40-hour Practicum

So far, my practicum experience has been great! I'm in a 5th grade classroom at Horace Elementary school, and I'm really enjoying this age group. I always thought I would end up teaching a 1st or 2nd grade class, but maybe I'll find out that 4th-6th is a better fit.

I've already learned so much from my practicum teacher. She has some really great ideas for classroom management, for example. She has a two jars of marbles sitting on her desk. One jar says "supply" and the other says "reward." When the kids get too chatty, she simply walks over to her desk, takes marbles from the reward, and moves it back to the supply. I'm not sure what the "reward" is, but the thought of losing it is enough to silence the whole class.

The teacher also taught me an amazing idea for my future spelling lessons. She has her students take their spelling test twice a week - once on Monday and a second time on Friday. If a student gets a 100% on Monday, they take the second test for more practice. There's a catch, however. Each Friday, she has something new for the kids to try. When I was there last Friday, the students who had already achieved 100% had to take the test again using their non-dominant hand! I sat in the back of the room and struggled to write their spelling words with my left hand.

Here's my attempt at writing with my left hand. And yes, I did spell "conquered" incorrectly. I'm slightly embarrassed.

Some days they have to spell the words backwards, and other days she makes them write each letter backwards. I thought this was just to make it more fun for the students, but she has a reason for making her students switch it up. She said that it's great practice for the students to use other parts of their brain. Also, she encouraged me to keep practicing writing with my left hand. When I have future students that write with their left hand, I will better understand how to help them hold their pencil and form letters. Great idea, huh?