Hello everyone, I am last posting for last week because my mind has not ventured far from edTPA this weekend. I have been so focused on edTPA that it seems everything else has slipped my mind. I'm sure we all agree that Thursday can't get here fast enough.
Last week was a decent week. I would rate it a 3 out of 5. It was not a special week and nothing "bad" happened. I just felt like the whole week I couldn't get caught up. I still feel that way in anticipation of this upcoming week. I know that also relates back to edTPA. I am really looking forward to next week because edTPA will be behind me and I know I can give more of my attention to my teaching.
Last week, I was able to demonstrate standard 1 (NCPTS) by collaborating with the other 7th grade math teacher. We typically get together once a week to plan our content and stay up to date on where each other is at in the curriculum. There have been a few times when he has asked what I had planned and then asked if he could use the same thing for his class. This week, he had a family death and had to be out unexpectedly for a couple of days. I told him to let me know what I could do to help and he asked me to get together some work for his classes to do while he was out.
I demonstrated standard 2 last week by going over the lockdown procedure and other safety information with each of my classes. With everything going on in the country recently, the students and the staff were all feeling a little uneasy. To help make my students feel safe in the classroom, we went over the procedures and took time for questions which me and my CE answered carefully and clearly. I also spent a lot of time reflecting (standard 5) about the recent situations and about how I can professionally advocate (standard 1) for change in our schools. Our students shouldn't fear coming to school and knowing that they do has really dampened my mood.
For standard 3 last week, I took some time to study the content I knew I would be teaching this upcoming week. This was content that I was a little uneasy about and was having a hard time remembering. I tried to write my lesson plans before studying the content, but I quickly found out there was just no way. I ended up having to set my plans aside and took some time to refresh my memory on this content. To some, this might sound like I don't know what I'm doing because I had to "study my content." However, I feel the opposite. Last semester, my CE told me that even she, who has been teaching for 13 years, has to study sometimes. I think this helps make for a good teacher - one who is not embarrassed to study her content.
Last week was a review week for my classes. We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday reviewing material that would appear on their benchmark this upcoming week. On Thursday, my students took all of their "training" from the beginning of the week and participated in the "Math Games. This is an example of how I demonstrated standard 4 during the week. As students came into class Thursday, the room was decorated with a South Korean flag and an olympic sign. Instead of the usual warmup on the board, there were fun facts about South Korea. I tried to find facts that the students could compare to. For example, in America a birthday tradition is birthday cake, in South Korea a birthday tradition is seaweed soup. Class time on Thursday was spent playing review games in which teams competed for the "gold."
Finally, for standard 5 last week, I spent some time reflecting on how I can include more 21st century skills and integration in my lessons. I feel like I made good progress on adding 21st century skills, however I am still struggling with integration.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Friday, February 16, 2018
Teaching Middle Schoolers
Hello everyone! I want to start off this post by letting you know what its like to teach middle schoolers...Today one of my students came up to me and said "Ms. Ramsey, I need some scissors because my shoe string is stuck in my braces." There is definitely never a dull moment in middle school and I love it!
This week was my third full week of teaching and it feels like it flew by. I don't know about you guys, but it seems like the weeks are just flying. The day certainly goes much faster when you are teaching all day instead of observing.
I would rate this week a 2. I am still loving my placement, the students, and my team mates and other teachers/faculty. But, this week, and last week, I experienced a major "teacher struggle." So many of my students were out for days at a time, some of them more than a week, because of the flu. This resulted in a lot of students missing lessons and a lot of missing/makeup work. On Tuesday, I ended our unit on area, but I just didn't feel comfortable moving on without more of my students and with so many holes in my grade book. I decided to use Wednesday as a "catch up day." I made a table with all of the current assignments and the names of students missing each assignment. The students were able to use the entire period to work on missing assignments, and I was able to catch up the students who were absent for a week. Allowing for this "catch up day" made me feel much better about ending our unit, and I'm sure those students who missed so many days felt the same way.
