1.27.17

Weekly Rating: 3 out of 5

I don't really know how to rate this week. There were really negative points, but really positive ones as well! The negative were really a combination of things. First, we didn't have specials all week, which I didn't even know until Monday morning when I walked in. Second, the phonics instructor didn't come for a few days (also didn't know until the morning of), which meant I had to come up with something to do on the spot. Luckily, I really overplan, because that's a major fear of mine. But having the kids from 7:30-3:00 with no breaks is ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTING. 




On top of everything, we had a student who had a parent pass away this week. It has been such a burden on my heart. It has really torn me down, but I'm really trying to stay strong for the student. 


Some positive notes, I was able to go to a professional development meeting on Monday. Our county is receiving a large quantity of chrome books. Each teacher will have their own, along with two per classroom. The meeting taught us how to operate and utilize the chrome books. 
Even more positive note, I attended a meeting at the central office yesterday with my CE. The meeting was for all of the 'teachers of the year', but my CE let me tag along. I was able to be personally introduced to the superintendent and vice superintendent. They told me to go ahead and get my resume to them! So, yay on that note. 

• 
  
• Observe: What pleasant surprises / accomplishments did I achieve this week?
  
  
  My lesson planning went a little better this week. I tried to not overthink things and just work until it was finished. Of course my other pleasant surprises were meeting the superintendent. 

• Reflect: What lessons did my work/experiences teach me that I will build upon next week?
  
  
  Always, always, always over-plan and be prepared for the worst. Luckily, I did for the most part, but I didn't necessarily do it on purpose. I want to be sure to always have a back up plan!
  
  
• Focus:  How are my short-term efforts and my long-term goals still aligned?
  
  
  My short term goals are to finish my resume. I did send an email to Erin Cook, so I'm excited to hear back from her. This ultimately relates to my long term goal of being successful.
  
  
• Be Productive: What could I have spent more or less time doing?
  
  
  I could have spent less time worrying and stressing and more time just making things happen. No point in dwelling on things.
  
  
• Have Courage:  How did apprehension and indecision impact what I did and didn’t do?
  
  
  Well, I was ultimately scared to march right up to the superintendent and introduce myself, but it really payed off. As teachers and teacher leaders, we have to put ourselves out there. I was also scared and was apprehensive about the schedule change, but my CE said, "this is all you", so I stepped up and did what needed to be done.
  
  
• Begin Anew: What is the first logical step(s) for next week? What mental clutter can I clear?
  
  
  I have all of my materials ready for next week, but I need to have my behavior plan ready to go next week. That's my first step is to get that rolling and going.
  
  
• What were some data you analyzed this week and how did it help inform your instructional decisions?
  
  
  This week I collected a lot of assessments for myself. I gave the students a variety of assignments that allowed to me file back some pieces that will let me keep a growth chart of students.
  
  
• What is one piece of advice you can share with other student teachers?

My advice: don't dwell on the past. Take time to reflect and learn, but then move on. I have constantly relived this week over and over in my head. I need to learn to let go and grow from it.

• What components of your portfolio have you started to complete?
  
  
  Resume
  Behavior Plan 

• What support does your clinical educator need from your university supervisor?
• What support do you need from your university supervisor?

No current support needed. Thanks for staying in constant contact with us, Dr. Sanders! Your feedback, encouragement, and support is appreciated!

NC Teacher Candidate Standards

Standard 1

Teachers advocate for school and students. 

At the meetings that I attended this week, it was a lot about making the schools better and making students better. I didn't speak out much at the meeting at the central office, because that wasn't my place, but I was involved in a premeeting with the teachers at my school where we were able to discuss ways to make the school and students better. It's important that we have a voice and try to make a difference. 

Standard 2

Teachers treat students as individuals.  
I spent a lot of one on one time with my students this week. I did this simply by reading with them, talking to them, and asking questions. I want my students to feel that I recognize them as an individual.

Standard 3

Teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/disciplines. 
This week we talked about bears and hibernation. The really awesome thing was, we were able to incorporate this in our reading, science, social studies, and math lessons. We read about bears, wrote about bears, learned a lot of information about bears, added and subtracted bears within a cave, and learned about different places in the world where bears live. 

Standard 4

Teachers integrate and utilize technology in their instruction. 
Since we didn't have specials this week, I took out the ipads for students. We used an app called magnetic alphabet. I would say a CVC word and the students had to sound out and make the word. I really did this to familiarize students with the ipads. I plan on using them later in instruction, so I wanted students to become comfortable with them. 

