Saturday, October 16, 2010

I've become accustomed to leaving huge gaps of time between each blog post, often after a school day, my brain is feeling fairly fried and there is not much going in my brain to write about.

However, right now I find myself enjoying a phenomenally gorgeous fall Saturday, and I am sitting in my favorite coffee shop in Langley with a dear friend, getting ready to dive into an afternoon of lesson planning and organizing my work.

I am enjoying being referred to as 'Miss Jacobson' in my Grade One class...this year will be quite a year of learning. My class (as every class does) has a huge range of learning levels in every subject, and figuring out how to make learning interesting and engaging for students of all levels will be a challenge. Let alone mastering classroom management skills...ha...
I have been blessed immensely with two teachers (doing a job-share) as my School Associates, and they are wonderful teachers, full of a lot of information and knowledge, and are great in the classroom. I feel confident that I will come out of this year prepared to teach...wherever that may be.

I'm going to dive back into work but I plan on seeing you again soon on my blog...with beautiful weather like there is outside, lots of teaching stories and Halloween fun and Christmas on the horizon...there will be lots to blog about :)

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Here will be a new blog addition where I will have little stories from school:

The One-derful One-ders of Grade One

Each day, the students have Guided Reading. While my teacher works with one group at a time, the rest of the students rotate through different centers. As they work, they are not allowed to talk to or ask the teacher questions because normally the teacher is busy with a group and should not be interrupted. Thus, to get in the habit, they are not suppose to ask me questions either because eventually I'll be leading the small group and will not be available to talk to either.

So on one particular day, I sat and was writing and observing the different classroom tasks. I watched through the corner of my eye as students would watch me and then decide to approach to ask a question.

"Miss Jacobson..."
I would respond with, "I'm invisible."
This group smiled and remembered they couldn't talk to me, so they wandered away.

A few moments later, another few students approached me.
"Uh, Miss Jacobson, how do we..."
I again responded with, "I'm invisible."
One little boy looked at me with a raised eyebrow and honestly spoke, "No you're not, I can see you."
I chuckled and smiled, "No, I'm invisible", and gave him a wink, thinking he would understand.
He reached out his little hand and stroked my arm, "But, I can feel you, so you must be here."
I could not argue with his logic, and after reminding him in simple language that he could not ask me questions, he nodded his head with understanding and moved on.

I have learned I have to be pretty simple in my speech and instructions with Grade One's. :)




2 comments:

Keltie and Phil said...

That's a one-derful story of your grade one's... what a cute little boy!!

Joy said...

What a smart kid!