Another "teacher struggle" I experienced this week was getting three new students in four days. Two of these students joined my 2nd period right in the middle of my edTPA lessons. This put me in a bind because I had to find a place to seat them out of camera range. This is a full class and I already had three students who didn't bring their forms back. So, I ended up cramming five students against the back wall. I hated to do this to them, especially the new students, but I didn't have much of another option.
For Standard 1 (NCPTS) this week, I was able to demonstrate leadership amongst my teammates and the other 7th grade teachers by volunteering to do "2nd load duty." All of the 7th grade teachers had a workshop to attend after school on Thursday so no-one was able to do 2nd load duty (usually the teachers trade off). I over heard a conversation between the principal and some of the teachers about this and they were really struggling to come up with a solution. I volunteered to do 2nd load since I was the only one on my hall who would not be at the workshop. The Principal was ok with it and the problem was solved.
For Standard 2, I want to talk about a particular student. When I first started, I was told that this student was home bound because he was receiving therapy for behavioral issues, and that I would need to prepare work for him every week. Then, I found out that he was coming back for one class a day and that would be my class. At first I thought "great, of course he comes back for my class." I had heard the stories about all the fights he got in, the way he treated teachers, and the girl who now has scars on her face from him scratching her. I was really nervous about him coming to my class. After four weeks, I can say that I have not seen even an ounce of what was described to me. I have only seen a sweet, quiet boy who struggles in math but who tries very hard. From his first day back, I have tried my absolute best to make him feel comfortable in the classroom and during the lessons and assignments. A lot of the time that meant I had to pull a chair up beside him and talk him through each problem while all of the other students flew through them independently. My heart has really grown for this student and I want to see him succeed. Today, I was helping him and he told me "I used to be really good at math and then something happened." I simply reminded him that as we get older, our classes get a little harder, but that I knew he worked very hard and I was proud of the effort he gave. Sometimes, its not about getting a 100, but about the effort that was given.
For Standard 3 this week, my CE talked to me about BAV, Building Academic Vocabulary, and how they use it in the school and in math class. Every subject in every grade level has a list of content specific words that the students are expected to know and understand. In math class, every 9 weeks my CE assigns so many BAV words in Google Classroom. The students must find a formal definition for each word, put the definition in their own words, illustrate it with a picture, and then write about how they will use it in real life.
For Standard 4, I had to adapt my lesson plans more than once to benefit not only the many students who were absent, but the whole class. I had to stay on top of students about catching up notes and missing work, while at the same time having extension activites for the students who were not absent. I hated the idea of "punishing" these students by giving them busy work, so on "catch up day" I gave them a small test practice on area and then allowed them to read a book, work on stuff for another class, or play Math Prodigy.
For Standard 5, I spent a lot of time reflecting on school security and procedures both in my current placement and in my future classroom. In light of the tragedy in Florida, I have really been thinking about how I would handle a similar situation. I decided not to worry about my future classroom as much right now, but to focus on the present. I reviewed my school's emergency procedures and had my CE walk me through what needed to happen incase of a lock down. God willing, I will never be in this type of situation, but I want to make sure I am prepared to keep my students and myself safe should it ever happen.
Well, I'm sorry to end this post on a negative note but I think every teacher in America has had these same thoughts this week.
I hope everyone has a restful weekend and a great week next week!
This week was my third full week of teaching and it feels like it flew by. I don't know about you guys, but it seems like the weeks are just flying. The day certainly goes much faster when you are teaching all day instead of observing.
I would rate this week a 2. I am still loving my placement, the students, and my team mates and other teachers/faculty. But, this week, and last week, I experienced a major "teacher struggle." So many of my students were out for days at a time, some of them more than a week, because of the flu. This resulted in a lot of students missing lessons and a lot of missing/makeup work. On Tuesday, I ended our unit on area, but I just didn't feel comfortable moving on without more of my students and with so many holes in my grade book. I decided to use Wednesday as a "catch up day." I made a table with all of the current assignments and the names of students missing each assignment. The students were able to use the entire period to work on missing assignments, and I was able to catch up the students who were absent for a week. Allowing for this "catch up day" made me feel much better about ending our unit, and I'm sure those students who missed so many days felt the same way.
