Bucket Fillers

I love teaching and I love my kids! I really feel like a teacher. And not just a teacher, but a good teacher! :)

Today, my students were EXCITED to have math homework! EXCITED!! I must be doing something right.

Also, I dealt with the mean girls issue today. This afternoon after gym, I had all of the girls come into the hall and I said, "We have a problem. Does anyone know what this problem is?" And my cute little Helen said, "Being mean." Yes, indeed.

So, I told the girls exactly what undesirable/disrespectful behaviors I had seen including talking behind backs, saying mean things, talking with an attitude, excluding people, not filling buckets, and tattling. I told them that it had to stop and asked them for some solutions. They said things like: say nice things, don't use an attitude, fill people's buckets, and write people nice notes. I then explained to the girls that the kind of behavior I have been seeing will not be tolerated and that next time they will all be staying in for recess.

At the very end of the day, we had extra time because all of the students were such good listeners and hard workers during social studies, so I had the students play a friendship game. I had all the students stand in a circle and then turn to their right. They then had to say one nice thing to the person they were facing. When we had gone around the circle, we turned around and told that person one nice thing. Everyone was so nice and polite! :)

Afterward I said to the students, "Look at all those smiles! Did that make you feel good?...And wasn't that easy?...See, we can fill people's buckets every day and it is that easy."

Everyone left happy and I am hoping (fingers crossed) to come in to much nicer children tomorrow. :)

If you are not acquainted with the term "bucket filling", then I encourage you to check out this teacher-made website that explains bucket filling and where it came from: http://myfunteacher.com/bucketfillers.htm

Stellar Lessons & Mean Girls

Pathetic. I just started this thing and I'm already falling behind.

Anyway, yesterday was a good day at school (I think...though now I can barely even remember). I went to bed nice and early last night and woke up to my roommate's mother calling, explaining that she could not get ahold of Brittany (yes, my roommate and I have the same name) and could I please tell her that they don't have school today?? I was excited at the prospect of having a surprise day off school and considering my school would be closed as well, considering that most of the other schools had decided to close due to bad weather conditions. So, I checked Wood TV 8 and guess what?? 50+ school closings and which schools do you think were still in? Grand Haven!! 

So, I went to school today, while all of my friends stayed home and had a pajama day. Though, it wasn't all bad because my kids were unusually calm today and my lessons went very well. I led the morning lesson, which was interrupted by a tornado drill (So the students would know what to do if there was an actual tornado--quite important considering a tornado warning was already issued for the county). Then I led a story with comprehension questions, which most students completed without any problems.


Later I taught math and today we were learning a whole new concept so it was an important day. We learned how to solve two-step story problems. My students were great listeners and we got through the lesson without any problems. About partway through the lesson I decided that the students may get more out of the lesson if they were physically involved. So, I had them act out the story problems. This was a lot of fun and helped my students to really grasp the concept. They really got it!! I was so glad that I stopped halfway through to try something new, because it went over very well.

Finally, at the end of the day I led them through a writing lesson. First we did Daily Oral Language using two Jane Goodall paragraphs. Daily Oral Language deals with editing incorrect paragraphs by looking at spelling and grammar. This is no longer required in the curriculum, but my teacher and I both think that it is important and that our students could use it, so we decided to implement it into our writing lessons. Today was the first day of implementing this and it went very well. After editing the paragraphs together as a class, I had the students go back to their Halloween stories that they had written and edit them just as we had done with the paragraphs. This seemed to work well and really incorporated the DOL.

While most things are going wonderfully in our classroom, there is one thing that we are having a real problem with and that is mean girls. Many of our girls (seriously, about half) are being very mean to the other girls. They use attitudes and say mean things and generally do not treat each other with respect. My teacher suggested taking the girls into the hall and talking to them about the issue, and while I think this is important, I also wonder if some team building activities would bring the girls together and make them realize that they need to be respectful towards one another and work together. I may do some further research on this and look up some games/activities that may be helpful. Any ideas on how to do this would be greatly appreciated. I just feel like something should be done to stop this before they reach middle/high school and turn out like this:

Sick Kids & Scarecrows

I had to send two of my students home today after they threw up at school. The second student had a fever of 103. I am praying this does not spread and hoping that I don't get sick. I don't have time to be sick and the last thing I want is to be sick on my weekend, which happens to be the only amount of free time I have. 

In other news, I will be teaching all afternoon tomorrow as my mentor teacher will be absent. I'm really excited about it. We're going to read a really great book called The Scarecrow's Dance and then talk about the vocabulary used in the book.

Observation #1

Well, I was observed for the first time today while teaching... 

