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Kathleen - HI and welcome!
pooh - What grade are you student teaching in Sped?
pooh - I am assigned to 3rd grade
SPED - This is my second attempt at Student teaching. My first student teaching experience was terrible. I was in fourth/fifth grade resource room. This fall I will be teaching in 1st and second grade self contained classroom.
Kathleen - Tonight's sponsor is Inspiring Teachers http://www.inspiringteachers.com
CJ - Hello everyone, I am teaching kindergarten
pooh - I did my student teaching in first grade and loved it
SPED - i feel that I will love it as well.
CJ - I had a wonderful student teaching experience also, its the real thing that has blown me away
Kathleen - Inspiring Teachers offers the Survival Kit for New Teachers and their new release, ABC's of Effective Parent Communication. Also look for their Mr. Tim's Tips for New Teachers at http://www.inspiringteachers.com
pooh - I worked as an assistant for 9 years in k,1,5/6 combo and 6 special ed. full incluseion class
pooh - I am anxious to begin my first year "solo" but scared as well
SPED - Pooh how did you like it. Tell me about your experience.
Lee - I just completed my 2nd year...and I'm STILL confused
Laur - I just took my first teaching job.
pooh - I plan on doing my teaching utilizing various themes
SPED - Join the part Lee
bola - Lee what do you teach
pooh - what grade Laur?
Lee - Well this past year: elementary AND high school Spanish
KW - Hi everyone. I just finished my 1st year and am I glad it;s over and I came out alive :-)
newteach - hello everyone. I am in the process of interviewing
Lee - Congrats KW
CJ - KW: I feel the same way.
pooh - I really enjoyed mystudent teaching. I was able to do it with a teacher who has 24 yrs experience and teaches thematically
KW - Thanks!
KW - CJ, what grade do you teach?
newteach - I was asked as a final step to come in and teach a lesson. Any words of wisdom?
SPED - Hello
CJ - KW: I teach Kindergarten
KW - 2nd grade here
Laur - I took a position as a third grade teacher in an eary intervention program classroom, consisting of 8-11 low functioning children.
newteach - Is anyone familiar with the Rigby Literacy Program?
CJ - KW: I love the teaching part, its all the other stuff that you aren't taught that gets to me.
pooh - wow, newteach, that would be a challenge to go teach a lesson
pooh - ck
Kathleen - When looking for math supplies and free activities, try http://www.mathgoodies.com - the Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies site. :-)
KW - CJ, you said it!!! The actual teaching was great. I wish we had time to do more of it. I spent many of those first weeks in constant tears.
newteach - I'm a little nervous. I won't know until the day before what grade/subject.
pooh - oh wow KW that is scary to know I could be in tears that early in the game.
Lee - Better tears than handling it the way I did...I just stressed out....crying would have been healthier, I think
SPED - So how does this thing work. Do we discuss our experiences, or what? (confused)
pooh - why so late newteach?
Lee - Plan on it pooh....it's the way of teaching
KW - I wasn't given anything. no curriculum, books, nada. I had to hunt everything down myself in a strange place. Needless to say I made myself be outgoing and bugged the other teachers to death!
CJ - KW: I know what you mean. If I could only have an assistant that was with me more than 40 minutes in the AM and 40 minutes in the afternoon and wasn't pulled everytime there was something extra going on I think I would have had a lot less stress.
SPED - This is my first time on a chat room.
pooh - KW, I can see why the stress
Lee - We just lost most of our Paras due to a new law
newteach - Has anyone else had to teach a sample lesson as their final stage of interviewing?
KW - My advice, ask ask ask. The only thing is there is SO SO SO much that you don't know to ask because of inexperience. That is the big thing, you don't know what to ask.
CJ - KW: I was pretty much on my own with what I taught too. We are given the SOL's to go by but it was up to us to do the rest.
Lee - Not me, newteach
KW - me either newteach
pooh - me neither newteach.
newteach - any info on the Rigby Literacy Program?
CJ - KW: I was blessed to be given a mentor. She was my next door neighbor on the hall and always gave me extras of everything.
pooh - I have never heard of it
Lee - well, let me tell you: DO NOT BE AFRAID to ask about seeing several different veteran teacher's gradebooks...I didn't have a clue!!
pooh - our school doesn't do the mentor teacher bit, but I am going to ask for one.
Lee - and neither did any of my fellow newbies!
KW - My team was great. I had amentor teacher, but not until the middle of the first semester. Lee is right, DO NOT be intimidated. You have to be pushy!!
Lee - I had a mentor assigned my 1st year...we were just on different planning schedules, so I never got to see her
CJ - The mentor program I am speaking of is a system wide program. All new teachers to the system are assigned an onsite mentor.
