The empowered student

As the year continues to fly by I find myself trying to keep up with what is happening and what areas need to have more focus. Throughout the past month my students have continued to have the opportunity to engaged in activities that they have found meaningful and relevant to their lives and their interests. They have also continued to make connections through math and science to the world that they live in. I have also been able to improve my parent involvement. I have one parent who comes and volunteers in the classroom at least once a week to help me and the students. I have also been working with other parents to finalize their volunteer information with the hopes that we will be able to do a parent involvement day once a month where parents can come in and run small groups with me - this would give them an opportunity to not only see their child in action but also feel like they are playing an integral part in their student's education. I also think it is a great way to help me build relationships with my parents and truly get an understanding of where my students come from and what is important to them. 

Our math classes have really helped me when it comes to the way I teach math and the way I provide learning opportunities for my students in math. I have learned so much from both Ms. Bloxson and Dr. Smith in regards to what activities are actually meaningful, worthwhile tasks rather than repetitive, memorization tasks. I have also used a lot of ideas from our science class this summer with Dr. Jarrett and what it means to make meaningful science tasks and how to help our students understand that they are scientists themselves.

I continue to work on classroom culture. I can honestly say that yes I do think the culture of the classroom has improved since the first 8 weeks but I can also say that I know it is still not where it needs to be. As I reflect back on what might be causing this development to slowly develop I realize that I think a lot of it has to do with my personal relationships with the students as well as our special education teacher. I realize that the culture of my classroom is not going to build itself up over night and that it takes me setting an example in all aspects, not just the convenient ones. I am excited to say that I feel as though that I have started putting new things in place to help with this process. Our new ladies lunch and boys lunch is a time for the guys of the classroom and the ladies of the classroom to come together and interact with one another. It is also based around the idea that you get a special invite to this lunch if you were caught doing the theme of the week. For example, if the theme is helping someone when they are struggling and a teacher catches you doing this deed then you get a special invite. The idea is to help our students foster these ideas and traits with one another. I am hopeful that this will be a good experience and I know from speaking with my students that eating lunch with the teachers is definitely something they want to do!

I have also thought a lot about empowering my students. I want them to feel as though they have a voice and they are an important part of our classroom - this again ties into our classroom culture. I have worked hard to provide my students team building opportunities which I think has really helped my students in their working together skills. We have also started using our recess time as a team building time by playing team sports which is a way for them to really use their team building skills in a positive, non-academic way. From what I have seen so far I think this may have been the secret to success! However the thing I am most excited about is our revamp on classroom jobs. Classroom jobs are always something that I begin at the beginning of the year but do a poor job of keeping up with or really making them meaningful for myself or for the students (yes again consistency is not my strong point). I realized that I was doing a lot of things that I didn't necessarily need to be doing and that if a student was given the opportunity to do them they would really feel empowered and as though they were an integral part of the classroom. There is a big difference between having a job that you feel like doesn't require anything and having a job that you know the class is counting on you for. I am eager to again see how this plays a role in our classroom culture and togetherness. 

I think I have realized that there are some things I can control and there are other things that I cannot control. Realizing what I can and cannot control and then moving forward with those things that I can control has been really helpful in making my highs higher. It has given me the opportunity to really reflect on my lows and be responsive to them in a way that I can control rather than waiting or assuming that things will just change. I am determined to make this year a meaningful and wonderful one!