Final Context:
After being in kindergarten in the fall, I am now teaching 1st grade at Samuel Powel Elementary. I moved right across the hall at the start of the second semester, and I am very happy with the decision because I still get to see my kindergarten students. It is also interesting to see the progression and growth of student from kindergarten to first grade. Although a seemingly small difference, teaching first graders is a totally different experience. Their level of independence is the most striking difference and I know these students are capable of so much!
My overarching topic is going to be “Citizenship” so that I can implement a Social Studies-heavy unit because there is already a huge emphasis on reading and math in their current curriculum. I think citizenship can be incorporated smoothly while keeping up with their regular schedule – a wonderful balance. I constantly come up with new ideas/thoughts everyday and add more things to my plans. Sometimes less is more, but in first grade, I go back and forth between which is more important: exposing them to many different things and scratching the surface to pique their curiosity or going in depth on a few topics so the students can really master them. I love the concept of teamwork, working together, and emphasizing the importance of being able to get along with those who are different. I want my students to walk away wanting to make the right decision in various situations. During my unit, I hope to be able to address what a citizen is, how students can be good citizens, character traits of good citizens, roles of various citizens in the community, and working together.
The real-world application of my unit is that individuals need to learn to work together at a young age, a skill that will be extremely important and beneficial for the rest of their lives. Even if people don’t agree, they need to learn to tolerate and compromise one another. Too many adults get in fights that go too far because they never learned or practiced working with others. I want my students to be contributing members of society and take their responsibilities as citizens seriously. My inquiry question will relate to the appropriate use of incentives in the classroom. How can I get students to do the right thing because they want to and should, not because there is some reward? I want students to follow the rules even when they think no one is watching. On Friday afternoons, the class can earn a snack before dismissal; the students are constantly reminded of this throughout the week. As I am starting to videotape my lessons, I have seen many students act out when I turn to write something on the board. This is a natural behavior, but it is also sneaky and intentional. I am going to do “Shout Outs” on Friday to acknowledge something each student did throughout the week when they thought no one noticed.
A difficult part of this process is deciding what topics are the most relevant, useful, and practical and then presenting them in an order and way that makes the most sense to the students. I hope students walk away knowing their place (in a location sense) in the world (maps/geographic tools), different roles in the community, different leaders (teacher, principal, Mayor Nutter, Governor Corbett, President OBama). I did a lesson on Me on the Map in late January and introduced the idea of my unit and geographic relevance in terms of size to the class. We created a graphic organizer that visually arranged school, street of school, city, state, country, continent, planet in size order. (See below for the example.)
I am planning a “Career Day” with parents and family members for both 1st grade classes where we can hear directly from the individuals who do some of the jobs we have been discussing in class. My purpose for the career day is to open the students’ eyes to all the different jobs there are and hear people speak firsthand.
In terms of classroom dynamic and where this fits in – my teacher is very open to allowing me to do what I “want” although she did suggest incorporating social studies and science if possible because that is the hardest for her. I will teach my unit the weeks of March 11 and 18; I feel ready and confident, even though I just started in this classroom in January. I will stick with their Everyday Math curriculum during the two-week takeover and incorporate a lot of group work while continuing to “catch and acknowledge students being good.”
I am excited to see how my two-week takeover plays out, particularly how the students respond to my emphasis on positive reinforcement.
My overarching topic is going to be “Citizenship” so that I can implement a Social Studies-heavy unit because there is already a huge emphasis on reading and math in their current curriculum. I think citizenship can be incorporated smoothly while keeping up with their regular schedule – a wonderful balance. I constantly come up with new ideas/thoughts everyday and add more things to my plans. Sometimes less is more, but in first grade, I go back and forth between which is more important: exposing them to many different things and scratching the surface to pique their curiosity or going in depth on a few topics so the students can really master them. I love the concept of teamwork, working together, and emphasizing the importance of being able to get along with those who are different. I want my students to walk away wanting to make the right decision in various situations. During my unit, I hope to be able to address what a citizen is, how students can be good citizens, character traits of good citizens, roles of various citizens in the community, and working together.
The real-world application of my unit is that individuals need to learn to work together at a young age, a skill that will be extremely important and beneficial for the rest of their lives. Even if people don’t agree, they need to learn to tolerate and compromise one another. Too many adults get in fights that go too far because they never learned or practiced working with others. I want my students to be contributing members of society and take their responsibilities as citizens seriously. My inquiry question will relate to the appropriate use of incentives in the classroom. How can I get students to do the right thing because they want to and should, not because there is some reward? I want students to follow the rules even when they think no one is watching. On Friday afternoons, the class can earn a snack before dismissal; the students are constantly reminded of this throughout the week. As I am starting to videotape my lessons, I have seen many students act out when I turn to write something on the board. This is a natural behavior, but it is also sneaky and intentional. I am going to do “Shout Outs” on Friday to acknowledge something each student did throughout the week when they thought no one noticed.
A difficult part of this process is deciding what topics are the most relevant, useful, and practical and then presenting them in an order and way that makes the most sense to the students. I hope students walk away knowing their place (in a location sense) in the world (maps/geographic tools), different roles in the community, different leaders (teacher, principal, Mayor Nutter, Governor Corbett, President OBama). I did a lesson on Me on the Map in late January and introduced the idea of my unit and geographic relevance in terms of size to the class. We created a graphic organizer that visually arranged school, street of school, city, state, country, continent, planet in size order. (See below for the example.)
I am planning a “Career Day” with parents and family members for both 1st grade classes where we can hear directly from the individuals who do some of the jobs we have been discussing in class. My purpose for the career day is to open the students’ eyes to all the different jobs there are and hear people speak firsthand.
In terms of classroom dynamic and where this fits in – my teacher is very open to allowing me to do what I “want” although she did suggest incorporating social studies and science if possible because that is the hardest for her. I will teach my unit the weeks of March 11 and 18; I feel ready and confident, even though I just started in this classroom in January. I will stick with their Everyday Math curriculum during the two-week takeover and incorporate a lot of group work while continuing to “catch and acknowledge students being good.”
I am excited to see how my two-week takeover plays out, particularly how the students respond to my emphasis on positive reinforcement.