Work Day 2

Today was a real work day - all in the classroom.  My cooperating teacher and I worked on setting up the classroom some more - getting supplies in little baskets, getting names in cursive on the desk tags, cutting out laminated decorations and name tags, etc.  I worked on a writing center that currently consists of a little hanging mail folder for each student in the class.  I'll be making up prompts, letter formats, and topics for them to write, in cursive, to their classmates to practice cursive and language arts skills.  

This morning we also heard the encouraging kick off message via video from the superintendent for the district.  To demonstrate the use of new technologies, and to save in gas for every staff person in the district, he and a few colleagues prepared a dvd for each school to watch in house.  He covered the usual material: highlights and progress from last year, business to be improved, and new ideas and encouragement for the year.  Schools really do want us to use what we're learning in college now in our classrooms - they (at the higher level) want us to use podcasts, wikis, blogs, GPS technologies, -even texting and cell phones- to teach our students so that they will be engaged in their learning in this "digital" age.  I'm glad I have some knowledge about those and will be able to teach some of those skills to my cooperating teacher, but I must admit that most all of them I've learned here at college.  PowerPoints are no longer a good enough demonstration of technology!  Our kids already know what's out there - so why not teach them how to put their voice out there themselves?

This afternoon we had a grade level meeting.  Those happen quite frequently, as I found in my internship.  We had to decide which blocks of time we would have the Teacher Assistant in our room, and discuss and decide on the field trips we wanted to take this year.  

Tonight I'm home writing lesson plans for the few lessons I'll be teaching next week.  I'll be doing a little cursive with the students, helping to read a cute book about a girl that doesn't want to learn cursive, and possibly helping out with some science and social studies.