Out Sick

I made it almost until lunch yesterday before taking the rest of the day off.  Until I began working in an elementary school I took for granted my quality of health.  Your immune system is not inately set up to battle the germs of hundreds of sick children.  I used to feel like everytime a child sneezed on me I was going to come down with the flu, and most of the time I did.  This year I have been pretty successful at avoiding it; washing my hands every hour, germ gel, drinking lots of water, maximizing my vitamin c, etc.  Yesterday that all came crashing down - I spent the afternoon under the covers, not exactly how I pictured the week starting off.  Despite this set back, I am back at work today (half-speed ahead) and making the most of it.

 

Week #11

This week has gone by pretty quickly.  3rd and 4th graders have finished the semi-annual Acquity testing that is meant to track progress through the year.  This is a huge relief because all ESL students taking the text must have an ESL staff member in the computer lab, in case they have trouble reading a word.  This essentially means that we have to cancel normal sessions to sit in the room while students are testing to meet the state mandated modifications.  We are not allowed to help them or tell them what the words mean, simply read the word out loud to them.  When the test first started we used to read the entire thing to students, but the test doesn't go in order and it becomes a problem when trying to keep up with every student in a group larger than 2. 

The classes that really have missed out because of this have been my 2nd grade groups that meet back-to-back at the end of the day.  Due to the fact that I am the only one available after 1 p.m., if I am otherwise occupied the groups are automatically cancelled and not rearranged or covered by the supervising teacher.  These 2nd grade groups only meet 4 times a week and not 5 because of the early dismissal that happens every Thursday.  This combined with testing has caused for an additional 5 missed sessions.  Also, the 2nd grade has started their round of planetarium trips..one group of mine goes in the afternoon and thus will miss there time 3 weeks in a row.  Luckily, this is the stronger of the 2 groups. 

I'm looking forward to the schedule going back to normal relatively soon.  To my knowledge we won't have any schedule interruptions ::crosses fingers:: until January. 

Technology

The computers in the classroom were especially helpful this morning.  I had 3 different groups in the classroom and needed to occupy all of them at the same time with different work.  The computers allowed me to have students working independently while I instructed the other groups. 

The students also seem to really enjoy the program.  I think that helps them to be more focused.  How fun-ducational! 

Morning Madness

This week is off to a good start.  We are still helping with the Acquity testing, but the moderations to the schedule have been minimum.  Students are [at least slightly] refreshed from the 4-day weekend and are adjusting back to the everyday schedule. 

The fourth grade is still off on the stories, but eventually they will be back on track. 

The normal 5-day week is more consistent and hopefully students will be focused until the next break after having some time off.

Confusion

Once again the confusion continues.  This week some teachers have opted for no story, while others have opted for a short story or a regular length one.  This discrepency makes it difficult for groups that are combined with more than one class in the same grade level.  In order to make extra time for other students, there is no longer 2 adults available for every session, and multitasking plays a big role.  Fortunately, this is where my experience comes in handy.  It also relies on the relationship that we have built with the students which allows them to have patience.  Sometimes one group has to work independently while the other is being given directions.

The computers in the classroom definitely are benefiting our program already.  The ability to have some students working independently on the computer while others are working interactively is really comingi n handy.  When we had to take students next door to the computer lab it was much more of an all or nothing approach.  All students needs to be supervised, so all students need to stay together.  This way we are able to break off into smaller, more specifically customized groups. 

Fall Break

This week we are having fall break on Thursday and Friday.  This is first break we've had since Labor Day (Monday off).  The students are definitely ready for a little breather, and are showing the signs in their attention span. 

The Reading Academy software seems to slowing building the skills in the first graders.  Unfortunately, we have not had much time to work with the fourth graders on it.   The basic skills that it touches on are really the building blocks for all reading and language comprehension.  Hopefully, after fall break things will normalize again and we can use it more.  As of Friday we now have computer pods in our classroom!  This will make it much easier to access the program without interferring with a schedule class in the computer lab.  On the downside, the Title 1 program is now beginning to use the program and because of the limited number of licenses this may become an issue. 

I'm concerned because it is a short week that we will not have enough time to focus on the story and vocabulary before it's time to tst on it.  With the fourth grade classes still on different stories, this also presents a challenge of managing the time efficiently.  So far they have been doing very well on their weekly assessments (give or take a student and/or week), I have confidence that they will be able to keep it up this week even without the additional practice.   

Reading Academy

As the students get more use of the Reading Academy software, i've noticed some problems with the first grade group.  Some of the beginning lessons (rhyming, beginning sounds, ending sounds) are presenting the students with difficulties.  I feel that perhaps a lesson prior to using the program might be helpful for the students.  I am finding that when they have consistent difficulty passing a skill, they become discouraged; especiallly when other students are passing and receiving certificates.  Rhyming sounds are particularly difficult for ESL students because it is a concept that other languages do not have, which also makes it hard for parents to help at home. 

I have one student that is doing amazingly well on the program.  This student interestingly enough views it as a game, with levels to pass and puzzles to solve.  I think its an interesting concept that students enthralled in the gaming culture may benefit academically from this viewpoint.