Well this week has certainly been eventful! In my classroom, we had career week this week. Each day, we had a different community member come in and talk to us about their jobs. From policeman, to park ranger, to even the mayor of Boiling Springs, my students had a lot of fun. It also gave me the chance to talk with my students about graduating high school, and going to college to be successful in a career field of their choosing. Being able to have this conversation with them allowed me to demonstrate leadership in the classroom by preparing my students for their future 9 (standard 1). It also made me feel very accomplished as an educator to hear so many of my students talk about their future plans. In my classroom there are so many different future careers. I have students who want to be singers and dancers, as well as firefighters and navy seals. Listening to what everyone wants to do really helped remind me of the diversity in my classroom and how different each of my students are (standard 2).
One thing I did for the first time this week was use Kahoot in my classroom. I have wanted to do this for a while with my students and we finally got the opportunity in math this week. My students absolutely loved it and it was a great way for me to utilize technology as well as use a different way to assess students (standard 4). It worked very well so I know I will definitely want to use it again in the future especially since it was a quick way to see results and data from my students and see where my students were understanding and were not. Since I based all of the questions that I asked in the game off of the standard course of study, I was able to align my instruction and ensure that even while my students were having fun, they were still being prepared for their EOG's (standard 3).
We also had a writing day this week so I wasn't in my school on Friday. This was a little disappointing since my students were dressing up as their future careers but my CE sent me some pictures and they all looked great! Having the writing day was very helpful because it gave it me plenty of time to really reflect on my teaching the week of edTPA (standard 5).
Overall, I'd have to say that this week rates about a 4. Career week was really fun and as stressful as edTPA is, it was really helpful to have plenty of time to sit down and work on it. My goal next week is to finish edTPA and make it as good as I possibly can. I hope that next week I can spend more time on it early on so that I can also have time to really work on my lesson plans. After next week, I am really excited to un-pause portfolio work and start looking towards the end of the semester. As we continue into next week, I wish everyone good luck. Stay focused and pushed through! Right now, my CE and I have no questions as we continue through.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Valentine’s and Crazy Times
Well my teacher was right when she told me that Valentine’s Day was bigger than Christmas at the elementary level. This week has been crazy with students being extra excited and then a surprise observation to top it all off. The stress that has come with this week leaves me rating it about a two. I wasn’t feeling my best and my students could tell that I was off. But Monday is a new week and hopefully with some rest over the weekend, we can start anew!
One thing that has really been a struggle this week was implementing standard two of the NCTCS. My students have really seemed to butt heads with one another all week long and as a result, I have really been trying to keep my classroom a welcoming environment for everyone. This includes going over school policies with the students several times, as well as talking about love and kindness. The arguments that many of my students have been having has really hindered my ability to help students work in teams and we have been trying to learn to communicate better. I think everyone is just kind of stuck in a February rut! Hopefully after the weekend, my students can come back on Monday and the classroom can be positive more of the time!
One exciting thing that I feel I have accomplished this week is bringing more global awareness to my students. We started learning about the olympics and we continued all week talking about where the games were being held, different countries participating, and of course, how the US was doing. When I started talking about it on Monday, I had one student who said they had watched the olympics before. By Friday, over half the class had told me they had been watching different kinds of games at the olympics. I felt really proud that I could get my students excited about this because I know they are learning a lot just by watching tv at home.
Next week, it is my goal to spend more time focusing on reflecting on my lesson plans each day after I teach. As I analyze student learning, I know that I need to become better about documenting changes that I make in my planning. I know that by looking at student data more carefully and the grades that students are getting, I will be able to reflect more thoroughly on my teaching. One thing that I was able to do on Friday was meet with the AIG teacher to help get a better understanding of how I can best help my students who excel in school. This has also helped me get better at working collaboratively within the school.
Hopefully, next week both me and my students will be back in the swing of things. I would like to be completely finished with edTPA by the end of next week and then get back on track with working on my portfolio. Right now, my CE and I have no questions and we are both starting to really get used to and comfortable with the switch in positions between the two of us. I wish everyone good luck next week. We are almost halfway through full time student teaching!
One thing that has really been a struggle this week was implementing standard two of the NCTCS. My students have really seemed to butt heads with one another all week long and as a result, I have really been trying to keep my classroom a welcoming environment for everyone. This includes going over school policies with the students several times, as well as talking about love and kindness. The arguments that many of my students have been having has really hindered my ability to help students work in teams and we have been trying to learn to communicate better. I think everyone is just kind of stuck in a February rut! Hopefully after the weekend, my students can come back on Monday and the classroom can be positive more of the time!
