The day started off slow. The kids had to read about magnetism and design a maglev train and a train track. The reading was very frustrating and stressful. The kids were off task most of the time. I had to stop several times to correct behavior and make sure everyone was paying attention. The reason for all the sidetracking behavior, break was coming up and the kids seemed really excited for break. We managed to read through our packet and started to design our maglev train. The kids started drawing what there trains looked like. And what features a maglev train would have. throughout the day the kids were off task and it was an extremely frustrating day. i really want to understand how you teach a kid who is constantly off task? I don't have a "silver bullet" solution. the only thing i can do is to keep redirecting the kids back to there work. Even when i use this strategy the kids still get off task and don't pay attention to what they are learning. I know that copying is a learning strategy but is it really an effective one? Several students in my group copied each other and i don't think they were understanding the material. It just doesn't make sense to me that students can be so distracted, i thought what we were learning about was interesting and fun. It seems to me as teachers, we redirect the kids back to there work, but then we repeat the process several minutes later. This seems to be an ongoing occurrence right up until the bell rings. My question is how do you teach like this? How can you get students excited for what they are learning? In the age of TV, Technology, Gossip, Drama. Its hard to get students excited about learning. And I see a pattern that is going on with teachers, they automatically out the students in front of a text or in front of worksheets and have them do worksheets. It doesn't seem like an effective way to teach. It seems like a cop out way to do things. I like my small group and i enjoy learning with the students but, what we are learning is all paper work. Its not interactive or fun. In my classroom I want my students to be able to interact with things. Answer questions by exploring and using there creative minds to find solutions. Not just plopping them down in front of a text or a worksheet and asking them to fill it out. I wold like my classroom to explore and have field trips!

This week was tough. The students were very excited because of the snow. It was really hard to keep them on task and keep them motivated. The excitement of snow was enough to keep students off task all day. It was particularly frustrating with this one student, she was very sassy and was not following along at all. She was giving me a lot of attitude but, i was having none of it. I asked her several times to read and she couldn't find where the group was in our book, so i skipped her. I told her that if she wasn't paying attention and was getting off task then she wouldn't be able to participate in the reading. This didn't sit well with her so, she gave me a dirty look put her head on the table and wouldn't participate. I was not about to let her get away with her behavior. I had tried encouraging her, disciplining her, everything i could think of but she made choices to be a disruptive student. I often see a lack of focus in students when there are outside forces that are distracting to the students such as snow. Needless to say, it was a hard day and i felt like my group got very little accomplished.

This week went really smoothly. The teacher was back in the room and so it was business as usual. As a third grade class we have started to integrate science into our reading structure. This allows students the opportunity to learn about science and also to read the text. The teacher mentioned that reading was a top priority for these students as certain exams were coming up and they needed to get in all the reading practice they could. So, for the first hour it was strictly reading material. My group got to popcorn read and share there ideas about the book at the table. We read about trains and magnets. The students were a little off task. I am coming to the conclusion that the students tend to get antsy and off task when they are reading. I am not sure if the material is interesting to these students. They seem to be bored with the books and consistently get off task. I am not sure the teacher has noticed this yet but, it seems to be an ongoing problem. Another interesting theme i have noticed for a lot of classrooms, teachers assign a lot of seat work. students are given tons of worksheets and papers. I wonder if the school system is treating students more like secretaries then actual students. Children like to move around they like to be interactive with materials, we as teachers need to find a way to engage students otherwise we lose them. If students are not being engaged and are not excited about learning, they will get bored and check out. I have seen it time and time again, teachers who don't engage there students and don't make learning fun. As a teacher i want to make learning fun but, i also want to maintain a level of calm and order in my class. Students engage so much more when you are excited to learn with them. As teachers we need to come to school excited to learn. We can't come to school with this "its my job so i have to do it" attitude. Because if you are checked out your students inevitably check out.