Confidentiality
You will become privy to information regarding student developmental, social and emotional progress. You are required to keep all information regarding each student confidential.
Attendance Policy
Please notify me if you will not be able to attend class on a day you are scheduled at Burris. I prefer that you call the school to leave a message and e-mail me prior to 7:30am. Excused absences include illness (with a doctor’s excuse) or other BSU authorized reasons. Missed days must be made up at a time that works with our class schedule. It is your responsibility to reschedule the time missed. Your Ball State University ID and nametag must be worn at all times. If you do not have this on, you will not be allowed in the classroom.
Special Needs
Please share with me if you need special classroom adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, along with important medical information and/or special arrangements needed to evacuate the building.
Safety Information
An emergency procedure flipbook is on the VIS box located next to the classroom door. Additionally, there is an emergency escape route map and telephone to be used if necessary. All on-campus calls must be dialed with a 5 preceding the four-digit number. Press 9 and dial the telephone number for outgoing calls. A blue folder of emergency procedures and class roster is available in the basket that houses your lesson plan folder.
Lesson Plans
Typed lesson plans must be submitted to and approved by your BSU instructor. You must submit a copy of your approved lesson to me. You may place them in your section’s folder, located on the gray filing cabinet as you enter the room. You must contact me with any changes to approved plans prior to your teach date. Plans must follow Teachers College guidelines for lesson plan format. Be creative. Submitted paperwork must be technically correct and contain accurate information. Plans that have not been spell-checked and proofread will not be accepted. No worksheets are to be used. Activities requiring graphic organizers or student written responses (write a sentence about, draw a picture, etc.) must be approved prior to submitting your lesson plan. It is expected that your plans will be engaging, thoughtful lessons that reflect a measurable objective based on an Indiana Academic Standard and/or the Common Core Standards for third grade. You must submit original, creative plans that use a variety of materials. Additionally, I expect each plan to be rich in content with developmentally appropriate activities for third grade. Remember that young children like to “do things.” I look over each lesson plan very thoroughly and strictly follow the EDEL 350 requirements contained in your course packet. Meet with your college instructor ASAP to schedule your teaching observations. Please let me know the day, date and time of your TC observations as soon as possible! I actively search for plagiarized lesson plan content. I will follow the Ball State University policies and procedures for plagiarized work.
Additional Information
Students are expected to address you by your last name preceded with Mr., Miss, Ms. or Mrs. Please expect the children to be polite and respectful. The children in this school work with many pre-service teachers each week. While my expectation for their participation is high, you must do your part to ensure that you are viewed as a “college teacher” and are treated respectfully. Expect the children to clean up and return materials and chairs to their appropriate places after your lesson. You should have your teaching area back to its original condition prior to your departure.
Observe and Participate
This is time when you will be working with students as directed by me. You will not be responsible for lesson plans, but you will use the materials I have selected for you to use with a group of students. These experiences will be valuable in helping you gain confidence and management skills before entering student teaching.
Introductory Activity
Choose a high quality children’s book to share with a small group of children. Please choose a grade level book that is high interest.
Round Robin Lesson
In this lesson you will teach your topic several times in one day to small groups for about 20 minutes per lesson. The students rotate to you in their small groups.
Whole Group Lesson
For these lessons you will teach your topic(s) to the entire class. Make sure you use larger visuals and plan lessons that work with a large group. Writing on the chalkboard, utilizing PowerPoint, using posters or an overhead projector works well for larger groups. You MUST integrate technology into one whole group lesson via a PowerPoint presentation, use of laptop or iPads and projector with an Internet site, or other technological equipment at your disposal. You must give me at least one week’s notice if you need Burris Laboratory School equipment.
General Expectations
- Nametag is mandatory. Please have your Ball State I.D. and a nametag identifying you as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. __________.
- Please feel free to see me whenever you have a question, problem or concern. With twenty busy children in the room, it is sometimes difficult for me to answer your questions. Please call me at school between three and four o’clock. You may email any questions you might have as well. I try to respond to email within 24 hours.
- You must be punctual and properly attired. If your attire is deemed unsuitable, you will be asked to leave the classroom and change. Any scheduled lessons and/or observations will be forfeited.
- Be professional! Model proper oral and written language. Demonstrate positive interaction with children, teachers, and fellow participants.
- Be active! Your participation in the classroom is mandatory at all times.
- Be flexible! Be ready to adapt to changing situations.
- Be knowledgeable! Thoroughly research what you teach and know your subject matter.
- Be enthusiastic! Smile, ask questions and get to know the students.
Teaching Requirements at Burris:
- Observations and involvement with teacher-directed activities.
- An introductory story with a small group of children. A submitted outline is required.
- One lesson plan and teaching a round robin lesson.
4. Three total whole group lesson plans and teaching.
5. Teaching reflection – due via email by 3pm on the day following your teaching experience. Keep a copy in your sent folder in case technology fails.
6. Possible additional assignments:
- bulletin boards
- working with small groups
- learning centers
Lesson topics will be assigned, and I will give you as much help and advice as I can in planning and preparation. Make use of the extensive resources on campus and ask me about any materials you see in the room that you may want to borrow and use. Please keep your lessons very visual, hands-on when possible, and smoothly paced to keep interest and motivation at optimal levels. Specific teaching times will be assigned to you, but can change. I will observe/evaluate your teaching at least two times in addition to your TC instructor observations. I will informally observe your interactions in the classroom daily. I work closely with your university instructors. We will converse almost daily on your progress. Make sure you are putting your best effort forth each day!
Jump Right In!
Make it a point to stay engaged and participate with the class in any way you can. Be ready to follow my lead and join in! Sitting with a small group of students during my teaching time is best. Be prepared to move in close and help as we engage in small group or independent work. Resist the urge to stay on the sidelines!