Another "teacher struggle" I experienced this week was getting three new students in four days. Two of these students joined my 2nd period right in the middle of my edTPA lessons. This put me in a bind because I had to find a place to seat them out of camera range. This is a full class and I already had three students who didn't bring their forms back. So, I ended up cramming five students against the back wall. I hated to do this to them, especially the new students, but I didn't have much of another option.
For Standard 1 (NCPTS) this week, I was able to demonstrate leadership amongst my teammates and the other 7th grade teachers by volunteering to do "2nd load duty." All of the 7th grade teachers had a workshop to attend after school on Thursday so no-one was able to do 2nd load duty (usually the teachers trade off). I over heard a conversation between the principal and some of the teachers about this and they were really struggling to come up with a solution. I volunteered to do 2nd load since I was the only one on my hall who would not be at the workshop. The Principal was ok with it and the problem was solved.
For Standard 2, I want to talk about a particular student. When I first started, I was told that this student was home bound because he was receiving therapy for behavioral issues, and that I would need to prepare work for him every week. Then, I found out that he was coming back for one class a day and that would be my class. At first I thought "great, of course he comes back for my class." I had heard the stories about all the fights he got in, the way he treated teachers, and the girl who now has scars on her face from him scratching her. I was really nervous about him coming to my class. After four weeks, I can say that I have not seen even an ounce of what was described to me. I have only seen a sweet, quiet boy who struggles in math but who tries very hard. From his first day back, I have tried my absolute best to make him feel comfortable in the classroom and during the lessons and assignments. A lot of the time that meant I had to pull a chair up beside him and talk him through each problem while all of the other students flew through them independently. My heart has really grown for this student and I want to see him succeed. Today, I was helping him and he told me "I used to be really good at math and then something happened." I simply reminded him that as we get older, our classes get a little harder, but that I knew he worked very hard and I was proud of the effort he gave. Sometimes, its not about getting a 100, but about the effort that was given.
For Standard 3 this week, my CE talked to me about BAV, Building Academic Vocabulary, and how they use it in the school and in math class. Every subject in every grade level has a list of content specific words that the students are expected to know and understand. In math class, every 9 weeks my CE assigns so many BAV words in Google Classroom. The students must find a formal definition for each word, put the definition in their own words, illustrate it with a picture, and then write about how they will use it in real life.
For Standard 4, I had to adapt my lesson plans more than once to benefit not only the many students who were absent, but the whole class. I had to stay on top of students about catching up notes and missing work, while at the same time having extension activites for the students who were not absent. I hated the idea of "punishing" these students by giving them busy work, so on "catch up day" I gave them a small test practice on area and then allowed them to read a book, work on stuff for another class, or play Math Prodigy.
For Standard 5, I spent a lot of time reflecting on school security and procedures both in my current placement and in my future classroom. In light of the tragedy in Florida, I have really been thinking about how I would handle a similar situation. I decided not to worry about my future classroom as much right now, but to focus on the present. I reviewed my school's emergency procedures and had my CE walk me through what needed to happen incase of a lock down. God willing, I will never be in this type of situation, but I want to make sure I am prepared to keep my students and myself safe should it ever happen.
Well, I'm sorry to end this post on a negative note but I think every teacher in America has had these same thoughts this week.
I hope everyone has a restful weekend and a great week next week!
Friday, February 2, 2018
1 Down, 9 To Go
Well, I made it through my first full week of teaching! It was definitely one for the books and one I'm sure I will never forget. This week had some highs and it had some lows, but the one constant throughout the whole week was that I loved every single minute.
I would rate this week a 4 out of 5. The only reason I wouldn't give it a 5 is because some unfortunate situations arose at the end of the week. On Thursday, on their way out of my class, a student made a very serious threat against the school. With everything recently going on in schools across the country, threats like these are dealt with immediately and strictly and the student was suspended indefinitely. This was a student who we just had a team-principal-parent meeting on to come up with a plan on how we could get his grades up before the end of the semester. His grades were not down because of a lack of understanding, but because of a lack of simply doing the work. In the meeting, an incentive was given that the student would be able to wrestle next year if he worked hard and brought his grades up. Everyone was on board with this plan including him, so I was saddened that he threw this chance away. All of the teachers on the team, including myself, had high hopes for him and were willing to do their part if he would do his.
