Placement+2+Wk+2+Experience


 * Waterford Elementary (Orlando, FL)

Monday, March 22, 2010**


 * (*All real names are substituted for made-up names for teachers' and students' safety.)**


 * Short School Week**

It's the week before Orange County Schools go on their Spring Break. They only have school until this Thursday. I know many parents and teachers have been lookng forward to this break.

My supervising teacher was absent today. Apparently, she's been really sick because she wasn't at school last Friday neither. I wasn't expecting to see a substitute teacher. Nevertheless, I was exciting to see the kids. It turns out that the para takes over the lead in teaching when the main teacher isn't there and the sub just assists. They're always happy to have extra hands to help!

At lunch in the classroom in between the morning and afternoon session, the sub teacher talked to me about the positive and negative challenges of PTA at Waterford Elementary that she is a part of. She gave me an overview of how PTA works, how committees and board members are formed and how activities are organized. It was interesting to listen to a parent's point of view because I know as a future educator, I need to work well not only with the kids but more importantly, with the parents because a positive school-home relationship between teachers and parents are critical to the success of students.
 * PTA Talk**


 * A few things I learned today:**
 * If you want to teach young kids, you can't be afraid to get sticky! (there's always sticky stuff around: their snacks, glue, and their noses!)
 * PTA parents positively impact their child's school experience. We need more parents to get involved and to commit!
 * Students seem to respond more positively to individual/one-on-one instruction with the teacher.
 * Music and movement is an essential part of a Pre-K's life! (we were singing the candy factory song, Alligator song, and the ABC's ofcourse!)


 * Tuesday, March 23, 2010**

My supervising teacher was thankfully back today from being sick with bronchitis since last Thursday. I knew she was still going to be tired and a little weak though. So I prepared to do extra work today to help her.

Today was one of those 'not-so-good' days. At least for the morning group. For some reason, in the middle of Circle Time, one by one, the kids started getting up from sitting and paying attention on the floor and started playing with different toys around the room. Pretty soon, only 3 kids were sitting on the floor paying attention to the teacher. Everyone became so rowdy. Pretty soon, one of the girls started crying and screaming for not having a toy. Then the whole room was like a jungle with kids fighting and arguing. It's was hard to get control of about 12 ESE 3 yr olds! We (the adults) all kept calm though and sometimes, the best thing to do is just give time and let the kids calm down which they did.

My strategy was to get a few kids started on a "Animal Parade" game so I can atleast hold their attention while the others were having their tantrums. And it worked!

The afternoon went on without too much craziness. Except that the para-professional had a family emergency and was scrambling to bring in a sub for the next day because she needed to get out of the country to take care of her sick mother.