Crystal Choi

Hello! I was in a great mood, and I let the kids know. My kids were also in good moods, so the day went really well. This just shows me how important it is for me to be happy, cheerful and fun, as it affects the moods of my students too (interesting how one of my lecturers said this, but it only really sunk in when I had my own epiphany about it- it makes me wonder, how useful is advice unless you act on it? I guess it would be in your best interest to talk to as many experienced teachers as possible and try out their advice for yourself. I also want to know- how do you ask questions of experienced teachers without pestering them?) That’s why I have found my experience on my internhip with other prac students who are similiar mided to myself as highly rewarding. Myself and my new friend from thirdyear had a great chat in the p/c room this morning- sharing ideas and resources about energy which stage two is doing at the moment.

Anyway, today we did A LOT of learning. It was fabulous! In the morning, my teacher and I had a really productive session about setting up reading groups and the literacy session. At the moment I have been taking reading groups and giving the others spelling sheets/quiet reading to do while I take them. While it’s valuable, it’s hardly extending them. I really want to start differentiating the independant tasks to extend the high flyers and to provide a more interesing selection of tasks. The guided reading session with my two groups went really well today. I’m not sure if it’s the content, but they were all really into it. We read a double page spread about stored energy which involved a trampoline. Together we made meaning from the text. A couple of my kids were really on fire- using the inferences in the text to make meanings and working out the main ideas and summarising the main points. The concepts were quite difficult (PE and KE), but they grasped the concept really well. The planning for specific feedback in my day plan was also really beneficial. I was able to say well done you used the text to find the answer because that was a here question. or you used your experience to work out that head question etc etc. It also helped me when I was helping students answer a set of questions on the board from the text- I could say good, you’ve answered the question, but now you need to put it into a proper sentence. How could you do that? She couldn’t tell me, so I gave her an example. She still couldn’t do it, so I broke it down by saying that you don’t have to make any more hard work for yourself, because you use most of the words from the question but re-arrange them a bit. I told her to work on that and that I’d come back and check in a bit. I did and she had done the next question.
I think I should do an exercise in changing the words around in a question to form complete sentences in a comprehension task. Many of my students are struggling with this skill (after marking their Sol comprehensions and asking them to put answers in sentences- most didn’t so it makes me think that they don’t know how) Instestingly, my ESL kids are great at doing this, so I should have them model it which will boost their confidence esp as some are very quiet during disscussions.

I also realised that many of my problems with listening on the mat are exacerbated by the presence of a child which I didn’t think contributed to it. He went home sick today early, and the afternoon session was very enriching. Interesting. Must keep an eye on that. Perhaps figure out some strategies with him in mind- is it because the work is too boring/not challenging? He’s aware of his intelligence, so I need to tread carefully- he’s not especially modest about it. Also had a chat with one boy whose behaviour has deteriorated rapidly in the last week. Might have something to do with his broken arm, but we can’t have him answering back, refusing to listen and rolling his eyes at us! I had a little chat with him today (and kept the tone pleasant!!!! yay for me) and the improvement in his attitude was considerable- he sat at the front of the classroom, made contributions and joined the discussions- yay he’s back! I was also pleased when another boy’s behaviour improved after I rejoiced when he contributed something- I said something on the lines of ‘You’re back, I’m so glad!!!’.

Ok back to the learning. In the afternoon session, we had quiet reading, and it was possibly the most peaceful quiet reading session I’ve ever had with the class- lovely! All the children enjoyed it, and it allowed me the time to sort out some issues with the kids (boys teasing each other about girls etc etc).

Then, we did some HSIE. I set up an energy conference, where the children’s tasks were to find out as much as they could about natrual gas (with fart jokes included) or petroleum. In groups of four they each got an information sheet and a question sheet. They had to fill out the question sheet using the information sheet. I gave four explicit roles-leader, resourcer, timekeeper and reporter. The explicit criteria when we talked about the different roles was great to scaffold their roles, and many children took the roles very seriously! They were also very serious about being energy delegates and sharing their information with the delegates from the other fossil fuel company. I presided as chairperson of the energy conference and basically kept order. Several students had a go at standing up and speaking in loud clear voices, which was a great skill to develop, esp in my quiet students. I was also impressed with the movement of the tables into two long conference tables. Although at one stage I did ask why I was the only one moving furniture with Monique and that caused a scramble from the rest of them to help!!!!