Later on Thursday, one of the teachers on my team went home to a horrible tragedy and in turn will be out for a little while. This made its way on the news, so Friday was a long and difficult day as we did our best to divert the students from talking about the situation and tried to keep them focused on school. I had to step up a little bit on Friday as I was left in the classroom completely alone for about half of the day. The substitute for my teammate never showed and we also had several other teachers in the school out. My CE was pulled to cover my teammate's room for awhile until someone could get there. Friday was a difficult day for teachers and students who sympathized greatly for their colleague/teacher.
Despite the hard ending to the week, I still enjoyed my first full week of teaching in the classroom. I surprised myself with how "not nervous" I was about taking over the classroom. From the very beginning I have felt completely comfortable and "at home" in my placement. It was very easy for me to step in a fill the teacher role, something I am extremely grateful for in my reflection of the week.
To prepare for next week, I spent Friday after school getting all of my materials printed and ready for next week's lessons. Before leaving, I also changed the desks around in the room and created a new seating chart for each class. Earlier this week, I gave my students an interest survey and many of the students said that math class would be better if we did more group work. I am a big fan of group work and students working collaboratively, so I moved the desks out of their rows and put them in groups of 5. When planning my seating charts, I purposefully placed at least one higher student and one lower student in each group. I then distributed the rest of the students evenly over the groups. My goal here is that the students will gain some insight from working with each other, and that the higher student can assist the lower student and/or other groups members when something is not clear. Typically, when working in groups, I will tell my students that if they have a question they must collaborate with their group before they can ask me. I am excited to see how the new grouped setting works out next week.
For standard 1 and 3 (NCPTS) this week, I had the opportunity to work collaboratively with the other math teachers in the school. Twice a year the principal organizes a "content day" for each core subject area. Content day for the math teachers was on Thursday this week, and we had half of the day to plan in the library while a substitute was in our room. I was able to plan with the other 7th grade math teacher, but also discuss with the 6th grade math teachers about what the students learned last year and how my lessons could build on theirs.
For standard 2, I gave each of my students (roughly 100 students) an interest survey to help me get to know them a little better as people and as learners. I asked some questions about themselves, but I also asked some questions about their ideal academic learning environment. For example, "math class would be better if..." "I like it when teachers..." "I don't like it when teachers..." "A good reward for working hard would be..." I took time to read through each one and took note of some of the more common responses I got. They also had an opportunity to tell me anything else they wanted me to know. I was surprised at the number of students who took advantage of this. They took the time to clearly describe themselves and their ideas for a learning environment, so in return I will take the time to create the best environment I can for each of them.
For standard 4, I spent a good amount of time looking for engaging activities, handouts, note taking resources, etc... My CE has given me access to her vast amount of materials and resources and even offered to share anything from her teacherspayteachers account. (If you don't have a teacherspayteachers account, I suggest getting one!) My students use an interactive notebook to keep all of their notes and assignments in, so I am continuously looking for new, cool, engaging things to use. For example, one day next week students will be using a "doodle notes" for their note taking on perimeter and area. Here are a few links to some things my students will be doing next week: Perimeter and Area Doodle Notes Area of Circles Notes Area of Circles Riddle
Finally, for standard 5, I have been some time reflecting on my first observation. It went extremely well, but of course there are always areas for improvement. For me, those immediate areas are time management and classroom management - I will say something but not always follow through. Next week, I plan to jump on these head first and have them mastered before my next observation.
I hope everyone has a long and restful weekend and a great week next week!
Friday, January 26, 2018
"Teacher Bladder"
This week I started picking up classes and by Friday I had 3 out of 4 classes picked up. I am starting to feel that "teacher tired," but more importantly I have discovered what it means to have a "teacher bladder." According to Urban Dictionary, teacher bladder is "the ability to prevent oneself from requiring the need to urinate less often than every 12 hours." If you haven't yet experienced this, I would start to prepare because the time will come.