Stanley - Are your mentors usually at your same sites?
pooh - Luckily, I am teaching at the same school I did my assistant teaching at so I know most of the teachers and families
Lee - my 1st 3 months were a disaster: 1st year teaching, husband asked for a divorce AND doctor announce major surgery -- I feel very happy at not ending up in a padded cell somewhere
KW - I had no clue how to write "real" lesson plans. One of the teachers sat with me and helped me write my first week. I felt SO dumb, but college doesn't teach you how to write "real" plans
CJ - The mentors meet with you the week before the students start and you are required to hold monthly meetings and go over a checklist.
KW - my mentor was down the hall from me
MAK - I'm joining in a little late, please excuse me. My name is MaryAnn, but I'm using the MAK nickname. I am going to listen a bit and then join in. So far I see we are discussing mentoring, being new, lesson plans.
pooh - college give some good info--but not the real world stuff
Stanley - KW, can you explain what you mean by "real" lesson plans?
Lee - you're right KW: college gives you weeks to plan one week and you don't have to have a follow up....you're not prepared for having them turned in by noon on Friday
KW - CJ, I wish I would've had that. I did have some meetings, but they weren't too good
Lee - EVERY Friday
CJ - KW & Pooh: I agree with the college doesn't teach the real world, but I have to say my college really did explain a lesson plan.
Lee - lesson plans that really work
KW - Stanley, I mean writing plans in a plan book. College taught me to write 3 page lessons, not 2 lines in a tiny square :-)in
Lee - at my college, it was hit or miss, completely dependent on who your instructors were
sarah - I use my plans only as a refernce for myself. I put only a few words to jog my memory of what I thought would be a good idea. I think plans are to be used as a refernce, not set in stone.
Stanley - KW, Exactly! I went nuts with the 3 pg jobs!
MAK - Lesson plans were very big at my university in the educ. department. I found them less useful in the real classroom, where live children and situations keep things changing moment by moment. A great starting point...however, sometimes the plan for the day
CJ - I am fortunate in that my principal only wants a brief description of what you plan to do per subject but you must site what standard of learning you are covering.
Lee - Well, let me offer this advice...which I got from my mentor at the END of the year: She told me she kept two sets...one for show and one she worked from
KW - Stanley, me too! I was like, we are NEVER going to use this for real. I wanted to know about plan books and real life stuff
Stanley - Are most of you having to turn a copy of your plan book?
sarah - i turn in a copy of my planbook each Friday.
CJ - Stanley: I have to submit my plan book about every 9 -12 weeks. and at the end of the year.
Stanley - Lee, Interesting comment re the the 2 sets of plans! :-)
KW - I only had to turn my book in twice this year. I have a very leniant principal. She rarely asks for it. I would go insane if I had to turn it in on Fridays!I
MAK - My principal would check them now and then. No turning in. I no longer teach. Write books about art for teachers. But you never forget lesson plans!!
CJ - My principal has been known to go in your room after hours and look at your plan books.
sarah - My principal looks over my plans and has come to see an activity I had planned becuase it sounded neat to her.
Lee - At my 1st school -- a middle school -- a copy was due in the principal's box by noon and a copy had to be present on your desk at all times
sarah - I don't mind my principal looking at my plans....then I know I'm not just doing it "for the fun of it"
CJ - My lesson plan book has to be in view at all times and daily objectives have to be posted daily in your room visible to anyone who enters.
Stanley - Lee, so it was a DAILY requirement @ your 1st school?
Lee - Ours were graded regularly
Lee - I suppose you could call it that
Lee - in a random sort of way
KW - CJ, that must have been tough. We didn't even have to write objectives
sarah - in our plans we needed objectives as well as the stand standards/proficiencies we were teaching
KW - We just had to write the specific lessons and what they covered, but no real objective
pooh - Where are you at Lee
CJ - KW: no not really, just say something like Math - the student will add numbers up to 10.
Lee - I was at a our counties "multiple intelligences (a la H. Gardner)" magnet
Lee - Georgia
KW - In my internship, we had to write the benchmarks or standards that we covered. At my school now we dont
Lee - oops, county's
pooh - The only time I have had to do benchmarks and standards so far was in college
sarah - do any of you know about the Four Block Literacy Program?