We didn’t finish the sharing of our expert information, but I look forward to finishing it off. Wheee!!!

Hello- I am now into my third week. I can’t believe how time has flown! Anyway, I am feeling abit more concerned about the teaching in terms of management- my students have a tendancey to talk over the top of em and I have to continually stop the lesson to tell them to zip it. Tomorrow I will talk to them about actively listening, giving them explicit criteria about what that behaviour looks like. A good listener actively listening looks like…. or point to someone who is actively listening. Talk to them about why active listening is important. Talk to them about why people who don’t actively listen, and who talk to their friends whenever there is a pause is frustrating. And ask them how they think it makes me feel.

However, the feedback thing is going well. I gave explicit feedback to individual students on the mat today, when they answered here. hidden and head questions. I also modelled what a good fact and what a good comment about the fact was, so students had the explicit uality criteria about what a good response to the text looked like. That was really good, because lots of kids (I haven’t finished marking yet) made some great connections and really thought about the facts (which was the purpose of the text, that is, thinking about what was in the text) I als gave the class explicit feedback after the session because many students had done just that. I think the way in which I made explicit what was expected was crucial in he end porduct, and so many students making meaningful connections (One child who is ESL made a great connection and transferred knowledge making an anlogy between chemicla energy of fuel and the potential energy of the food we eat) My teacher also commented on how well the children responded to this. However, I’m not sure whether it was due to the explicit criteria or the way in which I explained it that caused the children to have success at this task??? Hmm something to think about.

Hello again! Just wanted to say that I am having a great time at school. My morning session today was great! (as was my afternoon session yesterday). Today was very chilled and relaxed. We talked about the value of the week (compassion) and I brought in a great picture book called ‘The Three Questions’- which illustrated this point beautifully. We did ESP (handwriting), and I put on classical music, which no-one complained about! (woohoo!) Also, I got a chance to go around and start marking, although I only gace explicit feedback to one or two students sbout their work. However, I was really pleased becaue this week, I explicitly reminded students about keeping their letters within the blue lines (which many weren’t doing). When I was marking the handwriting, I saw a marked (hahaha!) improvement in the quality of work. The timing was alos right- because I didn’t rush through it, so most students finished. I know this might seem a trivial thing to be happy about, but I think it is still important. I was also pleased with how smoothly fitness went today. The students are starting to get the hang of the five fingers, and I only have to start looking down at the stopwatch for them to quiet down (I’m looking at the stopwatch mostly because I can’t figure out how to use it…) I really need to get the tape recording going, to start this action learning thing… Hm.. what else? Oh the tape recorded thing about energy was great. All the students were attentively listening and listening to it four times really helped the ESL students etc to read back the passage- the research is correct about fluency an the need to practise what they are reading.

Next time I do energy (Friday morning) I will have to re-cap on energy and what they learned yesterday.

Hello world,
I am really starting to settle into the internship. I have yet to tape record any of my lessons, but I hope to do that tomorrow. Hopefully the dictaphone (my only realy option) for taping actually works- we will see. I was supposed to get it together sometime in the first week to provide some sort of baseline data from which I was supposed to analyse the sorts of feedback I gave to students. Without actually taping it, I can catagorically say that the feedback has been lousy! In particular, the verbal feedback, which is what I was hoping to work on. Although, having said that, we have been working on expositions, and I provided detailed feedback in their writing books after they had a practice go at an exposition before the exposition assessmnet task. I provided both positive ans specific feedback, offering advice to students. I have yet to see some of their assesments, to see whether students took any of it on board. However one child did come up to me and tell me about how he forgot there shouldn’t be quotation marks in a written exposition, which was the specific feedback I gave to him. Let’s see if he heeded my feedback in the assessment! (Althoguh I have already noticed he didn’t include them in his hat exposition)

Today was actually quite good, in that I gave students feedback about their expositions on the hop. I tried to say something positive about it (but more often than not, I just launched into pointing out how they could make improvements (which could be misconstrued by the students as criticism…). Even so, the specific advice was useful for some students. Others proceeded to ignore my advice and carry on. I should talk to the students about the feedback i give them- that is, make it clear that I am trying to support their learning, to help them become better writers/mathematicians etc.

