I would rate this week a 3 out of 5 because this week seemed to drag on longer than a normal 5 day week. This week has been full of TRC testing and it seems to rush our instruction time. Even though it is not necessarily true, having students pulled throughout W.I.N. time and every student working on different assignments at different paces makes for a chaotic mid morning.
Observe
This week my students would struggle to pay attention during Reading block (9:00-10:00), which my CE taught, but were attentive during my math instruction (10:00-11:00). I was impressed and encouraged by this because I thought it would be the complete opposite. I hope they continue to give me that respect during that time because math instruction is crucial for students to understand.
Reflect
This week I have been working and bouncing ideas off of my CE for when I take over full time next week!!! I have realized we all have different teaching styles and I am hoping to bring some new teaching techniques and learning strategies to the classroom throughout this semester! My CE has provided me with some materials, but has been very clear that I teach the content however I feel comfortable.
Focus
My short term goals are to become more and more familiar with the content and curriculum. I need to boost my confidence in order to have some of the best lessons when I takeover next week. My long term goal is to make that transition seamless and to not only have the students respect me as a teacher, but also the staff look to me for ideas when it comes to teaching the content.
Be Productive
I am continuing to build my Portfolio and Classroom website!!! I have revised my Philosophy of Education, but still need to send it in for approval. Also, I need to create my resume and schedule an appointment with Career Development soon!!!
Begin Anew
As I begin my full 10 weeks next week, I want my students to accept me well and for me to be completely comfortable and confident in my capabilities. I want to have better time management to organize my lessons in order to try to submit those mid week.
Data
This week has been TRC testing and I have been looking over the data from those tests, as well as ORF scores with my CE. It is so exciting and encouraging to see students grow and achieve the goals that they set for themselves! However, we have also had discussions about those students who we are concerned about and what interventions we could do to help these students get back on track.
Advice
Another short and crazy week makes me realize that sometimes lessons get switched around or even scrapped until days later. I am still working on pacing of lessons and for the most part have done fairly well, however, always watch the clock and know how to judge and prioritize what you want your students to complete and understand to guide your decisions and schedule throughout the day.
NCTCS
1a. Teachers lead in their classrooms - I am still in the process of taking over subject areas in the classroom and students are starting to realize that I am their teacher the majority of the time and will be for the remainder of the semester.
2b. Teachers treat students as individuals- I try to seek out every student and ask questions like "how was your weekend?", or state to them "I am excited I get to see you again tomorrow" as they are leaving for dismissal. I want them to know I care about each and every one of them outside of their performance in my classroom.
3a Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.- I am becoming more and more familiar with where to find certain concepts within the Common Core and Essential Standards.
4b. Teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students.- Differentiation is becoming more and more clear to me as I am gaining tips from my CE and learning how the students best learn in my classroom based on their specific needs and learning styles.
5a. Teachers analyze student learning.- I make sure to see how well my students are performing in math because that is the subject I have right now and I check the students math homework, corrections, and tests to see how well they are grasping the concepts. This will sometimes replace my centers groups to reteach the content in small group settings.
Support from Supervisor- N/A
It is great to see you moving into a full time teacher role Jessica! I am glad that you are getting more familiar with how everything is going to look. I understand completely about all of the testing. It has put me behind a week on my LRP for my own 10 week stretch, but it is a good thing. I have a little more time to develop and to plan out my edTPA as well as how each week is going to be planned. We have a resource teacher who pulls 3 different groups for reading. I taught a Writers Workshop this week and the first day of it, she pulled out 12 kids. I had 8 left because the others were in AIG!! This shows how important planning and rolling with the punches can be.
ReplyDeleteI understand how testing can throw things for a loop! I noticed that our daily schedule has been disrupted majorly because of all the testing that is going on. It also pushed me back for student-teaching until the 30th of January.
ReplyDeleteI understand how sometimes lesson plans change. You can have this idea that you think is great; however, the students may not fully learn from that idea. You then have to go back to the drawing boards in order to reach your students at their level of learning. Good luck this upcoming week!!