Stanley - Sigh... standards based ed! I heard of 1 school in another district where the principal stopped a Mother's Day project because it meet a standard!! :-(
KW - yes I do Sarah
Lee - We are required by law in Georgia to have QCC objectives included on our LPs
KW - I taught it in my internship
pooh - Sarah, I am slowly learning about it. I think it is something I want to tackle
CJ - We have to write the standards for everything, but not all the way out, just list the subject and number you are covering
sarah - KW, my school is beginning to pilot it...I don't know much about it..what can you tell me?
sarah - it sounds liks a good program....
pooh - KW, is it hard to start 4 block
Stanley - Oooops -- make that because it DIDN'T meet a standard!
pooh - I am not sure of any teachers that use it at our school
CJ - Lee: what part of GA are you from. born and raised in Augusta.
Lee - And I've had a practicing middle school teacher who was teaching a science methods course in college suggest that we keep a copy of our lesson plans (with those QCCs included) forEVER to protect us against lawsuits 20 years later from student who claims not to have been taught XYZ
KW - There are basically Four Literacy Blocks, the guided reading block, writing, working with words, and there is one more but i forgot!! I didn't care for the guided reading because it was whole language. I am a basal person. The working with words was great!!! The kids had a bag of alphabet letters and you call out words that they have to spell on their desks....
Lee - Savannah for the past 20 years
REI - Hi everyone...I am not a new teacher, but am very well informed on the 4 Blocks model (I train other teachers in the model).
sarah - Isn't 4 blocks basically for grades 1,2 altough parts are carried out in the intermediate grades?
Stanley - Give us a primer, REI!
KW - The Making Words was my favorite. The way my supervising teacher taught the guided reading did not appeal to me.
MAK - I don't know anything about 4 BLocks, except that it seems to be very popular right now.
CJ - I have enjoyed chatting with all of you, but I must go. I still have 6 more days of school. Have a great night.
REI - 4 Blocks is a 1-3 program. Big Blocks is 4-6 and Building Blocks is Kindergarten.
KW - My school now has never heard of it! I was floored considering my school and the one I interned at are a mile apart!
pooh - Can you do 4 block in 3rd grade if the students have not had it before
sarah - Honestly....do you think 4 block is the"new thing" and in three years time it will be replaced with something else?
Lee - 'night, CJ
REI - Pooh...YES!!!!
Stanley - REI, 4 Blocks is basically associated with Pat Cunningham, right?
KW - All my sup. teacher had the kids do for writing was write stories. There was no structure at all.
Lee - Yeah, our schools are out, but I got stuck with emptying TWO classrooms since I will be teaching from a cart next year
sarah - yes it is Stanley
REI - 4 Blocks isn't new. Been in the classrooms for over 10 years.
Lee - So, I have to go in tomorrow
KW - sarah, where do you teach?
pooh - REI how is the best way to begin 4 block without training
sarah - IN
Lee - I think it's amazing how teachers are subjected to "flavor of the month" strategies -- it's disheartening
REI - KW~Bummer...that isn't a true Writing Block structure.
pooh - I don't think my principal will send me to training my first year
KW - What is the Writing Block supposed to consist of?
MAK - That's still new for me! Last taught in 1980 but have been active teaching teachers about integrating art with other subjects from preschool through middle school.
KW - for that matter, the Guided Reading Block too?
sarah - there are excellent 4 block books by Cunningham that are great resouces and monthly schedules
Lee - What I need most right now is advice, LP ideas, etc., for teaching elementary Spanish from a cart
Stanley - Waiting with baited breath, REI! :-)
REI - Pooh....get the Teacher's Guide to the 4 Blocks. Read it from cover to cover over and over again. I suggest that if you are serious about using 4 Blocks you join the Mailring too. Lot's of resources and support.
MAK - I want to learn more about this. So many people on listservs I'm on are using Four Blocks. Do you think it is effective?
MAK - Okay, Spanish from a cart. What grades?
sarah - MAK, I have seen the 4 blocks used in the 1st grade....I think it is wonderful
Lee - K through 5th
MAK - Sounds like time for lots of
Cas - I need advice on how to assess my students at the beginning of the year. Any good resources?
MAK - Sounds like time for lots of acting out stories, scenes, situations. Hold up vocabulary cards, try to use the words in t he acting.
Stanley - REI, What "Blocks" book would you recommend for a T who does not know what K-6 grade he'll be teaching next yr?
REI - KW~Writing Block is done in 3 segments. Teacher Mini lessons (were you cover skills) the actuall writing segment (Focused Writing, Story Writing, Reports, Letters, etc..) Then Share time.
KW - Does anyone have a principal who is wishy washy when it comes to parents??