Today in maths, I also gave specific instructions such as I’ll be back to check on you, but once again did not give any positive feedback before offereing suggestions. This is going to be my next mini-goal in the coming week- that is say something positive and make a suggestion, and make sure you swing back aeound I did do this with one or two pairs- I talked them through the procedure for finding pairs to ten, then explained why it was a better way of doing it, saw them through one example, and went back to check- and lo- the boy who was struggling with it got the gist! Woo! This is something for mre to continue checking- to see if he;s got the right strategy- must remember to check his homework book this Friday.

On a more social/suppotive note- I have made friends with one of the third year prac students. It’s great to have someone else to talk to who is going through a similiar experience. She’s a lovely girl, and we’ve been bouncing off ideas and sharing resources, which is fantastic. I don’t expect other teachers to do the same (although my mentor teacher is EXCELLENT!!!!!), so it’s great to have like-minded people to chat with. A whole bucnh of second year prac students arrived today, lookng a little green around the gills, and I fondly remember how stressed out/nervous and completely boggled I was. I ever thought I would get better/confident at teaching, but I have really come into my own a bit even during this internship. I get the feeling it’s because I don’t have someone watching me every lesson (which is quite nerve-racking!!!) The feedback was great, but I feel much more relaxed. But, it doesn’t mean that I’m still not being critical of my teaching in my evaluations. I really need to find some better ways of managing the class (not being so negative, not being so loud- so it doesn’t seem like I am shouting, and working out different ways of managing one child in particular. I don’t want to be fighting/arguing with him everyday. However, even today, my management was much more calm (but with some moments of chaos). Another thing I need to work on is my explanation of tasks. I should take the extra time to explain tasks-perhaps rather than reading the instructions, I should paraphrase and explain it that way? The expositions task was a clear example- I said I didn’t want children copying facts straight off the fact sheet- I followed it up with an example about which facts were relevant facts, but still children copied. I also made a motza of the maths homework sheet. I should make it clear and succinct.

However, I am very glad that students are happy to come to me with their issues and problems. I feel like I am really getting a feel for teaching work and the day to day workings of school and the competing responsibilities of teachers. Yay- it’s just hopefully going to get easier and easier, so I’ll spend less time planning, which will free up more time to research different ways of doing things as well as having more time to do other social things- woohoo. =)

i’m feeling much better today. The kids were much more settled. After talking to my mentor about it she suggested that the late night from the day before probably manifested as the bad behaviour- and I’m inclined to agree. One of children who had particular issues came up to me and asked me if he was on-track today and said that he thought it was probably due to his being tired (that his behaviour was so bad). So, I’m feeling much much better about it!

I also saw a great maths lesson taugh by my teacher- it was computational stategies. First she had a blank sheet of paper and asked for number pairs to 100. She called out all the children to give number pairs. Then she used a fresh sheet and recorded pairs, threes or more to 200. In between, she asked children what they noticed about how they did it and how they made it more efficient for themselves (you just need to know your number pairs to 10). Then, children sat in two rows facing each other. Students from each team were given four dice to roll. They had to use the numbers that came up to form two digit numbers- they could add, subtract, multiply the numbers to get any combination eg- 4, 5, 2, 3 could be 5+3= 8 and 4×2 = 8, then the two digit number would be 88. Then they had to work out the pair to 100, then try to roll a combination to get that number. If they couldn’t they recorded numbers until they could. It was such a fun and engaging lesson- all the children helped each other, and children were feverishly trying to mentally computate in their heads. FAB!

My lessons were fine- I tried to fix the misconception about energy being a force, but I think I got a few blank stares…. But, they were all engaged in the task i set for them afterwards. Im thinking that the next task (tha I spent ages cutting up and preparing) will be just a waste of time, seeing as most students have got that concept. It really needed to be done today (but wasn’t really needed anyway). So now, I need to plan for the coming learning experiences and integrate it with the explanation text type. Luckily it’s a great topic to do that.

