Senior Seminar Weeks 11&12

I say it every week, but how now that it is almost December it seems like time has flown by so quickly!! As the last two weeks were not very long, I decided to combine the two. I am lead teaching now, so it seemed best to be conscise and make it easier on everyone and put two posts in one.

Week Eleven there were parent teacher conferences on Wednesday, so we didn't have the students in the classroom that day. It was really interesting to experience that side of the teaching profession! Once again, my CT really gave me a great learning opportunity and I feel like I have a much better idea of how to best interact with the parents, and on occasion with the students and their parents together, as some parents brought their children with them. At first I was worried that the parents wouldn't be happy that I was "sitting in" on their conferences, but to my surprise quite a few parents said that their children had told them about me and really liked me! Needless to say, I was quite flattered. In contrast to my last school, it seems like on average almost 100% of the parents at this school are very involved in the schooling of their children. 

Other than conferences, the week mostly went smoothly. There were some behavioral issues that we encountered, and (again) my wonderful CT really have good ideas and feedback with how best to deal with these situations and I feel like while in the moment the situations may have been difficult, it was overall a great learning experience.

I also had my first (and second to the last! 😮) observation. It was really nice for me to show how different this school and classroom is from my last placement, and I felt more relaxed being observed here. It is always nerve wracking to be observed, but it felt better this time. Even though I am not as familiar with the content of this grade or with the curriculum for this age range, it has really been such a positive experience at this school and with this CT that I am feeling more confident and better prepared. 

Week Twelve was a very short week, due to the Thanksgiving holiday. We are wrapping up several projects, such as the cornucopia I designed for the students, and are doing kind of a "soft opening" for science and social studies to get students thinking about some of the projects they'll be working on in the next week or so. Tuesday especially after lunch was hard to keep the kids on task, as they knew they soon would be having three days off, and I was really grateful when my CT stepped in the help bring the students back on task. Before I would have felt very defeated, but she explained her strategy to me later, and offered suggestions in a neutral and helpful way that I really appreciated and helped me learn. As it was Thanksgiving, I am reflecting on all of the many things that I have to be grateful for, and being placed with this CT and in this school is definitely on my Thankful List this year!

In the last two weeks I am in this schoo (!!!) I am lead teaching a few more days before phasing out. I feel like my CT is excited to get back to teaching her kiddos, and I'm looking forward to learning more about her best practices and her learning style. I am going to make it a goal to keep learning different techniques for discipline, as well as how best to motivate students. 

Senior Seminar Week Ten

I can't believe I've been student teaching for ten weeks already!  Time has flown by so quickly.  This week was a very short and odd week.  There was no school on Wednesday due to Veteran's Day, and on Friday it was a school improvement day so the kids weren't there.  On Friday, I attended three different learning sessions that I thought were really helpful.  The first session was about how to promote literacy and encourage young readers to want to read on their own. Secondly, the session was about how to integrate collaboration in the classroom, and the final session was on promoting reading strategies for the younger grades.  I feel like I learned a lot and it was really helpful to have gone through these sessions. The second half of the day was dedicated to prepping for the next week and getting things organized.
As I am interacting with the students a lot more, I'm learning that teaching the younger grades is a lot more work!  It is one thing to know how to do something that seems like second nature as an adult, but it is quite another to explain why you do something and exactly how to do it.  I'm really lucky that my cooperating teacher has had a lot of experience with this age and grade so that I can learn different techniques from her to help me.
This upcoming week I am going to be taking the reins in the classroom, and I am both excited and nervous.  In my previous placement, I was teaching content that I am really well-versed on, whereas in this placement I am kind of jumping in head first.  The school I am at has everything planned out really well, so it is helpful for me to be able to look at the coming weeks and know "oh, that's what is coming up, that's what I am supposed to teach," but it is nerve-wracking to be able to see that and know that I have never taught these lessons.
A goal of mine for this next week is to become better versed in more techniques for teaching this age group, and to work on my confidence.

