First Day of Field

Well, second graders aren't so scary. I have been placed in a second grade classroom with a confident first year teacher. My first day of observation proved its not the age of the child that makes me uneasy, it is the curriculum that comes with the age. My cooperating teacher asked if I would like to review the answers to a worksheet and it wasn't standing in front of the classroom that made me freak out, it was the idea of explaining cause and effect (the topic of the ws).

Now, I realize that if it was my classroom I would be able to prepare and have good examples of cause and effect, but it is the whole 2nd grade curriculum that causes a heart condition. How the heck would I ever be comfortable teaching students the proper why to use semicolons when I know I don't use them correctly?

I am not sure if I am about to explain this in a way you will understand, but I will try... Although the curriculum is out of my comfort zone, I feel better with the assessment of older children. When lps are teaching concrete ideas (proper sentence structure, adding two digits, etc) the assessment comes naturally. In my classroom and the age of children I am comfortable with, the lps teach broader concepts and assessment involves more planning. I'm not sure if anyone understood how I feel about that relationship, but maybe I can explain better in a later post.

During this field, I want to learn more about my cooperating teacher's classroom management style, it seems as though she has two incentive programs going on and I am curious to see how they are related.

I am also eager to see how an early childhood teacher manages having one class for most subjects and another group of students for English. It will be interesting to see how English is integrated into other subjects when all the students are with various teachings during Walk to Read (time for English when students are grouped according to level).

Finally, it will be helpful to pick the brain of a first year teacher. What would she have done differently in August? What has she learned that she wish she knew before?....