Yesterday I had the opportunity to go with my first supervisor to an elementary school where she was a principal two years ago. Oh. My. Gosh. It was an awesome experience and I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to go! It was a small SAGE school in Green Bay. SAGE stands for Student Achievement Guarantee in Education and it is a school that has a high percentage of student with free/reduced lunch. The particular school we were in has around 220 students and averages about 90-95% free or reduced lunch. Being a SAGE school also ensures that the class sizes in grades K-3 doesn't exceed 15-18 students therefore giving the students more one-on-one time with their teacher.
The reason my supervisor wanted me to see this school was so I would get a first hand look at how Reader's workshop looks like. The district I was doing my student teaching in was just getting into reader's and writer's workshop and this school had had the opportunity to go to a week long training in Arkansas a few years back! That being said, they were all on the same page and all implementing successful reader's and writer's workshop. In this format of reading and writing instruction the teacher does a short mini lesson for the entire group on the desired learning outcome and then allows student to work on their own to complete the objective. While the students are working their own, the teacher then pulls a few students back to her table to do some individual work on their skills. All of the individual work is monitored and tracked to try and ensure growth. If the students working at their desks are finished early, they have individual centers where they work on skills that they have been developing throughout the year. Basically it is SUPER organized and I LOVE it!! Everyone that I talked to explained that it takes a few years to get the swing of it, and you cannot expect success immediately; but the results are wonderful! It made me so excited to get back into an elementary school and try this out!
After leaving the school I headed to the Appleton Mall to try and find a birthday present for Alec! It took a while...but I think I found just what I was looking for! After that I met up with Sarah for some coffee and catch up conversation!
Still no word on any jobs...I'm not giving up yet though! Many people have told me to expect more excitement after the school year is over!
I have a busy weekend full of work, work, and then more work! Gotta make the moola!
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