Lesson Topics
| Round Robin Lessons (M/W section) Simple Machines | Round Robin Lessons (T/R Section) Language Arts |
| levers/pulleys | capitalization |
| inclined plane/wedge | verb tense |
| wheel and axle | commas |
| screw | abbreviations |
| Whole Group Lesson 1 (M/W section) Letter Unit | Whole Group Lesson 1 (T/R Section) Geometry |
| business letter | symmetry |
| friendly letter | congruency |
| thank you letter | slide/flip/turn |
| invitation | angles (right, obtuse, acute) |
| Whole Group Lesson 2 (M/W section) Energy Unit | Whole Group Lesson 1 (T/R Section) Literary Unit |
| Heat | cause/effect |
| Light | fact/opinion |
| Sound | comparing/contrasting |
| Energy Review | main idea/details |
| Whole Group Lesson 3 (M/W section) City Government | Whole Group Lesson 3 (T/R Section) Parts of Speech |
| mayor | pronouns |
| city council | adjectives |
| police department | articles of speech |
| election process | subject/verb agreement |
Teaching Schedule (M/W section)
| Date | Activity |
| 1/18 | 7:00 am meeting at Burris |
| 1/23 | Observe and Participate |
| 1/25 | Observe and Participate |
| 1/30 | Introductory Activity |
| 2/1 | Observe and Participate |
| 2/6 | Teach Round Robins (2x) |
| 2/8 | Teach Round Robins (2x) |
| 2/13 | Observe and Participate |
| 2/15 | Observe and Participate |
| 2/20 | Presidents’ Day- No School |
| 2/22 | Teach Whole Group 1 (teach time 12:30) |
| 2/24 Friday | Teach Whole Group 1 (teach time 12:00 and 12:30) |
| 3/12 | Teach Whole Group 1 (teach time 12:30) |
| 3/14 | Teach Whole Group 2 (teach time 12:30) |
| 3/19 | Teach Whole Group 2 (teach time 12:00 and 12:30) |
| 3/21 | Teach Whole Group 2 (teach time 12:30) |
| 3/26 | Teach Whole Group 3 (teach time 12:30) |
| 3/28 | Teach Whole Group 3 (teach time 12:30) |
| 4/2 | Teach Whole Group 3 (teach time 12:30) |
| 4/4 | Teach Whole Group 3 (teach time 12:30) |
Teaching Schedule (T/R section)
| Date | Activity |
| 1/18 | 7:00 am meeting at Burris |
| 1/24 | Observe and Participate |
| 1/26 | Observe and Participate |
| 1/31 | Introductory Activity |
| 2/2 | Observe and Participate |
| 2/7 | Observe and Participate |
| 2/9 | Teach Round Robins (2x) |
| 2/14 | Teach Round Robins (2x) |
| 2/16 | Teach Whole Group 1 (teach time 8:15) |
| 2/21 | Teach Whole Group 1 (teach times 8:00 and 8:30) |
| 2/23 | Teach Whole Group 1 (teach time 8:15) |
| 3/13 | Teach Whole Group 2 (teach time 9:15) |
| 3/15 | Teach Whole Group 2 (teach times 9:00 and 9:30) |
| 3/20 | Teach Whole Group 2 (teach time 9:15) |
| 3/22 | Teach Whole Group 3 (teach time 9:15) |
| 3/27 | Teach Whole Group 3 (teach time 9:15) |
| 3/29 | Teach Whole Group 3 (teach time 9:15) |
| 4/3 | Teach Whole Group 3 (teach time 9:15) |
| 4/5 | |
Mrs. Adamowicz's Owls 
Dear Mrs .Adamowicz,
I went to my dad’s house.I ate dinner. I fed my horse. I played ds.Then i wached Tv until11:00.Then i went to bed.Then i ate breakfast. Then i fed my horse.
love
Logan
Hello 🙂
Well I was really nervous to teach my lesson today. I thought it went well with the information they learned. They seemed to pick up what the volume was of various things. I did have trouble managing the students with the blocks though. They seemed really excited to use the blocks, which resulted in not paying attention. So I need to work on that on Wednesday. I also need to work on my lesson flowing through and not taking so much time on one part. I had trouble getting through my whole lesson plan. Hopefully it goes better for me on Wednesday. Overall it was a good learning experience for me and it lets me know what I need to work on for Wednesday. To be honest, I think I let my nervousness get in the way a bit, because on paper my lesson flows so nicely. Hopefully it will go more smoothly on Wednesday.
Thank you for letting us have these kind of opportunities.
Miss Douglas
Your lesson incorporated engaging, hands-on activities! From my perspective, the excitement was focused on the math:) Make sure to clearly state expectations and procedures before handing out the blocks and all other materials, which should help with your concern!
Pacing will come with experience. Looking forward to seeing your lesson on Wednesday! Remember you will teach it twice!
-Mrs. Adamowicz
Hi 🙂
Well today was my first time teaching my round robin lesson about phonebooks. I was nervous but excited to teach my lesson to your students. At the beginning of my lesson the students seemed engaged and eager to participate in the activities. All the students had some background knowledge about the phonebook. During the first activity, the students were able to correctly organize 12 names in the appropriate section of the phonebook (yellow, pink, and white). We used the ipads to incorporate technology during our second activity. The students really enjoyed learning about using Google maps to find directions of places in their community. I was able to squeeze in the assessment at the end of the round robin lesson. All students were able to correctly complete the assessment by using their understanding of a phonebook. All students did an awesome job participating and cooperating with each other. I really enjoyed teaching and working with your students. Looking forward to Wednesday! Take care 🙂
Abby Beach
Nice job today! Pacing is so important, and you did a great job pacing your lesson because you had time to give the assessment! Thank you for incorporating the iPads into your lesson! I look forward to seeing your polished lesson on Wednesday!
Hello!
