I love bulletin boards. End of
story. Since I’ve been in second placement, I have had the opportunity to
create two “bulletin boards.” Funny thing is, neither of them are actually in a
designated spot or actually on a board. During Read Across America week, I
created a Dr. Seuss themed display on a door. I have zero idea were the door
leads or what is behind it, but I put up the paper, picked out the boarder, and
then put everything on. Today, I got to create a display for a unit on plants.
I was able to create the dirt, grass, and sky out of bulletin board paper and
then put up the “I can” statement. We then decided it would be cute to write
“The best kind of garden is a Kindergarten” on a poster and put it up there
too! Being in kindergarten is so great because we can put all those punny
things around the room or outside without feeling like a fool!
I always was into arts and crafts
as a child, but never thought that creating these boards would be my favorite
thing to do as a teacher. I love coming up with crafts and creating unique ways
for the students to keep showing off their hard work and knowledge. I also am
finding that I really enjoy working in small groups. In the Struggling Readers
practicum, I found that working one on one was difficult for me and I really
questioned. However, now that I have had the chance to work with small groups
during literacy centers, I am finding that I love it! Are you all finding
particular parts of teaching more enjoyable? Are they what you thought you
would be enjoying? Are you disliking anything that you thought you would love?
I completely agree about small groups! I have small groups for guided math, and those might be my favorite lessons to teach. It can be so hard to give every student enough attention during full group, and small groups gives me an opportunity to do that. I think it definitely makes a difference for the kids as well; they like having my attention and feedback with fewer distractions. It also makes assessing so much easier when I don't have to focus on what so many kids are doing! AND with guided math, I'm usually using the same kind of outline for my lesson plans, but I like being able to adapt it for each group. I also feel like my lessons get better each time I teach them, which is good practice. Those are, of course, only a few benefits of small groups/guided math, but I think the opportunity to give each student individual attention is really the best part, for them and for me.
ReplyDeleteI also LOVE working with small groups. Student teaching has finally made me comfortable working with a whole group, and I enjoy teaching whole group lessons, but I love working with small groups of students. I think differentiation is so much easier with small groups, and I can also focus on reviewing concepts that students haven’t mastered from previous topics. It also gives students more opportunities to talk and respond to other students’ comments.
ReplyDeleteI’m going to miss working with small groups at the beginning of the year next year. I know it takes a while to teach rules and procedures in the classroom. My teacher says she doesn’t start to use any small groups or centers for the first quarter because they were focusing on whole class community and behavior expectations for the classroom during that time.