This week in field I did some more busy work for Mrs. Way. I was also able to work with some children on math and reading. The reading group I had are very intelligent and are doing well in the subject. The math kids are intelligent but need some more work because the group I had were the children that were behind on doing their math pages in their workbook. To be honest, I think the pace of the math class is extremely fast because some of the kids I was able to work with were just understanding the concept. I graded some tests the week prior to this one (wk 2) and the kids that failed that test were the ones that I had in my math group last week.
Many of the children have issues focusing and I am finding that difficult to manage sometimes. I feel I am handling them well but there is always room for me to improve. I try and tell them that once this is done we will be able to go and work with the whole class to show off what we know and a lot of the time it works. The other times is when the kids just wont do their work unless I am watching them.
Sounds like you had an interesting week. At least you got to work with some of the students though, which is a nice change of pace when looking at all of the “busy work” you are doing for Mrs. Way. It’s also great that you are able to catch them up and explain the concepts to them…that’s the problem in a big classroom, sometimes you just can’t “wait around” for everyone to understand one concept. This is very frustrating for the teachers, and especially the students, at least from what you are saying and I’ve experienced.
When it comes to focusing the students, that is a tough call on many levels. Obviously you are doing fine because no one has said otherwise, but you are right with the “always room for improvement” because that’s a fact of teaching in general. I wish I could help you in this area, but those are the same tactics I would say…so yea, sorry. Maybe bring this up and ask the class?
Hope you have a great week this week and sorry it’s a bit late!!!