Today I taught my Round Robin lesson on dictionaries. It seems to always be consistent with me that I get nervous before I teach a lesson, so of course I was nervous about teaching my lesson today. As I began my lesson, everything seemed to flow pretty smoothly. The students were very eager to begin using their iPads in our lesson, so I had to direct their attention away from them at first. I had four students today and they all seemed to have a good foundation of prior knowledge on using the dictionary. Since they knew some of the new information I was planning on teaching them, the lesson went a little more quickly than it normally would have. After learning how to locate a word in the book dictionary, we used the iPads to go online to http://www.dictionary.com and locate other words. This is the part of the lesson that didn’t go as planned because only one iPad actually loaded the page to display the definition we were searching for. The other iPads didn’t seem to have a good Internet connection. Although it didn’t go as planned, it did help lead into our discussion of times it might be better/easier to use a book dictionary rather than an online dictionary since sometimes technology fails. The students were all able to locate specific words in the book dictionary and online dictionary, so I feel the lesson went pretty well.
See you on Wednesday!
Miss Hiatt
Thanks for your reflection! Hopefully the internet worked better today?? It is frustrating when technology fails during a lesson. I have been there… many times! The more you use the technology, the easier it gets. I have some suggestions to offer to help if the iPads do not connect in the future. Just let me know!
Hi!
I was very nervous before I began my lesson, but as soon as I started reading the book for my motivation, I felt at ease. The students in my group were very attentive and engaged during my lesson, which helped calm my nerves as well. For the most part, I felt as though my lesson went rather smoothly. I need to remember for Wednesday’s class to give all of my instructions before I give the students any materials. I handed out the objects and scales to measure, and then proceeded to give instructions. I will also tweak my practice activity for Wednesday. I will have the students estimate the weight of each object, rather than simply determining which object is heavier. I am very excited to see how Wednesday’s lessons turn out! 🙂
Miss Adams
Thank you for your excitement during your lesson! I am interested to hear if you felt today’s group was more attentive when you gave your instructions before you passed out the materials. The students seem to be very engaged in the activities you chose to include in your lesson!
Hello!
I was very nervous to teach my first small group lesson about capacity today. One of the major reasons I was nervous was that I was using water in my lesson to help students not get so confused about the difference between capacity and volume. As expected it was messy, but overall the lesson did go better than I had anticipated! The students seemed to be engaged for most of the lesson and did an excellent job at focusing and staying on task. There are some things I would like to do differently when I teach it again on Wednesday as well as some things I would like to improve on throughout this semester. I will be sure to explain this activity in which they are finding the capacity of different containers better so that they know exactly what to measure and what to record before we begin. I also think it would be best to have students perform this activity with a partner but estimate and record their answers and explanations separately. One thing I want to work on throughout the semester is being sure to ask many higher-level questions and elicit more discussion from the students when asking these questions. I am excited to teach it again on Wednesday and to see how it goes!
Thank you for this opportunity,
Miss Headland
Thank you for your reflection. I like the idea of partner work within the small group lesson. Would it cut down on the “messiness” if you use a funnel when pouring the water from container to container?
Hello Mrs. Adamowicz,
I was a little nervous about teaching my lesson and how it would go. I should not have been nervous because I thought the lesson went well once I started teaching it. I thought the lesson went well because all the students were interested and engaged in the lesson. The minute I gave the students the encyclopedias, they wanted to open them and look through them. There are a couple of things that I need to do differently when I teach the lesson on Wednesday. I need to give the students more instruction before I give them encyclopedias. I also need to make sure the students are staying focused on the lesson. A couple of the students that I had yesterday kept wanting to share information that they were finding in the encyclopedia. Students would also answer my questions and then they would add more on to their answers. I loved that they were engaged and that they would answer all my questions, but since the lesson was 20 minutes long I had to keep them from showing and telling me things. I had to keep the lesson moving or I would not have been able to get through the whole lesson. I really wanted to students to have a chance to use the encyclopedia to look up information. I am excited to see how the lesson will go on Wednesday!
Thank you,
Miss Lyons
Thank you for including solutions to problems you faced during the 1st lesson. Do you feel like the lesson went more smoothly when you gave instructions before passing out materials? It is exciting to see students engaged and interested in sharing information. To cut down on interruptions, you might try a couple 30-second chat breaks, where students can quickly share a tidbit of information with a partner. Just an idea! Regardless, remember set your expectations high! Have a great weekend!
Hello, Mrs. Adamowicz,
Thinking back on my round robin lesson on Monday and how well it went, I am so excited to teach it again on Wednesday! The first group that I had were such wonderful students! They were very involved and excited to learn about the Atlas! I have taught many round robin lessons and I am proud to say that my first group on Monday in your classroom was by far the best group I have ever had! It makes me very excited to continue working with your students throughout the semester. The lesson ran over twenty minutes, (I think?) which actually worked out very well for me. They were eager to learn and listen from the start once I gave them the “explorer” hats to wear. After finding out that the students knew more about the Atlas than I had anticipated, we did a brief overview of parts of the atlas and the students caught on right away. I asked several questions that made the students think and use their imagination, as well as ask them questions about how it related to their actual lives. After seeing how excited and shocked the students were when I showed them the “Google Earth” application, I immediately knew that this was their favorite part of the lesson. We compared and contrasted the paper atlas to the technological form of an atlas and discussed the uses and importance of each piece. I gave them the task of finding specific locations in the atlas from what they had learned such as using the index, using the map key, using the compass rose, and using the longitudinal and latitudinal lines. I cannot say one negative comment about my round robin lesson because it went exactly as I had pictured it. One thing I will add to my lesson on Wednesday is bringing in a “Where’s Waldo?” book to give the students an idea and background of who Waldo is and what his books are all about. Some of them did not know of him. I’m very thankful that I have this opportunity and cannot wait to learn and improve more!
Sincerely,
Miss King
Thank you for the reflection! Your experience and confidence shine when you work with the students! I look forward to seeing a whole-group lesson!
