The first day of school was this week! We survived! :)
Most of the students we met at our open house, but it was fun having them altogether. We worked on introductions, and getting them familiar with how things are run in the classroom. Something that stood out to me this week, was witnessing one student overcoming a fear. On the first day, I administered the first grade sight word test and one student broke down in tears and said she could not remember how to spell any of the words. Before I started, my clinical teacher and I told the students that this was a “no stress” test and it was okay if they couldn’t remember anything. The test was just something we needed to check off our list, and all we asked is that they did their best. Still, this student could not get passed her fears of not knowing and attempted five out of fifty-two.
Most of the students we met at our open house, but it was fun having them altogether. We worked on introductions, and getting them familiar with how things are run in the classroom. Something that stood out to me this week, was witnessing one student overcoming a fear. On the first day, I administered the first grade sight word test and one student broke down in tears and said she could not remember how to spell any of the words. Before I started, my clinical teacher and I told the students that this was a “no stress” test and it was okay if they couldn’t remember anything. The test was just something we needed to check off our list, and all we asked is that they did their best. Still, this student could not get passed her fears of not knowing and attempted five out of fifty-two.
The next day, they needed to take their PSI inventory, and I administered this as well. However, prior to the test, I chose to read “Chester the Brave” by Audrey Penn. I chose this book, not because I was familiar with it (I wasn’t), but because from reading the title, I thought it might help them be brave in taking the PSI test. This test is a little harder than the sight word test so I wanted to build the students up, in hopes of avoiding any meltdowns. The part in the book that I repeated, prompted the kids to repeat, and used the rest of the week: “Think-Tell-Do; If I think I can’t, I tell myself I can, and I do it!” The student that had a meltdown the day before attempted every single one of the PSI inventory word list. When I collected the papers, I gave her a quick “high five.” What a great example of how a book can be used in the classroom!