Weekly Blog 2

This week was our first full week in the classroom. I am getting more comfortable with my classroom and students. The students seem to be coming out of their “honeymoon” stage. Many of our students are getting comfortable as well and are starting to act like they do at home which can be a little more complicated at school. Some of our students are having a more difficult time staying quiet or raising their hands when wanting to talk. My teacher does a great job at keeping these students under control. She will refuse to call on these children that are “blurting” unless they are quiet with their hands raised. I find it difficult to ignore these children because I want to correct their behavior that second and tell them to be quiet even though I know it distracts the other children and takes away from the lesson. I am starting to get to know my students on a more individual level this week. I have been trying to talk with them one on one to get them more comfortable with me being in the classroom. Most of the students respond really well to me but there are a few that are not interested in talking to me on a personal level. I think that some of these students are just very shy and are not ready to open up yet and others are just not interested. As I mentioned last week we have a student that speaks no English. This student has had a very hard time paying attention and staying out of trouble in the classroom. I have noticed that she seems to be getting into the most trouble when we are watching a movie or in a direct instruction time. I think that since she does not understand what is being said she is frustrated and uninterested. How could you blame her? Constantly trying to explain things to her has gotten redundant. Towards the end of this week I am trying new approaches with her in the classroom. I wonder what types of things I could do to get her involved or to get her out of trouble. When we were in library I had her sit on my lap so she could not get up and run around the place by herself. This seemed to calm her down and she stayed with me the whole time. I wonder if she just wants attention and is not getting enough of it during our instruction times. My teacher includes her in every activity but I am wondering if she wants one on one attention since she does not understand the instruction provided. I also think that she knows more then what she leads on. I wonder if there was a way I could get this information out of her in English. I am going to continue new strategies with her next week to see what I can improve.