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz,
After teaching my first round robin lesson I feel very confident with with the students and my ability to plan a good lesson. I thought my lesson went very well and the kids really seemed engaged and excited about learning. I had the students do two different activities and they seemed to enjoy both of them. I was worried that my topic might not be very engaging and that my activities were boring, but the kids proved me wrong and showed a lot of excitement. They really enjoyed using the ipad, so I will be sure from here on out to use the ipads with them as much as possible. If I could change one thing, I would say I need to have other things for students to do if they finish the activities early. Other than that I am very pleases with how my lesson went and am looking forward to teaching it again.
Sincerely,
Mr. Schonegg
I am so happy to hear that you are excited to incorporate the iPads into future lessons! The iPads are new to all of us, so maybe you can teach us all a thing or two! Extension activities are always good to plan, because the students work at different paces.
I was nervous to teach my second and third small group lessons, due to the fact that I would be observed. This is something I will definitely need to work on. I think for the most part the students learned what I had wanted them to from this lesson. They were engaged and doing what they were supposed to most of the time, but there were a few times when they weren’t simply because there were so many things to touch and do. It actually took me longer this time to get through the lesson, and I am very grateful that you allowed us to wait and teach the third lesson on Monday. My goal is to get through the entire lesson in 20 minutes on Monday. There are a few minor adjustments I need to make to the lesson in general, such as using a funnel to pour the water into various containers and explaining that it is okay if they only get to measure the capacity of one or two containers during the practice activity. I am also going to work on being more enthusiastic and less nervous. I am anxious to teach this lesson again on Monday and see how excited the students get as they learn about capacity through hands-on activities.
Sincerely,
Miss Headland
I was a little more nervous before teaching my lesson today because our professor was observing. I tried to make sure I was asking all of my high-level questions that I came up with, but I felt like I was boring the students. The students wanted to touch the scales and begin the hands-on part of the lesson. I decided to use an extra set of gram units today so that there could be three groups instead of two. Having the three groups really sped up the lesson, allowing me to get through everything that I had planned. At the end, we even had time for the students to share their individual estimations and measurements. I was excited to see the students enjoying themselves and learning at the same time. One student in my group made the remark, “This was really fun!” I felt like teaching this lesson a second time was very helpful in allowing me to concentrate on pacing my lesson. I was also able to remember to give all of my instructions before passing out any of the materials. Overall, I feel as though my lesson went better than it did on Monday. For Monday’s lesson, I plan to try to and use better management skills to keep my students on task during the discussion part of my lesson.
Miss Adams 🙂
Mrs. Adamowicz,
Today I taught my first whole group lesson. My topic was about Nutrition and I really wanted the students to be engaged and motivated throughout the lesson. I felt very comfortable standing in front of the entire class. The students all participated and seemed eager to answer questions. Today I was not able to start my lesson until 12:08, giving me only 22 minutes to teach my lesson. Because of this delay I sometimes felt overwhelmed because of the time crunch. During my lesson some students misbehaved. I now know that it is my responsibility to handle these specific situations. I know that in teaching there will be many obstacles and time crunches occurring regularly 🙂 This was a great opportunity that allowed me to experience a small glimpse of what its like being a teacher…and it was great! Have a wonderful Fall Break and I will see you on Oct. 19th!
Miss Beach
Hello Mrs. Adamowicz,
I taught my first whole group lesson today and if you could not tell I was very nervous. I did not feel like my lesson went very well today. I felt like the students were not as engaged in my lesson as they were in Abby’s lesson. However, that tells me that I need to do some things differently for my next whole group lesson. I have to make sure the students are engaged and focused on the lesson. I also have to make sure that I give examples and model how I want the students to do certain things. I did feel that the pacing of the lesson was good. I felt like I was rushing through the lesson when I first started teaching, but once I got started I felt that I was pacing the lesson well. It was a great learning experience for me and it helped me determine some things that I need to do differently for the next lesson.
Thank You and have a great Fall Break,
Miss Lyons
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I taught my first whole-group lesson today on “Harm in the Environment” and I think it went pretty well. I began my lesson about 7 minutes after schedule since the students were finishing another acitivity, so I felt a little rushed to get all of my activities in before 1:00. It seemed that the students enjoyed the lesson and the activities that I had for them. The students did a great job staying on topic and participating in the activities. This was such a great experience since this is the first time we have been able to teach a whole-group lesson. Teaching today provided me with a great learning experience, and allowed me to feel more comfortable to teach my next whole-group lesson on Monday. Thank you for this teaching experience!
Have a great weekend!
Miss Hiatt
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I was very nervous to teach my first whole-group lesson on the topic of alliteration today. Over all, it went better than anticipated. I think it started off well with my motivation activity of having them read tongue twisters, and with discussing as a class what alliteration is. I think my biggest problem was my timing, and that is definitely something I need to work on. Once it got started, my lesson was about 40 minutes long, and the students were barely able to start writing their own poems. 30 minutes seems like a good length for a lesson, but goes by so quickly when actually teaching. Hopefully, with practice I will become better at planning and teaching lessons designed for a specific time limit. I also would have liked for the students to be more engaged. In order to do this I may call on a few people that don’t have their hand raised and would provide them with scaffolding in order to help them. Now that I have my first whole-group lesson today I am excited to now improve on my teaching skills for my next lesson.
Thank you and have a great weekend,
Miss Headland
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I taught my first whole group lesson today over haiku poetry. I was really nervous all weekend up until I taught today. Once I got started, I was just fine. I first read a children’s book to the students and it seemed to get them hooked into my lesson. I was really worried I would run out of time, but I ended up getting through my whole lesson. The students were actively involved throughout my whole lesson, which made me really happy. They really seemed to enjoy my lesson and had a chance to write their own haiku poems. I really enjoyed this opportunity and can’t wait to teach my next lesson.
Thank you,
Miss Douglas
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz,
After reflecting on my first ever full group lesson plan, I am pleased with my performance. There are aspects of the lesson that I would want to make some changes to, but overall, the lesson flowed very smoothly and I believe that the children really enjoyed the activities that I incorporated in the “personal hygiene” lesson.