Standard 5

Teachers link professional growth to their professional goals. 
After going to the professional development meeting, I was able to really think about how I wanted that to effect me. I want to learn about all of the tools that are available to me or order to be a better and more effective teacher. 

1.20.17

Weekly Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5

• Observe: What pleasant surprises / accomplishments did I achieve this week?
  
  
  This was my first week of full instruction! Wow. So many emotions. So many thoughts. So many, so many, so many. Honestly, it went pretty well with all things considering. My biggest surprise. RESEARCH PROJECTS. That's right, research projects in kindergarten. Honestly, I was skeptical, but it is part of the standards, and it needed to be taught. I planned what I thought would be the simplest way to go about all of it, and it was really a success! Luckily, there are three of us in the classroom, so I was able to divide the students into three different groups to research three different animals. This allowed my CE, the TA, and myself to individually guide students in the direction they needed to go. This also allowed us to read the information to students. I AM SO PROUD OF MY KIDDOS. They did such an awesome job following directions, working together as a team, learning, recording, and presenting their projects. My CE said that this was the best that she had ever seen a class do in kindergarten, so yay!

• Reflect: What lessons did my work/experiences teach me that I will build upon next week?
  
  
  I definitely need to work on transitions. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were a little rough. It takes thirty seconds to loose the kids. By Thursday and Friday, I was getting into the swing of things much more. I found ways to make things go faster and smoother. However, I still need to work on this and make this much more efficient. 
  
  
• Focus:  How are my short-term efforts and my long-term goals still aligned?
  
  
  My short term goals for next week include completing my classroom website and to tackle a science standard next week. I realize that my short-term goal was completing my classroom website. However, that unfortunately did not happen. Luckily though, I was able to complete an About Me page to send home to parents. That was a teaching standard I was thinking about when doing this. I want to encourage parent communication, which will ultimately lead to more successful students. Along with that, checking off standards gets me closer and closer to graduation!
  
  
• Be Productive: What could I have spent more or less time doing?
  
  
  I really could have spent more time working on my portfolio this week. I need to start making that an absolute priority.
  
  
• Have Courage:  How did apprehension and indecision impact what I did and didn’t do?
  
  
  For the first time, I felt really confident in my teaching! I struggled with that for the first two weeks, but I finally fell into the swing of things. I really think this had to do with me taking over full instruction. Things are so much different when you are able to be the one running the show. Before I was having to plan my lessons around my CE's plans and schedule, which can be difficult. I'm still respecting and following my CE's guidelines, but I'm able to make the final call which is really helpful. I felt like a whole new teacher!
  
  
• Begin Anew: What is the first logical step(s) for next week? What mental clutter can I clear?
  
  
  I'm trying to stay really organized! I already have everything printed and ready to go for next week, so that's really helpful! This way my first logical step is to go ahead and plan what I'm going to plan, and decide what parts of portfolio I want to spend time on next week!
  
  
  
  
• What were some data you analyzed this week and how did it help inform your instructional decisions?
  
  
  We continued taking assessments this week, only we focused on math. After analyzed this data, I was able to decide what direction my math instruction needs to begin to take.
  
  
• What is one piece of advice you can share with other student teachers?

My advice for you this week is "this too shall pass". When times get really hard and it feels like you can't do this anymore, look at the bigger picture. The obstacles we are jumping through to reach the end, will soon be over. If there is someone that you feel is trying to drag you down, just push on.

• What components of your portfolio have you started to complete?
  
  
  Philosophy
  Website Continued.
  
  
• What support does your clinical educator need from your university supervisor?
• What support do you need from your university supervisor?

No current support needed. Thanks for staying in constant contact with us, Dr. Sanders! Your feedback, encouragement, and support is appreciated!

NC Teacher Candidate Standards

Standard 1

Teachers lead in their classrooms.

I felt in control and fully aware that I was leading my class this week. I was proud of myself for taking over, planning, organizing, assessing, and overall being a leader. 

Standard 2

Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs. 
With all of the planning that I took part in this week, I was able to truly adapt my teaching for certain students. Although we aren't required to make adjustments for many students, just those few make a difference. For example, during my math stations, I was able to differentiate by walking through the subtraction step by step for some students, and letting other work independently. 

Standard 3

Teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty. 
This week I talked to my CE about specific ways that they specifically meet certain standards. For example, for one of the science standards next week, we are learning about different kinds of bears. 

Standard 4

Teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students.
After reviewing the standards, I realized that the students need to take part in some kind of research project. However, this can be tricky when working in kindergarten. In order to make appropriate for students, I divided them into groups of three. There was also an adult leading each group which allowed students to be more aware of the expectations. 

