Curriculum Mapping

Curriculum mapping

The Scottsdale Unified School District, is very organized in that sense. There is a curriculum site for all the school district. The Curriculum alignment guides for elementary school, middle school, and high school are there.

The site has them organized by subjects, Math, E.L.A, Science, Social Studies. Then you can select your grade level K-5, fourth grade, all you can possibly need is there. For E.L.A they have the units of study by topics, animals and characters, etc. They have several books for selecting the read alouds, the independent reading books, and which chapters of the chapter book you should use for each unit, they have also a map of how they are aligned to the Common Core Standards, and which standards you should be teaching. They have resources for student generated questions, games, research, literature, grading rubric, etc. They even have a video trailer of all the books they students will be reading during the school year. That is very useful for curriculum night. The ELA website also has the alignment with the standards for science and math. They also provide writing prompts.

For Math they are also organized per unit of study, it tells you the pace of each trimester. For trimester one for instance we did place value, addition, subtraction with 3 digits, and multiplication and division with two digits. The chapters of the book, the standards, and even the formative and summative assessment you should use is specified there. They also have the vocabulary you should teach per unit of study. Additionally they show you the standards that will be tested in the first benchmark, and that should give you a good idea for the AZ merit.

I use curriculum mapping every day, as my reference of where I should be. It also helps me plan weekly lessons, and prepare them for testing.

Differentiation in the classroom

Differentiation in the classroom

My teaching style is doing the problems for the students as many times as they need it, getting them helpers, using the smartboard and the fun games and activities there. I also show videos not for introduction but for clarification. We always review math homework in case there are any questions or concerns so everybody is on the same page. I also allow them to work in groups, pair and share, use the whiteboards and play with their neighbors. Many times I will use thinking maps to summarize the information so that they can understand and study faster. Science is fun to teach because it involves investigations, following instructions, and putting down their observations. Using exit tickets, helps in knowing if they understood or not. The appropriate assessment helps to evaluate the progress and understanding of students. Songs are helpful with students with an auditory memory, pictures, drawing, art, projects are other things that can be used for reaching deeper levels of cognitive learning, using multi-sensory techniques.

Many times differentiation has to be a different teaching style to reach different kind of populations, we have a diverse group of students in every classroom, some have ADHD, others are just growing up and developing so they don’t understand immediately as we adults doing to, we need to do everything to keep them engaged. Therefore we have to make it good for everybody so they are having fun, and learning at the same time. 

Teaching reading

My students are in 4^th grade, according to the reading and literacy standards they should be able to read and write fluently now. Some of my students are in that level, but most of them aren’t. I am already teaching comprehension in different subject matters. There are definitively some literacy challenges, that I am trying to address little by little.  We did a read aloud text together as a class, Shadow by Michael Morpurgo. They really enjoyed the reading, I found many of them have difficulties answering questions by themselves; therefore we did it as a group. I have a round table and I ask them to help me reading to see how their decoding is doing. Their AR tests in English could be better being their native language. When we have readings I always try to use Webb’s depth of knowledge questions. Most of the students are reading 4.5-5.1 level books. I am following the common core standards; this trimester was reading informational text, and including science and social studies topics. We are also doing spelling, and daily paragraph editing for conventions, and writing papers. ELA is not my favorite to teach but I am glad my first year I am not responsible of teaching to decode and encode. I am taking a phonics class, and tutoring one of my students with the systematic action reading phonics course. I am getting my practice and experience now in that so I can do it easily in the future.

Technology use in the classroom

Our students live in the generation of information and technology; they have more access to knowledge than any prince of the medieval times. Most jobs require the use of different software and hardware. As teachers we need to integrate the use of software and devices within our classroom time.
 We have 45 minutes of computer lab time for lessons. My 4^th grade has 3 computers in the classroom for students to take AR tests of library reading books, as well as any other book from my library, or any other public library. My school has plenty of technology tools for teachers like: Discovery Education with educational videos about any subject. Foss kits with smart-board lessons and resources, My Math Mcgraw-hill with lessons that include videos, songs, and interactive games for math. Additionally, we have Dreambox for learning math facts, Reflex math for homework, Duolingo for learning their second language Spanish. As a teacher, I get reports from all these programs that tell me my students progress. I can find out about their reading level, and comprehension levels from STAR reading. As a new teacher, it took me a sometime to figure out all these programs, how to send assignments with them, how to print reports. I am very happy to use technology during my lessons, my students love all the interactive activities on the smart-board. For assessment we have School City, we can create our computer tests, and already link them to the standards. It is the same program we use for benchmarks and district evaluations.
My strength is that I am incorporating everything I have access to, my weakness will be keeping up with all the reporting, and I feel I could create more smart board presentations but I have to schedule an appointment with my technology coach from the district to be able to do that. I need more than 45 minutes at the computer lab to teach students how to use Microsoft Office. My assessments could be 100 % online, but I still have them on paper. I guess that is what I am used to, and I don't have a lot of time to switch all of my subjects to the system. There are so many things I could incorporate if I just had the time to do it.