Oh before I forget- the kids wrote great expositions as practice runs to the assessment I gave this morning. I marked them all, gave them feedback in their writing books and ade sure i gave them the chance to read them. I’ll be really curious to know whether my recommendations were taen on board. I’m fairly certain some would have in oarticular one student- who commented on my comment after he read it (Miss, I forgot about the quotation marks- he had included quotation marks in his written exposition)

ok this was a bit garbled but I am very tired. I have to figure out what I am willing to organise for sport tomorow becasue I promised the kids would get to decide what we played.

I had an interesting day today. It was my first day flying solo (my menotr was away) and my first thought is to dwell on the negatives… however, I must say that there were a few positives hidden away in there…. Firslty the negatives- the ol student teacher/casual teacher testing the waters thing reared its ugly head. The kids (mainly one child) really tested the waters today and I think I didn’t pass his test. There was pushing.shoving, chasing and paper aeroplane throwing as well as deliberately disobeying and lying to me about misbehaviour. What is one to do when you know they are lying and you can’t prove that they have and you just don’t want to get into a stand off over it? I introduced something- a competition between the class and myself to do with managing behaviour. The students as a class are working together to tally points, but I can also win them. Points can be erased.

I am absolutely stuffed! But, I am having an absolute ball- I’m really enjoying the autonomy of teaching during this internship- my mentor teacher basically pops in and out of the classroom, but other than that, I have total control of the students, and it feels great! Our learning support aide asked me how I was going and made a comment that I looked like I was really having a great time with the kids (woohoo! I hope that feedback filters back to my mentor in some way!)

Anyway, so today was the first time I flew solo with the whole class and as a whole-it went realy well. The afternoon session deteriorated a little because it was sooo hot. The class did some excellent learning though- I set up a modified debate (great for Stage 2), where we voted on topics and then groups of four had to go away and work out arguments for and against. I didn’t tell them which side they were arguing for, as it made them responsible for thinking of good quality aguments for both sides. The students then set up chairs on both sides of the room opposite each other and each child had a go at either saying a point or rebutting the other side. I t was a great exercise in listening to others. However, I struggled a little with the giving of feedback. I tended to give general positive feedback after each child (excellent/well done/very logical). It was not specific and didn’t tell chidren how they could imporve. However, my issue with this is that if I did give this sort of feedback, it would distupt the flow of ideas etc… how to rectify this??? At the end, I also gave quite general feedback (I was very impressed, everyone listened and rebutted logically) which of ourse wasn;t the case for everyone. But how to give this feedback without saying singling people out? Maybe by saying some of you did this,,, and it was good becaus… etc And also giving the tips for improvment next time. But once again- the issue of needing to have a follow up lesson to allow students to out them in practice. But maybe this is just an indication of my lack of experience? Perhaps a more experienced teacher would pre-empt these isues and remind students to think about it in the pre-teaching.introudction to the lesson? But then there’ the problem of too much teacher talk! Arrghhh!!!

Another positive was that most students were engaged- a few students were really into it and readily whispered rebuttals to their teammates. (We’ve got some budding whips in the making!!!!) Must remember to tell the students about this and single out Michael and Kurt especially for their jobs well done. I should remember next time to make sure I give students enough time to formulate ideas, to discuss within their group (explicitly tell students this) and to ask what their real opinion was, who they thought argued better and who was arguing for the opposite side…

I was also pleased with the morning session- where I taught a refresher on expositions. It highlighted to me the need to continually revisit prior learning, because it is so easily forgotten. The students and I had a great discussion about solar energy and how it is stored to power cars. Some great learning evolved from student questions (how do the cars run at night? Which other students were able to answer- I love the collaborative learning- must remember to bring that up again), to questions on whether the moon can power cars. This prompted a bit of an interlude about lunar power- and the different kind of power that it has in controlling the waves and tides. My mentor cautioned me about digressions (need to stay on track to tick outcomes etc) which is totally valid and a timely reminder hahaha for me to heed, however, I felt that the students were interested, they were engaged (although I’m not sure if ALL of them were) so I felt it was valid to keep going with the disucssion.

