Week 12

     This week in small groups during reading (in the classroom), Sammy and Katie had finished their must-do. They decided to partner read Cat in the Hat. Katie was reading to her mostly, so I walked over and said, "Sammy can you read this page to Katie?" Sammy read super quiet but was reading more pages at a time than I had expected. She reads so fluently! They started actually partner reading now.
     When I walked walked away Katie was reading a page and when it was Sammy's turn I saw Katie say, "Will you read this to me?" Sammy shook her head yes and read to her. My inquiry has been so great and I am so excited to present it.

Week 11

    This week I started the positive reward system with Sammy. This system is not like a behavior management plan because it is only here to reward her not to punish her. I explained to Sammy that every time she participates with her thought in our small groups she will receive a sticker. She can also receive stickers if she communicates in any other small group or in any other way verbally. When she has received 3 stickers in one day she can move up to blue on the chart. That way she will feel proud of her self for talking during class. I explained that I love her voice and want to hear her thoughts verbally.    
    On the first day of the new system she kind of spoke during our reading small group where she is in the safe zone. But one the second day, Sammy minimally spoke on three different occasions which is a huge accomplishment. On this day I allowed her to move to blue because I was so proud of her. She has come so far, from not speaking at all.

Week 10

   According to the Holly Article, when journaling it can be helpful to go back to your past entries and analyze them. When going through my blog from this semester I have found some interesting similarities. I find myself talking about specific parts of a day or focusing close on something I have done. It seems that my entries here are taking form of my thoughts into a situation that happened in class. I deeply analyze the way I may have taught a lesson or the actions of a specific student on one day. This helps me dig into deeper feelings and try to make a better understanding of what he/she was thinking when they were doing that specific action.
    For instance, on week 4 when I talked about the student with behavior problems and her coloring, I may have needed to take a different perspective. This student may not have been misbehaving on purpose. She might have had something going on at home or something happened that morning that she was upset about. We still notice this student get off-task during whole group instruction and constantly needs specific praise. There are things that we as teachers can do to help or even avoid this off-task behavior. It just takes the teacher to do a little extra work to help his or her students.