Standard 5

Teachers analyze student learning. 
I spent a lot of time reviewing the things that students students learned during my lessons that I taught. I also spent time developing folders for each of the students to house any assessments. 

1.13.17

Weekly Rating: 4 out of 5

It was a short week due to our 2 snow days and one 2 hour delay, so I don't have much to complain about! I can't say that it was just the best week of my life, but I really learned a lot and felt more comfortable than last week!

• Observe: What pleasant surprises / accomplishments did I achieve this week?
  
  
  Something great that happened this week, was we set a date for the parent night that I will be holding! I really enjoyed planning this night in 435, so I'm excited that I will be able to follow through! The night is officially set for March 7th. I will actually be holding it for the entire kindergarten, so wish me luck! 

• Reflect: What lessons did my work/experiences teach me that I will build upon next week?
  
  
  Today I taught a short lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. to my kindergarteners. I had such great intentions, but honestly, most of them didn't really understand at all. My main goal was simply to make my students aware of the fact that there was a man that helped a lot of people, and that's why we won't be at school on Monday. To help us learn more about him, we watched a video from BrainPop (which I really do love). Luckily, our guidance counselor had just visited the class to talk about using our words to talk to people and working our problems out without violence. After watching the video I asked the students what they learned. One student told me that Martin Luther King Jr. killed people and another student told me that he hit people. I'm honestly not sure where this came from, because the video didn't mention any of that! I realized at that moment that I needed to quickly redirect the students. I had to backtrack and basically re-summarize the entire video. By the end of the lesson, all of the students understood that we should be nice to other people and work towards making our own change in the world, so it ended up being okay! Basically though, this made me realize that I have to be very intentional in the beginning part of my lesson. Maybe we should have discussed Martin Luther King Jr. and the great things he did BEFORE watching the video. This makes me more aware in my future planning to make the beginning part of the lesson more effective. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Focus:  How are my short-term efforts and my long-term goals still aligned?
  
  
  My short term goals for next week include completing my classroom website and to continue working on subtraction in the classroom. Completing my website will help me with my final goal of completing student teaching with success. Working on subtraction next week will help my students be successful! The students have their county math assessment coming up next week, so it's important that I am pushing them to do their best!
  
  
• Be Productive: What could I have spent more or less time doing?
  
  
  This sounds crazy, but I could have spent less time planning what I was going to plan and more time actually planning. Don't get me wrong, I spent A LOT of time planning, but I spent a really large chunk of my time writing out exactly what each day was going to look like before typing out my plans. I really don't regret it, because I think it helped a lot, but I definitely don't need to spend so much time on that next week!
  
  
• Have Courage:  How did apprehension and indecision impact what I did and didn’t do?
  
  
  I'm still not totally confident in myself, which is something that I talked about last week. I look at how effortlessly my CE does things and how she guides the class so smoothly, and it makes me realize how clumsy and goofy I must look. Luckily, the kindergarteners don't really notice, but I notice every little mistake that I make! I have the same complaint from last week. If I could just own my teaching and accept that I've made it this far for a reason, I think things would go a lot smoother.
  
  
• Begin Anew: What is the first logical step(s) for next week? What mental clutter can I clear?
  
  
  My first logical step for next week is to go ahead and plan out how the week will look and what I should plan. If I can do this quickly and early, it would save me a lot of time. I'm also going tonight to buy some big tubs, new binders, new folders, and new notebooks to house all of my materials, assessments, and work! Every teachers dream right?!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What were some data you analyzed this week and how did it help inform your instructional decisions?
  
  
  This week we were taking assessments all week. This helped us determine what reading level our students were on and what level they were on with writing. Our students are doing great! (Despite the increase of expectations from the county) This helped me determine what kinds of things I needed to plan for next week. Were the students ready to move forward? Did we need to back track? Or did we need to continue with where we were? Based on the data, our students are ready to move forward!
  
  
• What is one piece of advice you can share with other student teachers?

My advice this week, take time to learn the story of all your students. That child may be driving you absolutely nuts, or maybe it seems that they are never to going to listen. But every student has a story. I learned that lesson myself this week. Take the time to show them that despite everything, you are there because they are cared for and loved.

• What components of your portfolio have you started to complete?
  
  
  First, I have worked more on my classroom website. I'm getting off to a great start with that!
  Also, I have chosen two students to work with regarding the behavior intervention plan.
  
  
• What support does your clinical educator need from your university supervisor?
• What support do you need from your university supervisor?