The first day of my internship was great! I kind of eased my way into the class, as two thirds of my class were away at a choir rehearsal for the Opera House performance tomorrow night. So, I only had 11 kids in the class. I planned a ‘casual’ day with these kids, which revolved around a Fractured Fairytales theme. All the students were engaged (even though one child didn’t contribute much to the discussion, he was very switched on during the writing of his own fractured fairy tale) This child is ESL, and I made sure to comment explicitly on his writing, and invited him to read it aloud. Even though he chose for me to read it aloud, he was absolutely chuffed that his got singled out to be read. Others didn’t need as much encouragement to read theirs aloud, which proved that it was a successful learning experience! However, I need to explain more clearly the steps that I want children to take (one child got very confused about the summary point, where I got the children to write a summary of their story- I didn’t make this clear enough, and he thought he had to write a summary of the traditional version of the fairy tale. I need to be especially careful with this child, bcause he is very particular and needs to fully understand/know what is going on- understandable really!)

I am feeling pretty tired because of the early start. Imagine what teaching the whole class will do to me tomorrow!!!! I am also cranky because I’ve wasted so much time tonight wrestiling with Word, to format my tables! How hard is it to insert a table and type into it without the formatting going skew-if? Apparently very hard for Word- grrrr.

I’ve planned some good (I hope) lessons for tomorrow. We’ll see if they pan out!

Also, one final gripe- what is it with shitty teachers who don’t want interns/student teachers using the photocopier? I had a run-in with a teacher today at quarter to 8 (after I had been waiting for ten minutes to use the copier) I can;t be bothered explaining, except that I feel like I need to get into school super duper early in order to fight for the photocopier to get my stuff copied. How much earlier can I get to school? I got in today at 7:30!!!!

Only three more days until my intership starts, and I’m beginning to get stressed- not so much worried about teaching (which is a vast improvement from starting my last prac, when I was a nervous wreck, and totally doubting my abilities to teach), but more about my lack of preparation. I started planning my lessons today, but I’m still astounded as to how slow I am at gathering my resources and thinking of ways to teach material. I feel like I need to have some fun, exciting and interesting activity and way of teaching everything, and I think this is where I can lose hours racking my brain for resources and innovative ways of teaching. I know that this is not possible, but I still feel like I should be striving for it- I don’t want to get into a habit of using boring seatwork/worksheets- how un-quality teaching is that?????

My lecturer Tony, reminded us that we don’t have to re-invent the wheel, which is a trap that many beginning teachers fall into- even taking his advice on board, and trying to leech ideas off the internet, I mananged to lose a couple of hours (although I found a lot of resources for other things) I guess I shouldn’t see this as a waste of time in the long run, but I am still feeling frustrated as to how slow the planning process still is for me. I imagine that it just gets easier and easier, as with any things I have found with my teaching practice. Please let it get less tme consuming! I am also worried that by using the internet, I might become reliant on it and forget to use other valuable resources…. However, I am pleased that I critically evaluated the lesson plans that I pulled up- some of them were disgraceful and didn’t suit my learners, so I kept looking.

Another of my personal goals for this internship is to have a life outside of teaching. I guess this will come with getting more expereince at planning faster… this will also be another improvement on my last prac, when I basically was too tired to do anything outside of teaching, seeing my boyfirend and sisters and the odd shift at the library. This time around, I have some social engagements (including a wedding!) so I hope I am organsied enough to really enjoy them!!!

This blog marks the beginning of my teaching career. Today, I had my last ever lecture at uni as an undergraduate. I will embark on a six week internship, then I will be finished! I am still in denial, and I can’t believe that I have actually finished with uni lectures, assignments (almost) and catching up with uni friends at Manning.

One of the things I’ll miss most is the intellectually stimulating conversation that I have with my fellow beginning teachers- we bounce so many ideas off each other and generate so much discussion, that I’m worried that I’m losing a major part of my life. Is this blog an attempt at trying to keep this discussion alive, or is it filling a void? Who knows?

Anyway, my goal with this blog is to track my trials, triumphs and tribulations. Basically, I will reflect on my teaching practice (but in a very public domain…) Who knows how this will go? I wonder if I’ll just get too busy?

I will also be using this blog as part of my evidence for my action research project.