Week 5

Well, I made it!  The goals I had for the week were transitions and giving student feedback.  I had a lot of practice transitioning kids.  And at first I would become frustrated with the process but have learned that jumping in and acting is better than losing my patience and letting chaos reign.  So, I think I've been doing better with that.  Giving the kids feedback requires my undivided attention, but everytime they talked I tried to be more intentional with praising them for a specific detail that they added to class discussion.  These areas still need work, but I feel good with the progress I'm making.

Two new goals for this week are to be as helpful as I can (since it's my last week at Southwest and I won't be doing a lot of teaching) because there's standardized testing going on all week, and to continue to observe classroom management strategies.  I feel like this is the crux of what could make or break me in the next classroom environment that I'll be going into. 

A word I would use to describe this last week was bittersweet.  I feel like I really started to enjoy teaching some of the subjects, and it felt good to feel confident and work with the students.  I  am finding that I prefer Reading above all the other subjects, so that's led me to be prayerful about possibly looking into education after Trinity and seeing what the possibilities are, if I decide to not go the route of traditional elementary school teacher.  I've definitely been learning from one of the best, and I'm thankful that I was placed in the classroom I've been in.  The kids are great and I'm going to miss them.  Some of the girls were already asking me if I would come back and visit them.

A lesson that went really well happened this week.  I was teaching about inferring during reading.  What it taught me was how important it is to offer several opportunities for students to have guided practice before they are ready to practice a skill independently.  I was able to see growth in their understanding, and it was an awesome moment.

I think it's imperative that I master the content I'm teaching so that I'll be confident and able to steer the class.  It won't be as easy for my lessons to become derailed on questions/behavior if I know what we're talking about, where we need to go, and the skills I need the students to learn and practice.
My lesson objectives do accomplish assigning, but could do a little better at assessing.  I've noticed that while I'm drawing to a close.  This is an area I can improve on. 

When reflecting upon Bloom's Taxonomy I understand why Creating is at the top.  If students simply remember what was taught, that doesn't mean they're understanding the concept or applying it.  Creation is the highest form of learning because they're recreating an example of what they have internally processed and comprehended.  This impacts my teaching because I won't be as likely to have drills on memory as forms of assessment.  I will seek to create assessments and guided practice which will allow my students to create, rather than do drills.

Week 4

I did survive this week!  Yay!  Victory!  I didn't just survive though.  I had a rough Friday and Monday but then I rebounded by taking extra time to work on what wasn't working with my lesson plans.  I think I could've set more substantial goals last week, but I really was feeling overwhelmed.  I think that I ended up starting to work on new goals by the end of the week, and I'd like to continue working on them.  One goal I have for myself is to work on transitions.  Another goal I have was given to me by my cooperating teacher Julie.  When students share a piece of writing or something they've done I need to be more specific with my feedback and use positive praise for what they have contributed correctly and creatively. 

One word that would describe my week would be pacing.  I think I've been learning how to pace myself in lessons.  I think timing is everything, and I'm trying to set more concrete time limits so that I'm able to accomplish all my goals, and my amazing cooperating teacher is helping me with this.  I also would say I'm trying to mentally pace myself when it comes to what I have to work on outside of the classroom.  Right now it's a whole lot because I'm doing my TPA project pretty much before everyone else will be.  And since it's my last week of full time teaching, this just seems like it has the potential to become overwhelming. 

I think this because when I get home at the end of the day, I don't just go and sit down at the table and start plugging away at lesson plans.  I've been at work already from 7-430, and 2-3 times this week I was there til 5 or 545.  I'm exhausted, and I don't think it's possible sometimes to just start chipping away at all this work.  I think I have other personal needs that need to be met, and sometimes I need to allow myself to step away from it.  And if it's for an extended period of time, then so be it.  I think it's doable definitely, but I'm kind of letting myself throw the schedule out the window, and I'm handling one day at a time.  I think this one day at a time thing helps. 

I have not videotaped my teaching yet.  Videotaping will be occurring this week.  I don't need to see the video tape of myself to know that I need to work on confidence.  I need to script my introductions because if I don't I stumble over my choice of words.  I don't want my lack of prep time to confuse the students.  The actions I plan on taking to correct my weak areas are to be even more prepared.  Like I said, I'm trying to script my introductions more, trying to create another list of behavior reminders and redirections so that I'm able to continue to manage the students effectively, and I'm trying to find time amidst all of that to get to bed at a decent hour so that I can wake up and have personal devotions (this component is central to it all, because if I don't have a walk with God, peace, and any type of joy, I'm going to be a miserable person for the kids to spend their days with).   My cooperating teacher and I probably discuss my weak areas more than positives, because I usually bring them up.  However, I've made an effort to ask her to give me feedback about what I'm doing right.  She's been taking a lot of notes, and she's made an effort to tell me all the ways that I've been able to manage and teach the kids well.

