Teaching has been amazing thus far, and everything has been running smoothly. In new teacher training we have been meeting once a month to discuss strategies for problems that occur most often in a new teacher's classroom. Being a music teacher, many of the common problems do not happen in my room, just because it is a very different setting. To give you a better idea of what my classroom setting is, I'll try to give you a picture: There are no desks, and to room is completely open. Sometime I put out carpet squares in a circle formation, and then students have assigned spots, but if no carpet squares are present when they walk in, they know to spread out in the room and face the white board. There are also risers that I have been using to get us ready for our holiday musical, and the students have assigned spots according to their height, but we are only usually on the riser for 15 out of the 50mins they are with me.
So, on an average day my classroom is not like any other in the school. That means I have unique problems that I have come up with my own strategies for.
We have also been talking about Kagen structures in New Teacher Training. It is nice to learn about them not only when we meet once a month, but also in cluster every week. It gives me new ideas on how to use Kagen, but those structures will also always look different in my room compared to regular classrooms. I really have been able to use the structures that involve movement in my classroom, and I have noticed that the conversations coming from those discussions are always more fruitful that discussion we have as a whole group.
One other thing that I have really liked so far in New Teacher Training is all the video clips! It really keeps me involved and interested after very long days at school!