My nerves were fluttering once I finished the beginning story read, but those eventually went away. Something that I will be sure to do for my next whole group lesson is to thoroughly explain the directions for an activity before we begin it. During the black light presentation, the students were up and about out of their chairs causing a lot of noise and excitement. I will be sure to have a procedure for my activities next time to explain to the students so the lesson flows smoothly with ease. In addition, even I would have liked to go into more detail about the different topics that we discussed during the lesson. However, it was a bit difficult with having to teach the lesson within thirty minutes.
My goals for my next whole group lesson plan is to continue having the students engaged in the lesson, and with that, having great behavior management during it. I want my lessons to be fun and exciting, but I want it the students to still maintain an inside voice and stay focused on what they are supposed to be doing.
I really enjoyed the whole group lesson once I got passed the nerves! I am excited to teach your students again about productive resources on Monday.
Blakeleigh King
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I taught my second whole-group lesson on trade/interdependence on Monday. I think it went well and the students seemed to enjoy it. I started off my lesson by reading a book, A New Coat For Anna, that talks about items Anna’s mother traded to make a coat for Anna. The students really enjoyed the book and enjoyed talking about trading money for things that we need. I had the students do an activity where all of them made up one big community and each had a profession. Each student got the chance to say what they needed or wanted from someone else in the community. This led into a great discussion about interdependence in the community. The students seemed to really enjoy this activity! The part that I had the most difficulty with was keeping all of the students quiet while everyone had a chance to share with the class what they need from another member of the community. They were excited to talk about their profession and to see what profession the other students got.
I’m excited to teach my last whole-group lesson next week. Have a great rest of your week!
Miss Hiatt
Mrs, Adamowicz,
My lesson went really well yesterday. This was my second whole-group lesson about savings and investing. All students actively participated and behaved wonderfully 🙂 In the beginning of my lesson I read the students a Berenstain Bear book about money trouble, and showed a PowerPoint presentation about banking; savings, deposits, withdrawals, bank tellers, and vaults. Students participating in an activity where they kept track of their money in their savings account by using their own passbook. Students really enjoyed participating in the second activity where they learned about investing money. I felt that all students understood the materials and enjoyed the activities. My goal for the next lesson plan is to incorporate more technology. I am getting more comfortable with teaching and creating lesson plans. Looking forward to next week! 🙂
Miss Beach
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I taught my first whole group lesson yesterday over shape poems. I was very nervous to start my lesson because the students were very talkative and I was nervous that I would not be able to get them calmed down and focused on my lesson. To my surprise, I was able to get the students attention and begin my lesson. When I began my lesson, my nerves began to settle. I read the example shape poems and then began a discussion about what shape poems are and how they are created. I used an interactive online website for the students to manipulate in their table groups. This interactive website was very engaging for the students, they were all very eager to use the computers. As an individual practice, I had the students each crate their own shape poem. I wish that I had more time to complete this activity, because the students were very engaged and wanted to finish their poems. Overall, I feel as though my lesson went very smooth, the only thing that I would change would be having more time for the students to complete their shape poems. I am very grateful for this teaching experience and I am excited to teach my next whole group lesson.
Thank you and have a great weekend,
Miss Adams
Mrs. Adamowicz,
Today I taught my second whole group lesson, which was over elapsed time. I think my nerves got the best of me in the beginning. I left out a few points I wanted to make and wasn’t as excited and enthusiastic as I wish I would have been. However, it got better as the lesson progressed. The students seemed to understand the concept very well. Most of them were able to do the guided practice problems on their own without any troubles. However, now that I know this, I wish I would have spent to a little more time doing a more difficult one that isn’t only hours, half-hours, and quarter-hours. I think this would have helped them on the computer game they chose to play. I was nervous about going to the computer lab for them to play a game. Even though there were some technical difficulties it went well for the most part. I am glad that they got into the games and enjoyed playing a learning game. I am also thankful that you allowed them some more time to play the games as I think this was a wonderful way for them to practice finding elapsed time. Something I still need to work on is timing, but hopefully that will come with experience. I also would like to increase my enthusiasm and animation during my lessons. I can’t believe I only have one more lesson to go. I am excited to improve even more for my last lesson!
Miss Headland
Today I taught my second whole group lesson over temperature. I feel that this lesson was very successful in engaging the students. The students did not want to give up the thermometers, they thought that measuring the liquids was very fun. I feel as though I was a lot less nervous to stand in front of the whole class during this lesson. I was able to keep a good pace through out the lesson and I made sure to use a lot of questioning to check the students’ understanding. I am very excited that the lesson was a success, even though we had a small mishap with the thermometer breaking. During the individual practice, I saw a lot of students labeling their thermometer correctly which made me feel as though the students retained the material from my lesson. Overall, I hope to improve on being able to get and keep the students attention when I need to give instructions or make a comment. I am excited to see how my last teaching experience goes next week!
Have a great rest of the week! 🙂
Miss Adams
Mrs. Adamowicz,
Yesterday I taught my last whole-group lesson over the Midwest region of the United States. Teaching for the third time I was a little less anxious before the lesson. I feel that my lesson went pretty well, and I think that the students grasped the information for the most part. It was a lot of information for 30 minutes, so I hope I was able to present the information to them in a way that they will remember it. The students were a little talkative during my lesson, but like you said when we discussed it later, I think a lot of their discussion during my lesson was about the information I was teaching. I heard a lot of the students discussing within their tables about the questions I used in my anticipation guide. I even heard one of the students say, “No, I know that there are Great Lakes in the Midwest because my dad told me there were.” 😉 It was good to hear that they were discussing the information with one another in their groups. Overall, I think my last lesson was a success!
Thank you for welcoming us into your classroom this semester, and for sharing teaching opportunities with you. Like I have said, this class is the first one that has given a lot of us students the opportunity to teach whole group lessons. I think being given the opportunity to teach in your classroom, and to observe in your classroom, has allowed us all to grow in many ways. This has been such a valuable experience, and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge- and classroom- with us this semester!
