  Fortunately, she stayed for the first promising five minutes, the minutes where I explained what we would be doing and reviewed the rules.  I have to say, it seemed like the longest 15 minutes of my life.  We only made it through the lesson on counting money because one girl continuously blurted out answers despite me starting with:

"I'm so excited that you know the answer, I'm proud of you for doing math so quickly in your mind but we need to make sure that the others understand too."

and moving to:

"I need you to not blurt out the answers."

to:

"Lock up your lips and give me the key."

During all this, she had somehow (I still don't know what was so funny) laughed until she was blue in the face.  Literally.  She told me she was lightheaded.  I'll bet she was!!!

Clearly, classroom management is going to be the key and any and all suggestions are welcome in how to manage disruptive behavior. 

I conclude with a picture of the sunset from the drive home yesterday.  Gorgeous.






  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sweet Shanghai

Image
Things always seem to come full circle and that was certainly the case in this latest adventure in China. It seemed like ages ago that we were in a taxi with Professor Rhea headed from the Shanghai Pudong Airport over to Hongqiao Airport to catch our flight to Guiyang and it was decided that the driver would cruise through downtown to show us the Bund. First glimpse of The Bund A little taste of Shanghai and a glimpse of what was yet to come, I was hooked and looked forward to our last days in China simply because they involved exploring one of the world's largest cities that I knew was full of art and wonder. Shanghai's famous skyline  Lizzy's friend, Melissa, graciously invited us to stay in her apartment and I looked forward to reuniting to rehash our weekend at the Miao Village as well as commiserate with teaching stories as Melissa was an English Teacher at a private school.   We landed in Shanghai and had no trouble finding a taxi to Melissa...
Read more

For Ms. Mahoney & 5M at Hawthorne Elementary in Missoula, Montana

Image
Greetings 5M! How are you all doing?  It's been a while!  After my time in your classroom, I spent the holidays in Ohio with my family, student taught in a second grade class in Browning, MT and I'm currently in my 6th week student teaching at Guiyang No. 4 Experimental Primary School in Guiyang, Guizhou, China. Map of China showing Guiyang.  China is huge! Here's a close-up of our neighborhood.  Notice we are very close to a park.  Qianling Park is famous for its monkeys!   Monkey monkeying around at Qianling Park Things are really different here, as you can imagine.  I thought you'd be interested to know what the typical school day is like for a student in a Chinese public school.  I've been teaching 2nd, 3rd and sometimes 6th grade.  The 6th graders are preparing for a standardized test so I am not permitted to teach them every week.  At No. 4, there are over 1,000 students in grades 1-6.  There are four cl...
Read more

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Image
Lizzy and I had many things to celebrate today, our first day completely on our own and we did awesome!!! First, we had a leisurely morning at our hotel.  I made us coffee and we spent some time updating our blog and making a game plan for the day.  Our main goal was to find the grocery store nearest to our hotel.  We had lunch on the way at a spot where we will become regulars.  The menu was in Chinese and we started to panic.  How on earth would we order?  There was only one other couple in the restaurant and the gal happened to be an English teacher at the High School.  Boy, were we lucky.  Her  English name was Elaine and we told her to order what was best at this particular restaurant.  We had sweet fish, rice, cucumber soup and a vegetable that translates to "good bitter."  It was no corned beef and cabbage but it was one of the best we've had yet! As we strolled around, we noticed another cozy coffee shop and finally ...
Read more