I am currently a fifth grade teacher. I love teaching and put a lot of time and dedication in it. I have had many wonderful students in my past 9 years teaching. However, this year has been an exceptional year. I began the year with a student who had a very difficult past. The past 2 years he spent the majority of his time in trouble. I was warned ...See MoreI am currently a fifth grade teacher. I love teaching and put a lot of time and dedication in it. I have had many wonderful students in my past 9 years teaching. However, this year has been an exceptional year. I began the year with a student who had a very difficult past. The past 2 years he spent the majority of his time in trouble. I was warned about his negative and volatile attitude. He had the attitude that he did not care about school or what teachers thought. He had spent almost as much time home in the past 2 years as he had at school, due to suspensions. The first week of school I set in my mind that he was going to be successful this year. He is an intelligent boy, has excelled academically and behaviorally, is very positive, asks to stay after school to work more, etc. His attitude for the future has also been altered. He is the most dependable and dedicated student that I have this year. He is also among the top with his behavior, completely the opposite from his past years. His mom and him have both been very complimentary for helping him realize how smart he is and showing him how much he can achieve. She has been amazed at the turn around that he has made, even made a comment about how she wished that I could teach him in future years as well.He now has a future dream to attend college and become a DOCTOR in the future. I have so much faith in him, but am worried about the change to middle school next year. His mom is raising him by herself and due to her work schedule she does not see him as often as he would like. He basically just needs to see and know that someone cares about him and believes in him. What can I do to continue having a positive impact on his future after he leaves my class?
On 4/05/09, Leah wrote: > Congratulations on all your efforts! > > Now that his mom knows there is hope for her son, could she > change jobs or shifts, or could she spend much more time taking > walks, etc. with him? These next few years will be KEY to his > future. > > Could you keep in touch with him via email? I know that is > asking a lot, but Middle School is tough and the relationship > you have established with him would not be easily established > with another adult. > > Best wishes! > >
I think the Big Brother thing is a great idea. He is going to need a strong male in his life, especially going into middle school.
If the Big Brother thing doesn't work out (I know there's usually a waiting list), is there a pastor in the nieghborhood that could maybe take him under his wing? Or is there a teacher or counselor at the middle school that could befriend him?
At-risk students are victims of circumstances. They can’t pull themselves up by the bootstraps – they have no boots.
No child abuse is more insidious, pernicious, and pervasive than the pain and humiliation of school failure inflicted daily on the lives of unfortunate, at-risk students.
So this year I decided to ignore the rules. I have been teaching whole-group all year, all subjects (even reading). Instead of meeting with small groups, I meet with each individual student one-on-one at least once a week, to address any problem areas. My findings: Benchmark test scores are through the roof, and effort and behavior have very noticeably improved. Granted, I don't know how this particular group of kids would have done if I had been teaching them in small groups; maybe they would have achieved even more. I wondered, though, whether anyone else might have been doing the same kind of experimenting with whole group teaching. Am I wrong, or does this "old- fashioned" style actually work better---with fifth graders, at least?
My question is, in this type of classroom - where only Language Arts is taught - how much writing do your students do? What kinds of writing do they do? I'm thinking ahead to next year and am trying to gather ideas now. I've read about the Writer's Notebook and think that would be a great way for students to write freely and without the threat of massive revisions. I would also like to have the students write four "big" pieces a year: descriptive, persuasive, expository, and narrative.
I want to make writing a more natural part of the students Language Arts period. Meaning, I don't want writing to just be something we do that's graded and a pain to revise (for both them and myself, quite frankly). Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!
How do you use a multiplication chart in your classroom? I am looking for ways to make it a valuable tool, rather than a crutch for students who do not know their facts.
We introduce the lesson, discuss it, work sample problems, analyze the ideas, organize our thoughts on graphic organizers, write about the situations/problems, use projects to investigate more deeply, construct models for greater understanding, develop games based on the concepts, and then the district's calendar tells us to move on to the next topic.
A month later, we go back to touch on the idea we drilled into earlier and many of the kids are like blank slates. They don't recall what a "theme" is, how to multiply fractions, or how to organize cause and effect essays. Basically, they recall practically nothing about whatever we covered.
We veered away from using workbooks, worksheets, and similar tools for rote practice. From what we are seeing, that was a bad idea. The kids seem to NEED repeated rote practice in order to retain a memory of what we did. Ten of us are considering breaking away from the "richer/deeper" methods and trying some drill and kill mixed in to see if this improves retention.