Senior Seminar Week 9

The second week of my second placement went well. Unlike the first week, this week was relatively "normal" in that there were no holidays.  Monday I left halfway through to submit my edTPA (!!) and Friday my CT had a personal day, but a pretty normal week. I have quickly learned the name sof the students (even though I occasionally confuse the names) and am now pretty used to the routine that is in place.  I started to be more involved in lessons this week, and am going to be focusing on mostly lead teaching language arts and mathematics starting this upcoming week.  I am trying very hard not to compare my two placements, but I feel like I have adapted to the students and the schedule of this placement more quickly than the last, although this could be because I now have some experience and know what to expect more than I did when I first got to know the students from my last placement.
On Friday when my CT had a personal day, I had the "command" of the classroom.  Overall I thought that it went well, although it was a learning experience as well.  Some of the students were much rowdier than usual (no doubt thanks to having a sub) and some of the students chose to act out more because of this.  The sub didn't interact with the students very much, other than to aid me in going around the room to check that students were on task when they were supposed to be working independently and/or with their groups.  She told me at the end of the day that based on her experience and seeing how I worked with the students that were rowdy she thought I would "make for an excellent teacher, even though [I] already am one, it would seem.  Just need that piece of paper!"  That was very refreshing to hear after a bit of a stressful day!
So for this week, I am going to make it my goal that I work with my CT to learn how to be the most effective when disciplining students (I still worry I will make them cry!) and to work on using higher questioning and be efficient when teaching lessons with the students. I think I am still trying how to best teach this age level, and I am bouncing back and forth between the fifth/sixth and preschool ages that I am most familiar with.

Senior Seminar Week 8

This week was my first week at my new school!  First grade is very different from the fifth and sixth grades, but the students are so sweet and it has been great getting to know them.  My CT seems really knowledgeable and I am excited to work with her and learn from her.  To be honest I am a little intimidated because she is so knowledgeable, and I don't want to disappoint her.  In my last placement I felt more confident in my teaching as I was more comfortable and experienced with the content, whereas I don't have experience with the first grade really.  At this placement the school and the other grade level teachers all seem very organized and comfortable with how they have things, which is very refreshing, however I do feel like I'm going to need to hit the ground running which is a little daunting.  My CT appears to be very open to communication and questions, and has been very helpful when I have asked for advice and/or clarification on something.  This upcoming week I will be starting to take on teaching the language arts class, and at intimidating as it feels, I am excited to help these darling kids continue to learn.

Senior Seminar Week 7

This week was my last week of this placement.  Going in to the week, it was hard to believe that it went so quickly!  We wrapped up the Ancient Greece unit in the sixth grade and began the unit on Ancient Rome that they will be working on after I leave. I was very impressed with all that they remembered and absorbed on Ancient Greece! They really enjoyed learning about the gods and goddesses, and some of the students told me they had been researching them on their own at home.
On Monday I had a writing day after lunch and Tuesday I had my last observation at this school.  The writing day could have been more productive, as I spent most of my time finishing up lesson plans rather than working on my project, but I thought the observation went well.  I was able to ask some questions and received some helpful feedback as well.
In the fifth grade we worked on the beginning of America.  They have been a challenge throughout this placement, but as starting to wind down a little (of course, just as I'm leaving) and we were able to accomplish a lot of the things I had planned.  I did have to adjust a few of my lessons because even though the text I was using was at grade level, it was hard for them to grasp at times.
I think the best part of my week though was on Tuesday morning.  There is a student in the fifth grade that I have been working with to help him improve his behavior. The third week of school I had to take away his new deck of Pokemon cards, as they aren't allowed in the classroom.  He was upset and asked what he could do to get them back. I told him that if he could go a whole week without getting any strikes (a consequence of bad behavior) then I would give him back his cards. Typically, he would have several warnings and between one and three strikes in a week.  So, starting the next week he worked at following directions and procedures and I helped keep him on task when I could, but still received two strikes and multiple warnings, and couldn't get his cards back.  The next week he worked even harder and participated in class a lot more, and only had one warning and one strike! So, while I couldn't give him his cards back, I did give him some of them as an incentive to keep up all his hard work.  His smile and profuse thank-you's were so heartwarming! Last week he kept improving and participating, and even started to remind his classmates to follow directions.  He went through the whole week and didn't get a strike, and only received one warning, so he was able to get back his cards.  I told him how proud I was of him and that he should be proud of himself for being such a good student, and he was so thankful and happy.  He told me he liked "being better" and thanked me for helping him.  Then, when I came to school on Tuesday (I didn't really see the fifth grade other than homeroom on Monday due to my writing day) this student had brought me flowers!  He ran up to me and said he got them for me "to thank [me] for helping him to be better and now [he] wants to do 'gooder' and better!" It took everything I had not to cry! It was just the sweetest thing.  If someone had told me this particular student would be giving me flowers and that his behavior would have improved so much by the end of my placement I would have called you crazy.  I'm just so proud of all his hard work and really hope he keeps up with it even though I'm not going to be there to remind and coach him.
The rest of the classes were all very sweet on my last day and wrote me cards.  Some of them made me pictures, and one dear student wanted me to have their new mini tree eraser that was only half used.  What sweethearts they all were!  While they were all a new challenge for me, I'm going miss them very much.  Maybe someday I can substitute one of their classes or go back and observe there later this year.

