Senior Seminar Week 6

This week was shorter due to Monday being Columbus Day, thus school was closed.  Tuesday through Friday I worked on wrapping up the Ancient Greece unit with the sixth graders, continuing their work with root words throughout the week.  Additionally we worked on mythology, and looked at lasting achievements from ancient Greece through today.  Due to time constraints I will be finishing the unit next week.
In the math class I continued to teach the 5th grade first hour, which included reviewing previously completed work, answering questions and doing math talks.  I had a writing day on Wednesday, so I did not see the math class that day (or the 5th grade humanities class for that matter) and my CT taught all of the class.  On Friday I introduced a problem of the month that I had found online that they will be using the rest of the month.
The 5th grade humanities class is still proving to be a challenge, due to their difficulties with staying on task and with transitioning from their previous class.  I worked on different strategies to bring them back to the topic at hand, and one I found helpful was suggested to me by the substitute teacher I had last Friday, which involved explaining that their volume level needed to be on '0' while I was talking or another student was talking/answering a question. The topics we discussed were on Christopher Columbus and the "discovery" of America, as well as the beginnings of the United States, starting with the colonies. Next week I will be introducing them to the start of the American Revolution and the events that lead up to it.
In the week ahead, I will be completing my first student teaching assignment.  I will be focusing on continuing to keep students on task, as well as work on integration of knowledge and ideas for the sixth grade classes, and  working on key ideas and details with the fifth grade class.