It was a quick half day at school today. This week is kind of low-key for me, so the days seem to take a bit longer to complete. A friend of mine offered me some advice when I was not feeling so great about teaching earlier in the semester - she said, "wait until you start teaching more often, I think you'll like it a lot better then." She was totally right. When I'm up in front of the class, the time goes by a heck of a lot quicker than when I'm just hanging out!
I made a survey for the three students that I'm studying for inquiry. They took filled out the answers in the morning activity time. It was amazing to see how much of their personality came through in their answers.
Ms. Conrad had the students go through a mock election. The student with Asperger's was the election czar - he did such a great job! He worked the election booth and polling stations all day long and tabulated the results. Huge smiles on his face all day long!
I double-counted the ballots to make sure that the numbers were accurate. While we were counting, he started telling me why I should vote for Deval Patrick. He was surprisingly informed on the issues - I loved the conversation! Somehow the discussion shifted to mis-counted ballots and I told him about the "hanging chad" incident of 2000. He couldn't believe the story (keeping in mind that he was born in 2000). His exact words were, "we'll that's frightening." True, it was frightening.
The results:
Deval Patrick (42)
Charlie Baker (20)
Jill Stein (3)
Tim Cahill (2)
Amy and I went over the lesson that I'll be covering for her tomorrow. It's really easy - just reviewing the review homework and continue playing the Jeopardy! review game.
I was stressing out all day about meeting with Audrey. I feel good about the data that I've collected thus far, but I still haven't completed my lit review - I just have this anxiety about it. I really feel like it's a much bigger deal than it actually is. Well, Audrey confirmed that I was freaking out about nothing - that the lit review is only going to be about 4-5 pages, and that if I get it done before Tuesday, my life will be easier.
We reviewed the material, and she was really impressed by the information that I gathered. One of the most helpful things was the survey that I had just had my students complete. When reviewing the information, Audrey was able to tell me so much about each student. (Audrey regarding student A) - wow - look at that answer! you can tell that he is a nice kid - look at how he's thinking about the other students in the class!
(Audrey regarding student P) You can tell that she takes the time to complete each assignment - she must have felt so proud when you asked her to fill out the survey! Oh that's interesting that she doesn't like to be called on - she's shy isn't she?
(Audrey regarding student N) So interesting that he feels both confident and nervous when heading into a test. He clearly tries hard - but he struggles with comprehension, doesn't he? Look at his vocabulary, though. Look at those words! He's got a marvelous vocabulary! How is he in LA? (Me: he struggles - his sentence structure is not there) Well, his vocabulary is - I wonder if he records his thoughts and just transcribes what he speaks if that will improve his writing ability?
Honestly, Audrey could be a fortune teller - she has such a great read on people! Our discussion about student N went on for quite some time. She thought that it was great that while working on a math inquiry project, this vocabulary strength was found. I'm going to talk with Amy and suggest that we work with student N to have him record his thoughts then transcribe them. Also, she gave me the suggestion of having students check their division answers by multiplying the quotient and the divisor - the product of which will be the dividend if correct.
I left her office feeling so much better! If only I could meet with her daily, then I'd really be set!
I went home and watched the election results with my dad. I'm such a political junkie. Massachusetts went totally blue, which I loved! The nation however, not so blue - largest swing in congressional seats since 1946. Yowza. Thank goodness we kept the senate!
I'm just glad that Deval Patrick won re-election. The 5th graders predicted it perfectly!
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