Starting off today, the students were surprisingly good! Monday's are usually crazy coming off of the weekend, but today they were calm and listening (for the most part). Mrs. Palmer is starting to let me take over morning routines like taking attendance and giving Dojo Points.* Throughout the day, I mainly monitor the students and make sure everyone's on task. Mrs. Palmer is also letting me take control more and be alone with the students so I can practice my monitoring techniques and controlling the classroom (something I can struggle with).
Since there was not a formal math lesson today, I did not teach in the morning. Later, I observed a literacy lesson taught by Mrs. Palmer so I can learn how they are taught for my edTPA (UGH). NOW WHEN THEY TURNED CRAZY! It's always when we bring out the Mealworms (to be expected). At the end of the day I teach science, and we are observing Mealworms and Painted Lady Larvae. Today we just focused on the Mealworms. Many of the mealworms kept coming off the plates and interrupting my instruction (because I had to get them back on the plate). One of my student's plates completely flipped over causing everything to go on the ground. This caused craziness and it interrupted my instruction again. After this occurrence, I told the students that if things stay crazy during science and rules keep getting broken, that there will be no more observation of the mealworms. I told them at the beginning, if rules are broken too many times, no more mealworms. We will see if Thursday's science lesson is better!
Side Note: Two of my students kept trying to pull loose teeth out during school today. I told them that was gross and they need to do that at home! We don't need pulled teeth and blood in the classroom... GROSS!
Overall it was a pretty good day, I still love coming in every day to see my 22 students and to hear the millions of stories they always tell me! However, I will never turn into a morning person, waking up at 6:30am is not fun!
*Dojo is the program we use to monitor classroom behavior. Their goal is to reach 5 at the end of the day to get a treat.