Our classroom has many procedures to help with classroom management.  I use them every day, and couldn't manage the kids without them.  We have a reminder chart, and after the student gets 1 reminder (which is a friendly warning), their name gets written on a chart and they must talk to the teacher at recess as well as write a note saying how they think they should change their behavior.  The student's parents have to sign the note and it must be returned the next day.  We have many more procedures and tricks that we use, and they are very clear and the students do know what is expected from them, so for that I am very thankful!

I'm still trying to figure out if there are any specifications for the TPA video.  At this point, I have so much on my plate, I'm pretty much going to submit what we tape, (I do know the time limit ) and hope for the best.  I think that it will be fine.  I can't wait until this is all submitted and over with so I can focus solely on my teaching and growing.  The thing that may surprise my supervisor is how frequently I keep going back and forth with not knowing if I want to teach elementary or special education.  It's really been a conflict within me, but one I think I'm going to have to leave with God.  I need to trust that he's going to put me in the classroom that he wants me in.  So, here I am, enjoying my last few weeks at Southwest.  Yeah, I'm probably going to be sad when I leave.  It's been such a great experience, and I feel like I'm leaving it with a friend.  My cooperating teacher is someone who has become a great friend, and it's awesome that we can share a faith in God.

Week 3

Enjoyable.  Overwhelming.

I believe my goals were to circulate around the room more and to try to enjoy what I'm teaching.  I feel that it's easier to enjoy what I'm teaching when I'm familiar and comfortable with my lesson plans.  I'm still not there yet, but I enjoy watching my cooperating teacher and seeing how she interacts with her class.  I hope I get to that point someday.  I have tried to be conscious of my need to stay at the center of the room, and I've been experimenting with walking around the room when I talk.  I use it more right now to monitor behavior when students are talking.  So far, I think I've improved but more work needs to be done.

My goal for this week is survival.  And to give myself a break.  I have a lot of planning to do since it's my first week as a full time teacher.  I am very hard on myself, and after my observation on Friday, I have a lot of doubts.  The one word I would use to describe the week is enjoyable, but after Friday and seeing my workload I would choose the word overwhelming.  My cooperating teacher even gave me pretty simple goals to work with for Reading and Writing times, which will help me.  But I think I'm freaking out because this is all just a new environment for me.  I miss what I'm familar with, and that's working with kids with disabilities.  I like this environment as well, the kids are such sweethearts, but I just don't know where I'm going to be going after this experience.  I have a lot more questions than answers now, and wasn't expecting this.

With regard to Julie's classroom management, she is very consistent with her methods and consequences.  I would hope to continue the consistency. I'm not sure of something I plan to do differently.  I would want to make more use of several different kinds of positive behavior supports.  I feel like I've been focusing on the negative at times, and hate that I sound like a broken record.  I think then, one of my goals should be to focus on rewarding students who are behaving how I want them to while a lesson is going on.

I plan to start my class effectively by informing students of procedures in my classroom, and the expectations we collectively have for behavior. I've had several opportunities to implement classroom management.  I think to the reading lessons I've taught, and when students made connections to their lives from the text, I would tell them,  I like how you are thinking hard about the text, and I would tell them to put a ticket in the basket (it's a positive reinforcer for the whole class).  I think I would try to have multiple ticket-worthy questions worked into my lesson so I could reward several students and they would be motivated to dig deeper when they read. 

"Effective teachers MANAGE their classrooms.  Ineffective teachers DISCIPLINE their classrooms."  An effective manager of a classroom is able to let everyone be and there are expectations that are set up that will provide for rewards as well as for consequences.  Ineffective teachers discipline their classrooms and their focus is most likely on the negative and punishment.  Positivity and rewarding kids for their good behavior will bring about a more positive result, as opposed to making students feel resentful.

Something I need help on is knowing what the specifications are for the 3-5 minute video for our portfolio.. Can it just be a few clips patched together and then uploaded to YouTube?  I know that I can then just post a link to my portfolio.  Also, the video for the TPA, I'm wondering if it's just that 15 minute teaching clip and can that be in a youtube link or does it need to be copied to a cd?  That's about it for now.