Assessment

One of my first trainings as a new teacher in the school district was about formative and summative assessment.  It was very useful because, my district uses a different grading system from the traditional model. My school district focuses on grading improvement rather than busy work, or practice. Formative assessment is practice of a standard, subject, or topic that has been taught, modeled, enriched, remediated, practiced, and even tested. We only count the three final grades of the end of unit summative assessment to grade a standard. For formative assessment, we use the independent practice, the homework, the exercises made in class. I can say that on a scale of 1-10 I am 8. I use exit tickets, I use whiteboards a lot for spelling, and math problems, I use thinking maps, thumbs up and down, I use homework, pretests, pair and share, etc. For summative assessment I use end of unit tests based on the homework, and classroom work, only when a standard has been dominated. This could happen in the form of a paper, project presentation, test, etc.  Assessment results help me reteach something that is not clear in class. Sometimes, kids forget vocabulary words. Sometimes, I reteach those concepts, when I see that they haven’t paired the correct word with the correct concept. Formative and summative assessment results are very useful for differentiating learning styles in students. Some are more visual, other listeners, other independent learners. I could say that I have incorporated, manipulatives, songs, smart board lessons, to reteach for students who didn’t get it the first time.

Special Education

At the beginning of the school year, they told me that I didn’t have any special education students, or any gifted students. That all of them were in the other two classes. They suggested informing parents about gifted testing available for everybody. I informed parents in case they wanted to test their kids to know if they are gifted.

 I have one 504 student with a plan. His plan includes, special seating: soft cushion, preferred seating area close access to the teacher. Peer to peer assistance, make sure he has his homework on his planner every day, and that I need to be aware of his location during emergencies, fire drills, and lockdown drills. There are some low literacy students in my class, but they told me that the literacy specialist help is only until K-3. I chose one student for tutoring; I am doing the reading tutoring of the TIR program with her. I haven’t met with my school’s pre-referral group team, I just talked briefly to the literacy specialist, since this is my first year and they didn’t assign any special education students to my classroom. However, I want to find out more about referring students for special education, and the process. I will ask my mentor about the requirements, and process in the school.

Another of my concerns, is peer relationships in my classroom, I have noticed there is continuous bullying going on, we have an I message campaign but it works for the first message, before it becomes a fight. I referred a couple of students to peer group counseling, with the district specialist. 

How do I feel?

In this blog post I will reflect on my feelings. I feel these last couple of months  have been super busy for me. I’ve dedicated myself completely to my job, and school. I can easily say that it will be great to focus only on my work, and students. The toughest part of the TIR program is to find some time for yourself, and your family. I am married, and I miss time with my husband.  He has been pretty supportive, I couldn’t do this without his help. We don’t have any children yet, it must be extremely hard to do this with a family to take care of. This fall break we tried to spend time as a family, and I feel pretty renewed.  We got to clean my house thoroughly, and some home projects.  I was able to take two midterms, and grade student’s work.  I will love some time for myself as well; joining a Zumba class is what I want to do once I am done with the program. Physically, I feel I want to exercise.

My most difficult students, I see some light at the end of the tunnel. Some of them want attention they are not getting at home, some of them need validation. I am learning everyday about them; most of them are doing well in math. I feel, after recess is my most difficult time. They always come fighting from the playground. It is also hard to get them motivated in Spanish, some of them show absolute no interest for Spanish and it is very frustrating. Positive reinforcement works pretty well, with some of my most challenging students. They need to get something when they do as they are told.  I will implement a couple of new procedures after recess in order to have better results with their attention, and behavior. 

My students who pay attention, are learning a lot, and it is reflected on their grades. Still my goal is the same to have an inviting learning environment for all of them, and that they feel appreciated, and respected always.

Classroom Management

My first week of school my students behaved very well. I feel they were just testing me to see how nice I was. One of the teachers at the school told me, don't smile, you don't want them to see you smiling at least until the end of the first quarter. I didn't listen to her advice right away, but after a couple months you realize you have to do it, because you are there to teach academics, and behavior. Now, I feel I forgot how to smile. As a new teacher you have to let your students know that they are there to work, learn, and you are going to make sure everybody learns.
The school has a behavior management system in place, most of the teachers use this behavior clip chart. Students get three warnings, if they don't correct the behavior by the fourth time, they need to go to the principal's office. For positive reinforcement we have star postal cards sent to the parents for good behavior, they are also announced in the school news network. Additionally, students get a prize after the T.V. announcement. The star cards are a school wide positive reinforcement system. For positive reinforcement within my classroom we have table points, the table with more points by the end of the week gets fun Friday. Sometimes this system works, but I think I need to implement something more customized per student.

Some important components of classroom management are: Clear instructions, students need to know the directions for doing the next activity. Schedule, it helps students know what’s coming up. Patterns, review homework, warm up, guided instruction, independent practice, and homework. I feel that has been a success in my classroom. Positive reinforcement is something I am working on but I want it to be effective.

