According to the job duties that day, one student became the "teacher" to correct the morning work. I admired this method to promote responsibility and leadership. This student did very well at this task, and everything ran smoothly.
After this, there was show and tell. Each day a student is selected to bring 5 items to class for show and tell. This was entertaining and an effective way for the class to further get to know its peers.
I began to realize one of the trademarks of the class was to sing a "Firecracker cheer" for a classmate who needed to be rewarded. This was an effective means of positive reinforcement, by adding raise to promote the behavior exhibited by the student. This will increase the future occurrence of this behavior. Each student also had a binder for negative checks, or positive checks, depending on if they did bad or good. Thus, the use of positive punishment was also seen, as the negative checks were undesired by the students. Do these reinforcements and punishments actually create desired behavior?
The next activity was a reading comprehension in which I got to assist a lot with! It was heartwarming to see that students were beginning to feel comfortable enough to approach me for help. I thoroughly enjoyed this and it was very satisfying to see when they understood what I explained. I had a conversation with my CT and she gave me the "okay" to be just like another teacher in this classroom, which was great to hear!
For exiting and entering the classroom, I got to help keep order with the lines of students and guide them to and from the cafeteria. Not as easy at it looks!
For Math and Science, I now help a group of students who need some extra attention every week. I am also very excited about this. Looking forward to next week and getting more involved!