Term 1 Reflection

Term 1 This year has seemed to go by in a flash. We did so much in a short amount of time. It was however, full of a lot of change (or changing back, perhaps) and I feel like I both accomplished and learned a lot.  Some thoughts are below, sorted into a few categories to help make my rambling easier to read.

Moving to Year 1
Compared to last year (previously I had worked with this age level, so it wasn't a completely new thing for me) this was perhaps the biggest change. Which is to say that it changed everything about how I work. Sure, some of the things were similar, but all aspects of my job were just different enough for none of it to be the same. Initially when told I would be with a younger class, I was a bit worried about having to learn how things work here at a different year level. But as I thought about it more, I realized that the work required to sort it out was worth it because I do enjoy teaching the younger children more.  Or maybe it's not that I enjoy them more, and that I feel more at ease with them.  Experiences in my past have not been positive with some of the older children (not so much as a teacher, but as a student) and I think I was unable to get rid of some of that baggage last year. This year did not include any of that and it helped me be more successful. I also sometimes feel like I act a bit childish at times and that plays really well with the younger students, whereas the older students don't like it so much. I feel like I can be myself more with the younger children.

Planning
As a whole, I've got the planning routine down quite well. I hate to say it, but having to hand my planning in has helped free up a lot of my time on weekends.  Last year I had felt that I was constantly catching up to things I needed to do.  This year, at least I have my planning sorted by the weekend.  It was a horrible feeling to have to sit down on Sunday (after spending most of Saturday marking) and sort out my planning, then do flip charts. I'm slowly getting into a really good weekly routine with getting things done during the week (sorting out reading books, making activities) so it's not such a rush near the end. There are still some ways forward (tightening up the routine so that it's not the mad-rush on Thursday afternoons, finding more sources for ideas) but I feel like planning is a lot easier to do and the results are a lot better now than they were before the school year started.

Reading
I don't know if it's more helpful or less helpful that I'm doing this reflection a few weeks into term 2. Reading was something I found, at times, to be very frustrating in term 1. The children didn't seem to be making much progress at all and it just seemed like a hamster running on a wheel. I did keep at it though and kept on trying to find ways to help the children move along. Having done this a few weeks late, several of my students have made some massive gains lately, and it does put a much more positive spin on the whole thing - and adds credence to the idea of "everything clicking" one day. It certainly seems like some of my students have turned a corner.  My biggest focus (or at least what I wanted to focus on) was making sure that the activities the children did when they weren't with me were helping their progress - even if it was slow. I put a lot of effort (and am looking to put some more effort) into making useful activboard resources that can be used year after year after year. I go by the acronym KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) that a high school math teacher once told me. I don't need things to be fancy. They just need to be effective. I feel like the other activities we've done have been helpful and when I have time, I'm looking to improve my arsenal of ways to boost the children's achievement (whether it be with phonics sounds, HFW, or even comprehension).

Ways forward include looking at further activities for tumbles (I want to keep them constantly changing), improving activboard resources and finding ways to make the guided groups run more smoothly. The main idea is efficiency. The students should always be busy doing something that is beneficial. I need to find some (more) ways to fill in the dead times and to make them spend less time doing meaningless tasks (or cleaning up the classroom to avoid work).

Writing
Again, writing is an area that I would have been very frustrated with had it been a few weeks earlier. Now, however, I've had one student make the jump to 1P and a few others that look like they are getting closer to doing so.  As the term went on, I definitely got into a better groove with how to run the sessions and the groups.  I've definitely started to realize that a lot of the problems my students are having are not really to do with the mechanics (when given help, most of them can sound out words and write sentences) but it's more to do with a) ideas and b) confidence. Neither are things that will come quickly, but I have definitely noticed massive progress in the latter with some children and that has led to some progress on the former. I'm looking to spend more time making children accountable as well. Often, children would show me their work and when I asked them what they wrote, they would just shrug their shoulders. Until recently, I wasn't quite sure what to do, but I have decided (with some guidance, though one of these things I came up with it on my own as well) to use a several pronged approach: 1) Tell children they need to figure out what it says and then come back to me, 2) Pick random children (using my popsicle sticks) to read their work (this also helps with a few other things) after writing each day, 3) using highlighters to help children write their own ideas, 4) stress to children that they have to be able to read their work, even if I can't. I'm also open and willing to try other ideas to push the children towards confidence and ideas.  This is going to be my focus for term 2, so hopefully I'll get the chance to write a few more entries about how this is going.

Math
In the past, math has been my strongest subject. I actually feel, though, that it's my weakest (of the three core subjects) at the moment. I think this is mostly because of the scope of what I'm having to teach at the moment and how it is very basic and there is not much variation. One thing that I started going back to this term (that I did years ago with younger children) is to using music (not my voice - we wouldn't want to create a class of tone-deaf students) to help children remember.  So far, using songs such as "I can count to 100" and "Counting down from 20" have proved helpful to some children. This is obvious, but when you work with older children, it is easily forgotten.  One of the biggest challenges in term 1 was to find several ways to teach the same concept (before numbers, for example). Though I guess you can't say I was teaching them several ways, as if I had, I wouldn't need to do it again ;) My initial experiences with Numicon have been positive and I'm hoping to get a lot more comfortable with it as I feel there is a lot of potential there. This week I'm trying out two lessons from it with each group and seeing what happens.  There is a wealth of activities there, and though I don't want to rely on them solely, they make sense and teach children in a standard way, using a variety of manipulatives. Being a mathematical thinker (or logical thinker, or whatever you want to call it) I really feel bad about how my maths is going (which isn't so bad, I've moved two, almost three, students to stage three and only have a handful left on stage one) and want to turn that around as well. I'm going to give Numicon a go and see where that takes me.