Week 2

I let my cooperating teacher know my goals from our beginning conversation last week.  Because she knew my goals, she helped me work on them and then we had talks about
how I felt when I had to implement them myself.  She also asked me if I had any suggestions to add to her classroom management strategies.  I feel that since I'm only there for a short time I should work hardest on trying to implement her strategies because that's how I'll have the most success (all because of consistency).  I would rather have success with the kids learning her repetoire of CM strategies than throw new things/methods out at the students every day.

My goals for this week are to enjoy the lessons I teach, and to move around the room more when I'm in charge of the class.  I noticed that as I was establishing a comfort level I tended to remain in the direct center at the front of the class.

The word I would choose to describe this week with is calling.  I would use this word because it's what helped me to get through the rough moments.  Even in the times when I see all the paperwork, see all the work that I need to do for Trinity just for one lesson plan, and I begin to feel overwhelmed, a little reminder seemed to just speak to me and say that I can do it.  Pretty soon this practice time will be over and I'll be in the classroom that God called me to be in.  I felt it so strongly at the first day when we had faculty meetings for my school Monday.  I felt tears come to my eyes, and at that moment I felt like I was right where God wanted me to be.  It was pretty awesome.  So, the anxiety, fear, and excitement are still happening interchangeably, but there's also a peace and reassurance that God is with me, and I'll get through this time, and learn so much. 

I saw several different opportunities within the first days of school for my cooperating teacher to create a learning environment that encouraged social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation.  This was set up in a myriad of ways.  The kids were allowed to do several getting to know you activities.  There was discussion of rules based on respect and friendship.  It's nice that this school is coming from a Christian base, and the kids are able to see how they should treat each other from this standpoint.  They also pray with each other which I think sets the tone for a close community of learners and believers.  I also believe several of my cooperating teacher's strategies help to encourage engagement in learning and self motivation.  Sometimes these strategies come in the form of positive reinforcements and rewards, but I feel that this is helping the students to set good habits.  They learn that there are consequences for their actions, and they are in charge of the outcome.

With regard to Chapter 8 and professional dress, I don't believe that it changed my idea about the way I dress because I always try to dress professionally.  I think it's important to dress this way because it sets the tone for your classroom.  You are dressing professionally because you ARE a professional. 

I believe one positive expectation that my cooperating teacher has for her students that I hope to continue is her focus on confronting bullies.  When I say confront, I don't actually mean a confrontation, but she has implemented the stance of the school.  They give the kids a list of things to say if someone is bullying them, and has the students practice standing up for themselves, and making their opinions heard.  I think this is very helpful to the kids and something I'd like to be able to remember and remind them of, because they need to know their value, and not be victims of bullying students.

One thing I need help with is when to write a lesson plan and when not to.  For instance I did a few short introductory lessons (if you could call them that) this week and I'm not sure if I should write out an abbreviated lesson plan for those or not.  The only thing that might surprise my supervisor is that my classroom doesn't have air conditioning.  I'm praying Indian Summer skips a year.

Week 1

One of the goals I have for myself this upcoming week are to observe and document classroom management procedures set up by my teacher.  Another goal I have is to talk over when I'll be expected to start my first lesson so I can start my lesson plan documents.

One word I would use to describe this week is roller coaster. I keep moving from excitement to anxiety to fear to calm, then back to excitement again.

I observed an Open House and first day of school for my 2nd placement because I was invited by the classroom teacher.  My teacher was very effective with classroom management because she gave students clear expectations, set an atmosphere of anticipation, and repeated her simple instructions in order to give students time to process.  She had a positive attitude when communicating her expectations and the procedures that would be included when students behaved well or poorly.  She stated that she knew she wouldn't have problems because they looked like such great first graders.  I think that set positive expectations in the students' mind, because they knew their teacher believed the best in them.  I havent observed any classroom lessons because the first day was teaching the kids procedures and outlining their boundaries, such as quiet in the hallways, the teachers books vs. the students' books, and areas that were off limits.

I plan on explaining things clearly and using the strategies she uses (like feet in a square) because it's what the kids are used to and respond well to.

I have learned that I need to be there to set clear boundaries from day 1.  If students know how far they can push on day 1 it'll just be way better.

I'd like help understanding how to write the formal lesson plans we have to turn in.
That was very unclearly presented to me and for me to feel like I can be successful, I need to know the expectations.

I found out that there are a few parent concerns.  I'm wondering how that will play out.