I thinkI learned more than I taught!

Once again, it’s the end of the school year.  Every year I find myself a little surprised that it’s already May. 

This week my students will take the MCT2 test, which is the state standardized test.  My students are well prepared and I’m confident they will do well.  

Especially since half of them are gifted and way smarter than me!  I’mnotevenkidding.

 The week of state testing is always a nerve-wracking one for both students and teachers.  The stakes are high for each student, teacher, school, and school district.  Test scores will go a long way in determining what standing the school and school district has.

I’ll be glad when this week is over!

I cannot, cannot, cannot believe that I’m finishing up a year of teaching 4th grade Language Arts and Social Studies.  I also cannot, cannot, cannot believe that I pulled it off!!  At least I think I did.

At the very least, I faked my way through pretty good!

When I first started this gig, I was petrified.  

Absolutely petrified.

Although I had 20 years teaching experience, I felt no more prepared to teach 4th grade than if I’d been asked to do brain surgery.  

Or mix concrete.

Or fix a car engine.

Or juggle.

Or pretty much anything.

Thanks to my wonderful group of fellow Language Arts teachers, our lesson study groups, and google, I had what I needed to get through the year.  Over the past few weeks, while looking through what my students and I would need to review before the testing this week, I was struck but how much I actually learned this year!  

Here is some of what I had to either learn or refresh my memory on, this year.

Text structure:  simple procedure, sequential order, cause/effect, compare/contrast, descriptive

Present perfect verb tense

Appositives

Narrative, Informative, and Persuasive writing processes

Tools of persuasion:  endorsement, name-calling, air and rebut, repetition

Figurative language

Reflexive and demonstrative pronouns

Function of a linking verb

Rules for commas and colons

Compound, complex sentences, coordinating, subordinating conjunctions

Poetry:  concrete, color, diamante, cinquain, haiku, limericks, and acrostic poems

I love my school, love the teachers, adore my principal and assistant principal, and have thoroughly enjoyed the students.

However, 4th grade curriculum is just not.  my.  thing.

I’m thankful that next year I’ll be going back to the primary school.  This time as a certified teacher with her own classroom, not as a certified teacher working as a teacher’s assistant.

I don’t know yet what grade I’ll be teaching but it’ll be either K or 1st.  Most likely 1st, I’m told.  

I’d actually love to do a K-1st loop.

We shall see!

The thing I loved most about this past year was all of the reading. 

For every fictional piece we read, we also read a non-fiction piece.  Of course, the fiction was way more fun!  We read books like Where the Red Fern Grows, Matilda, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

We did a unit on slavery and read a biography on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.  We did research on famous Mississippians.  The students wrote reports and made presentations to the class.  We did a sports unit on baseball which included a biography on Jackie Robinson.  We studied Mississippi Government and took a field trip to the state capital in Jackson.  

Before MCT review, we finished a unit on poetry.  We studied different types of poems and “tore them apart” to see how figurative language was used to convey meaning and feeling.  Each student made a poetry book with different types of their own poems and the students loved, loved, loved it.  Even the boys!  I couldn’t believe it.  I have one particular low-performing student who is also a behavior problem.  Would you believe that he could not wait to find out what kind of poem we were going to work on each day?   

I have to admit that I cracked up at myself every time I said something like this to him, “If you even THINK about calling another girl in here a fat-headed troll again, you will not, WILL NOT get to write any extra poems today.  Do you understand me?!?”

One of the poems we included in our poetry books was a Color Poem.

The students chose whatever color they wanted and followed a basic pattern to write their poem.

Here are two examples.  I thought these two students did a particularly great job.

Aren’t they great?

Of course, the very best part of teaching 4th grade this year was getting to see this guy every day.....

                                 

....Middle Man, my absolute favorite 4th grader!

Seeing him at lunch, at recess, and throughout the day has made me a happy Mom.  It’s been great fun to watch him make friends and get settled in at his new school.

I’ve learned a lot this year.  I still can’t believe I taught 4th grade!  Its an experience that I never would’ve chosen but one I’m glad to have had.  And while I’ve enjoyed my time in 4th grade, I sure am looking forward to next year!

But first?

We must tackle and conquer the MCT2.

Wish us luck!!!!