November 5, 2010
Don't you love November? The class as a whole has begun to master routines and the classroom community has really started to gel. We were in a self-contained classroom in Vancouver, Washington recently, where Janet has embarked on Daily 5™ and one-on-one conferring with her students. Janet's humor, diligence, and knowledge combine to help her teach her special needs students.
With Janet's permission we had to share a story directly from her classroom.
Janet writes: "Just want to share a quick funny that happened today. I am in the middle of completing a very involved IEP for a student so instead of working with students during our 'Read to Self' time I sat down at my computer and began plugging away at this IEP. I thought, 'Wow I have really done my work when it comes to building stamina. These kids rock, I am able to get so much work done. I am a GREAT teacher!'
After mentally patting myself on the back I thought, 'Wait a minute, backup the bus, this isn't right.' So I stood up to take a look around and everyone was in his or her correct spots, they each had books in their hands but 3 of the students were sleeping and the others were pretending to read! I'd done a good job of building stamina for being quiet...and they figured as long as they were quiet, I'd leave them alone!"
We loved Janet's honest and hysterical reflection of her Daily 5 time! This pleasant time of year when children have built stamina and are skilled at behaviors of independence could lead us to be lulled into complacency. Janet realized that, while it was tempting to get the IEP done while her students were quiet, her time was better spent conferring....so she backed the bus up and got back in there. It's a good reminder for us all. Thanks, Janet.
This week, you will find more on Math Games, classroom design and vocabulary work with older ELL readers and more!