Today, we had a PBIS training, which is a positive reinforcement system to teach new skills to students. It is a wonderful tool and I will implement it in my classroom as soon as possible. Positive reinforcement needs to be given individually, immediately, consistently, and only given for good behavior. Giving someone your attention is reinforcement, as teachers we need to focus on those students who are behaving as it is expected, more than in those students who are distracting the entire class. For implementing this I will have a treasure box, and tickets. Students who get 5 tickets or more by the end of the week, can get an item from the treasure box. Tickets will be given only when students has applied a positive skill, I will mention it verbally in front of the entire class, and I will specify the good action.
In my classroom I have 14-16 students who can stay on task, listen to instructions, and behave. I have two students, who can disrupt the entire classroom in one second.
www.educationworld.com is a good website to learn what's going on in the education world. Still, I feel the lessons learned in the classroom by teaching, you can't learn anywhere else. Classroom management is one of those areas that you can only learn in the field with children with all sorts of backgrounds. As teachers in residence, we are fortunate to get more hands on experience than any other teacher preparation program.

What has worked and what hasn't

          For any new teacher, is very important to have established procedures. My table leaders procedure, my slant procedure, my hand signals for water, bathroom, materials, trash, are working pretty good. In 4th grade, it is my opinion that students should learn to be responsible of their own property, and keep up with their school work. All the way till 3rd grade I believe teachers manage the students' colors, crayons, markers, rulers, and scissors. When are they going to learn? I thought, if the teacher does everything for them. They are almost in 5th grade and out of Elementary school.
Growing up in Ecuador, I was taught to be responsible of my belongings from day one of  Kinder Garden. I knew when to use a pen, when to use a pencil, when to use colored pencils, rulers, scissors, and markers. Every supply had my name on it, and if I lost it or misused it, I knew I will be out of supplies by the end of the first trimester. By the time I was in fourth grade, I had 8 notebooks for different subjects, the cover pages, and the content was immaculate.
         For that reason I thought, students should be able to take care of their belongings this school year. The second week of class, I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision. To my surprise students had no idea of how to take care of their school supplies. They used the scissors, rulers, markers, when they were supposed to be paying attention. Most of the pencils, and erasers were already cut in pieces. Finally, I decided in order to help them I would tell them exactly what they needed to have for every activity. "The only thing you need to have on top of your desk is your reading book." If I could go back in time I would take the scissors and rulers away from them.
        I started the school year with 4 rows and 4 columns of seats with spaces in between. That was the layout of my classrooms when I was growing up. I changed into tables of four, when I realized they will be sharing textbooks. Another reason why I changed the arrangement, was that the last row wasn't paying attention. If I could go back, I would have it in U shape from the beginning of the school year.
Little by little, students are learning how to use their notebooks. I feel that by the end of the school they will have a better idea of the purpose of having one.

Two things that are going well in my classroom

It was my first semester as a teacher, and I couldn't wait to see my classroom, and to meet my students. After the meet the teacher night, I felt pretty confident of the upcoming school year. One of the good news was to find out that I had a small classroom, and cute loving students who gave me hugs from the first day they met me.  I am lucky most of the classes have more than 25 students per class, but mine has only 18. But things were not going so smoothly, at the beginning of the first week of work we found out that our dear principal had health problems and that we were going to have a new principal. Everybody was a little bit nervous, nevertheless we were fortunate enough to have a new wonderful addition to our team. Our new principal has been wonderful support, and advice to us.
The elementary where I am working is a very special place, since it has a foreign language immersion program, and I get to teach in two languages. Most of the teachers teach either in English or Spanish, however, I am one of the two lucky ones who gets to teach in both. It is a lot more planning and work, and I don´t have another teacher to share the same students, I am a single, and that call comes with more responsibility. Nevertheless, there are 2 other fourth grade teachers, and I have had the blessing to work with two very experienced teachers, their help has been tremendous, and we have a very nice team.
The first week of school was a success. I look back and I reflect at my students behavior, and it was remarkable, it allowed me to get in tune with all the school systems, programs, and look at the curriculum, the units of study, the textbooks, materials, etc.
Curriculum night went very well I did a presentation, and the new principal came to see me in case I needed support. She was surprised of my presentation and how I mentioned every topic we had planned in our grade level meeting.
As the school year progresses,  I have been increasing the load of work to my students. I have to admit two things going well on my class are Math, Spanish Language Arts, and Reading.  I have 4 tables that work pretty well and accomplish work easily. During the morning we get so much done. I have identified my students with difficulties. I have noticed that most of the behavior problems start after recess, after they socialize with each other.
My objective is to teach my students to love learning, and hopefully how to get along with each other in a respectful way. The best part of teaching are my students, I have realized teaching is not as easy as it seems, and it comes with a lot more things like training, meetings, planning, duties, classroom management, and in my case it comes with the teacher certification program.