One of the things they did was use my normal teaching materials to play school. I LOVE watching them do this! I was so surprised! A couple of them used an old chart tablet to make some anchor charts!!! (They got it...they really got it!!) I just HAD to take some pictures!
One thing I found interesting. Some of my girls were writing names on the board for talking. (Yes, I know...they have obviously remembered that talking results in a warning by putting your name on the board...) My girl is an ELL. I was stunned when I saw what she wrote:
Hmmmm....do you see what I see? What she meant was "people in trouble" ( I do NOT write that on the board...hahaha!!). But, what she thought and heard was "people introuble". Wow. Just...wow. I never realized, though I should have, that ELLs sometimes hear things in a much different way! She's a fourth grader, so seeing this took me by surprise! It's common with primary kiddos. This will definitely be on my mind when I reflect and plan for next year!
On another note, we received an email from our district on information that was released by TEA. We will get raw scores at the end of May. I don't understand exactly how we will read them...I think we will only find out how many questions there were and how many each student missed. Now, the good thing is that I will see what I need to work on to be a better teacher. Here's the kicker...we won't get the final scores until January of 2013!!! Yes, you read that right...2013!! These kids will be half way through their 5th grade year!!! Geezy sneezy!!
I do have one concern that I'm not sure how to address. My homeroom has 13 ELLs. My partner's homeroom has 14. Now, she is a former bilingual teacher, so of course her class is listed as ESL. I teach language arts, I am certified to teach ESL, but on my roster, my class isn't listed as ESL (the individual students are, though). Make sense?? (nah, not to me either.) Anyhoo...when those scores come back and, IF they are not too hot, anyone looking at my scores will think I have a standard classroom that didn't do as well as the others. What should I do about that? It never bothered me not to have my roster listed as ESL because I knew, my team knew, and admin knew that my kids were ELL. But, when I think about future job opportunities, I wonder how this will affect me. Selfish, I know. Not extremely important in the scheme of things...I'm not planning on moving any time soon. Just curious...
Have a fabulous weekend!!
"You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job, and not be paid for it."--Oprah Winfrey
That's ME!!!!
Always,
Love your idea of letting them "play school". Wonder what I would get in my room. ha!
ReplyDeleteI just had to comment on your thoughts for labeling your classroom. I, too, have thought about how my classroom should be labeled. I am certified Special Education in CA, but I teach in AZ now. Because of my background, some parents request their SpEd student to be placed in my room for part of the day. I love all my students and have a special place in my heart for the SpEd kids. But, I was thinking, now that we are moving towards teacher performance pay, how that would affect me. Sad, I know that I even am thinking about it, but would it affect me if I wanted to move to another school? I get the feeling we are moving in the wrong direction here.
Random thoughts on a Friday evening,
Susan from http://rodriguezrockstars.blogspot.com/
Very well done. Your "Quarters" have officially made it to the top of BLOOM's pyramid. By synthesizing or creating (revised Blooms) they have demonstrated that they not only understood the objective but they can now facilitate that information for others. My fifth grade "tokens" (because to call them "dimes" might be considered demeaning and "dollars" might inflate their ego), also designed Anchor Charts for the upcoming Fifth graders. Perhaps they might even be your "quarters"....Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCaught my kiddos playing school during indoor recess yesterday walking around with whiteboards writing down the voice level of each individual (I don't do this, but I do refer to voice levels ALOT!) proud teacher moment! :)
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