Week 3: Confessions of a Broke Student Teacher

Week Of Friday Jan. 20th, 2017

Level of Difficulty: 4 (Writer’s Workshop 3 day micro unit and starting to plan for each week)

Observe

First off, I would like to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. and the inspiration he brought to the world.  We were off in remembrance of MLK on Monday, so we had an extra day to reflect, prepare, and somewhat relax before the start of the week.  I was able to talk with my students on Tuesday about the significant impact this man had on our Nation and how could follow in his footsteps by following our dreams and believing in something bigger than ourselves.

This week, I began planning a little more in depth and watching my CE when I wasn’t fully teaching.  My plan was to start full time teaching next week, but we have two teacher workdays and benchmarks the rest of the week...so that will be pushed back another week. That is good and not so good, but it will be beneficial in the end I believe.  My CE is a GREAT example to follow and I have learned a lot from her. I will continue to monitor these traits and learn from them for FT student teaching. I am learning more and more about the importance of classroom management, transitions, being thorough with your plans and developing that teacher “stare” (as well as authority).  Students know when you have your guard down. They know when you won’t follow through.  They also know when you mean business.  I will continue to watch my CE and others in this area.  This is going to be my goal for the end of the month.  My “I CAN” statement is: I CAN develop respect and strong leadership in my class. (all three)

Reflect
From a work perspective, I believe I worked pretty hard. I created a  3 Day micro unit developing a writer’s workshop.  The first lesson was WAY too much.  So I broke it down into 3.  We developed a research paper about the bald eagle. The first lesson almost totally bombed, but the second one (during which I was observed by Dr. Parker) went a lot smoother.  Now I know in Elementary you don’t always have that luxury to teach one lesson twice a day, but we have block scheduling, so that is a plus.  This was a great experience for me because it showed me how a pretty typical FULL day of teaching will be.  I have taken over many of the responsibilities (herding the students around, getting them from here and there, morning read aloud [we are reading Esio Trot!!] and other teacher duties.) so I am getting a good taste of what the next few months will fill like.  My thoughts this week is that this is a great fit for me as a professional.  Other thoughts are….what in the world!  Haha!  Just kidding.  I really do feel more comfortable and I know with time and more experience, things will flow better for all of us. I’m rooting for all of us!!  

Focus

So, a few snow days, benchmarks, classroom/teacher swaps and teacher workdays have pushed back my LRP.  BUT, I am constantly and consistently working on my short term goals.  I continue each day to build rapport with my students.  My classroom management skills are still developing but getting better than a month ago. Today is Wednesday, but I plan on speaking with students to remind them that I will be taking the lead soon and make sure we are on the same page. Still chipping away.

Be Productive

This week was rather productive, and next week will be less demanding.  But I have a completed curriculum map now that my team has developed. I will use next week to plan for the following week when I will take full control of the class. This way I can have a solid week under my belt and make sure everything is top notch.  

Have Courage

Courage for this week would be to not to be held back by my own self doubt. As most of you know, I am pretty positive for the most part. But all of us have that tendency to be frozen with fear from time to time or not believe in our abilities. Friends, I have seen a lot of your work. Our crew is VERY equipped to do great things. That doesn’t mean we are perfect, but we are grinders. We work hard until our lessons, skills and abilities are top notch. My mantra is try something you think you can not do. If you fail, try it again. If you see it is not going to work, scrap it and rebuild. We want to do our best and be proficient in our requirements, but this is a great time so see what bombing on a lesson looks like and how we can recover from it. Have courage to grow.

Begin Anew

So for next week, I will not let doubt control me. This means really digging in a researching my trouble areas, build great lessons and submit them to my CE and Dr. Parker, and continue to listen to any criticism (constructive of course) and analyzing it to see how I can grow from it.

Data

As we continue to look at benchmarks and other assessments from this week and next week, I can get a better idea of how to teach and how other elements are affected by this. Parents and students are obviously very concerned about getting good grades and scoring high on these tests. I see how it puts pressure on teachers and students.  I feel assessments have their place, but it can create unnecessary fear.