I would rate my experience this week as a 4. Everything went smoothly and according to plan, or rather the "new plan" because of the snow days last week. I started picking up classes, which went great. I am just exhausted and ready for the weekend! Plus, I really need to empty this teacher bladder. I was surprised this week at how "not nervous" I was about picking up classes. Last semester I would have driven to school terrified while having an intense conversation with Jesus. However, this week I was calm and ready for the experience. I believe this shows growth! One of the biggest lessons I learned this week was to always over plan. It's better to over plan than to under plan and have students sitting with nothing to do. With this in mind, I made sure to pack my lessons full for next week. On Monday, I am starting my first week as the teacher in the classroom. In anticipation of this, I planned my lessons early this week to give my CE plenty of time to look over my lessons and allow me to make appropriate changes. Before leaving school at the end of the day on Friday, I made sure everything I needed for next week was prepared and set aside. With this done and my lesson plans in place, I feel confident that I am ready to officially start my 10 weeks of student teaching.
For standard 1 (NCPTS) this week, I had the opportunity to sit in on a parent-teacher conference for a student who was failing almost all of his classes. This student is smart and capable, he just doesn't seem to want to do his work. A meeting was called with all of his teachers, the principal, his mother, and himself to discuss the upcoming semester and how/what changes can be made. I did not actively participate in this meeting, I just observed, but I feel it provided me with a great opportunity to see how a teacher leads in a meeting like this.
For standard 2, I really focused on getting to know the students and who they are as individual people. With this only being my third week with them and with all of the snow/ice days, I really have not had much of an opportunity to get to know them as people and as learners. Next week, I plan to take time to have the students fill out an interest survey to further help me in achieving this goal.
For standard 3, I took an in-depth look at the standards I will be teaching next week. I spent some time unpacking these standards and looking back at the 6th grade standards to see what they should already know. Once I felt confident that I knew what the standards were saying, I started to look for resources (some on my own and some from my CE's stash) that I felt would be good for the lessons.
For standard 4, I took those resources and started to plan my lessons. I look at the different classes I had and the diversity in each and planned the best way to present the content next week. One of my classes, I know will pick up the content really quick, so I had to plan extra activities and assignments for them. Another class, will move really slow. They are my lowest class. They will need a slower pace and plenty of practice time. The other two classes should move at about a normal pace.
For standard 5, I took the notes that my CE made on my teaching this week and reflected on them. I was very pleased with myself to discover more positives than negatives in those notes. However, I did take those negatives and spent some time reflecting on how I can turn them into positives next week.
I hope everyone has a restful weekend and a great week next week!
I would rate my experience this week as a 4. Everything went smoothly and according to plan, or rather the "new plan" because of the snow days last week. I started picking up classes, which went great. I am just exhausted and ready for the weekend! Plus, I really need to empty this teacher bladder. I was surprised this week at how "not nervous" I was about picking up classes. Last semester I would have driven to school terrified while having an intense conversation with Jesus. However, this week I was calm and ready for the experience. I believe this shows growth! One of the biggest lessons I learned this week was to always over plan. It's better to over plan than to under plan and have students sitting with nothing to do. With this in mind, I made sure to pack my lessons full for next week. On Monday, I am starting my first week as the teacher in the classroom. In anticipation of this, I planned my lessons early this week to give my CE plenty of time to look over my lessons and allow me to make appropriate changes. Before leaving school at the end of the day on Friday, I made sure everything I needed for next week was prepared and set aside. With this done and my lesson plans in place, I feel confident that I am ready to officially start my 10 weeks of student teaching.
For standard 1 (NCPTS) this week, I had the opportunity to sit in on a parent-teacher conference for a student who was failing almost all of his classes. This student is smart and capable, he just doesn't seem to want to do his work. A meeting was called with all of his teachers, the principal, his mother, and himself to discuss the upcoming semester and how/what changes can be made. I did not actively participate in this meeting, I just observed, but I feel it provided me with a great opportunity to see how a teacher leads in a meeting like this.
