We're Halfway There Guys!

As this week comes to a close, I am officially at the halfway mark of student teaching. It's crazy to think that it is already March. Before we know it, graduation will be here and we will be walking across the stage as future educators. I have to say, that as the weeks go by, it is getting easier and easier to get into the habit of things with my students, even on the crazy days. I really am taking on the leadership role in the classroom and my students are understanding that as well. I am incredibly thankful for that because this week has been the most stressful week of my life with all of the edTPA craziness. Because of this, I have to rate this week a one. But in edTPA terms, it is a nonscoreable.

We celebrated Read Across America Week this week in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday on Friday. Along with this, we had Green Eggs and Ham day where everyone wore green, Fox in Sox day where everyone wore their favorite crazy socks, and a slew of other fun activities to get students excited about reading. I know that this has been one of my goals throughout the semester because I love reading so much and I really want my students to enjoy it as much as I did when I was their age. One of my favorite parts of the week was on Friday when my class got to spend the last half hour of the day reading to a younger class. I was pleasantly surprised with how well my students did reading. They were trying their best to be good role models and it really made me proud to see my students take what I talk about in our classroom about practicing kindness and treating everyone like family to heart and exemplify it with another class. I feel that I have helped create a positive and nurturing environment, and as a result my students are beginning to model that as well. Next week, I plan to build on this idea of practicing kindness because from experiences I have had this past week, it is something my students constantly need to be reminded of.

On Monday, I was able to demonstrate standard 5: teachers function in a complex environment. Due to a very last minute schedule change, our entire afternoon was thrown off schedule but while something like this would have been very hard to handle in the beginning, it became easier to readjust activities and lessons to be much shorter to accommodate the different times. And as a result, both my and my students were able to transition through things easily. In the beginning of my time student teaching, there would have been some apprehension about switching things around, but by now I really feel comfortable changing things up to help my students.

I must say that with all the craziness that has come with edTPA this week, it was a struggle to really focus on my lesson planning. However, as we go into spring, I have some really exciting ideas planned for science. This helps me relate to standard 4B: teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students. While I have some really fun activities in my head for what I want to do with my students, I also know that I must relate them to the standard course of study in order to make sure my students are learning what they are supposed to, which also relates to standard 3. It is my goal next week to really spend more time on lesson planning because it is something that I haven't been able to spend very much time on this week with all of the craziness that comes along with edTPA.

On Thursday, we submitted our stuff to Pearson for edTPA and I have to say it was both relieving and nerve-wracking at the same time. So much thought and time has been put into these projects and for it to finally be over is an odd feeling. This is something we have prepared for since our junior year. It has definitely relieved some mental clutter from my mind! As much as I have hated the stress that has come with edTPA, I will say that it has really helped me able to look at data and plan accordingly based on data. Choosing focus students based on data really helped me to see where my students were and were not understanding. As crazy as edTPA was, being able to review that data really helped me target some misconceptions early on.

Because edTPA is now over, I am going to finally start working on my portfolio some more in the coming weeks since I haven't been able to do that recently. Right now, neither me or my CE need any support as we push past the halfway mark. As we go into next week, I wish everyone a much easier week with way less stress. Remember that no matter what our scores end up being, our goal is to make a positive difference in our students' lives!