Senior Seminar Week Three

Week three began by re-teaching skills to fifth and sixth grade as well as having me in front of the classes more. I was really nervous to have my first observation on Tuesday, but Sue really had terrific feedback and I feel less stressed out about this whole process. I am feeling more confident in myself in front of the students, but I still feel lost/under prepared when it comes to teaching some lessons. Mostly it happens when I'm not sure what my cooperating teacher expects, or when she assumes I know how to do a certain activity/method that we were not taught how to do.

ln the fifth grade, they are still having a lot of challenges that are not getting better, and while I know it is still early in the year, I find it rather discouraging. 

The math class and sixth grade social studies classes are going well, even with the occasional rowdiness of the math class.  It seems that the fifth graders in general are quite immature (as noted by my Cooperating Teacher) so their rowdiness and disorder is almost the norm. One of the benefits of seeing and teaching kids at this age is of the benefits of seeing and teaching kids at this age is that I am beginning to think that I would rather teak older students. It will be interesting to see how or if that will change after I begin my second placement.

I'm learning a lot of of different note taking strategies, as well as how to better ask questions of the students to help engage them in their learning as well. Sometimes I feel like I am learning the lessons right along with the sixth graders, mostly because I am teaching the skills for the first time, but it has also been a long time since I learned to do these skills.

Next week, I want to continue to become mon comfortable in front of the classes, but also to be more confident when interacting with other teachers. I need to work on being more open with my cooperating teacher when I'm not comfortable or confident about something, and worry less about what I think she will think of me personally if I admit these things.

Senior Seminar Weeks One and Two

I'm combing the first two weeks of school not only for my sanity, but also because week one was such a whirlwind. The first week of school started in a frenzy due to not only my cooperating teacher getting put in a new classroom and having to teach a new subject, but also thanks to many schedule changes and rearranges.  We finally got a schedule in place this past Monday (the 14th) and it seems to be working for both students and teachers thus far.  The Friday of my first week of school may cooperating teacher was gone for a wedding, so I basically took over the classroom while the substitute provided silent moral support.  It was both nerve wracking and exciting to have (almost) total control of a classroom.  While there are still a lot of language barriers, I think I'm starting to be more comfortable with the many different students and am learning more about them each day.  Recently while trying to explain a lesson to a student that only speaks Spanish, another student offered to help me translate, which I thought was very kind and helpful.  However, I am finding that while a large majority of the students are very helpful and sweet, quite a lot of them have behavioral and attention issues.  This revelation was daunting at first, but after seeing how my cooperating teacher was firm and held her ground with some of the more challenging students, I started to be more comfortable with how the disciple system works in this school.  Students are given a warning and then a strike for most indiscretions, and if you reach a certain number of strikes in a given period of time you are made ineligible for the next upcoming "free" activity.  Examples of these activities are Friday jeans day, extra recess time etc.  So it has been enlightening to see how these disciple methods go into effect and develop with the students.
In the first full week of school, I have taken turns teaching a lesson or two, and observing my cooperating teacher and learning from her.  I am still very nervous and often feel overwhelmed and under-prepared, but I hope that will wear off as time goes by.  This week I will be observed on Tuesday during one of the 6th grade social studies classes.  A goal for this class is to model them through an FQR chart and help guide them to make one on their own.  I'm very nervous, but hope it will go well.  Another goal I have for this week is to try to sit down with my cooperating teacher and really lay down a plan for the remainder of my time in her classroom.  I do my best work when I have vivid instructions, guidelines, structure and plans, and it has been a challenge for me because my cooperating teacher and the school I am currently in do not necessarily make as many formal plans as I would prefer.  I have a hard time building confidence and flourishing when I constantly feel lost and unprepared.  So, my goal for this week is to try to build up a plan.  Week three, here I come!

AEDU 454- Senior Seminar

Senior Seminar Blog Post #1:

How might you discuss the edTPA with your cooperating teacher?  Do you feel you have enough knowledge to begin working on your context?  How so?

After working with my cooperating teacher over the last week putting together the classroom and attending meetings, we have discussed the edTPA several times.  This year seems to be a very different year for my cooperating teacher, and at times it feels a little chaotic.  That being said, we have found a few times to go over the basics of what I need to do to fulfill my requirements for the edTPA.
As of now, two days before the school year starts, I do not feel like I have all of the knowledge to being working on my context.  I feel rather unprepared at this time (which probably has something to do with nerves as well) but I hope once I'm in the trenches so to speak I'll feel more comfortable.  I believe a good deal of why I am feeling anxious and unprepared because my cooperating teacher has been placed in an unusual situation, in that she not only will be teaching a new subject (in addition to her usual subject) but also had to move to a new classroom, and there are two teachers that will be substitutes out of the four that are normally teaching.  Needless to say, this is not a normal school year and with the teachers being not as confident with their situation as they usually are, it makes me anxious and not as confident as well.  My feelings are that if the teachers who are seasoned are unsure, how can I be? Additionally, I have been under the assumption that I would have to write lesson plans, but my school uses unit plans, which we didn't cover in class as extensively as we did lesson plan writing.  

Overall, I am very grateful for my cooperating teacher taking on mentoring me while her schoolyear is already not a normal one.  While I feel that I am unprepared to being working on my context, I do believe that this will be a very educational experience and I am working towards finding my direction for my context.