Weekly Reflection - January 11

Overall Reflection 
   This week everything has started to become very real! I have planned lessons for half of the school day, which I will be taking over next week. Although this week was challenging, I still had a very good week and would rate it as a 5. I believe my biggest accomplishment this week was writing my first set of student teaching lessons! It was very overwhelming to plan at first due to the fact that there are so many activities that go on in the classroom that I had never thought much about. For example, I automatically knew I needed to plan for guided reading groups, but I realized because I had been observing my CE teach these groups, I hadn't paid much attention to what independent work the rest of the class did during this time. I had a lot more to learn that I did not realize, but I think knowing what I need to plan will become easier as I dive into student teaching. I think that the biggest thing I learned this week is the value of working with not only your CE, but other second grade teachers as well. I was able to spend a lot of time discussing which assignments the entire grade level does together, which assignments I can take more liberty on, and even just listening to ideas and advice from the other second grade teachers. This was very valuable for me this week, and I want to continue to learn as much as I can from the other second grade teachers and my CE. My short term goal right now is to plan and execute lessons that not only successfully help the students learn and grow, but also make the students excited about learning. This aligns with my long term goal of being a successful student teacher because if my students are excited about learning and want to learn, they will likely grow much more in their learning. I could have spent more time talking with my CE and the other grade level teachers about my ideas at the beginning of the week. If I had taken the opportunities I was given to talk to them about my ideas and receive feedback all week instead of towards the end of the week, I believe it would have helped me grow in my lesson planning and knowledge of the classroom even more. This week, apprehension stopped me from disciplining a child that was acting up. In my classroom, we use class dojo. If a child misbehaves they lose their class dojo point. I do not struggle very much with correcting the students in my class due to the fact that my CE has encouraged me to discipline and make sure the students saw me as an authority figure from the beginning. Although I am willing to correct the students, I often am hesitant to take their class dojo points and tend to look to my CE to do any discipline past verbally correcting the student. This is something that I need to not be afraid to do, especially since my CE has encouraged me to make sure I am an active part of her discipline plan. The first logical step for next week is to continue planning my first full week of student teaching! As I continue to lesson plan, I need to remember to not get overwhelmed and just take one lesson at a time.

     This week, my CE allowed me to look at the students Dibels testing scores. I was able to analyze this data to help me decide which reading group each student needed to be in for guided reading. This also helped me decide what differentiation I would need to consider as I planned not only guided reading, but any lessons that involved reading and writing.

One piece of advice I would like to share with other student teachers is to utilize your resources! Your CE is a wonderful source of information, advice, and ideas. Your other grade level teachers are as well. When you have people around you willing to help you and give you ideas, take advantage of it!

NC Teacher Candidate Standards

Standard 1d: Teachers advocate for schools and students.
This week I have observed my CE and other grade level teachers advocating for their students by encouraging our school not to implement online TRC testing. My CE feels that this would be detrimental for the students because they would likely get very distracted if they were put at a computer by themselves and may simply click through the answers instead of trying. Since my CE feels this is not beneficial for our students, she is encouraging the administration not to implement this idea.

Standard 2d: Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs.
This week I have observed my CE realizing that one of our students needed to be removed from whole group math and placed alone at the back table to do first grade level work. My CE saw that this child was not learning or able to participate in whole group math, so she adapted his instruction and has found something that has successfully helped him grow in his learning.

Standard 3c: Teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/disciplines.
This week I have observed my CE teaching a unit on animals in Antarctica! My teaching this lesson, she was able to integrate science, social studies, and literacy! The students learned so much from this lesson, and they enjoyed what they were learning as well. It was clear that making connections
between content areas made a big difference for the students.

Standard 4b: Teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students.
This week I have observed my CE using the data she has collected from multiple math and literacy assignments to inform her instruction. She has planned her instruction based on what teaching strategies seemed to work best for the students, and worked with the students on what the data showed they did not understand using the strategies that clearly helped them learn best.

Standard 5c: Teachers function effectively in a complex, dynamic environment.
This week I have observed my CE utilizing the environment in our classroom to benefit her students. We have a very talkative group and a very social environment. Our students love to help each other. Therefore, my CE has allowed the students to work together more in order to use the complex, dynamic environment to help the students learn.

Other: 
This week, I have planned my lessons with global awareness in mind. This is something that is very important in the portfolio, and I wanted to get started on this piece of the portfolio early. I do not believe my CE and I need any support this week from my university supervisor.