Week 6

The goal I had for my first week at my second teaching placement was to observe and document all the forms of classroom management that the teacher implements.  I also observed her routines, and tried to compile a list so that I'll be able to remember everything that is required to be done in the mornings before the day even begins.

My goals for this week are to have my Trinity lesson plans done a few days before the lesson I'm actually teaching.  I have been struggling with this, and I feel that if I think it through thoroughly and in advance, I'll feel more confident about what I'm doing.  I also plan on finding ways to incorporate song into whatever lesson I'm doing this week.  If there's something I like to do it's singing.  I want the kids to know that about me, and start to look forward to how I will incorporate it into our learning in a constructive way.  I think this will be something great for this grade level.

To try and describe last week within one word is impossible for me.  I experienced the dumps, lack of motivation, fear of failure, and just plain sadness about leaving my last teaching placement.  I was in a place where I felt was my ideal teaching environment, and I felt challenged and intrinsically rewarded with the depth of the lessons I was teaching and observing.  First grade lessons are definitely simpler and I was feeling a little let down.  After the 1st two days, I felt that my attitude needed to change, because it would not be helpful to me.  I felt like I needed to make a greater effort to get to know the kids, and to communicate more effectively with my cooperating teacher.  By Friday, even with this decision made, I was still very emotional and feeling like I was about to just breakdown.  I found time in my early morning devotions to write down a verse in James 1:2-5 that I felt God reveal to me.
"Count it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything..."  The verse goes on, but I felt this in my heart.  I kept praying for God to help me, change me, etc. and then all these obstacles and doubts were coming up.  I was looking at the trials & tests of my faith in the wrong perspective.  I've been beating myself up, feeling like where is God?  And this verse clearly showed me that because of all the stress and testing I'd been experiencing, that is my assurance that God is with me and he is helping to change me.  This may seem so small, but I grasped onto this verse and memorized it by the end of Friday.  (I wrote it on a post-it note and stuck it on my binder and had the page open on the back table all day.  I'd go back and recite it to myself whenever I was at the back table).  It was my strength all day long.  And to be honest by the end of the day, the dumps were gone and I felt joyful.  I was even able to share that experience with one of my friends from my cohort who is placed at the same school.  I'm telling you, it was a turn around.  So, that's also a goal, I'm going to have a verse of the week sitting in my binder every day, and I'm going to memorize and hold onto it throughout the day.  I think my cooperating teacher came by and saw it, and I'm glad.  It's a good thing. 

I think the number one takeaway I have from my entire student teaching experience right now is how much I need to have a system that reinforces the expectations I'm going to set up.  I need to have a plan for students to be able to know clearly what their expectations are.  When they know their boundaries and limits, that the place we'll be working in will be safe, respectful, and ordered, I think that's the foundation upon which all learning will take place.  The other takeaway for me is how much I need to rely on God for everything.  I know I have gifts and abilities, but at the end of the day I just don't have the same joy as when I completely rely on God and his word to be my strength throughout the day.  It allows me to see the children I teach in a different light, it allows me to view fellow teachers in a different light. 

My thoughts on prompt 1:  (the teacher should use the results of each test system to assess for student learning and, if necessary, remediate and correct for student mastery.)
I think this is correct.  If possible, some students need to be retaught if they clearly didn't understand.  I would probably assess whether or not the test medium was appropriate by maybe verbally asking students the questions they didn't understand.  Depending on the type of error, whether an error in understanding the directions or a total lack of comprehension of the topic, then I would know how best to move forward.

My thoughts on prompt 2:  (the students should be graded on a percentage system.  This way they're competing against themselves to reach a level of success.)  I think that it might be a good thing to let them compete against themselves.  I definitely don't like to see them competing against each other.  That would lead to a lot of negativity.  This system may be more positively motivating.

I have remediated with groups based on my assessment of their work turned in.  On two days that I was teaching my TPA lessons, I found that several students were struggling with the concept.  The first remediation day I did a read aloud and guided practice with modeling of how to do the activity.  This helped those students.  The next day I met with small groups who were still having trouble and worked with them to help each other through guided practice to comprehend the reading strategy.

I think that tracking has its positives and negatives, and I'm not really sure I have a complete opinion one way or another about it at this point.  I'd have to live it myself and see the results with students I know before I give an answer to this question.

I don't need feedback on anything right now.  One thing that I wish was different was that I only needed to teach 3 more weeks instead of 4.  I realize I'll be getting more experience and that's great, but literally everyone else in my cohort will only teach for 5 full weeks.  Because I chose split placement they added a week for some reason, and I just found out that I'm scheduled to teach 6 full weeks overall. 

Honestly, I'm grateful for all the growing experiences.  I mean, I keep learning a lot about myself.  It's a good thing.  But I'd like to be done with the stress as soon as possible.  I think it's a perfectly normal concern and so when I see when my 2nd placement teacher wants me to start teaching Oct 29 - Dec 7, that's another added week onto my schedule.  I'd like to know how to bring it up with her in a way that's tactful.  Who knows how I'll feel Dec 7, maybe I'll be so gung ho and won't want to give it back, but I may feel the reverse.  I want to address this before any more time passes. 

So, here's the concern.  I'm already doing an extra week of teaching than my cohort.  Two extra weeks is a stretch for me.  I need help with how to tell her that I will be happy to give her class back to her after 20 days.  Twenty days, which adds to five weeks, will be plenty of time for me.  The first graders are adorable, but I'll be ready to start observing.  There are so many different pullout, special ed, reading specialist, etc. classrooms in that school that I want to see.