Student Teaching Week 5- February 3, 2017

Rate your overall experience of the week: I would rate this week at a 3. This was the first full week in a while. It was long and exhausting but I made it through another week. Also, I had my first observation and it went well. There are areas of improvement and I am focusing on those areas.
 

• Observe: What pleasant surprises / accomplishments did I achieve this week?
• This week was the first full week with the full load. I am am very impressed with how calm I have been throughout this whole week. The schedule has been different because of the Math Assessment that the students are having to take, which has cause a lot of confusion and craziness. However, myself and the students have made it through another week. I am also very pleased at how my observation went. It wasn't a complete disaster and I am just proud that I made it through my first one.
• Reflect: What lessons did my work/experiences teach me that I will build upon next week?
•  There is always room for improvement! I think my main focus to build upon next week is proximity praise. I know that was the main point from my observation to focus on. I need to continuously praise my students for their hard work and accompishments.
• Focus:  How are my short-term efforts and my long-term goals still aligned?
• My short term effort for next week is to focus on proximity praise and management. This aligns with my long-term goals of working on my PDP and finding new ways to improve my classroom management skills.
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• Be Productive: What could I have spent more or less time doing?
• I can always spend more time lesson planning and finding new ways to hook the students. Making my lessons engaging and interactive is one of my weaker points when I have to follow a specific program.
• Also, I need to spend more time focusing on edTPA. I have finally decided what week I will be doing Reading for edTPA. I want to go ahead and start on that so when the week comes, it will be as smooth as possible and be confiedent.
• Have Courage:  How did apprehension and indecision impact what I did and didn’t do?
• At first, I was kinda bummed about my observation lesson on Tuesday because I knew of things that I could've done better and at how some of my students were acting. However, I knew that it was my first observation, I was nervous and I am not perfect. So, I brushed it all off and kept going and working to make my next observation better.
• Begin Anew: What is the first logical step(s) for next week? What mental clutter can I clear?
• I can go ahead and clear the stress and panic of my first observation out of my head. It is over and done with. I can finally breath. From that observation I know I need to work on how I handle classroom management and include proximity praise. This was the one thing that stuck with me from my post observation meeting.
  NC Teacher Candidate Standards (be sure to reference activities from your lesson plans to solidify your answer)
  
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    • Pick an element from standard one of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element.

      •  Leadership in the schools: This week I attended a grade level meeting with the teachers. We sat down and regrouped GR groups and WIN groups based off of test scores from the midyear assessment. This was stressful but also very interesting to be a part of.
    • Pick an element from standard two of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element.

      •  I feel like I focused on treating students as individuals this week. I think that it is very important to maintain high expectations for every student and keep a positive attitude.
    • Pick an element from standard three of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element.

      •  Aligning the NC Common Core Standards to instruction is the number one thing that I have done every single day. It's super important to include the standard to each lesson plan so I know what to teach and students are learning the information that the state requires.
    • Pick an element from standard four of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element.

      •  Asking questions and allowing students to work in groups to develop critical thinking and collaboration with one another. It's great for students to be able to the critically and work with others.
      Pick an element from standard five of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element.
    • •  Blogging is a great way for me to reflect on my practice. Reading through these questions allows me to look back through the week and remember what all I did this week and how I can improve to make my teaching better next week. Also, reflecting on my lessons once I have printed them out. It's a great thing to go back through and see what didn't work and what did.
   

What were some data you analyzed this week and how did it help inform your instructional decisions?
-This week, the data that I analyzed was students DIBELS and TRC test score with the first grade teachers. We looked at the results and were able to group the students based on their test scores.
What is one piece of advice you can share with other student teachers?
-Make sure to get your sleep! I know this is something I joked about last semester but it is something serious. I have the bedtime clock on my phone to tell me when to go to bed so I can get 8 hours of sleep every night. I have really enjoyed using this fro student teaching.