MAK - Thanks for my first chat experience. I will be here next week on the 13th to discuss activities for summer. Bye, til then. MaryAnn Kohl, art author
KW - We did do some sharing. There were NO skills taught
KW - My sup. teacher spent NO time in front of those kiddos.
sarah - REI...I have seen, read about and actually did some 4blocks this year in the first grade. Next year I"m teaching 6th grade. What can I expect as far as 4blocks in 6th grade? What will I be doing...etc
Lee - This past year wasn't too productive in the learning how to teach department because I had my kids for a week, then didn't see them again for 3 weeks...there was no retention...but at least I had a little to build on if I had gotten to keep my classroom...so, now I feel like I'm starting from scratch...all the stuff I made is pretty much useless...because a cart only has so much room
REI - Guided Reading~Also done in 3 segments. You use your basal 3 days for on grade level reading and then use a lower level story for 2 days. You also work on comprehension skills during GR too.
KW - All my sup. teacher did was read trade books to the kids and have them do activities pertaining to them. They hardly read at all. How :-(
KW - every once in awhile when she felt like ti she would pull the basal out
REI - Sarah.....4 Blocks takes on a different look in the upper grades. Can you get your hands on the M by M for Upper Grades. The Teacher's Guide to the Big Blocks is suppose to be out in the fall.
gabrielle - helllo
Lee - well guys, thanks for a nice first visit
Lee - hello gabrielle
KW - Does anyone have a nonsupportive principal?
REI - KW~Pat Cunningham and Dottie Hall are very adament about the fact that you SHOULD use your basals for 4 Blocks. That it is NOT a whole language program.
sarah - REI...I should be able to get that book, it sure helped in the 1st grade!
Lee - not now, but have had
gabrielle - Hi,
pooh - a nonsupoortive principal would be very hard to work for I think.
Stanley - KW, Can you be more specific about your administrator?
pooh - I would hate to know that I have to go back there to teach.
Stanley - gabrielle, What grade do you teach?
KW - Wow, what I learned tonight! thanks REI. That teacher was NOT doing her job. Everything was themed and hardly any basal use
gabrielle - What kind of job can I get if I just grad. from High School
REI - There is also a Word Wall for Upper Grades. Are the other upper grade teachers using the 4 Blocks model?
KW - taking my side until it comes to parents. Then could care less about me, wants to make mommy and daddy happy
Lee - the one I had played favorites. If she'd decided you weren't on her A-list, she wouldn't support you in ANYTHING...and if you had a problem student with whom you'd gone through all the steps for corrective measures, she would still send back your disciplinary form with a "call home" note attached
gabrielle - I don't teach, but I just graduated from H.S.
sarah - REI...the whole coorporation is going to a training this summer on 4block. Some teachers were trained last year and are training the rest of us next month.
KW - I am so sorry Lee. That must've been hard
sarah - REI...I really liked the program in 1st grade...I thought it was very good fundementals....I am just interested to see how the various parts work in the 6th grade
pooh - I have got to go..Thanks for the information about 4 block. I am excited to get the information and begin reading
KW - well gabrielle, you have to have a bachelors degree to teach anything K-12
Lee - Well, yeah, it was...she almost kept me from getting a job for my second year....then, of all things...mid-year of my second year, I got farmed out to a high school with an interim principal
Stanley - Problems with parents can be nasty, can't they Lee & KW?
REI - Sarah...good. They were probably trained by Cheryl Sigmon. She has been doing the Indiana 4 Blocks training. She is also the one that is writing the Teacher's Guide for the Upper Grades.
KW - How did she get away with it Lee?
Lee - 3 weeks after I started work there, who should be hired as the fulltime principal, but this woman who would just as soon I disappear from the face of the earth
Sal - My principal is funny about new and different ideas and I am a first year teacher.
Lee - She's very powerful in our county because she makes things LOOK good, and that's what our BOE is all about
sarah - Yes, that name does sound familiar
KW - Yes stanley, especially when the principal is so wishy washy. she wants to take my side but is afraid that if she doesn't kiss up to mom and dad they will start something
Lee - Consider this scenario
Stanley - Unfortunately, educrats CAN be a work...
REI - Sal~how so?
Sal - I'll just check back later.
Lee - I saw a report on retentions for the past three years
Lee - I was particularly interested in the retentions for that middle school
Sal - REI... He expects you to teach the children where at the level they should be at and not where they are at.
Lee - the year before that principal arrived there was an upper 30s percent retention rate
Lee - the year before that principal arrived there was an upper 30s percent retention rate
REI - Sal~do you mean he expects you to teach on grade material?
Lee - after her first year there, it had dropped to the low 20s or upper teens
KW - Mine told one of my fellow teachers to modify her entire curriculum because her grades were too low!
