Week 12; November 18

Observe: Second grade performed a folk dance this week. My CT encouraged me to teach the dance to half the class, then the other half, so that they perform separately. I did this for most classes; however, there were a couple of classes that I decided to allow the entire class to perform the dance at the same time. I allowed this for the classes that were easier to manage and had the more mature students. It was a successful process.

Reflect: To assess the ability levels of different classes and to be prepared for those, as often there are different levels of achievement ability among classes of the same grade. 

Focus: My short term goals for this week were to finish a couple of written components of the portfolio, including my philosophy, aligning with the long term goal of finishing my portfolio and graduating from college.

Be Productive: My screencasts. I still haven’t begun those.

Have Courage:  I had a sub with me for a couple of days because my CT went out of town. While I was teaching, she would correct behavior and sometimes ask me questions, which was sometimes distracting. I thought about mentioning this to her but decided not to. I believe that was the wise decision, as she was ultimately kind and helpful and I just had to adjust to a different style (my CT does not interrupt my lessons). 

Begin Anew: Prepare to conquer the screencasts.

Week 11; November 7-10

I rate this week a 4. 

Observe: This week, I taught fifth grade because my CT was absent (she usually teaches fifth grade). I taught three fifth grade classes concurrently and it went amazingly well. 

Reflect: This week, I learned a bit about a fourth grade student who went through trauma before he came to school in kindergarten. This will help me to better deal with his sometimes difficult to manage behavior in the classroom.

Focus: My short term goal this week was to finish edTPA, helping me complete my long term goal to graduate.

Be Productive: I’m not really sure; I’m not always productive but I usually try to use my time well. 

Have Courage: When I filled in for my CT for fifth grade on Tuesday, it was last minute notice (about 1 hour before I taught). Since I am not used to this group of students, classroom management was more difficult. I was a bit apprehensive about how firm to be and what classroom management strategies to incorporate (as what works better is different for each class). 

Begin Anew: To do my final editing of edTPA and submit it.

In fourth grade, students played a game in teams to answer questions related to a Pentatonix interview. Teams’ results revealed that one of the questions I wrote was not worded in a way that was easily understandable to fourth graders. I taught this lesson six times, so I reworded this question, and students were more successful. 

Find out as much as possible about individual students—it helps to understand their behavior and to reach them at their level. 

Standard 1b, “ Teachers demonstrate leadership in the school.” I worked with two substitutes this week when my teacher was absent. I did all of the teaching, but they were present. It was a bit distracting when the first sub started correcting students during my lesson (as my CT rarely to never does this). It was, however, definitely a learning experience. 

Standard 2c, “ Teachers treat students as individuals.” I learned some specific information about the fourth grade student I mentioned above. I definitely plan to take this into consideration when teaching him. 

Standard 3b, “ Teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty.” This week, I did a lesson on the ballet, “Rodeo.” I did some research in order to explain about this ballet as an American ballet, the plot of the ballet, and the concept of “curtain call.” 

Standard 4e, “ Teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty.” Students worked in teams to answer questions related to a Pentatonix interview. They were required to discuss answers with their team members, and students took turns being the “scribe.” 

Standard 5c, “ Teachers function effectively in a complex, dynamic environment.” Out of all the standards, I think perhaps I have grown the most in this one. Change is definitely constant, in any classroom, but especially in elementary. Students are constantly moving in and out of the school, it is typical to witness several students crying throughout the day (in the hall and/or in my class), and bodily function accidents are common. Within these changes, it is important to balance instruction, leadership, and nurturing of the students.