Week of 03/13 - 03/17

Rate your overall experience of the week: 3

Seven questions to end your week:

Observe: What pleasant surprises / accomplishments did I achieve this week?

I am giving this week a 3, because I am extremely exhausted. This week has been relatively difficult, because I am trying to finish up on my EdTPA. I thought that I was completing EdTPA at a good pace, but now I see so many things within the EdTPA that I need to fix. I feel like I am crunched for time at this point, but I know it will all work out. Having to stay up later at night to get everything I need finished has also made waking up in the morning and having energy extremely difficult. However, I have made it thoroughly week 9 and my 4th observation, which went rather well! It is amaizng to see that progress that I have made from the beginning of the year, and just to reflect on how much I have learned from everyone at my school and my peers. This really has been the most amaizng experience! However, getting this close to thinned makes me think about how bad I am going to miss the students in my classroom. I try not to think about that sad though too often! 

Reflect: What lessons did my work/experiences teach me that I will build upon next week?

I learned a lot about how I am giving students too much information on their silent comprehension this week.  I thought that I was able to answer any question they asked me about what a question means, but my CE corrected me this week and said I was giving them too much information, and that is why their scores are looking 100% better than they were before. Since this is kind of a practice passage for when they have to take the third grade EOG, they will not have someone to explain what the questions mean to them. They need to know how to break apart a question and use textual evidence to find the answer. This makes complete sense to me, and I am glad that my CE helped me out and this will definitely help me to build my lessons and make them stringer next week. 

Focus:  How are my short-term efforts and my long-term goals still aligned?

My long-term goal is to create a positive and nurturing enviroment in my classroom, and this week I have been making sure to use more proximity praise in the classroom, and less of the negative consequences. We have had an improvement in clips being moved up instead of down and that has helped make the environment of the classroom positive. 

Be Productive: What could I have spent more or less time doing?

I could have spent more time writing up my EdTPA, because now I feel very behind and I have a lot to catch on, in terms of EdTPA. I should've started EdTPA last semester honestly, because it is so hard to find time to write answer all these questions. 

Have Courage:  How did apprehension and indecision impact what I did and didn’t do?

I used to be very apprehensive about doing things that my CE did not usually do, and one of those are performance tasks. However, I have been trying them in my classroom, and the students have loved them so much! I will no longer be apprehensive about trying new things in the classroom, because students engagement was way up during this lesson.  

Begin Anew: What is the first logical step(s) for next week? What mental clutter can I clear?

I am going to finish up my EdTPA this weekend, and hopefully get everything all organized and turned in for that. I am stressed about this. 

What were some data you analyzed this week and how did it help inform your instructional decisions?

I have noticed that students do not understand the new way that Eureka is teaching us to look at repeated addition. therefore, I have had to use my skill review time to try to get them to understand this concept for the Eureka Module test that is upcoming. 

What is one piece of advice you can share with other student teachers?

Plan EdTPA for the most part in the semester before student teaching, because you will not have a lot of time to do so in the student teaching semester. Talk with your teacher the semester before, and see if you can get anything finalized and planned before you fully take over. 

NC Teacher Candidate Standards (be sure to reference activities from your lesson plans to solidify your answer)

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.

I am the full-time teacher now. I know that it is my job to lead in my classroom every single day. When something does not goes as planned or something happens with a student in my classroom, it is now my responsibility to lead and take care of whatever is happening. I am leading 21 little life in classroom, and that is on of the greatest responsibilities. 

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.

Teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults. I hope I always establish this kind of enviroment for my students, but I think this week I really understood what that meant. I want my students to feel safe and happy in my classroom, and the way portray myself and handle situations. I want to focus on being the best role model that I can possibly be for my students. 

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.

Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. This week while writing my lesson plans, I made sure that I aligned the content that I was teaching with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. I also discussed with my CE about if I was on the right track with the standards or not.

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.

Teachers use a variety of instructional methods. I have facilitated learning in different ways than my CE normally does this week, and my students love it. I am implementing technology into almost every one of my lessons, and my students are becoming more and more engaged. 

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.

Teachers analyze student learning. Like I mentioned before, my teacher has a great way for me to easily look at class data, and figure out what I need to do to strengthen student learning. Also, I am reflecting on my teaching practice by using the #ObserveMe in my classroom for my colleagues to give me feedback on my teaching and how I can strengthen that. 

Other:

What components of your portfolio have you started to complete?

I have had my resume review by Erin Cook, and we are fixing my format a little and I will be finished with that and ready to send it off to schools! 

What support does your clinical educator need from your university supervisor?

N/A

What support do you need from your university supervisor?

Prayers to finish strong, even though we are all tired.