My First Day

Thursday was officially my first day of student teaching. The classroom is small for the 24 students and one teacher that occupy it for the entire day so adding a work space for me was difficult, but my cooperating teacher (CT) made me feel welcome. The room is filled with desks in groups of 6, a guided reading table, a writing center, a classroom library and a small carpet space where all of the students can fit if they squeeze together. There is student artwork and class work displayed all over the walls and the atmosphere is inviting and conducive to learning.

On my first day, I mostly observed, walked around and helped small groups; pretty basic things. The students started off the day with writer’s workshop, loosely based on Lucy Calkins’ model. I’m sure that my CT would like to incorporate more of Calkins’ into the classroom but they were provided with so few training days that they really don’t know that much about how to implement the program.

After other reading and writing activities the students settled in for art. Art is on a cart as there is no room for an art room this year. During this time my CT took me on a tour of the school. When we came back from the tour the art teacher informed us that some of the students had been misbehaving. My CT told them that she was disappointed in their poor choices and said that they would not be able to partake in their classroom duties that week (door holder, line leader etc.). One student became so enraged that they jumped out of their seat and threatened to punch my CT. They got right up in her face and began shouting “You did this to me! You make me so angry! Why do you have to ruin my life? Do you want some of this!?!?!?” My CT was silent as the student raged on and she held her hands out in a protective stance so that the student wouldn’t hit her. Finally, the student stopped, returned to their seat and put their head on the desk. My CT quickly and effectively had all of the student’s line up and called the teacher next door to take her class to lunch. When it was only the three of us left in the room, my CT can the student until she counted to 10 to start to make amends before she called the office, security and his parents. The student stared straight ahead and refused to acknowledge her.

After the appropriate measures were taken and the rest of the class came back from lunch, the students sat in a circle and had a class meaning on the meaning of respect and how to problem solve. Most of the students were afraid or surprised at the way their classmate had acted and offered several steps that he could have taken to avoid that situation.

At the end of my first day of student teaching, I learned a lot about classroom management, the importance of understanding your students and the challenges of working in an urban school. My CT knew her students well. She knew that the attack may have been based on the fact that something was going on at home, that having the responsibility of a classroom job may have meant so much to that student that they were going to fight for it, that maybe it was built up anger from something that had happened days ago, and that there were ways to get that student to open up and understand how to control their actions and their emotions. Even though this was one of my most intense and terrifying days ever spent in an elementary school classroom, I’ve begun to more deeply understand the value of working in an urban elementary school.