One exciting thing that I feel I have accomplished this week is bringing more global awareness to my students. We started learning about the olympics and we continued all week talking about where the games were being held, different countries participating, and of course, how the US was doing. When I started talking about it on Monday, I had one student who said they had watched the olympics before. By Friday, over half the class had told me they had been watching different kinds of games at the olympics. I felt really proud that I could get my students excited about this because I know they are learning a lot just by watching tv at home.
Next week, it is my goal to spend more time focusing on reflecting on my lesson plans each day after I teach. As I analyze student learning, I know that I need to become better about documenting changes that I make in my planning. I know that by looking at student data more carefully and the grades that students are getting, I will be able to reflect more thoroughly on my teaching. One thing that I was able to do on Friday was meet with the AIG teacher to help get a better understanding of how I can best help my students who excel in school. This has also helped me get better at working collaboratively within the school.
Hopefully, next week both me and my students will be back in the swing of things. I would like to be completely finished with edTPA by the end of next week and then get back on track with working on my portfolio. Right now, my CE and I have no questions and we are both starting to really get used to and comfortable with the switch in positions between the two of us. I wish everyone good luck next week. We are almost halfway through full time student teaching!
Friday, February 9, 2018
Empty Seats and EdTPA
Well, the flu has officially hit WES and third grade has been hit hard! Because of all of this sickness and the stress that has come with teaching edTPA, I would have to rate this week a 3. It has really been stressful trying to keep everything flowing and on time with kids being absent, and many leaving early. Sick kids has also helped me work on standard 2 and providing a safe, nurturing environment for each of my kids. This week, that has meant taking temperatures, and comforting achey kids. A word of advice to all my fellow student teachers- Lysol will quickly become your best friend! I hope this weekend all of my students can get some rest and come back on Monday feeling much better!
In terms of classroom activity, this week has been pretty average. I do feel that I am really starting to demonstrate more leadership in the school than I have in the past. I am now familiar with all the teachers and administrators and I got the opportunity to step up into a leadership position on Thursday. During my planning period, I got asked to step up and help in the media center with a kindergarten class while the librarian took care of some things. It was a little scary to go from 3rd graders to kindergartners, even if it was just for a few minutes, but I really enjoyed getting to help!
On Friday, I was able to join my team along with the administration in our mid year data dive. This was a day long meeting where we discussed the students' recent test scores and reworked our WIN groups. I have been to one data dive at the beginning of the year but this time, I was able to give my input and really understand what my students needed. This helped me get a better perspective of how to facilitate learning for my students. In a group, we discussed how every single third grader learned best and how we as educators could provide the appropriate levels of development for each student. It has also helped me reflect on my students' learning and analyze how they have been learning. With the changing WIN groups coming up next week, I have really began to study the standard course of study a little more closely because the students that are about to come to me are really struggling in math and I must know and feel confident with what I am teaching. Hopefully, I will be able to ease their confusion and frustration that comes with math.
Because of the craziness that has been edTPA week, I haven't really spent any time working on my portfolio. One of my goals for next week is to spend more time being productive with making progress on my portfolio. Right now, my CE and I do not have any questions going in to next week. We are just both hoping that next week our students are feeling better and we can enjoy our time sharing lots of love during Valentine's Day. I hope everyone can get a restful weekend and good luck to anyone doing edTPA next week!
In terms of classroom activity, this week has been pretty average. I do feel that I am really starting to demonstrate more leadership in the school than I have in the past. I am now familiar with all the teachers and administrators and I got the opportunity to step up into a leadership position on Thursday. During my planning period, I got asked to step up and help in the media center with a kindergarten class while the librarian took care of some things. It was a little scary to go from 3rd graders to kindergartners, even if it was just for a few minutes, but I really enjoyed getting to help!
On Friday, I was able to join my team along with the administration in our mid year data dive. This was a day long meeting where we discussed the students' recent test scores and reworked our WIN groups. I have been to one data dive at the beginning of the year but this time, I was able to give my input and really understand what my students needed. This helped me get a better perspective of how to facilitate learning for my students. In a group, we discussed how every single third grader learned best and how we as educators could provide the appropriate levels of development for each student. It has also helped me reflect on my students' learning and analyze how they have been learning. With the changing WIN groups coming up next week, I have really began to study the standard course of study a little more closely because the students that are about to come to me are really struggling in math and I must know and feel confident with what I am teaching. Hopefully, I will be able to ease their confusion and frustration that comes with math.
Because of the craziness that has been edTPA week, I haven't really spent any time working on my portfolio. One of my goals for next week is to spend more time being productive with making progress on my portfolio. Right now, my CE and I do not have any questions going in to next week. We are just both hoping that next week our students are feeling better and we can enjoy our time sharing lots of love during Valentine's Day. I hope everyone can get a restful weekend and good luck to anyone doing edTPA next week!