Lee - and after her second year there, it was down to 2%
KW - She told the principal that she was teaching second grade material. She was not teaching first grade
Sal - Yes, in a lecture style. I just found this out hours after I mailed in my contract.
Stanley - Are any of you having to submit S portfolios that are graded by your district?
Lee - In my estimation, she's like a crooked accountant...she's juggled the books
Sal - REI... These are third grade low functioning students.
sarah - Stanley, we do porfoilios, but they are not graded.....how are yours graded?
KW - she has no idea what goes on in our rooms. She has blinders on
Stanley - Specifically, these are reading porfolios that call for a written response?
REI - Sal~are they special students?
Sal - Not all of them have been through the SST process
Stanley - sarah, The district uses them as a piece of its evaluation of the site. Only G-4s have to do this, however.
sarah - i see....our student porflios are from K-5. They have various subject matters in them and they travel each year with the students. My principal looks at them, but doesn't grade them to my knowledge.
KW - thanks for everything tonight. I have to go!
Stanley - Supposedly the writing itself isn't evaluated. However, when the evaluators haven't necessarily read the book to which the S is referring...????
Lee - night KW
Lee - gonna go, too...best of luck to you all
Sal - REI, any suggestions for assessing these students at the beginning of the year.
sarah - each piece in the porfolio has a self evaluation that the student does. It has group work , individual work, comph, writing, S.Studies etc.
Stanley - sarah, That's the way our district does everything BUT G-4, though they're still only Reading portfolios.
sarah - i see
Sal - Goodnight everyone, its getting late.
Stanley - sarah, THAT sounds more like portfolio assessment the way we discussed in Methods Classes!
REI - Sal~Well, depends what you are looking for in your assesment. I give my kiddos an IRI, a math assesment covering everything we will be doing during the year, Word Wall assesment, etc...
sarah - those gloriuos method classes!!!!
Stanley - sarah, I agree about the Methods Classes. However, this is ONE instance where I think they had it right! :-)
Sal - REI... one last question-Do you feel the IRI gives you what you're looking for?
sarah - i have been with 3 different school systems and this is the first one that does anything with a portfolio....the others, I don't think know what a port. is!!! :)
REI - Sal~If done correctly yes.
Stanley - I have problems with a portfolio being a "formal" assessment because I think it is SO hard to paint "lines" around it.
Gary - Hi all....I am completing a teaching certification program this year. I have already been hired to teach fifth grade at a local school...I need advice.
sarah - I agree with you!
Sal - REI, the only time I used it was in my student teaching. Do you use the John's book? And if so where can I get it?
sarah - Congratulations on your job Gary!
REI - Thanks for letting this "old" teacher visit. Going to head back to the other room.
Stanley - CONGRATULATIONS, Gary. Is that for 2000/2001?
sarah - Thanks REI for your help!
Stanley - Thanks, REI!
Gary - Yes...I start Aug31st (5th grade)
Sal - Thanks REI!
REI - Sal~Do you mean Jerry Johns book? We got ours at the local teacher store. I am going to use a program called DRA next year.
Sal - Gary, feel lucky. I am starting my first year teaching on August 2nd. That's too early
Stanley - Gary, have you purchased the materials from Beginning Ts' Toolbox? If not, you should see a link to your left! They make me feel MUCH more prepared!
Sal - REI... I am not familiar with DRA.
Sal - I do not see beginning T's toolbox
Gary - Sal, I agree...I have been in a fourth grade all this school year. I am in a post-bac cert progra,...I don't graduate until Jul30th...My 4th grade class doesn't get out until the 16th of this month.
Stanley - Sal,REI: That's Developmental Reading Assessment, right?
REI - Developmental Reading Assessment.
Sal - REI... Where do you find resources for these assessments? Both at the local teacher store?
Stanley - Sal, You don't see something like, "Sponsored by Beginnig Ts' Toolbox?
sarah - Thanks everyone for all the advice. I need to get going. Have a great summer break and a nice school year in the fall!
Stanley - Same to you, sarah!
Sal - Stanley... I do now thanks. Any advice on where to find resources for beginning teachers?
REI - Sal~I attend a lot of conferences. I stay poor (usually pay my own way), but get my hands on finding great materials and resources.
Sal - REI, don't all teachers stay poor?
Stanley - Sal, What do you mean by resources? Classroom Mgmt?
Sal - Stanley, I'm pretty comfortable with mgmt. More like assessment and curriculum.
Stanley - A sense of humor will buy you LOTS of good vibes, Sal! <G>
Stanley - Sal, What grade? And won't your district &/or grade level colleagues help you with that? No use reinventing the wheel!
Sal - I guess I better get to bed . Goodnight.
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