Week 12

        For this past week, our mentor teacher has had us teach a lot.  It has been great practice because she has had us teach every subject.  Although this week we have had some pretty bad behavioral problems with a couple of our students.  One of the students is supposed to be on medicine but has not been on it for the past few weeks which tends to cause a lot of issues in the classroom.  The other student we had a problem with this week just seemed to be extremely reluctant to following directions.
        On Thursday we had a substitute teacher come in and our mentor teacher just told us to teach all day and handle any issues that arose.  Not surprisingly, we had some pretty serious issues with both of those students previously stated.  I had to deal with one of the students while my co-teaching partner taught the rest of the class and then at the end of the day we both dealt with the other student during math while the substitute dealt with the first student.  It was a very stressful day and it got me wondering how you are supposed to deal with behavior like this when you are by yourself in the classroom.

Week 11

        This past week I have been trying to gather more data for my inquiry by observing and giving my teacher a survey to fill out.  I was able to observe one math lesson this week which involved a hands-on portion in the lesson.  The students had to figure out how to make certain shapes with smaller shapes.  So essentially they were working on parts of a whole.  They were able to figure out the problems a lot easier with the manipulatives because they could compare the shapes with the images in their books.
        Similar to my other observations, even though they were a little chatty they were focused on what they were doing and what they needed to complete.  I think it is important to get them interested in what they are about to do in a lesson so they will be more focused and understand better about what they are supposed to do when the time comes.
        I still have a little more research to do in journals and articles but I think it is very helpful to students when they are able to use manipulatives and interact with hands-on activities in a math lesson.  From my observations, it helps them focus on the topic and keeps them interested in it which makes learning and understanding a lot easier for them.