On Monday, I'll be starting my new placement with first graders.  I'm excited to start fresh at a new school, and am really interested to see how different the content that I'll be teaching will be.  I'm going to set a goal start my lesson planning from day one and to ask more questions, so as not to get behind or confused on anything.

Senior Seminar Week 6

This week was shorter due to Monday being Columbus Day, thus school was closed.  Tuesday through Friday I worked on wrapping up the Ancient Greece unit with the sixth graders, continuing their work with root words throughout the week.  Additionally we worked on mythology, and looked at lasting achievements from ancient Greece through today.  Due to time constraints I will be finishing the unit next week.
In the math class I continued to teach the 5th grade first hour, which included reviewing previously completed work, answering questions and doing math talks.  I had a writing day on Wednesday, so I did not see the math class that day (or the 5th grade humanities class for that matter) and my CT taught all of the class.  On Friday I introduced a problem of the month that I had found online that they will be using the rest of the month.
The 5th grade humanities class is still proving to be a challenge, due to their difficulties with staying on task and with transitioning from their previous class.  I worked on different strategies to bring them back to the topic at hand, and one I found helpful was suggested to me by the substitute teacher I had last Friday, which involved explaining that their volume level needed to be on '0' while I was talking or another student was talking/answering a question. The topics we discussed were on Christopher Columbus and the "discovery" of America, as well as the beginnings of the United States, starting with the colonies. Next week I will be introducing them to the start of the American Revolution and the events that lead up to it.
In the week ahead, I will be completing my first student teaching assignment.  I will be focusing on continuing to keep students on task, as well as work on integration of knowledge and ideas for the sixth grade classes, and  working on key ideas and details with the fifth grade class.

Senior Seminar Weeks 4&5

Well, it seems that when you try to set up a blog post to be "automatically" posted at a certain time, sometimes things don't schedule correctly and you skip a week.  Unfortunately, this is par for my technological course, as my laptop is still in the shop (along with 80% of my lessons and planning for my upcoming giant project) for the foreseeable future.  Word from the wise: save EVERYTHING to Google drive/Docs/email things to yourself constantly.  Then you won't be in my current boat. :) Please overlook any spelling/grammar/ weird sentence repeats if they happen, I'm posting from my phone, so things can get wonky.

Anyhoo, Here is my week four posting:

This week I started my lead teaching unit for the 6th grade social studies class.  I was really nervous about how this would go, and was concerned about what I was going to teach becuase I wanted to make sure all (or at least a good majority of) the lessons I am teaching are going to fit in with what my cooperating teacher needs to teach her class over the year.  To be honest, I 'm not nervous about teaching the students or being in front of the class at all, I am most nervous about writing the lesson/unit plans and how my teaching is being perceived/judged/analyzed by other professionals.  I know at this point in my career it is good to get feedback and help in order to best learn and develop my teaching style, but it feels to me to be very personal and I take it as such.
When my seminar class met on Wednesday, my adviser suggested I change the structure and scope of my edTPA lessons, so that was both good and bad.  Good, because I feel like this is a good change, but bad becuase I feel like I don't have enough time to make the changes necessary to the lesson plans themselves.
So my lesson for the second group of sixth graders was cut short due to picture day on Thursday, so I had to rearrange my teaching plans somewhat to accommodate.  As for the other classes, I've started to take on more of a lead role during the beginning of math classes, and I've been continuing to do the Dictado for the fifth graders.  The fifth graders are very much still learning how to get into the routine of things, and they are slowly moving along.  On Friday I had a substitute all day, as my cooperating teacher was sick.  I basically took the lead all day, but the sub has been in the school many times and was helpful when I asked for feedback.
In all the classes, I'm still learning better questions to ask the students to promote deeper thinking, and I feel this is really helpfil.
Next week I'll be lead teaching as well as teaching my edTPA lessons, as well as continuting to do the math talks and dictado for the fifth graders.  Additionally, I'm going to be observed on Tuesday, hopefully that goes well!!
My goals for next week are to continue to try to be more open with peers and cooperating teacher, and to work on time management for my classes, so that all the things that need to be done are done on time.