Have a great Friday!
Miss Hiatt
Yesterday I taught me last whole group lesson over fables. I feel that the students were very excited and engaged during my lesson. I was glad that the students understood the main concepts of a fable and what moral lessons are. My lesson ran a little bit longer than what I had planned, but flexibility is key and everything worked out in the end. I feel as though I am more prepared for student teaching now that I have taught a few lessons in a whole group setting. I still feel as though time management while teaching is a skill that I need to work on in my teaching. I would like to thank you for allowing me this great experience. I gained a lot of great insight about teaching through this experience. Thanks again for allowing me to come into your classroom.
Have a great weekend!
Miss Adams! 🙂
p.s. I loved when the class sang happy birthday to me on Wednesday.. that was so cute!
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I taught my second whole group lesson last Monday. I taught about time to the nearest minute. I thought that my overall lesson went very well. The students caught right on to my lesson and really enjoyed the two activities I had for them. They really liked the computer game, which is great, because they were learning to tell time while having fun. I do wish I would have remembered all of my check for understanding questions. I did ask a few of them, but did not ask as much as I would have liked to. I can’t wait to teach my lesson this Wednesday over tall tales. 🙂
Miss Douglas
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I taught my last whole-group lesson yesterday. The topic I taught about was folk tales. I was a little nervous about students understanding how folk tales differ from fables and tall tales because many professionals even disagree about the differences. However, I think for the most part the students understood that fables have a moral and folk tales don’t. In groups they performed puppet shows of various folk tales. The students were very engaged and really got into the puppet shows. I went over on my time, but I wanted them all to be able to perform in front of at least one other group. It’s hard to believe this was my last lesson with your class and I’m thankful for the experience to be a part of your classroom this semester.
Miss Headland
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I taught my last whole-group lesson today. I taught my lesson over tall tales. I thought that my lesson went very good today. I think it was my best lesson yet! I presented the students with a lot of new information, while also building off their background knowledge. They all seemed to really understand the information. I was happy I remembered to ask all of my check for understanding questions. The students all seemed very interested in the tall tale stories they were reading. They were very excited to fill out their books and draw pictures. Overall I thought my lesson went very smoothly today and I think the students got a lot out of it. I am sad this was my last lesson, but I am very thankful for this opportunity. Thank you for allowing me to be part of your classroom! 🙂 I will miss everyone!
Miss Douglas
Mrs. Adamowicz,
Today I had such a great time teaching my lesson about Mexico and Canada. The students were able to show me that they understood the content by creating their own billboards. The students participated and behaved very well. My favorite part about my lesson was the extension. The students seemed like they had a blast playing Jeopardy. I can’t believe today was my last day to teach in your classroom. Thank you for all of the helpful advice and for giving me the opportunity to be apart of your classroom. I have learned so much and I can’t wait to be a teacher and have my own students! Thanks again for everything. I sure will miss your students. The letters from the students were so thoughtful and nice. Thank you! Hope the rest of your year goes well 🙂
Miss Beach
Miss Beach,
Your lesson today was great! The jeopardy game worked great to tie all of our information together! Watching the students participate in the lesson, I could tell they really enjoyed it!! Great job! 🙂
Miss Hiatt
Dear College Teachers,
We are so glad that all of you are coming to our classroom! We hope you all enjoy your teaching with us! We also would love find out what your teaching us. When you all take a peek inside, you will all love it! Our classroom has 19 students and 1 teacher. On every Tuesday and Thursday, we have this special class called Literature Circles which is when you read 4-5 different books, and you get role sheets for your story. The jobs of the role sheets are Bridge Bulider, Question Creater, Imaginative illustrator, Word Watcher, Story Summarizer, and Circle Supervisor. (We usually don’t take the Circle Supervisor role sheet home because we use them during Literature Circle groups.) We all hope you have a great time in our classroom!
From,
Pip
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz,
This week, I taught my round robin lessons. I feel they went extremely well. The students were really attentive and ready to learn. I really enjoyed teaching such enthusiastic and motivated students! They really liked the hands on activities of the levers and pulleys that helped them get a first-hand view on how they worked. Every student wanted to try out both simple machines and would probably play with them the whole time if I let them! They definitely understood what I was talking about and were asking questions and making those connections verbally, which gave me a good feeling. I can’t wait to teach again!
Sincerely,
Miss Johnston
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz,
It was a great pleasure getting to teach the students this week. They were so enthusiastic getting to work with real tools and screws. I think that if I would’ve been up walking around my group instead of sitting in the chair trying to teach it would’ve been more helpful to the students. I loved getting to work with them and listen to their different ideas on how screws were different. They were so involved and I feel like they really enjoyed what I was teaching. I’m excited about working with the whole group in the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
Miss Ruffing
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz,
I had a great experience teaching my round robin lesson last week! I was concerned about the depth of the information I was providing in my lesson. In the end, the students were eager to share their ideas and investigate with the wheel and axle. I decided that it may have been better to have another hands-on activity to keep them engaged. When I asked each group to think about the pyramids and how the Egyptians may have moved the large stones, they were excited when they made “real life” connections with the simple machine we were discussing. I am still getting to know each student and how he or she learns and is engaged. I am looking forward to growing in the profession as I work with these students in the next few weeks.
Sincerely,
Miss Girardier
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I had such a great time teaching my round robins over this last week! I was anxious the first day of the round robins and teaching the two groups but on our second day, I was a lot more relaxed. I need to remind myself to relax when I am being observed because when I am being observed by you or my professor, I notice I start to stumble around on my words a little out of nervousness. The children were great to work with and enthusiastic, even though this lesson was a review. The only problem I did have was keeping them on track with the Ipads. They are so excited to get them out and use them that they tended to get distracted on the app I had them using (Doodle Buddy). I might stray away from incorporating that app into future lessons just because it’s so tempting to draw and get off track. But, aside from that, they were all respectful and participated!
