Blog 8

Week Of Friday:  OCTOBER 10/20th

Level of Difficulty: 4

Observe:

This week was a turning point for me….well is hopefully going to be a turning point. I got a job offer for 4th grade!! I will have to bust my butt to make sure everything is complete with my portfolio, resume is complete and ready and finish out my 10 weeks. I am pumped..but I still have to wait to hear from edTPA as well as results for our state tests.  This would be a great fit because I will work with my CE as my mentor still and we all have the same personality and teaching philosophy so that is a plus!  I also know some of the students as well as the School (policies, procedures, ideals). The Principal himself asked me Tuesday if I would be interested. So of COURSE I said yes! I was also moderated a Twitter Chat this week, had quarterly planning ALL day Wednesday and lead a Flipgrid station at our Technology night on Thursday. IT’s been a crazy week to say the least.

Reflect

I am still feeling good about the classroom but I know I still have room to grow. I am continually critiquing myself, asking for feedback and seeing what works and what doesn’t. I have worked a lot on classroom management and making sure students are listening. I don’t like talking the whole time, but a lot of our lessons typically involve a lot of talking. This week we worked on the gradual release style lessons. You instruct one day, model the next and release on the next day. Students did pretty well with it.  Both blocks are different and each student in each group is different.

Focus

This next week I will focus on being precise, on pace, clear, and interesting/engaging. Using data to track progress and drive instruction. I see now which students need constant reminders to stay on task, which students always pull through and how students see or feel about different tasks. I think in order for our stations to be effective, students need to find them interesting and relatable. The content needs to be meaningful or what’s the point?

Be Productive

I plan on completing the majority of my portfolio, continue to think through the lessons and stay on top of my duties throughout the week (grading, checking homework etc….)

Have Courage

I need courage this week to hang in there, think positive and be thinking about the end goal.

Begin Anew

This week I will begin to think about moving into the lead teacher role professionally. What I want in my class, how I want my students to operate etc. If I get this job, I want to hit the ground running so I will start planning with the teacher, asking her: (Info, what are the students like? What ways do they learn best, what are your procedures with behavior etc…)

Data

This week in MTSS we are still looking into one of our students. He is very smart, but he is ELL, ADD, and well, he has some learning interferences as I like to say. He can nail multiplication facts/but he can’t solve the standard algorithm. He knows prefixes, but he can’t remember them or what they mean. He is very forgetful, last one to get ready to switch classes, last one to get all of his materials out, last one to get his homework out. Takes 1 week to complete a 20 question quiz….the list goes on and on. He is THE sweetest most considerate student EVER! But we are totally stuck as to how we can help him. He has a twin, but he outscored him in many benchmark and mastery exams.  We are still figuring out how to help him.

ADVICE

Get as much done as you can as early as you can. You never know what job or opportunity will open up for you as a student teacher!

Standard 1 1A: Teachers lead in their classrooms

I was a leader in my school this week during my flipgrid demonstration. I explained this new tech tool to parents and how it is used. I think that everyone who came really liked it and were excited about it! It was a great opportunity to show parents and students the ways in which we use tech in the classroom. I hope the #flipgridfever will continue to spread in our class.

I have worked a lot on: Standard 2.2: Teachers encourage an environment that is inviting, respectful, supportive, inclusive, and flexible. Each student in my class needs something different. I have put out “fires”, made each student feel cared for and loved and I have seen the effects of this! Students who normally don’t respond are responding. All of these things are needed to run an effective and orderly classroom.