Journet Week 9

This week has been bitter sweet.  I didn’t teach too much this week except review the math unit test and gave the final test for unit 8.  Now that I think about it, Monday was my last day of teaching in my first placement.  My cooperating teacher did an in-school training, so we had a sub throughout the day.  Starting on Tuesday I watched as my cooperating teacher took back her classroom.  It was nice to observe and gain more insight post student teaching.  I am such a big fan of hers she is truly a master of her craft.  She  has this great bond with the students and they really respect her.

A personal insight that I had this week was that as I watched my cooperating teacher teach geometry.  I saw how she kept the students moving through out  the lesson.  They were super engaged the whole time and she kept it fun.  My personal insight came from the fact that during one of the lessons while using a protractor she made a mistake.  I noticed it, but I did not want to put her on the spot.  I planned to whisper it to her and tell her discretely. Before I could approach her, she realized the mistake and told the students that she had made a mistake.  She said it so gracefully and told the students that we make mistakes.  The students responded very respectfully.  I guess what was more of an insight was that even as a seasoned teacher who is well versed in the 3^rd grade content and has been preparing for this geometry, she made a mistake.  She may still get stumped here and there.  We had a conversation about it after ward and she said that we will make mistakes and continue learning.  This took some pressure off from me trying to be perfect.    

As I wrap up my student teaching placement in 3rd grade, I am able to reflect on my last 9 weeks.  I have learned so much from my cooperating teacher, the fabulous 3rd graders and my teaching experiences.  We worked on a math unit that was all about counting money, making change and purchasing items.  We also worked on a 2nd math unit on division were the students used many strategies to divide and review multiplication.  In Language Arts we continued to learn about non-fiction text features like maps, diagrams, headings, and captions.  We read science articles and answered comprehension questions using R.A.T.E. where the students Restate the question, Answer the question, find Text evidence, and Explain a little bit more.  In a multidisciplinary lesson, we combined Social Studies and Language Arts.  The students did  research on a famous African American person of their choice during Black History Month.  We learned about many brave men, women and children who helped in the fight for equality.  We held important conversations about respect and kindness. Standard 1- The competent teacher 1K) facilitates a learning community in which individual differences are respected.

Yesterday, my CP asked me to walk her through connecting the Chromebook to the smart board and playing a BrainPOP on geometry.  I felt honored because she wanted to learn from me.  I verbally walked her through connecting her Chromebook, speakers and logging in to brain pop jr.  I also showed her how to use visnos website to manipulate a  protractor and polygons on the smartboard.  She actually looked into it and we explored the website together with our students.  I was happy to not only learn so much from my CP but also honored that she took some ideas and suggestions from me as well.  I love how flexible she is. Standard 8 - Collaborative Relationships – The competent teacher builds and maintains collaborative relationships to foster cognitive, linguistic, physical, and social and emotional development. This teacher works as a team member with professional colleagues, students, parents or guardians, and community members.

            This week I made a thank you letter to my 3^rd grade families, thanking them for allowing me to teach their children and I talked about the highlights of my student teaching experience.  I also wrote an introduction letter to the 4^th grade families, introducing myself and letting them know about my 2^nd placement in the 4^th grade classroom with special education.  I brought school approved healthy snack for both classrooms.  Today Friday,  I was able to visit with the 4^th graders to show my face and give them the intro letters to take home to their parents.  I am excited about my next placement because it means that I am a step closer to graduation and I also have heard nothing but great things about the 4^th grade class and teachers.  I learned so much with my CP in third grade and I hope to apply my skills in my 2^nd placement. 

Standard 9 - The competent teacher 9L) communicates with families, responds to concerns, and contributes to enhanced family participation in student education;

Goals for the next week:

My goals for next week are to observe and learn all the names of my students.  I will learn the class rules and schedules.  I want to begin building a positive rapport with the students and the teachers.  I am excited to learn all about IEP’s and how to best support the diverse learners.  I hope to learn about modifications and best practice as a special education teacher.

I will continue to chip away at my edTPA.