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!