For standard 2, I really focused on getting to know the students and who they are as individual people. With this only being my third week with them and with all of the snow/ice days, I really have not had much of an opportunity to get to know them as people and as learners. Next week, I plan to take time to have the students fill out an interest survey to further help me in achieving this goal.
For standard 3, I took an in-depth look at the standards I will be teaching next week. I spent some time unpacking these standards and looking back at the 6th grade standards to see what they should already know. Once I felt confident that I knew what the standards were saying, I started to look for resources (some on my own and some from my CE's stash) that I felt would be good for the lessons.
For standard 4, I took those resources and started to plan my lessons. I look at the different classes I had and the diversity in each and planned the best way to present the content next week. One of my classes, I know will pick up the content really quick, so I had to plan extra activities and assignments for them. Another class, will move really slow. They are my lowest class. They will need a slower pace and plenty of practice time. The other two classes should move at about a normal pace.
For standard 5, I took the notes that my CE made on my teaching this week and reflected on them. I was very pleased with myself to discover more positives than negatives in those notes. However, I did take those negatives and spent some time reflecting on how I can turn them into positives next week.
I hope everyone has a restful weekend and a great week next week!
Friday, January 19, 2018
"sNOw school"
Wow, another crazy week. I have been in the classroom for 10 days, but I have only seen the students on 5 of those days. This week started out with a holiday so school was closed. On Tuesday, we were blessed with a full day of instruction before being slammed with snow on Wednesday, which closed school for the rest of the week. School was out for staff and students on Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday was an optional teacher workday with a 3 hour delay. However, my CE decided she was not going in and advised me not to make my 40 minute commute because the roads surrounding the school were still pretty bad. We texted back and forth for a little while and decided on a plan for Monday. I was suppose to pick up a class on Monday. This is still the plan, but I will pick up the last class of the day and observe her modified plans during the other periods, which I will then "copy" for the last period.
Overall, I would rate this week a 3. Nothing extraordinary bad happened, it was just a little frustrating to only have school 1 day. With it being the end of the semester, and students facing benchmarks January 29- February 2, we are desperately trying to get all of the content in. It's a scary feeling knowing that the students may not get an adequate amount of time to practice new concepts before the benchmarks. This is where I have learned and experienced first hand how important it is for teachers to take advantage of every possible minute of instructional time. Next week, we will really have to buckle down, keep the students focused, and get the content with as much practice as possible in.
This week, for standard 1 (NCPTS), I had the opportunity to sit in on the School Improvement Team meeting. My CE participates in this committee, so I will have more opportunities like this in the future. While I only observed, it was beneficial to see how these meetings go and I picked up on some things that I could do to help improve the school. A lot of these were just little things, like standing in the hallway during class change, but its all the little things that come together to help make the school great. For standard 2, I was able to sit down with my CE this week and discuss, and document my own notes, on the students and their different needs and abilities: the highs and the lows, who had 504s, BIPs, IEPs, who faced issues at home, who was defiant, who was a good helper, etc. I used my seating chart to make little notes and reminders until I am able to commit all the students to memory. For standard 3, I printed copies of the 7th grade math standards, and their unpacking documents, and began looking at the ones I will be teaching during my time in the classroom. For standard 4, I planned my first set of lesson plans, which I will implement next week as I begin to pick up classes. Majority of these lessons will probably not go as I had planned due to the snow this week. However, adapting my lessons plans to meet the needs of the students is just another part of facilitating learning. For standard 5, I spent a lot of time paying attention to how instruction and learning takes place in this classroom. I made notes and thought about how I can best continue this instruction in the near future.
For my portfolio, I have almost completed my classroom website, I just have a few more things to tweak. I have been using the portfolio tracker to make sure I am staying caught up and that I am prepared for Saturday's seminar.
I hope everyone has a great week! See you all tomorrow for a wonderfully long day of edTPA.