Week Five Posting:

This week was a whirlwind! I have been lead teaching in the sixth grade, as well as the first hour of math and some of the humanities classes.  My computer is broken, and since most of my planning and documents were on it, I've had some difficulty reworking all these lessons while without my research and the other more necessary documents and data.
In my lead teaching classes, the students are seeming to grasp this information well, but on occasion thy get of task because they are asking so many questions or making comments.  (This is something I would like to work on for nect week, how to best deal with this sort of almost off the direct topic chatter.)
Monday I needed to leave early in order to get to Palos for a meeting at Trinity, but  I was still able to go through and lead teach the sixth grade classes.  I was impressed that many of them really seemed to understand the Greek root words that we did that day.
After my observation on Tuesday, I felt very overwhelmed and honestly somewhat defeated.  I understand the necessity of teaching multiple subjects all day, but I feel like with the start of the semester being in a bit of chaos I was starting to feel better about my edTPA, as we decided that I would not need to lead teach all subjects, so I could concentrate on my project and then I would lead teach more thoroughly at my second placement.  However, over the last week I have felt like the situation has completely changed course, and my lead teacher seemed to go from being more laid back and understangin to expecting me to know everything at once. I understand that things were done in a different way when she was student teaching, but this is a different state and a different program, so I feel like her expectations may be higher than I was prepared for at the beginning of this week.  After my observation, I honestly didn't feel very good about my skills and abilities, and felt very overwhelmed and somewhat taken aback.  After my first observation and the decisions we made regarding lesson planning and what classes I would need to be lead teaching I had begun to feel more confident and prepared to complete my edTPA since I wouldn't be writing as many additional lesson plans in such a short period of time.  However now that I am going to be teaching all the classes, I'm feeling a little but like a sinking ship.  With my computer not operational, I'm having to rewrite all of my documents basically from scratch, including all the tasks for my edTPA.  Yes, this is something that isn't an excuse, but I feel it is something that needs to be noted as I only have a few more weeks to complete all of the necessary tasks for the edTPA. For me, I was much more comfortable with the original plan of having me only teach the sixth grade because I will have more time at my second placement and will be teaching all subjects.  This made me more confident in my focus both for the edTPA and for my classes. Now, I feel extremely overwhelmed and it makes me question not only my abilities as a teacher, but honestly makes me question if this is the profession I want to be in.  I feel like I'm being thrown in somewhat unprepared and do not feel like I will succeed.
On Wednesday through Friday I taught my edTPA lessons.  Overall, I think they went well and the students found them interesting.  The students ended up taking longer to complete activities than I anticipated they would, but because they got off-topic occasionally and asked more questions than I thought they would.  The questions were very good though, and they did on occcasion lead to deeper thinking and discussion for the rest of the class.  These days I also did my recordings, and well I tried to use the edTPA rubric to guide my instruction, I'm not sure I covered everything the edTPA scorers are looking for.  I'll need to edit for time, so hopefully I am able to get that sorted out.  On Friday there was a substitute teacher again, and he was a 20+ year veteran of Chicago schools, and he gave me some very good tips and even took a few notes in my log to help me remember some of the advice.  Thanks do having a writing half day on Friday I was able to research for many of my sources that I lost with my (hopefully soon to be fixed!) broken computer and was able to find supplemental information and research that I needed.  As I had a familial obligation this past weekend it was also helpful to have that extra time to work since I knew I would not have time to do so over the weekend really.
For the upcoming week, I want to find strategies to bring students back when they are getting off task,as well as continue to be more comfortable around superiors and manage time better for students and myself.