ADVICE
For upcoming Student teachers I would recommend really thinking about how you design your lessons. There is a great book I have been looking through at Barnes and Noble (broke college student style) called: Growth Mindset Coach by by Annie Brock  (Author), Heather Hundley. It has some great insight into lesson design, but also in how to build your teacher skills in management, relationships etc.  Teaching a lesson during your first year of a K-6 degree is way different than full time student teaching, at least for me. Earlier, you can teach a well planned and executed plan and split. When you are in the lead however you have to take into consideration controlling behavior all day, resource teachers and other distractions and moving from one portion of the day to another. One day might be super productive.  The next day, you may think you are in a different classroom. It is important to plan accordingly in your lesson.  How are you going to model learning?  What are you going to do with ADHD students to keep them on task? MAKE YOUR LESSONS MEANINGFUL!  Students get bored easy.  Just my two cents.

Standard 1 1A: Teachers lead in their classrooms

This is a constant struggle, but getting better for sure.  My CE is continually encouraging me in this area and giving me ideas to strengthen the way I lead our room. I am also attending planning meetings and PLC meetings and offering input.  I am not stepping on toes but showing that I care and I want to do the best job possible (always interviewing :) )

Standard 2: Teacher creates a safe and loving environment for their students.

Two times today I was able to establish my leadership for my students, but also I am

continually working on building relationships with them so that they will want to do good. Not just behaviorally, but that is the starting point. I don’t want to be the constantly nagging teacher, so the more I can get them to focus and follow directions the first time the less correcting I will have to work toward.  

One day, I pulled a student aside as we changed classes who is an exemplar student in academics as well as behavior and respect. I have noticed him the last few weeks really standing out. He is quiet (which doesn’t mean behaved) but he doesn’t speak when I am teaching, he doesn’t goof with his friends and he always tries to answer. I am not saying he is perfect, but he is what we would probably all love to have in our class.  Anyway, I spoke with him and explained that have noticed how he is a leader and how he is modeling such a great example of behavior and interaction. I let him know that I am starting a new system next week to reward those doing the right thing when no one is looking as well as immediate rewards for great behavior during group time and lessons.  I want those who are doing great to feel that recognition even if it is not for a reward.  This can go a long way in developing that rapport with all students.

Standard 3: Teachers know the content they teach in the classroom

I worked on my Writer’s Workshop a lot this week and I did plenty of research on how to make it all work. I wanted to get more familiar with how other lesson planners design their content to help me. My CE and I developed more strategies that worked well with this lesson (mostly her ideas) but she has helped me see how to better develop students’ understanding and how the lesson will flow better.  #teachingishard

Standard 4:B: Teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students

This goes along with the previous statement. I am really seeing a lot of what works, what doesn’t.  What needs to be improved?  What can remain but be modified? How can I engage more or how can I provide more understanding or vigor to higher performing students?  How can I make lessons more personable? These are questions I ask everyday.

Standard 5: Teacher Reflect on their Practice

In our PLC today (Thursday) I received a free account to one of our teacher resources for ELA. I kind of geeked out about it because I am a broke Student Teacher and every free thing is awesome!  This will help me develop ways to lead students correctly toward proficiency in their assessments and their writing in general. (I might be able to share some PFDs if anyone needs something)  Again, growth mindset coach is a great book to check into for reflection.

Tasks for this weekend are to develop and hopefully complete my website to have it up for parents next week.  I will have two teacher workdays next week to work with my CE and my Math CE on lesson plans. Hopefully I can plan a math lesson or two that I can teach next week. I also will work on my Global Awareness for January.  

The CEs are good to go for now. I have spoken with my Math CE about edTPA and we picked my 3 focus students.  It should be interesting.  :)   I am confident in the next week and will begin completing my first full week of lessons starting this weekend.  Here we go!  I am rooting for you all!