Overall, I would rate this week a 3. Nothing extraordinary bad happened, it was just a little frustrating to only have school 1 day. With it being the end of the semester, and students facing benchmarks January 29- February 2, we are desperately trying to get all of the content in. It's a scary feeling knowing that the students may not get an adequate amount of time to practice new concepts before the benchmarks. This is where I have learned and experienced first hand how important it is for teachers to take advantage of every possible minute of instructional time. Next week, we will really have to buckle down, keep the students focused, and get the content with as much practice as possible in.
This week, for standard 1 (NCPTS), I had the opportunity to sit in on the School Improvement Team meeting. My CE participates in this committee, so I will have more opportunities like this in the future. While I only observed, it was beneficial to see how these meetings go and I picked up on some things that I could do to help improve the school. A lot of these were just little things, like standing in the hallway during class change, but its all the little things that come together to help make the school great. For standard 2, I was able to sit down with my CE this week and discuss, and document my own notes, on the students and their different needs and abilities: the highs and the lows, who had 504s, BIPs, IEPs, who faced issues at home, who was defiant, who was a good helper, etc. I used my seating chart to make little notes and reminders until I am able to commit all the students to memory. For standard 3, I printed copies of the 7th grade math standards, and their unpacking documents, and began looking at the ones I will be teaching during my time in the classroom. For standard 4, I planned my first set of lesson plans, which I will implement next week as I begin to pick up classes. Majority of these lessons will probably not go as I had planned due to the snow this week. However, adapting my lessons plans to meet the needs of the students is just another part of facilitating learning. For standard 5, I spent a lot of time paying attention to how instruction and learning takes place in this classroom. I made notes and thought about how I can best continue this instruction in the near future.
For my portfolio, I have almost completed my classroom website, I just have a few more things to tweak. I have been using the portfolio tracker to make sure I am staying caught up and that I am prepared for Saturday's seminar.
I hope everyone has a great week! See you all tomorrow for a wonderfully long day of edTPA.
Sunday, January 14, 2018
1st Week in the Classroom
Wow! What a week! This was my first week in the classroom and it was a doozy. The week started out on Monday with the students being sent home at 11:15 due to a chance of ice. The teachers, however, stayed, which gave me a chance to talk with my CE quite a bit and plan out how we wanted the semester to go. Tuesday began with a 3 hour delay for both students and staff which resulted in another day of very limited instruction time. On Wednesday we had a normal day, but it was "Wonderful Wednesday" at my school which basically just means it was club day. Every Wednesday there is an alternate schedule and the last hour of the day is set aside for students to do clubs. Each teacher leads a certain club for 6 weeks and the students usually get their top choice of which club to attend. There are all kinds of clubs but some include scavenger hunt club, Disney club, sports clubs, coloring club, nail painting club,...the list goes on and on. My CE leads the scavenger hunt club and I will pick up this responsibility in a few weeks when I take over. Moving on to Thursday, we had a normal instruction day with a normal schedule. This was my first chance to observe how a "normal day" went at my school. On Friday, my grade level had their ELA NC Check In. This is just a state mandated benchmark for English - Language Arts. So, we had another crazy schedule. Out of the whole week we had one normal day. It was certainly a wonky week, and I was constantly on my toes, but it was interesting and enlightening to see how my CE continuously had to change her plans and take advantage of her spotty instruction time. Despite the craziness, I would rate my week a 5 out of 5. I am absolutely in love my school, my CE, the students, the administration, and other staff members. I can't wait to start taking over in the classroom and becoming more involved.
Since this was my first week in this classroom, I spent majority of the time observing and "getting my bearings." I focused on how my CE implemented her instruction and tried to start making plans and mental notes for how I wanted to continue that instruction when I take over. I reflected (NCPTS 5) a lot this week on how the school and my specific classroom ran, and tried to "set my mind" to a teacher mindset. Later in the week I started focusing more on getting to know the students and communicating with them while trying to establish myself as a leader for them (NCPTS 1). I've began making notes about some of the different needs of my students and started planning for how to differentiate my instruction for them. My 2nd period has several different needs to be addressed. While none of them fall into the range of needing a resource math, some of them do qualify for a resource ELA and those issues trickle into the math classroom as well. I do not have any inclusion classes but there is definitely a lot of differentiation to be addressed. I focused a lot on these students during my observations so I can best be prepared to facilitate learning for them (NCPTS 4).