Topic and all the Afternoon Stuff
Anyone who talks to me at all about my teaching will probably quickly figure out that I'm not as confident doing some of these things, especially since we're covering a topic that I learned absolutely nothing about prior to living in New Zealand. There has been, however, many learning opportunities and I feel that I have both improved in this area and am continuing to do so. Some of the subjects are actually quite a strong point for me. PE is something that I "get" as I spent a year coaching myself at hurdles (which were three feet tall and went up to my belly button). Being able to break down a skill such as that for myself (as well as a few other, non-track related skills) has been valuable in helping me teach children natural progressions for things (such as throwing/catching). The resource we have (FMS) has proven valuable in that it provides lots of activities that are simple, useful and fun for the students.

Drama is something that I have enjoyed and tried to do a bit of last year. Slowly, I'm trying to make sure there is some sort of drama component in class every week. This probably hasn't been happening, and I want to work towards finding ideas for this.

Art has been difficult. I think my biggest hang-up is getting materials ready and learning techniques. My team has been great though, and they've both given me lots of ideas AND they've shown me techniques. I definitely couldn't survive without them in that regard. The upside to that is that I'm becoming more confident and have been trying a few things on my own without having to go ask for ideas. Pinterest and an observation of Laura have been helpful. I have also been reminded of my university course on art. Before that course I had 0 confidence, but the teacher was super helpful (more helpful than any of my art teachers) and broke things down, step by step so that I could be successful. I'm hoping to do the same for the children.

I've also gotten better when it comes to the actual topic things. I'm trying a lot less to get students to listen to lots of ideas and more trying to give them little bits of information and then have them go off and do some sort of activity. It has paid off, though, like today's attempt at making 3D outrigger canoes, I have had some failures (one or two of them look alright, I guess). Still, the fact that I tried that today, is a positive, and I'm hoping to continue that trend this week and beyond.

Behaviour/Relationships
When everything was going south last year I got an email from an old boss. She had filled out a reference form for Oasis for me and had emailed it to me. One of the things she had mentioned as a positive for me was my relationships with children. So clearly, whatever happened last year was the exception and not the rule, as this year I feel like I have great relationships with my students - even moreso now than before the school holidays. Honestly, getting along with younger children comes really easy to me. I can't nail down one thing in what I've done with the children that has been different (though trying to sort all that out would be difficult as there are so many things that make a relationship). I think the problem was not so much that I couldn't handle the kids, but that other things were getting to me and then I didn't have the energy to do what I needed to do. It all became a big chore at one point. That hasn't been the case this year and I've been able to manage things a bit better, which has been magnified in the results. The kids like being here and like me and I like being with them (most of the time ;) ). There is room to improve those things a bit. I want to get to the point where none of them would even think of not listening, and I know I'm not there yet. I think I just have to go with what someone told me once: take care of yourself and then the teaching will come.

Behaviour in the classroom has been very good this year. Other than 1 student there have been no major incidents and the children are responding well to the behaviour program.  They all know exactly what to do and we have meaningful conversations when I need to talk to them. The one student, however, has caused some trouble in that he's been stealing food and a few other things. It seems to come and go in waves. I've been working on a few ways to counteract this and usually they work for a while. Then when I've thought it was done, he tries it again. I think the lesson here is to be ever vigilant and (at least for the rest of the year) try my best to keep him out of situations where it is possible to steal food. That's not easy, but if he doesn't have the means to do it, he won't and then hopefully he will grow out of the phase. That being said, because the boy and I get along well, we're able to deal with this without it being personal (he doesn't hate me for being upset about it). The key is to continue this bond so that if further incidents creep up, it can be dealt with without more fuss than necessary.

Moving Forward
I feel like most days I do a pretty good job. I feel that my students are learning which, at the end of the day, is all that really matters. There will always be ways to improve and I think I'm pretty good at knowing if something is working or not and I've got a decent sense of possible ways forward to improve learning. I'm also getting better at getting ideas from others and implementing those in my classroom.

One of the biggest things I need to concern myself with, is making sure I have time to myself. That could mean working later some days so I don't have to work others. That could mean making sure I have time to run (or do other activity). That could mean eating right and spending time with the people close to me. It doesn't matter what form that takes, but I need that time to me. Even if it means I'm not 100% ready, I'll be more effective if I feel good and am only 75% ready than if I'm 100% ready and don't feel very good at all. That's not to say I won't plan or do the other things, but I'm not going to stress too much about it. I will look for ways to work more efficiently and make sure I have time for me.

Overall I'm happy with how things are going, even if not every day is good (exhibit A: today). I know that I can bounce back from most things if given the time and the people around me who understand. I look forward to working with my students and continuing to make them super brainy!