Week 7 of 10

Wow, I can't believe I have completed my 7th week of student teaching. I know that the last 3 weeks will fly by. I can already say that this has been the toughest, most stressful, most exausting, but most rewarding experience I have ever had. I have learned and grown more in the past 7 weeks than I have in all of my classes combined.

I would rate this week a 4 out of 5. The lessons moved a little slow as the students did not pick up the content as fast as I would have liked, but it was still ok. The main reason I took off that extra point is because I am just so exhausted. I keep hoping this is something I will get used to but it hasn't happened yet. I am really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

This week, I was able to demonstrate standard 1 (NCPTS) in a variety of ways. On Wednesday, I was able to sit in on a school improvement team meeting. This was the 3rd SIT meeting I've been able to observe during my time student teaching. It has been very beneficial for me see how these types of meetings go and how the different stakeholders work together to make the school the best it can be. On Thursday, during my content meeting with the other 7th grade math teacher, I was able to share some of my resources with him while planning out our lessons and activities for next week.

For standard 2 and 5, I had my students complete a "reflection on my teaching thus far." I had each student write down something they like that I do, something they don't like, and something that they wish I would do differently or change. I took the time to read each one and reflect on how they were responding to my teaching. My goal is to take these reflections and use them to adapt my teaching to meet the needs and types of learning styles for all of my students.

For standard 3, I spent some time researching ways I can extend my lessons and make them more challenging for my honors class. This class tends to get bored with the same lessons and activities I give the other classes. They clearly need more challenging instructional activities. I have discovered that they really enjoy group projects that allow them to take their knowledge of a topic and apply it to real-world situations. For example, this week, I had them work in groups and use their knowledge of surface area to "design a room." They also had to rely on other content knowledge, such as unit rates, to calculate the cost of paint and carpet. They love these types of assignments, so I made plans to allow for them more often.

For standard 4, I facilitated learning in a different way this week by planning a "Pi Day celebration." On Wednesday, my classes celebrated Pi Day by reading about the history of pi, calculating the circumference of moon pies (and then eating them), and creating a pi chain over 200 loops long. In their eyes, it was a party day. However, they also learned all about pi and the history behind the never ending number, while practicing math concepts (circumference).

My week was long, slammed packed, and exhausting...but I am still loving every minute of student teaching. I can definitely add this experience to the top of my list.

I hope everyone has a great, restful weekend. I know I will.