80 Hour Practicum - Day One

September 6th, 2013

Today was my first day in my first grade classroom with my cooperating teacher.  I am planning on spending a full school day each Friday until I reach 80 hours.

The first topic I want to write about is in regards to making connections.  I am striving to answer the following questions: How are teachers/adults making connections with students?

My cooperating teacher has many strategies for making connections with students.  She first and foremost, knows their names.  She even knows names of past students and greets them in the hallway at the beginning and end of the day.  Students will not feel a connection with you if you do not know their name.  During my first day, I worked hard to learn and remember the names of the students I am working with and many of the students mentioned that they were excited that I knew their name already and I had only been there a day.  

In addition to knowing student names, my cooperating teacher has a weekly poster template that she sends home with a student each week.  Each student will get a turn but not in the same week.  This poster is a get-to-know-me poster where the selected student writes about themselves and makes the poster colorful so they can come back to school on Monday and share about themselves to the class.  She started off the year by having an example poster and sharing about herself.  These posters allow the students and the teacher to share and learn about each other, making connection between students and creating a stronger classroom community.

Overall, it is very apparent that my cooperating teacher cares about her students.  Her care comes out in the way she talks to other teachers about them, how and what she talks to her students about, and what she has shared with me throughout my first day.  She also invests a significant amount of her own money on her students so they have more learning opportunities beyond the budget she gets from the school.  I find this very noble and dedicated.  She inspires me to be the best teacher I can be.

Thank you,

Olivia