This is something I picked up from my graduate class and I think will be really useful in connecting with and getting to know your students. Every week or so I am choosing 6 students that I will write a postcard to. I try to pick students that I think did something really impressive but may not always get recognized by me or my CT. I mail the postcard home and hope that the students really take pride in what I wrote to them. These postcards serve as a great way to show your students and their parents that you care and are involved in making them better students and people. This activity also makes you find something good in every student in your room, not just the outstanding ones!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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I too am a student in Cheryl’s TE 402 class. I really enjoyed reading your blog because it spoke to a lot of concerns that I am feeling going into my internship year. Although, I have had the opportunity to teach several lessons throughout this year, I am nervous about implementing classroom management techniques, teaching, and writing lessons. It was really neat to read about all of the exciting lessons that you have implemented throughout the course of this year. I would love to use some of these ideas in the future. I thought that the idea of using Google maps to track the path of characters in a story would be a really excellent way to incorporate technology, social studies, and language arts content.
I was also really impressed with how incredibly hard you are working to make sure that students know that you care about them and how they are doing in school. I love the idea of having a student of the week. I think that this is a great way, not only for you to learn about your students, but for your students to learn about each other. I think that if you can tailor your lessons towards your student’s interests, they will be more willing to learn the content. This is a great way to find out what your student’s interests are. Also, from being in elementary school, I remember how proud I felt when it was my week to be the student of the week.
I also was really impressed with the idea to send post cards home in the mail to your students. I bet they are extremely excited to get mail from their teacher, and to show their parents that they have been doing a good job in school (especially if the child is more of a struggling student). I also think that parents are more willing to work with you when they know that you are making an effort to communicate with them, and this is a great way to do that!
Also, thank you for suggesting the book Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire. It looks really interesting, and I think that it is definitely something that I will have to look into after the semester is over. I think that you are really benefiting from keeping a blog on your experiences like this, because you can really see how your thoughts about teaching and your confidence level is growing over time. After reading your blog, this is something that I will definitely consider doing myself next year. Thanks for sharing your internship experiences with us!
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