We're curious about your experiences with this situation.
Higher performing schools appear to have the worksheets in place nicely. They have students who understand the concept with a great deal of parent support and success. Worksheets worked well in this environment.
In my teaching environment, we are the professionals who decide which students are capable of completing the worksheet which are few. Those students who cannot complete the worksheet after the initial lesson are not ready for independent practice with the concept. Therefore, they receive more manipulatives time(concrete objects), then pictoral time(drawing), and eventually abstract concept time (numbers, operations) in small groups. Each student falls somewhere along this path. My goal is to get them to understand the concept enough to work independently on worksheets which is what the state testing scenario will be. This involves small group time for reteaching. This is an extremely difficult balance to maintain. It's hard juggling it all.
On 4/07/09, Amanda wrote: > We have been talking about this situation across our grade > levels at our school. It is becoming a huge issue. > > We introduce the lesson, discuss it, work sample problems, > analyze the ideas, organize our thoughts on graphic > organizers, write about the situations/problems, use > projects to investigate more deeply, construct models for > greater understanding, develop games based on the concepts, > and then the district's calendar tells us to move on to the > next topic. > > A month later, we go back to touch on the idea we drilled > into earlier and many of the kids are like blank slates. > They don't recall what a "theme" is, how to multiply > fractions, or how to organize cause and effect essays. > Basically, they recall practically nothing about whatever we > covered. > > We veered away from using workbooks, worksheets, and similar > tools for rote practice. From what we are seeing, that was > a bad idea. The kids seem to NEED repeated rote practice in > order to retain a memory of what we did. Ten of us are > considering breaking away from the "richer/deeper" methods > and trying some drill and kill mixed in to see if this > improves retention. > > We're curious about your experiences with this situation.
Hi, If you as professional techers for young children had a chance to write a book (or mini tv series) - what would be the most important elements that you think would have to be inlcuded? To narrow it down a bit, lets say the story would be a family adventure with an ecological red line.
The girls in my 4th grade class are just horrible. They are always picking on someone. Many even make threats to others. Does anyone know of a good speaker, assembly, program etc that might get through to these girls.
On 4/08/09, 4th grade again wrote: > On 4/07/09, 4th grade wrote: >> The girls in my 4th grade class are just horrible. They >> are always picking on someone. Many even make threats to >> others. >> Does anyone know of a good speaker, assembly, program etc >> that might get through to these girls. > > Today these girls had another child on the ground and were > taking their nails and scratching her. > > Detentions do not work. They don't care > > I would like the police called....others want to handle it > by"talking" and giving detentions.
I've found a few programs worth using... The Bully Free Zone (founded in the UK) is an excellent program and has helped me prevent many confrontations between students (girls and boys). Another program from Clemson Univ. is Olweus and is pretty thorough -- [link removed].
There have been days when I've trashed my lesson plan for the day and talked with the kids... Have them provide answers anonymously for "have you ever been bullied?", "do you consider yourself a bully?", "do others see you as a bully?", "why do you think a bully does what he/she does?", "what acts do you consider to be bullying?" And wow, the answers usually provide for great conversation between the classmates. We identify how many bullies are in our class/grade level/school, and then figure out how many students are not bullies. When they see that bullies are in the minority, the feel a little stronger, empowered. Then we discuss strategies on how they can handle a bully peacefully (shun them, group together to surround and defend someone being bullied, let teacher know, etc.). Even the bullies are involved in the conversation, so they are learning to recognize responses to their behavior, so if they don't realize they are bullying someone, one of these responses will signal that perhaps they may have crossed a line.
Additionally, in 4th grade, students are transitioning from 9-10 years old, their juvenile status changes and charges in the courts. I let them know that. I also let them know that touching another student without permission can not only result in school disciplinary actions, but parental decision to persue assault or other criminal charges if the bullying is severe enough.
But I watch my kids closely, listen to them on the playground, encourage them to act responsibly. And they really have risen to my expectations both in class and outside of school. And my students are from low-income families in a very bad section of my town, so I even have some gang-related conflicts happen from time to time.
Believe you can make a difference and you will. But you have to care about all of the kids -- even the bad ones -- and that's the hardest part. It's easy to love the good kids; it's the poorly behaved ones that need the extra attention and redirection through special programs. It's a lot of work, and I wish you every success!