Third Grade Reaches the Third Floor

   One of the nice things about being "guest teacher" at the third grade is that the classroom is on the third floor of the building - because its an old building, that's three double-staircase flights to walk up.  I always wear my comfortable shoes because I know I'll be on my feet and walking a lot.
  I enjoy walking into a teacher's classroom for the first time.  I have found that if the classroom is decorative and tidy, that the students will enjoy the structure of keeping on track and having the day run smoothly.  This classroom was no different.  I was left clear instructions, worksheets and textbooks were clearly marked, and the day began like most others - almost.  One new experience for me - I had to wear a transmitter and a microphone for a little girl who wears hearing aids.  It was so she could clearly hear my voice when I was speaking to her and to the class.  A sweet, sweet little girl, smiled most of the day and really likes to "follow the rules."  She quickly reminded me of how things were supposed to run!  (i.e., First we read the story to ourselves and THEN we read it out loud together...)
   As a guest teacher, it pays to get the lay of the land before you pick up your class to start the day:

• Find the "Jobs Board" - it tells you which students help with which aspect of the day.  
• Find the White Board - you need to write your name there so you don't have 24 students asking you "what's your name???" - NOTE TO SELF:  Do not wear a white shirt when you will be using a White Board - you are bound to end up with black marker on your sleeve and you will end up erasing most of what you have just written!!!    
• Experiment to see if you are able to turn on and log into the SmartBoard system.   If not, be sure to ask a student - they will have the password and will be able to set up all of the computers in the classroom so that students can take turns during their "rotation" option.
• When giving students a timed Math Fact worksheet - TAKE THE TIME TO COMPLETE THE ANSWER SHEET BEFOREHAND!  It could prove to be embarrassing if you give them an answer and it is incorrect!  AND, they don't want to hear you give them the whole example, they just want the answer so they can check their work - they like to move fast.
• Review your language arts facts.  It can be quite embarrassing to lead a lesson on "Find What Needs Correcting in this Sentence" when you can't find all of the errors!  I could only find one item that needed correction and the students ASSURED me that there are always two!  (The assistant teacher was supposed to lead this lesson but she declined - and then, she couldn't help me at all) We decided to make a big circle around the sentence so they could ask their teacher the next day.
• ALWAYS bring in a few extra pencils and begin each day by having students line up to have their pencils sharpened.  Students never seem to have enough pencils, or the one they have is only an inch-and-a-half long (and they LOVE it that way), or it needs sharpening.  You could waste a good 20 minutes being interrupted if you don't take care of pencil-sharpening early on.

HAVE FUN!  There is nothing quite like sitting at a third grade desk eating your lunch.  It reminds you that there's a lot to see at the waist-high level.   Take time to look around - you'll realize just how much you've been missing!  As I led the kids down the stairs and headed out the door to meet their parents, they each left me with a high-five to say good-bye.  Maybe we should all end our day with a high-five, what a great feeling we'd have as we head for home!