Parlez-vous l'francais?

I know all of the kindergarten student teachers (and their cooperating teachers) are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their students tomorrow. But being a fourth and fifth grade student teacher, I have already almost hit the one week mark. It feels like a milestone. I've learned so much already, but I know I still have a long way to go. I still get overwhelmed when I'm sitting in the back of the classroom observing the students taking notes or listening to a lesson. I have questions running through my head almost constantly throughout the day. And if I don't have a question, I have an idea. Or I wonder if a certain idea would work with actual students in the classroom. Or I think about ways in which I could change a lesson, etc. I guess that's what the student teaching process is all about. I'm not complaining!

I would actually like to share one of those ideas here, to see what others think about it. I have a hard time integrating technology into Language Arts (beyond the document reader or projector). I had an idea over the weekend when I was working on my portfolio to actually create a classroom blog. But I wouldn't be the sole publisher on the blog. As a part of writer's workshop, students would work to create stories to contribute to the blog. Each morning, as a part of morning work, students could take time to type their stories on the blog. This could also carry over into our technology or study island specials as well. It's possible that students would also be able to write little summaries of what they're learning in the other subjects as well. Every student in the classroom wouldn't have a blog - this would be one blog for everyone! I would be able to access the blog, but so would other students (not the whole school or grade, just our class), my cooperating teacher, and parents of the students in the class. In my opinion, this is a great way to get parents involved in the learning process because every parent can't volunteer in the classroom. And let's be honest, we know we ask young children, "So, what did you do today?" they all get the same blank looks on their faces. I always think this is such a simple question, but it's not one most kids can answer quickly. I think this blog would be a great way for me to share with parents what is going on in the classroom, but students would also be able to share their stories and their work with their peers and parents. This would not be publicized on the internet, EVER! I understand the importance of privacy in schools. I'm not sure this idea will actually work out, but I'm hopeful I get the chance to ask. I'm excited about this idea, so I know kids would be. What do you guys think?

Also, today marked another important day in my life as a student teacher. We got a late add to the class. The new student is an English Language Learner. I like to think I have a lot of knowledge regarding ELL's because of the courses I've taken at Meredith. I also have some experience with Spanish. But today my eyes were opened. We are constantly reminded to remember that all ELL's aren't Spanish speakers. And that is so true. The new student speaks French. And I don't speak any! And neither does my cooperating teacher. When he first entered the classroom, he did not understand what anyone was saying, but we all made him feel welcome and did our best to show him around. Me and my cooperating teacher were using gestures and words to help explain what we were doing, where we were going, etc. But as the day went on, the student surprised me. I have never been more excited to hear English words come out of someone's mouth! The student was reading in English. He was reading in English and completing a worksheet ahead of his peers. This was an awesome experience. I'm probably naive because most veteran teachers have at least one student in their class every year that doesn't speak English, but this was a big deal for me. I'm looking forward to the challenge of creating lessons that he will understand. And I'm looking forward to stepping outside of the box to include him in activities in the classroom setting. I am actually really excited about this fall because I'm working with two ELL's. One student is in the silent period right now, so it will be interesting to watch him develop and grow as the school year progresses. It's going to be an interesting process, but one I'm looking forward to tackling. We'll see how this goes...