Learning from other TOC’s

Today there was a TOC in the class. It’s very beneficial to be able to view other teachers and their strategies because this helps me extend my own teaching toolbox. Being a TOC means being flexible and going with the flow of things because there is a lot of uncertainty with going into new classrooms every week. As a TOC you are often thrown into unfamiliar situations and environments and it’s up to you to think on your feet. That is something that I want to work on going forward and to further build my TOC toolbox that will be full of worksheets, games, and activities that I can use for the future. Besides that, I am starting to pick up on the classes daily routine. The students expect a routine and when that routine gets switched up, often the students are left confused and without a direction. Every morning the class starts off with word sorts. This is a calming activity to start the day off that is also beneficial for the students because they get to work on their spelling and reading. I noticed that students always finish their work at different times. It is important to have extra activities for these students to work on. After some students finished their word sorts, the teacher instructed them to pull out their whiteboards to practice their spelling some more. It was a simple task, but a good task for early finishers to work on. For most of the day, we did a fun art project of a snowman. There is a lot of moving parts with doing art however through simplified, step-by-step instruction, the students will be able to follow along and a great finished product will result. Today, I also read a book called “Christmas Cakes” to the students during carpet time. Reading a story is a skill and I’m glad that I am getting practice with it. There are so many things to consider such as how you are holding the book, scanning the pages at a slow enough pace so everyone can see the pictures, and reading slow and with tons of expression to keep the students engaged. I enjoy reading books to the kids and look forward to reading more to them in the future and creating fun activities to follow.