Field!

So this past Wednesday was probably one of the most fun experiences I've had this semester while in my observation class. The day started off normally until I realized that our cooperating teacher was absent for the day. Immediately, I had a flashback to the time when this class had a substitute for three days and, when my partner and I came to field that Wednesday, they were crazy!!! Well...shortly after I had that awful remembrance, an administrator came in and asked if the sub had showed up yet. We both said no and she said that she would stay with us until the sub showed up. Five minutes pass, ten minutes pass, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes pass...still no sub. The administrator begins to get frantic but, luckily, my partner and I had looked over the sub's plans for the day and we took over the morning routine! We corrected the letter our cooperating teacher had written for morning work and then we moved and grooved. After the meeting, the students had a practice spelling test and well, let's just say I need to work on my phonics skills. The directions were to say the spelling word, use the word in a sentence, and then repeat the word. My first few sentences were absolutely ludicrous --"I fell down and hit my face on the sidewalk"--but I eventually settled into logical thinking again. I was doing well until the last word our. I pronounced it as "are" and said my sentence as "Are family has a dog." The students were so confused!!! I had to focus incredibly intensely on my pronunciation and then repeat the sentence. During corrections, I had five students tell me that I said the word "our" incorrectly. Oh, my face was so red....but I recovered and then the students went to P.E. My partner and I actually had a planning period so we worked on finding material for our next lesson. This was my first "planning period" ever and it went by so quickly! Once the students came back, we had to do a quick review of the coins and their values and then students broke into their math groups. We left as the students rotated to their second station. The administrator who stayed with us told us before we left that the students were going to be divided into the other first grade classrooms after lunch. I left that observation feeling exhilarated and shocked. It was so strange to be in charge of the classroom but I think my partner and I did a really great job keeping students on task and working. I can't wait to see what happens during the next field observation.