No current support needed. Thanks for staying in constant contact with us, Dr. Sanders! Your feedback, encouragement, and support is appreciated!

NC Teacher Candidate Standards

Standard 1

Teachers demonstrate leadership in the school. 

I was able to meet with the principal this week to talk more about the parent night I am planning. Planning and following through with this will help me show that I am a leader in and out of my classroom. This night is based around specific goals of the school improvement plan. I want to show that I care about the needs of my students and I care about the school as a whole. 

Standard 2

Teachers embrace diversity in the school community and in the world. 
By teaching about Martin Luther King Jr., I was able to embrace diversity and teach students about diversity in our world. Students were able to learn how this historic figure caused a massive shift not only nationally, but globally as well. 

Standard 3

Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. 
This week I familiarized myself with the pacing guide and required standards that I will teach in the upcoming weeks. I was able to plan lessons that specifically align with the NCSCS. For example,  teaching about Martin Luther King Jr. supported the social studies standard stating that students should understand change over time. Students learned that in the past, people were treated differently, but things have changed since that point. They also were able to see changes since that time period. 

Standard 4

Teachers know the ways in which learning takes place, and they know the appropriate levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students. 
This week I spent special time reviewing notes and records of students to learn how they best learn. Every student in class is different, so it is important that I am aware of specific needs regarding all areas of all students. After spending so much time in classroom this year and reviewing records, I feel confident that I know my students. 

Standard 5

Teachers analyze student learning. 
I also spent a lot of time this week analyzing assessments that students have recently taken. This allowed me to see where all the students are, what kind of instruction I need to plan, what kind of help students need, and expected requirements of students at this point. Analyzing this data has helped me tremendously in the planning process. 

1.6.17

New me, new year. Right?

Well, maybe not so much, but there definitely has been a lot of changes. I was excited to start my student teaching semester with my kindergarten class this past Monday! I felt refreshed and ready to start again. I definitely needed the break (even if it did fly by). It allowed me to reflect, plan, and prepare for the crazy, chaotic, stressful, exciting, semester that I have ahead. In case you didn't hear, it started pouring snow while we were at school today! It was CRAZY!! We were able to take the students outside to play in the snow. However, they didn't dismiss school early, so the end of the day was chaos as you can imagine.


My Week: 3

My week was anything from just fantastically great, but it was better than just okay! As you can imagine, the kiddos were a little wild. It seems that leave for the weekend and forget all of the rules and expectations of school, so you can only imagine what two weeks was like. Along with that, I think all teachers will agree that when snow is coming, the kids go a little crazy! However, all things considering, it was a pretty good week!

Observe: I was pleasantly surprised at how well the students have already adapted to me. I only took over the things that we have done all year this week (calendar, star student, phonics review), but it was a pretty easy transition. I think that this mainly due to the fact that I have been a part of the classroom all year.

Reflect: Honestly, I need to be more confident with myself. I often find that I'm nervous which causes me to stumble over my words or forget pieces of my lesson. I've noticed throughout my teaching (mainly today actually), when I just accept myself and have confidence in my teaching and myself, I perform 10 times better!! This was definitely a lesson well learned.

Focus: Right now, my short term efforts involve finding an effective and productive way to lesson plan. Of course my long term plans include completing student teaching, but also to help lead my students to success. My short term goals definitely connect to this is several ways. Planning effectively and productively with help my students in many ways. I want to develop lesson plans that will challenge them and push them to new levels. This will also allow me to be successful in my student teaching and lead to successful outcome!

Be Productive: Honestly, I couldn't believe how much time it took me to lesson plan for next week, and that's not even for full instruction. I'm hoping that it will become easier to think of ideas and put my thoughts into words over time. I also am planning a schedule. If I can plan one subject per day, I can break up my work throughout the week! I could have spent more time practicing and reviewing my lessons. I think that was my biggest struggle this week. I need to mentally prepare myself for the lessons before hand.

Begin Anew: I want to begin my lesson planning early!!! I don't want to be crammed like I was this week, trying to finish everything at once. In order to declutter, I have already planned out my thoughts and ideas in order to plan better.

Since I didn't have any specific lesson plans this week, I can't say that I can specifically reference the NCTCS. However, after working closely with the students over this past week I can say that I was able to connect to standard 2a: teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults.  I have developed relationships with my students that make them feel safe, free to express themselves, cared for, and receive positive feedback.

I began working on my classroom website this week! I have developed the overall layout and finished the About Me page. So far, my CE and I don't need any specific support from my clinical supervisor. We have been able to all stay in contact throughout the week!