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Full Time Fun
Wow! Full time student teaching is so fun (and absolutely exhausting!) I think I would have to rate this week a 4. It's still so weird that I am actually full time teaching but I think I am slowly starting to get the hang of it. Being the leader in the classroom has really taught me a lot about taking responsibility for all of my learners.
One thing I got to observe this week was the chaos that came with an outbreak of head lice in an elementary school. As I am sure you could guess, our guided reading time became much more disorganized as students were being pulled left and right to get their heads checked. As crazy as this time was, it really gave me a great opportunity to observe standard 2E. My school was so good at getting in contact with parents about the situation and working collaboratively with them throughout the entire week to make sure everything was ok with each student. I have never been a part of an experience like this before so it was very informative for me.
Another new thing I did this week was teach an entire math unit and then assess my students on it. This made me a lot more nervous than I thought it would because I knew their assessments would reflect solely on my teaching and not mine and my CE's combined. However, as I looked at their tests, I was able to analyze my student's learning and seeing how well they did on the topic really reassured me. The whole experience really reminded me how important it is that I know the content I am teaching so that I can convey that knowledge to my students. Being able to reflect on my practice in this way and see the data was very helpful in planning for upcoming lessons.
I was also able to see a success in my math lessons that I feel relates to one of my goals this semester to get better at classroom management. My CE and I have struggled all year long to get our students to stay focused and engaged in our math lessons since they are at the very end of the day right after recess. This week, my CE and I came up with a really fun game that we play called Spleen (totally made that up at the last minute!) With Spleen, students get randomly put into groups and there is a new group each day. They must work together to not get any Spleens (or tallies) on the board. They can get tallies if they aren't paying attention, are talking, or just not on task. It's a group effort and at the end of the day the team with the least amount of points gets a treat. It's a great way to get students to work in teams and develop leadership qualities because they are all accountable. It has really helped math time go by much smoother!
With EdTPA coming up next week, I haven't focused my time on anything except for that so my portfolio has been put on hold until I can get through EdTPA. Next week, I hope to spend more time focusing on collecting more items for my portfolio. Right now, both my CE and I are a little nervous about next week and how everything will go. I don't think there are any specific questions regarding anything, just a little apprehension since EdTPA is such a big part of the student teaching experience. With these next few weeks begin as stressful as they are, I leave everyone with this advice. "God will never give you anything that you cannot handle, so don't stress."
One thing I got to observe this week was the chaos that came with an outbreak of head lice in an elementary school. As I am sure you could guess, our guided reading time became much more disorganized as students were being pulled left and right to get their heads checked. As crazy as this time was, it really gave me a great opportunity to observe standard 2E. My school was so good at getting in contact with parents about the situation and working collaboratively with them throughout the entire week to make sure everything was ok with each student. I have never been a part of an experience like this before so it was very informative for me.
Another new thing I did this week was teach an entire math unit and then assess my students on it. This made me a lot more nervous than I thought it would because I knew their assessments would reflect solely on my teaching and not mine and my CE's combined. However, as I looked at their tests, I was able to analyze my student's learning and seeing how well they did on the topic really reassured me. The whole experience really reminded me how important it is that I know the content I am teaching so that I can convey that knowledge to my students. Being able to reflect on my practice in this way and see the data was very helpful in planning for upcoming lessons.
I was also able to see a success in my math lessons that I feel relates to one of my goals this semester to get better at classroom management. My CE and I have struggled all year long to get our students to stay focused and engaged in our math lessons since they are at the very end of the day right after recess. This week, my CE and I came up with a really fun game that we play called Spleen (totally made that up at the last minute!) With Spleen, students get randomly put into groups and there is a new group each day. They must work together to not get any Spleens (or tallies) on the board. They can get tallies if they aren't paying attention, are talking, or just not on task. It's a group effort and at the end of the day the team with the least amount of points gets a treat. It's a great way to get students to work in teams and develop leadership qualities because they are all accountable. It has really helped math time go by much smoother!
With EdTPA coming up next week, I haven't focused my time on anything except for that so my portfolio has been put on hold until I can get through EdTPA. Next week, I hope to spend more time focusing on collecting more items for my portfolio. Right now, both my CE and I are a little nervous about next week and how everything will go. I don't think there are any specific questions regarding anything, just a little apprehension since EdTPA is such a big part of the student teaching experience. With these next few weeks begin as stressful as they are, I leave everyone with this advice. "God will never give you anything that you cannot handle, so don't stress."
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