How does my CT perform this routine?
My CT performs this routine by giving students a choice in the different components of the morning meeting. She adds in breathing exercises, compliments, and an opportunity for students to share the news. She performs the routine this way because it allows the students to have a sense of control in the activities and it is what the school asks of the teachers to include. Another reason for her method is that it makes the content of the meeting relevant to student life and interests. However, she allows me to perform the routine in my own way so that I can see what works best for my students and I. My CT performs this routine regularly, so she does not have to thoroughly explain the rules and expectations; however, she does a quick reminder for students to be mindful of their personal space, other people's opinions, and asks them to actively participate.
Evidence of CT Observation Notes
MY PERFORMANCE
I facilitated a morning meeting in my EDE4504 class. I planned to review expectations, an attention grabber, rules, and directions for each section. My partner and I executed a greeting, sharing activity, a group activity, and a morning message. We picked interactive and relevant activities that our peers were likely to engage in. We chose a "Coconut Greeting" which I individually wrote every student's name on a piece of paper. They crumpled them up and threw them into the circle, and then we went around in a circle and greeted each person. For the share activity, we did a color share where we provided a list of colors with corresponding emotions and allowed everybody to share with their partner and class. Our group activity was an alphabet story where the students go around and tell a story with a sentence that begins with the next letter of the alphabet. This activity promotes creativity. Throughout our routine, we used our attention grabber that we taught in the beginning, enforced our rules and expectations, and made sure to create a positive and welcoming environment for all students.
SLIDES FROM MY MORNING MEETING
EVIDENCE OF FACILITATION: PEER FEEDBACK
PERFORMANCE REFLECTION
Overall, my performance was extremely successful. Upon reviewing peer feedback, it was great to hear that the activities were engaging and that everybody felt welcome to share and participate. The review of expectations and an attention grabber in the beginning of the routine definitely set us up for success. Every student was aware of the directions and what was expected of them. This helped the routine stay right on track. We also adjusted sharing time for uneven groups and included students that arrived late to make sure that everybody felt comfortable and aware. From performing this routine, I learned that an effective morning meeting relies heavily on the environment that the educator creates. An environment of openness, acceptance, and clarity is extremely beneficial. According to Levin & Nolan, "When viewed from the collaborative perspective, the goal of establishing a positive learning environment is to develop a well-organized classroom in which students are (1) engaged in learning activities, (2) usually successful, (3) respectful of the teacher and fellow students, and (4) cooperative in following classroom guidelines because they understand the rationale for the guidelines and see them as appropriate for the learning situation" (2021) Furthermore, I made a connection from coursework to my performance that the creation of a positive environment contributed to my success. In the future, there are still some tweaks that I would make to my performance of this routine. First, for the greeting we had one person start by greeting the person that was on their paper and then the person that was greeted continued the process. This caused some repeats and confusion with who had been greeted and who had not. If I did this greeting again I would just have the students go around in a circle. For the group activity, I would create an example of a starting word for each letter of the alphabet to help students and make the activity go smoother.
CONNECTION TO FEAPs
This routine demonstrates FEAP 2a
Organizes, allocates, and manages the resources of time, space, and attention
This is true because we used an attention grabber to regroup the students when they got off task or to transition to the next activity. We taught this attention grabber in the beginning of the lesson and continuously used it as needed. Attention grabbers are important tools to manage your class and can also be fun and interactive.
EVIDENCE: ATTENTION GRABBER SLIDE