Thank you,
Brooke Wallace
Dear 3rd Graders,
I am so pleased with the way my round robin lessons turned out! Those of you who participated in it did awesome!! Hopefully Mrs. Adamowicz will not have to correct anymore comma usage! I am so glad all of you enjoyed by big felt board and my book! I was so excited when I looked at the calendar and saw that we would be in your class for Valentine’s Day!! I hope those of who you took on the challenge of the probability activity enjoyed it and learned something new! What a great way to learn and be able to eat candy! I hope all of you had a spectacular Valentine’s Day! Keep up the hard work! 🙂
Sincerely,
Miss Hunt
Dear Class,
I am so happy that I got to sit with all of you and go over verb tenses. I think that all of you did a great job of participating. It was so exciting to be in your class on Valentine’s Day as well. What a special day that we got to share with each other. I hope that everyone is ready for the Math lesson tomorrow in Mrs. Adamowicz’s Math class! 🙂
Sincerely,
Mrs. Case
Hello, Mrs. Adamowicz and class! It was my extreme pleasure to teach you about slides, turns, and flips in math class. You all came up with some really great real life examples for our notes today. I hope that you enjoyed the lesson as much as I did. Have a great weekend! Good luck finding real life examples at home and around the community. 🙂
Sincerely,
Mrs. Case
Dear Third Graders,
I had a great time teaching you about abbreviations. I’m glad that my second day teaching we used the iPads. It was wonderful to watch you all use the iPads and I think it made the lesson more engaging. I am very excited, but nervous to teach my first whole group lesson tomorrow on congruency.
Sincerly,
Mrs. Evans
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz,
I was extremely nervous, but excited to teach my first whole group lesson today of congruency. I thought the lesson went very well. I was able to make connections to the other college teacher’s lessons and the students did a great job at making real life connections with congruency. For the motivation in my lesson I did not have the students get out their iPads. With about twenty minutes to teach my lesson, I felt it was best to the iPad part of the lesson out and have the students just draw a shape on their paper to save time. If I were to change anything about my lesson today, I would have asked more higher-level thinking questions. Also, I did not have time to get to the practice/application portion of my lesson, so I asked the students to do that as homework and bring it back on Thursday.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Evans
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I was surprisingly not as nervous as I expected myself to be on Tuesday for my whole group. My motivation didn’t work out like I had planned and students could not see through their paper enough to trace what I had asked them to. This was discouraging and I had to remind myself it was just the motivation and to keep going. I need to work on timing. I wasn’t able to get to the practice/application portion of my lesson and was rushed to close the lesson. I thought the students were engaged and grasped the concept of symmetry. I have so much fun interacting with them!
Miss Wallace
Mrs. Adamowicz,
Overall, I believe my first whole group lesson went well. The students remained engaged throughout the lesson and actively participated in the discussions and activities. All of them seemed to enjoy the “Give Me Five” hand gesture to help remember the five parts of a friendly letter. I used a children’s book to introduce the lesson, and I incorporated a response to the literature when the students wrote a friendly letter. If I were to make changes in the lesson, I would reconsider my instructions for the graphic organizer. Many of the students followed directions well and understood the concept; others needed more detailed instruction and guidance. Not knowing the students’ strengths and weaknesses, I was not prepared to anticipate where the struggles might occur. I felt a bit rushed during this step, as I realized how quickly time was passing. I continue to be challenged to thoroughly cover all the elements in a lesson within the time constraints. If I had a redo, I would spend more time discussing the literature piece and the possible roles to take when writing the letter, providing better guidance for the application piece of the lesson. Overall, classroom behavior went well, and I enjoyed the experience!
Sincerely,
Ms. Jackson
Hello to Mrs. Adamowicz and class! I had a great time teaching today. It was a great welcome back from Spring Break. I hope that you all enjoyed talking about cause and effect. I also wanted to thank Grant and AJ for helping me demonstrate a situation where the cause could have several different effects. See you all on Thursday!
Love,
Mrs. Case
Mrs. Adamowicz,
Overall, today’s lesson on heat went well. As we discussed, the topic is quite large and very abstract; it is hard to know where to begin and how much information to include. The students were asked to grasp a lot of new information, and they willingly did so! I did learn some important things to consider for future lessons, such as reassuring them that their first answers on the anticipation guide might be incorrect, and that is okay. The time flew by quickly; some areas of the content deserved (but did not receive) a repeated explanation. I love to see the students’ enthusiasm when they create pieces on the iPads! The topic of heat was introduced, and they completed notes to use when designing the Keynote pages. I look forward to seeing the final products!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Jackson
Mrs Adamowicz,
I thought my business letter lesson turned out pretty well. I did run out of time for some of the activities I had planned, but I think I managed to get the essentials included. As we already discussed, the address portion of the letter seemed to cause the most problems in the lesson. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would do that differently. I would have filled in the date and address portion of the letter together as a class, and then have the stationary already prepared to give the students with the date and address that we discussed as a class. Overall, I think they understood when they should consider writing a business letter and how it is different from the other pieces they have focused on writing. Later, during library time, a book review mentioned a girl writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper. One student said, “Business letter!” It was exciting to here that they were applying the things they had learned.
Sincerely,
Miss Girardier
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I was very nervous to teach my lesson today. I think being observed and recorded by camera made the experience more nerve racking. Once I actually got up in front of the class to teach and we finished the motivation part of my lesson, I started to relax. I had such a great time teaching your students and I hope they found fact and opinion a little more interesting with The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups. Your students are wonderful and made great connections with fact and opinion to real-life situations. Reflecting over this lesson, I was very happy with how many connections were made to real-life and being able to show the students not only how fact and opinion are different, but how they are similar. I wish I would have asked more higher-level thinking questions and brought the lesson to a more effective closure. I am sorry that I have to leave while the students were trying to upload their activity. Thank you very much for completed that. I loved being able to get on the blog and read what they created.
