I decided to create a blog on my Solo experience. I think it is a good way to debrief each day, and might be either something fun to look back on or something other people might enjoy reading. I know my Mom will read it anyways :-P
Day 1:
The first day seriously couldn't have gone better!
My kids have always been good with me when my master teacher has left the room for a bit, but have tended to go a bit crazy when there was a sub, even if I taught all day and the sub just sat in the back corner. So, when I called the class to order at the beginning of the day, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.
Well, they were awesome! They listened, followed instructions all day, and participated actively. I was able to focus on just teaching all day, without ever having to interrupt myself to deal with classroom management issues. It was seriously the best day! We'll have to see if it lasts ;-)
For my Solo, I changed quite a few procedures and classroom management tools, because I both wanted to experiment with some techniques I might like to use as full teacher as well as to practice introducing and setting consistent expectations for procedures, which is so important at the beginning of every year.
I have changed 3 things (which I instituted last week, while my resident teacher was still in the room):
1. I created a group point system.
Previously, the class had a whole class PAT point system, but nothing for smaller groups. I wanted to institute this because I wanted a more tangible way to reward students even if the entire class isn't doing what they are supposed to. I also believed that it would be a helpful tool for transitions.
Well, so far we have been successful on both counts.
For transitions, I say something like "I will give the first 3 groups a point that quietly pull out their reading folders, fold their arms and look at me". You'd be amazed how quickly and quietly my class does this now! Since 3 out of 7 groups are getting points, it is a heated enough race that all groups think they might manage to get a point. I seriously think we have doubled the speed of our transitions and halved the volume.
For the whole class, even if the whole class is chatty, I can get the entire class to quiet down by simply finding 1 group that is (however briefly) perfectly following instructions and rewarding them. "I am giving Group 5 a point, because they finished their Math Review, and immediately moved to DEAR time without talking" Suddenly the entire class is following directions because they want points to, and I managed to sneak in my expectations one more time in a positive way.
2. I created a money system.
Groups get points throughout the day, and receive tickets for however many points they received, which can be found on their desk when they come in the next day. Students may use these tickets to purchase the right to certain one-day priviledges. I love these, because none of them affect their learning, all of them are completely free, and yet they are still hot commodities that everyone wants.
Prizes include "Wear Hat Inside All Day" "Use a Seat Cushion" "Eat Snack Anytime" etc.
I'll try to get a picture of my prize chart tomorrow.
My favorite part of my prize chart is that it makes students do math. One ticket is worth 123 points, and all prizes are listed in points. So for instance, "Sit in the Teacher's Rolly Chair" is worth 15 tickets but is listed as costing 1845 points.
At first, I decided to do this as a bit of a laugh, to "trick" them into doing math. But, it has turned out to be surprisingly necessary and surprisingly effective. Just today, one student came up to me and proudly presented that she had 2706 points. I was surprised because I didn't think anyone had that many yet, so I asked her to explain how she got that number.
She said the following. "Well, I have 11 tickets, so 11 x 123 = 1353, and then so far our group has earned two more points, so thats two more tickets, so then I did 1353 x 2 = 2706"
I asked some careful open-ended questions, and she quickly figured out her mistake and went back to figure out how many points she actually had. The kicker is, the student was one of my reluctant math students, and the time was...wait for it...RECESS! Yes, my reluctant math student voluntarily hung back during recess to do some math. Mind blown!
3. I created a Word of the Day
This is a transition help. The Word of the Day is introduced in the morning with its definition, and then I use the word throughout the day to get students to listen to directions completely without rustling pages and getting distracted.
For instance, today the word was baffle and I would say something like "When I say the word that means to confuse, I would like you to clear your desk completely and get out your math folder. Baffle"
This has the benefit of giving the students several exposures to the word and its definition throughout the day. Sometimes, I also use the word in a sentence or ask a student to do so. I saw this method on the TeacherChannel and loved it so I decided to give it a try.
So far its working, but I can't tell for sure how well it is working. Is it just working well for transitions, or are the students actually learning the word?
I don't know. But I am going to create a small assessment on Friday to find out how many students retained the weeks Word of the Days.
Ok, now I have done so much explaining of my new things I added to the classroom that I completely forgot to actually write about the day. Well, it was pretty uneventful anyways, and the main lessons I learned involved these 3 things, so I think I will leave it for now. I will try to actually write about my day tomorrow.
I will also try to get some pictures tomorrow.
