Almost Two Whole Weeks & One Observation Done!!!

I'm almost at the end of two weeks now and I'm still loving being a teacher!  :)  It's so great to hear "Miss Wiser" from 24 little kids every day (although some of them overuse those words!!!  Haha), get hugs at the beginning and end of each day, and see the little drawings they make for me hang on the wall behind my desk.  It's completely fantastic.  :)

Here's some highlights from this week:

1.  IT WAS A SHORT WEEK!!!  lol  We didn't have school on Monday due to Labor Day, so not only did I have extra time planning things for the week but the school week was a little shorter.

2.  I got my computer back!  It took about a week for them to fix it, but its finally back and I got a nice little blue case to go on it.  The kids were a little confused when I came to school with a blue computer today.  I even had one say: "I thought all the teachers had white computers!  Why is yours BLUE??"  I laughed and then explained to them that it is white I just put a blue case on it.  Just like Ms. Leavitt (another 4th grade teacher) has a purple one.  They were all ok after that.

3.  It's Thursday, and I have nearly everything graded for the last two weeks!  Yipee!  :)  I got a lot done last night and a few other things today after school.  So now I just have to work on entering those in to the online gradebook so the parents can check it.  I have also been able to get a few other little projects done.  For instance, we now have a crate in the back of the room, on the counter, for any missing work assignments, or for those that have no name on them.  I'm also working on a chart where I can list each assignment and the names of those who haven't turned it in.  That way, they can see if they are missing it, and if they can't find the original assignment, there will be a few extra copies in the back so they can do a new one.  I'll post some pics of that when I'm done with it all.

4.  The wall behind my desk is getting rather full.  The kids, in their spare time, love to do art.  Whether it be drawing or coloring, or whatever!  And quite a few of them have given me some to put up behind my desk.  I'll also work on taking pics of that so you all can see that beautiful artwork.

5.  And finally, I have had my first observation of the year!!!  One of my BYU professors and my facilitator (Jennifer) came in yesterday during math to observe my lesson.  I had planned this great activity and was planning on using clickers so the students could give their answers that way and the computer would calculate the numbers.  (Kinda like on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire when the audience has a remote where they choose their answer and then it shows a graph w/all their choices).  The lesson was on surveys and it WOULD have been perfect...IF it had worked.  Ms. Leavitt came in yesterday morning to teach the kids how to use them so we'd be all set for my lesson, and they just kept the clickers in their desks until the lesson and then the software just decided not to work!  It was super frustrating but I still got points on my observation for having that planned into the lesson and for trying to make it work.  When it didn't, I had to do some quick thinking on my feet and ended up having the kids use sign language to show their answers (a,b,c,d).  This got me a few more points which was great!!  Overall, the lesson went well and the kids did well.  The only problem that my observers noticed is that a few kids got up, while I was instructing, and got a drink from the sinks in the back.  It was kinda distracting so they commented & marked me down for that.  So that's what the kids and I are working on over the next few days.  I'm trying out a new system for that.  I'll let you all know if it works out.
I was warned beforehand that they usually score lower than normal for the 1st observation so that you have plenty of room for improvement and it was lower than I thought it might be but it was still a good score.  Out of an average of 5, my score for the lesson was a 2.82.  That's about where I ended up after my last couple observations, so I'm right on track and I have plenty of room for improvement.

(By the way, hardly anyone gets a 5 on their observation score.  A 5 means that you did everything perfectly, so I doubt that I'll ever get there this year, but as the years progress, hopefully I will be able to reach a 5.)

Ok, enough of my rambling for now.  I'd better go do some grading before institute tonight!  I'll try to post some new pics this weekend!!  Love you all and thanks for all your support.  It means the WORLD!