My very first 5th Grade ELA lesson

This lesson (explained in another one of my posts about a mascot), went amazingly!  Students were excited throughout the period, they were on task and discussions were very meaningful.  Even though this lesson was directed at beaing pretty silly and fun and creative, the students took it seriously enough to use their time effectively and the stories they came up with was beyond my expectation.  The best part of it all was seeing students so excited to share their stories with the class at the end of the period.

During the first round of this lesson, my college supervisor was there to observed and made several comments on how well the lesson went and how engaged the students were.  Student behaviors were nearly perfect, with only one student having difficulty because he was simply not sure how to get his ideas organized on paper.  I presented this student with a graphic organizer I had premade and the issue seemed to be solved.

During the second round of this lesson, the 5th grade ELA teacher was in to observe.  This time the classroom was louder (26 children were talking and discussing ideas), but all conversations were on task and meaningful.  Toward the end, predictably, students became a little off task, so I pulled the group together sooner than I had anticipated in order to wrangle everyone to focus.  By doing this, it allowed for more students to share their work, and I gave students permission to add to their stories while others were presenting.  I think this enriched their writing further.

It was truly amazing to see the stories and narratives that the students came up with.  So many possibilities, so many personalities, so much creativity.


 I am more than happy to post my lesson plan or even student work if anyone is interested.

And as always, thank you for reading, feel free to share and like this post.

Substituting for a Cooperating Teacher

Today was my Cooperating Teacher's birthday, so she took it off, and guess who is the substitute!

What a great experience, having a whole classroom and being in the lead role.  I was even able to help modify and schedule the lessons and activities for the day.  Truly gave me some great confidence in my own abilities.  Making my own choices and testing out my classroom management is amazing, and frankly, it is going very well.

Students have been responsive to me and my instruction, which is noted through the various activities they are completing.  Although currently I am working with the most amicable class (or was, it is my planning time), I still feel confident that it will be a great day, and the same patter of responsiveness will continue throughout the day.

I will edit this post throughout the day and throughout my experience as teacher for the day (which I got to plan).  I have substituted before, but the plans and such were written out for me.

Wish me luck!

Edit:
Soooo..... some classroom dynamics can be.... interesting to say the least.  I have never heard "I don't like him/her" said about peers so many times in my life, but with every gray cloud comes a silver lining.  I was able to have a great talk to the students who were having conflict, and I think that it really hit home for them.

A Challenge to all Teachers: Magic 37

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a challenge for you!  When you see the patterns be ready to be amazed.  This is also a great way to get some enthusiasm to your students.

Today while practice counting, my cooperating teacher and I decided on having students count by 11 and 37 as far as they could get in one minute on paper.  11's were predictable and the students saw the traditional patterns (numbers counting up, etc).  The fun part comes when students were counting by 37, and the teachers in the room took on the challenge as well.  We found that when the multiple of 37 were placed in a certain way, (ie. a 9 down by 3 across array), patterns began to emerge.  Students were able to pick out a few, then with come guidance were able to figure out more complex ones.
New patterns emerged as multiples of 37 broke into 4 digit numbers, which held true to 5 digit numbers.  With the patterns and equations students came up with, we were able to find the 24,000th multiple of 37 within 5 seconds using mental math only, then the 54,000th multiple, then the 81,000th multiple within the same time frame.

It has been a long time since I have seen a group of 5th graders so excited about math and willing to self explore and discover and go through trial and errors that stunned the principal.

Plus! Students felt so great about themselves, it was a great confidence booster to them all, no matter their achievement level, because they were all able to come up with atleast one pattern that worked for them.

Comment wityh what you find, or request some of my own student work and patterns!




EDIT:
Here is an example of student work.  You can see their efforts to find some of the trickier hidden patters and algorithms.