Pesavento Student Teaching

Week 10 down! Well, this post will not be as long as previous ones due to my observance all week. It was strange to go back to my placement on Tuesday morning after the big farewell party last Friday. I was received with a warm welcome, though, so that eased my anxiety.  I spent time in the third grade social studies class on Tuesday and Wednesday. Just my luck, they were working on geography skills! The students were working on locating the 7 continents, the 5 major oceans, and beginning the United States. I still have the world and United States floor puzzle in my trunk, so I pulled those out for the students to manipulate. They enjoyed it as much as my 5th graders did, of course it was much harder for them to complete. Speaking of my fifth graders, I was observing in the third grade class because it's on the other side of the building,and I was kind of hiding from them. I got busted on Thursday, though. I just told them I'm hanging out a little longer due to the CPS strike...

Week 9 in the books! Well, this week was pretty different. With the CTU strike looming from the beginning of the week, I was not really sure how this week would play out. My cooperating teacher and I decided on conducting class as usual. She has been taking over as lead teacher in most classes, but I was still teaching some and present in all classes to assist. We were still on science, and I had an observation by the college supervisor on Thursday. That day, I taught all three of the science blocks, per my cooperating teacher's request. She really liked the lesson and thought that the whole 5th grade should experience it from me. As far as the students were concerned, that would be their last lesson from me. The students threw me a beautiful party on Friday afternoon. The amount of love and appreciation I experienced was something I will fail to be able to put into words. I will miss these kids every single day! Although I will be there on Tuesday, I was unsure if the strike wou...

Week 8 in the books!     This week was actually kind of sad. My students know I am set to leave next Friday, and several of them have approached me individually and in groups to share with me their concerns over my departure. I have already received several "I'm going to miss you" art work from a few! It makes me sad to think that they are so anxious, but my heart is full because I was able to make a difference in their education for the short time I have with them. I have come to love ALL my students so much it makes my heart ache to leave them.I was informed that my current placement has given the green light for me to extend my student teaching at the school should a CPS strike occur, but I treated the end of this week as if I am for sure leaving next Friday. I did not want to give the students false hope if the strike does not occur, or if it is over by the time I am to begin my new placement. They are already sad and anxious, and I did not want to exacerbate that. ...

Week 7 in the books! This is too fast. I feel like there is so much more for me to do with my students! This week, we started to wrap up our unit on the First Americans. Last week, I assigned a really cool tribal research project where the students were tasked with choosing one specific tribe, and filling in a chart about that tribe. The chart included the following: the region, the climate, the natural resources available, clothing, shelter, food/diet, type of home, weapons and tools, transportation, arts/crafts, customs/beliefs, type of government, and ceremony/ festival. For extra credit, the students were tasked with creating an artistic expression of something that was culturally relevant to the tribe they chose. I gave them complete artistic freedom! They could make a drawing, a 3D model, re-create an important historic scene, etc... The only stipulations were that they could not recreate a weapon and bring it to school, and that they had to be able to explain it's cultural...