Day 2: Sentences

 

Today was the second day we visited our cooperating teacher’s class. Today, the setup was a little different; instead of the three-to-four students per group desks, the desks were set up in rows. We discovered that on days known as “Day 5s”, our cooperating teacher has RTI, a time where students take tests and complete English language arts assignments. Today, her classes consisted of seventh grade students. The day began with them reciting some historical poems they created in pairs, however, most of them read their poems during another day.

Later, they went over vocabulary from the text they are reading called A Retrieved Reformation. Using the assigned vocabulary in the text, students were asked to create some sample sentences of their own. It was apparent that the students understood the meaning of the word, as each word was used correctly in their sentence. However, as joey and I discovered, some of their sentence structure was a little off or needed some work. They also had difficulties “proving” they knew the word; none of them provided context clues in their sentences. They were continuously asked to provide examples, or to change the word in the sentence to see if the sentence still made sense.

For example: “Santa Clause was unperceived by the children”. Was Santa kidnapped by the children? Was Santa seen by the children? They needed supporting details in the sentence, such as “Santa clause was unperceived by the sleeping children” indicating some sort of inability to see Santa.

I was able to travel around the room and see some of their sentences and even assist them in correcting a few. One girl, as I noticed, had a fragment sentence and was pleased when I read it aloud for her. By hearing me say the sentence, she noticed her mistake and went to change it. She did not seem upset or displeased, rather grateful. I think that was the highlight of my experience that day.

We were able to spend some prep time with our cooperating teacher to discuss how we will be assisting in co-teaching and teaching lessons of our own in the upcoming weeks. However, our time was slightly cut short by an evacuation. Nothing appeared to be wrong, and, to be honest, this was an interesting experience. I am glad I experienced an event like this now instead of panicked later on in my career.

Today was an overall productive day and I eagerly await tomorrow.