Blog One: Week 1 (Student Teaching)

Week Of  9/1/17

Level of Difficulty: Hectic but moderate

Observe

This week was the first for all or most of us.  I worked a lot over the past two weeks in planning, organizing and designing the classroom for the year. I really made it a point to work with the students as much as possible this week.  It was great to get in there and lead a few segments of the day each day so that they see me as a teacher-leader. My CE is fabulous and she walked me through a great deal and demonstrated great first week tactics and expectations for the students as well as for me. This is going to be a great year!

Reflect

The amount of class changes, meetings, procedures and remembering student names can become overwhelming. But I am very thankful for the experience because I believe it will really improve our first year when we get our own classroom. I can see where I need to improve (always be improving) and where I have grown.  Sometimes we focus on what we need to be better at and can’t see or believe in the areas we have grown. Confidence is going to be a very huge part of our success during student teaching!

Focus

My focus is going to be on building a great foundation in my teaching and lesson plans.  Lessons learned from last semester are going to help drive this.  I am working with my CE to develop a solid strategy to be organized, thorough and strong as a teacher. Developing a teacher voice and staying on top of classroom management (behavior and content/classwork/lessons) will be crucial for success.

Be Productive

This week I am trying to plan and develop my lesson progression for edTPA as well as begin writing/practicing my lessons for next week (Science).

Have Courage

I really lost a lot of confidence last semester which is not typical for me. All this summer I have really worked on building that back up and my team has really made me more confident and I am so thankful for that! I jumped in the first day this week like I have done this before so that the students and the teachers have confidence in me!

Begin Anew

I will begin teaching Science consistently next week (I have helped lead the lessons for this week.) Learning the student names has also been a goal of mine this week so I will continue to build that relational aspect of student teaching.

Data

We provided students with a math inventory assessment on the first day so that we will know what and how to teach them in mathematics. We also had a PLC meeting to see where we are as a school number wise in ELA, Math and Science. We will continue to develop strategies to improve these scores.

ADVICE

Develop a plan to decompress and relax each day and one day on the weekend ASAP!! This is the best way to make it through student teaching. You will be stressed, you will be staying up late and you will be swamped, but we will make it through!

Standard 1 1A: Teachers lead in their classrooms

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

-Consistently building those relationships so that students are comfortable but they are also aware of expectations. Respect is very important BOTH ways!

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

-Even though we may “know” the content, I have found that it is still good to develop an idea or plan of how you are going to deliver the content to students. This seems to be the biggest challenge due to many different types of learners in each classroom.  Developing quality content that is rigorous for higher groups and understandable for lower groups is the most important aspect. But if we are unsure of the content, then we can really confuse our students.

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

-Using many different resources from our county and state, we are able to plan appropriately.  It makes sense that data drives instruction.  This doesn’t mean we should have carbon copy/robot students who perform as a whole at the top level. It means that we meet the students where they are and try to move them to higher levels of proficiency and understanding. I want the students to know how, why and what they are doing.  Education should have a purpose right?

Standard 5: Teacher Reflect on their Practice

Through much reflection this summer and as we have begun to complete our own educational journey, I have looked at all the areas I want to improve and taken all the advice I can from my teachers. I have seen what works and what doesn’t and I intend to translate it all into my own class and instruction.

My CE and I are working well together and I can’t think of anything at this time for my Supervising professor to answer for me.  I have learned a lot from the bootcamps this weekend about edTPA but I am sure we will certainly have questions as we go along.