Next week, I will continue to observe what is happening in the classroom, but I have plans to take more steps to interact with the students and start to establish myself as a teacher in the classroom.
For my portfolio, I have started putting together my classroom website and plan to have that finished and posted this week. I also have created and set up a Live Binder to start putting materials in for my portfolio. I have a "portfolio checklist" saved right on my screen so I am continuously reminded of what I need to be working on. Getting behind is not an option for me this semester.
I hope everyone has a great week!
Since this was my first week in this classroom, I spent majority of the time observing and "getting my bearings." I focused on how my CE implemented her instruction and tried to start making plans and mental notes for how I wanted to continue that instruction when I take over. I reflected (NCPTS 5) a lot this week on how the school and my specific classroom ran, and tried to "set my mind" to a teacher mindset. Later in the week I started focusing more on getting to know the students and communicating with them while trying to establish myself as a leader for them (NCPTS 1). I've began making notes about some of the different needs of my students and started planning for how to differentiate my instruction for them. My 2nd period has several different needs to be addressed. While none of them fall into the range of needing a resource math, some of them do qualify for a resource ELA and those issues trickle into the math classroom as well. I do not have any inclusion classes but there is definitely a lot of differentiation to be addressed. I focused a lot on these students during my observations so I can best be prepared to facilitate learning for them (NCPTS 4).
Next week, I will continue to observe what is happening in the classroom, but I have plans to take more steps to interact with the students and start to establish myself as a teacher in the classroom.
For my portfolio, I have started putting together my classroom website and plan to have that finished and posted this week. I also have created and set up a Live Binder to start putting materials in for my portfolio. I have a "portfolio checklist" saved right on my screen so I am continuously reminded of what I need to be working on. Getting behind is not an option for me this semester.
I hope everyone has a great week!
Friday, January 12, 2018
Welcome Back!
Welcome back to my education journey! It's been awhile since my last blog and A LOT has changed. I am getting ready to (finally) begin my student teaching experience and I could't be more excited!
I am posting this blog a week late, and it will be shorter as I was not actually in the classroom yet. However, I was busy busy getting ready to walk into the classroom on Monday, January 8.
I found out just before Christmas where my placement would be, so I waited for Central Office to open back up and spent the first week in January getting a background check, drug test, TB test,... all that fun stuff. Once all of that was done, I was finally able to contact my clinical educator (CE) and make plans to meet with her.
With all that going on, I also spent the week reading, hi-lighting, making notes, and rereading the student teaching handbook, syllabus, and the 7th grade math standards. I was anxious to get into the classroom and to be as prepared as I could be. I also started trying to plan out how I was going to keep myself organized this semester and made lots of folders in my computer.
It was a stressful week knowing that I wasn't starting on the first day of school. However, I am thankful for the extra week that I had to rest and recover from a surgery I had over Christmas break. Thats about all I have to say for now. My next blog will be much more inclusive and detailed as I will actually be in the classroom. I can't wait!
I am posting this blog a week late, and it will be shorter as I was not actually in the classroom yet. However, I was busy busy getting ready to walk into the classroom on Monday, January 8.
I found out just before Christmas where my placement would be, so I waited for Central Office to open back up and spent the first week in January getting a background check, drug test, TB test,... all that fun stuff. Once all of that was done, I was finally able to contact my clinical educator (CE) and make plans to meet with her.
With all that going on, I also spent the week reading, hi-lighting, making notes, and rereading the student teaching handbook, syllabus, and the 7th grade math standards. I was anxious to get into the classroom and to be as prepared as I could be. I also started trying to plan out how I was going to keep myself organized this semester and made lots of folders in my computer.
It was a stressful week knowing that I wasn't starting on the first day of school. However, I am thankful for the extra week that I had to rest and recover from a surgery I had over Christmas break. Thats about all I have to say for now. My next blog will be much more inclusive and detailed as I will actually be in the classroom. I can't wait!
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