Kenwood Elementary - Mrs. Williams, 3rd Grade - 5 hrs.
February 17, 2016
I came in while the students were learning about what does and doesn’t make a polygon. Students were engaged in an activity where they say out loud if the shape Mrs. Williams was pointing at was a polygon or not. Soon after we went to lunch (ran out of the main entrée but there was a back-up, which was still equally as nutritious) and recess. During recess two girls from Mrs. Williams’ class caught me wandering around before the teachers where outside, we played by crushing ice with our feet and then the girls sang their talent show song for me (“Roar” by Katy Perry).
It took a while after lunch to get the students settled. Mrs. Williams is hilarious aIt took a while after lunch to get the students settled. Mrs. Williams is hilarious and has a great sense of humor for a third grade classroom, the kids have picked up on her personality and have somewhat copied her. Mrs. Williams reads about African-American history. Bessie Coleman, a female pilot; Jesse Owens, an Olympic gold medalist; Marian Anderson, female performer that sang at the Lincoln Memorial; Jackie Robinson, first African-American major league baseball player.
Students learn about financial literacy with a Time Magazine for Kids. The magazine focused very intently on celebrities and how they save money. The magazine also goes over choosing what you want to do with your life at eleven and using your likes from that age to decide, though I don’t know if I agree with this being mentioned.
I am wondering about putting that much pressure on eleven-year-olds and if it might be too much pressure too soon. For example, this kind of talk can go into their twenties making them feel like failures. There are many twenty-year-olds who still don’t know what they want to do career-wise. I think the financial literacy focus of the magazine is good and helpful but I hope that putting pressure on students to know what they want so early might be better considered if children dreamed a bit more and thought about all of the options they had or might dream of having.
February 19, 2016
When I walked in, Mrs. Williams was meeting up with reading groups to check in on how far they were (predictions, responses, questions) with their readings. Students were a bit chaotic, they were supposed to be doing homework and reading, instead they were chatting. However, when I come in (11:30) it’s only a half hour away from lunch so that may be why. It’s too icy and rainy for students to go outside today.
On Fridays they have reading buddies with Mrs. Frank’s first grade class. Some well-behaved third-graders are assigned some excitable first graders, doing this it show these young ones what good behavior looks like. For the last fifteen minutes students fill out their planners and get ready to be sent home. Overall today was more event-fill and noisy than the Wednesdays I’ve been here.
I talked with Mrs. Williams after class about a student who I noticed was very distressed. I asked if this was a regular for this student and I was notified that this was an everyday problem for them. I feel Mrs. Williams handled the student’s distress very well and I was ecstatic to see that she sat down with them to give them one-on-one attention. The sort of teaching I want to do in the future is more personal with students than other teachers have told me is obtainable. Seeing a teacher who is able to hold down a class while also giving students the attention they need gives me a sense of hope.