Challenge accepted: Individualized teaching

I'm not well familiar with the concept of Individualized teaching and learning. However, I do know it should be about customizing the teaching process, in order for it to meet the needs of all the students in the classroom.

In the school I work in, there is quite a number of such students who require an individualized approach. Some need more help, whereas other need less.
For instance, in the first grade, there is a Roma boy and a few others, who barely write in  Serbian and speak extremely poor English. With such students, the progress is minor, but there is some.
Then again, there is a class of second-graders with five such students (and that class soon came to be my worst nightmare), who not only require special approach in terms of learning English, but also with the discipline and behaviour in class.
When it comes to third- and fourth-graders, I must say it is much easier to work with and there are by far better chances that they will learn some proper English.

The materials I prepare for the students who require an individualized approach are mostly colouring pages I adapt from Google image search, empty sheets of paper for drawing or writing I cut and distribute, some flash cards I make myself, and chunks of text for the students to copy.

What do you think, is this a good way to individualize the teaching process? What else could I do?

Classroom management - discipline

I know my weak points. The way I see it, for me, one of them is classroom discipline.
I am not a strict person. I smile a lot, and am very mild, friendly and relaxed most of the time.
However, is it really a good thing to be like that in classroom?
Maybe I should be more strict?
Do you have some useful suggestions regarding teacher's classroom behavior?
I'm open for a discussion and taking advice.

Post: Classsroom management
Re: Classsroom management

7 Best Classroom Management Tips by Ian Leahy

So far I have found these interesting link. I hope it will be useful both to me and to all of you out there.
In the meantime, I'm going to try to be more strict and find more real-life tips and pieces of advice on the Internet...

Meeting the school counselor

During my second week of teacher, the school counselor (she's a pedagogue by profession) asked me to meet her at her office for a short briefing. She wanted to meet me and check how I manage my paperwork.
We were both pleased to meet each other.
We went through my pedagogical documentation.
I was a bit nervous before the meeting, because I feared I didn't write my class preparations and plans well.
But when she saw it and said I'm doing just fine, I felt a great relief.
I had all the monthly plans and class preparations prepared and I try very hard to keep everything just like that all the time.

The school counselor at the school I work in is very professional. She goes to all seminars, reads a lot and educates herself constantly and permanently. She has been helping me a lot from the first day I began working up until now.

Please fell free to share your experiences in collaborating with the school counselor. I would really love to hear about it.

How to make classes fun and creative?

Here's a list of thing I do to make my classes interesting.

• I move around the classroom and try to get the whole class involved.
• I use TPR warm-up activities with first- and second-graders.
• My students are ecstatic when I bring my sister's laptop and play some YouTube clips or songs.
• They love games like word bingo or day-night (or stand up-sit down).
• I print flashcards and coloring pages to first- and second-graders a lot.
• I prepare short handouts, from time to time, providing links with useful dictionaries (single words translation, single word pronunciation, pronunciation of whole texts, etc.).

Dobri online rečnici englesko-srpski/srpsko-engleski: http://www.ectaco.co.uk/English-Serbian-Dictionary/ www.lingvosoft.com/English-Serbian-Dictionary/ www.recnik.com Nije uvek tačan i pouzdan: translate.google.com npr. This is a door ≠ Ovo je vrata, već Ovo SU vrata.         It’s hot ≠ vruće, već Vruće JE.         It’s cold ≠ hladno, već Hladno JE. Mother is cooking ≠ Majka je kuvanje, već Majka KUVA.               is cooking – kuva                   cooking – kuvanje

Rečnici za pravilan engleski izgovor (Izgovara po jednu reč): http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/ Kada upišete željenu reč na engleskom, kliknete na search. Nakon toga, ispod reči ispisane crvenom bojom kliknite na dugme sa zvučnikom na kome piše Pronunciation.

Izgovara više reči, rečenice, čak i tekstove: http://imtranslator.net/translate-and-speak/#window U belo polje upišete željenu rečenicu ili tekst na engleskom, iznad belog polja odaberete speak SLOW, ukoliko vam je NORMAL jako brzo, i kliknete na Translate & Speak english (male)

At the end of the class, whenever I do something different, I ask for feedback. 

Sometimes my students ask me something I happen to don't know, but I don't fear to say I don't know something. I always check it at home and tell the students in the following class.

As a busy novice teacher, I'm 100% open to all kinds of suggestions about making classes more interesting and creative. If you have some ideas to share, please do so.

Getting advice and help

I really don't know how I'd survive through all these dilemmas and small problem every novice teacher goes through if I didn't have someone nice and friendly to help me out.
It was and still is my colleague, who could no longer work there, as she didn't have the right qualifications for the job. She is an IT teacher who knows some English and who had been substituting (the same teacher I'm substituting now) for a year.
I'm not shy to admit I don't know something and that I need help. I always ask for help and usually get it.
The week before I started teaching I was asked to come to the school to meet her and other teachers who teach first- to fourth-graders. She was also there and she was willing to answer all of my questions.
She even gave me her email address and cell phone number and told me to ask her anything I need.
At first I had to ask her more often, but later on, I have been asking for help less and less. Now I'm working on my own more and more.

What is your experience? Have you had someone nice and friendly to ask for help?

My first day at work

It's been five weeks since I've started working. My first day at work was January 15.
I feel a need to tell you about it. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I still remember being very nervous and a bit scared. I barely slept the night before (among other reasons, because I don't sleep well on Sunday nights). I believe that sleeping not so well made me feel a bit nauseous during the bus ride, but it was no big deal.

My fears were somewhat justified, because I've never had close contacts with young children before. I'm the youngest child in my family.
However, as soon as I've reached  the school building and entered the teacher's room, I felt a million times better. All the teachers I work with greeted me with smiles and it helped a lot. I felt so good, full of enthusiasm and eager to start teaching.

I still remember the first four class I held (three classes with second-graders and one with fourth-graders). The children were great, and I felt so relieved. They seemed to like from the very beginning. I immediately began making a close connection with them, too. If nothing else, they liked the fact that they have a new English teacher.
They made drawings for me, asked me about my name, where I live and how I arrive to school.
I patiently answered each and every question. I listen to their small-talks and thanked for the drawings they made me. They always notice my clothes, my accessories, they walk across the street to say hi, wave to me when I enter the bus and always greet me on the school hall with a 'Hello teacher!'.

So, like I said, during the first day and up until now, I came to realize that my fears are completely irrational.
To me, it feels so great to be an elementary school teacher! Especially to teach such young students.
Teaching English is such a rewarding profession... :)

Taking Psychological Tests at the National Employment Agency

Before I got this job, I had to take several psychological test and go through an interview with a psychologist. I had to go to Zrenjanin (my school belongs to the Municipality of Zrenjanin).
I was a bit scared of it, but as soon as I entered the building of National Employment Agency I realized there is no need to be worry.
There were several candidates who came for the same job I did. I talked to them about where they studied and if they had been through a similar testing... It turned out that the tests are no big deal.
Some people had told me that I would be given tests of general knowledge and that those tests are very demanding. However, I am glad I didn't get such test. They said that common knowledge is tested only in Novi Sad and Belgrade.