Sincerely.
Mrs. Evans
Mrs. Adamowicz,
I had so much fun with the light lesson today! From the beginning to the end, the students seemed to “soak up” all of the information and were eager to learn more. I saw several opportunities to go into further depth about various aspects of light, but we only had so much time. If I could change something, I would have found a different way to address the “temperature in a car” problem. I provided them with several statements to put in order. I think it may have been more effective to have them come up with these statements on their own. Overall, it seemed like they were ready to discover new things about light energy and were engaged throughout the lesson.
Sincerely,
Miss Girardier
Mrs. Adamowicz,
My sound lesson was definitely a challenge to me. As I went through the lesson, I realized I did not have as much content as I thought I had, which led to some difficulties in classroom management. I think if I had more content, the management problem would have solved itself due to them having more to pay attention to.
Sincerely,
Miss Johnston
Mrs. Adamowicz and class,
I can not express with words how pleased I was with everyone’s behavior during the articles of speech and cause and effect lessons yesterday. You all were great listeners and great thinkers. I am so sad that I am done teaching my lessons in this class, but I look forward to seeing all of you next week. Thanks again for making my teaching experience in this class so memorable. Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. Case
Mrs. Adamowicz,
Today’s lesson about the mayor went well. The students remained engaged and actively participated in the activities. As we discussed, I am so pleased to observe your students using critical thinking skills. Their enthusiasm and analytical thinking enhances my teaching experience! A common challenge for me continues to be the time element. During this lesson, the pace felt appropriate; however, I needed the extra minutes to complete the lesson in its entirety. Thank you, for allowing the additional time to complete the posters, which was confirmation that the students understood the content we discussed. This semester in your classroom has been a great experience; I have enjoyed each and every day! Thank you for such a valuable experience.
Mrs. Jackson
Mrs. Adamowicz,
After teaching my review lesson last week I’ve come across several new ideas of ways that I could’ve gone about teaching. It was a very difficult lesson for me to write and develop because I was in charge of reviewing the three other college teachers lessons. I needed to make sure I wasn’t giving the students new information and wasn’t confusing them like I had in a previous lesson. I was very pleased with the amount of feedback the students were giving me. They answered most if not all of my questions promptly and seemed to be engaged. I only had a few problems with behavior that I hadn’t ever seen before. Such as students actually getting out of their seats to come up and ask me questions as I was giving directions. It had never happened in any other lessons taught by either me or any of the other college teachers so it was an issue that I had to tackle as soon as it happened. Other than that I think my lesson could’ve been more interactive, but the students were really involved and very helpful. I can’t wait to teach my final lesson next week!
Miss Ruffing
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz,
First and foremost, I hope I did not confuse your students today with replacing the noun with he, she, or they to double-check and answer! I felt that your students already had a pretty good concept of which verb to use depending on if the subject was singular or plural, but I could have explained how to double-check this in a better way. They student were very quiet while I was talking and demonstrated very positive behaviors while working with each other on the iPad activity. I felt that the iPad activity wet well and the students did an excellent job of coming up with sentences. If the sentences were not in the present form or used an action verb, I tried to ask the student a question about how they would change the verb if it was-and then I would insert a present-tense action verb. Doing this helped me to evaluate if the students could create subject/verb agreement. Overall I do not feel this was my best lesson and I have reflected very hard over what I would change to make this a better lesson for future students.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Evans
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz,
I’m sad to say that I’ve taught my final lesson for the semester in your classroom! I have had so much fun! I thought my final lesson (over the city council) went well. At first, I was concerned about the time element in the lesson. When I listened into conversations in our role-playing activity, however, I made an “on the spot” teaching decision. I think the students were learning more via the role-playing activity than if I had rushed on to the next activity I had planned for them. So, I decided to allow them to discuss ideas with their groups, as well as with the rest of the class. As I was leaving, students were still talking about the scenario I had given them. I hope this is an activity that they can store in the back of their mind, to help with content they will be introduce to in the future. I have truly enjoyed myself in your classroom! Thank you and my third grade friends for allowing me to spend time in your classroom! =)
Sincerely,
Miss Girardier
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz,
I can’t believe it is all over! Today was our last day in the classroom and my lesson on the election process. The students seemed engaged on what they were learning and paid attention the entire time, which was very good. They understood what they had to do when I gave them their poster to make. However, next time I would define more terms for them so they would have a better understanding of what they were learning. I had a wonderful time in your classroom this semester and I had a great experience!
Sincerely,
Miss Johnston
Dear Mrs. Adamowicz and class,
It is hard for me to put into words how I feel about our semester together, but I will give it my best. You all gave me such a wonderful experience that I will never forget. You all tried your best and made me feel right at home in your classroom. Our final activity was so much fun for me, and I hope that you felt the same way. We marched through this semester with our best thinking caps on, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. Your letters were so touching, and I will hold on to those as long as I live. If I ever need a pick-me-up, I will pull those letters out and think about how much fun I had in your classroom. I hope that my future classes are as great as you all are!
Love,
Mrs. Case
Mrs. Adamowicz and class,
I can’t believe it’s all over. Everyone seemed to enjoy my lesson on the police department. I think it went well overall, the formal activities could’ve used a little more modeling. I was glad to see Anna back in the classroom on Wednesday! I will miss all of you so much. Your letters were so sweet! I’m glad I got to work with such an amazing group of students this semester. You all have such great potential to achieve something great, and I’m sure you will. Thank you again for a great semester. Maybe I will get to work with some of you again in the future! Have a wonderful summer.
Miss Ruffing
Dear Third Grade,
Thank you for a wonderful semester in your classroom! I learned many new things about teaching from each and every one of you. Also, thank you for the letters! They were very kind and I have them kept in a safe place for inspiration in the future! I hope everyone has a great end to the school year and a fabulous summer! Does anyone have any exciting plans for the summer?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Evans