Observation #2: February 23 (Planning for unit and conference with classroom teacher)

Today the students’ had a free period during our observation time because of good behavior. During this time my partner and I were able to just observe the students’ interactions with others at their grade level. There was a brief awards ceremony in which awards were given for honor roll achievement and improvement. Then everyone was allowed to watch a magic school bus video about the planets, which they seemed to be rather excited about. I must admit I am a fan of Ms. Frizzle. The students’ were congratulating their friends that received awards and you could see that academic achievement was something of value.

After school my partner and I met with our classroom teacher to discuss our plans for our unit. We are going to be doing a unit on the five regions of Virginia. We can teach the regions in any order we like. We planned a tentative schedule and began to brainstorm possible pre-assessment ideas. We will conduct our pre-assessment on Wed. prior to their Math lesson. Our teacher also provided us with links and possible ideas. Our official teaching will likely take place the week of March 19 after we have given our teacher a chance to review our unit. I like the fact that I am able to brainstorm with my partner as well as my classroom teacher. We are pretty much in good shape! We’re just going to do some research and we should be fine.