I taught a math lesson on story problems with not enough information. The first part of the lesson went awesome. I was integrating technology by utilizing the SMARTboard, the kids were engaged and participating, and everyone was on the same page. THEN I had the students work independently on their student workbook page, which is precisely when I realized that none of the students actually understood how to do the problems on their own. So, I ran around the room like a chicken with its head cut off trying to answer all the questions until too many minutes had passed and I had realized that not enough of my students could complete these problems independently. That's when I called the students attention back to the front of the room and went through the worksheet with them on the document camera. After pulling them back together I felt like the students had a better understanding and I was able to clarify some things. Right when I was done going over the worksheet with them it was time for lunch and I had to dismiss them. I dismissed the students and walked over to my college supervisor, waiting to hear the worst words my mind could think of: "You are not going to be a good teacher."

Instead, when I sat down she asked me how I thought it went, to which I replied, "It went okay..."; she replied by telling me that she thought I did a very good job. Needless to say, relief washed over my entire body like a flood. Suddenly I remembered the purpose of this whole experience, which is simply to learn. She explained many things I did well and then concluded with some things I could work on, but the best thing she did was to make me think about what I would have done differently given the chance. I explained a technique that I thought would work well, which would address multiple problems. I would go through the worksheet with them one problem at a time, reading the question aloud, having the students solve the problem independently, and then going over the problem immediately afterward. My supervisor liked this idea and said that she was impressed with my thinking.

Overall, I am proud with how my observation went. Although my students had difficulty with the subject matter, that was not completely my fault. While I could have done a few things differently that may have helped with the students' understanding of the lesson, for the most part this experience served its intended purpose: to be a learning experience.


Hence the title of my blog: Learning & Teaching. :)

Kids Say the Darndest Things (& Other Recent Happenings)

Sometimes my 2nd graders say really funny/cute things. Here are the best so far:


"Miss Holloway? Hey! That's like Miss Halloween!!"

"What if your name was Mrs. Santa Claus? Then you'd be really sweet!"


"MRS. Holloway, I wonder when you can come over and have dinner with my family." (It should be noted that this was spoken as a statement, not a question.)


"A fairy came to my house last night!!"




And some more recent ramblings:


I have been teaching math and writing this week and it is going pretty well. I feel pretty comfortable teaching math, but tomorrow is my first observation and I am SUPER nervous. My lesson is on story problems with not enough information, which is hardly an exciting topic, but I'm going to try and make it interesting by utilizing the SMARTboard and allowing the students to come up and use it. I know that this is all about learning and my supervisor's comments will only help me to become a better teacher, but I'm still nervous. Hopefully it will go okay. An update will be coming tomorrow with the results.


In other news, yesterday I attended the FIRE UP! Conference, which is a conference for student teachers intending to fire us up for teaching. We were able to choose seminars to attend throughout the day that were of interest to us. The ones I chose were all really great. The best one was by Bill Cecil who, if you don't know, was the Michigan Teacher of the Year in 2003-2004. He is an extremely influential teacher and has written a book called Best Year Ever!. This book outlines his vision of teaching and provides strategies and resources for teachers to help them create a positive and successful classroom environment. So far the book has been amazing and he was truly one of the best speakers I have ever heard! I encourage you to visit his website at www.bestyearever.net. 

Here is the synopsis of his book:

Best Year Ever! provides teachers with proven classroom management strategies that can turn any classroom into a caring community, complete with high morale, infectious enthusiasm, and increased performance.

This powerful teaching guide gives you the needed tools to build a successful team where individuals work together to achieve shared goals while striving for personal best.  Instead of wasting precious time and frustration trying to continually put out brush fires in your classroom, you will have more time to enjoy doing what you entered this profession to do.  Teach!

You will discover how to create a learning environment where...

• People care for one another.
• There is trust between teachers, students and parents.
• There are no feelings of "Us vs. Them."
• Everyone feels they have worth and respect.
• Spirits are high.
• Students work together, solve problems, and generate new ideas to enhance learning.
• The positive environment encourages students to take risks and try new ideas.
• Mistakes are seen as a chance to grow.
• Students help other students because they feel confident and good about themselves.
• Pride shows through in everything.
• Students are happy.
• Parents are unified.

This is Me!

Hello!

My name is Brittany Holloway and this is my blog. I am new at this, but I love to write and occaisionally I have interesting things to say, so I figured I would try it out. 

I am a senior at Hope College majoring in Special Education with an emphasis in Learning Disabilities (LD). I am currently student teaching in a 2nd grade classroom at Lake Hills Elementary School. While this school is located in Spring Lake, Michigan, it is actually considered a part of Grand Haven Public Schools.

I am from Saline, Michigan, which is a small town outside of Ann Arbor. This means that yes, I am a University of Michigan fan! I have always been a wolverine. :)

I will be using this blog to rant/vent/talk about my experiences through this next year, including student teaching and job searching.

Let the journey begin! :)