Blog Post #2: A Week of Acclimation

Blog Post #2: A Week of Acclimation and Change!

I would rate my overall experience as a 3 because it was dififcult and continuing to get difficult, but no tears were shed, and there were some great moments in between the bad.

• This week I achieved completing filming my edTPA, whoop! whoop! This was a big accomplishment that I am thankfult o ahve behidn me though there are many more hills to climb to complete edTPA, but that was definitely one of the biggest. There things that did not go exactly according to plan and hiccups along the way, but I think there was a great turn out overall. Another pleasant surprise that I achieved this week would be taking over math, and that was an eye opener, balancing teaching a core subject was extremely overwhelming, but my CE is trying to give me as much encouragement as she can within her bounds as I take on more and more responsibilities in the classroom. I also go to experience a professional development training for and experience the BOG. This was my first time experiencing the testing environment from a teacher's perspective, and it was very interesting. I loved walking around and observing the students based on their behaviors, the time they took, how seriously they took the test, and even what type of questions were on the test. It was a great experience to have. I also feel that I grew alot in my classroom management this week because I really stepped into the position more this week of doing small tasks such as leading them to the bathroom, leading them to recess, and sometimes simply calming the classroom. I feel that this week the class grew leaps in bounds in their ability to respect me and see me as another teacher in the room alongside my CE.
• The lesson that my work/experiences taught me that I will build upon next week include organizing lesson materials and assessments and getting them prepared for the week and moving them along throughout the week for the msot efficiency. This week I plan to develop my own system of organzing the materials at home and in the classroom to avoid losing my materials or turned in classroom assignments. My CE usually using a five day filing folder system that she prepares for the following week, on Friday or Thursday. I also had to learn more about how to utilize classroom tools more effectively. When I took over math, I had to learn how to work out math problems, keep an eye on the students to make sure that they are keeping the pace with me and paying attention by balancing and shifting the time I stand in one place modeling and guiding solving problems versus floating around the room and monitoring the student's work. One tool that I had a hard time acclimating to was using the document camera to display my work for the students during guided practices. I could not see the SMART panel, would forget to check on the computer screen, and the students would have to tell me that they cannot see what I am doing on the document and need to move it. The document camera is a tool that has been awkward for me to use, but I know that is a a great resource that I would love to continue to use, but I just need to get more accustomed to, and that will simply come with practice, but I must become effective quickly because students having that strong visual is so crucial to students developing those skills.
• My short-term efforts and my long-term efforts are aligned because right now, my long-term goals are to pass edTPA and to complete my student teaching experience successfully, and my short term efforts are fine tuning my submission documnts for edTPA, revieiwng my videos, and continuing with my commentaries. I am making sure to budget a few hours everyday to work on school assignments each night. I usually make a goal of finishing 2 lessons a night and revieiwing my lesson(s) for the next day, but that goal is not always met, but figuring out a way to carry out these daily goals consistently will lead to a steady pace that will allow me to have a successil and manageable perform during student teaching.
• I could have spent less time second guessing lesson materials and altering them because often times the changes make very little difference in the success of the lessons, and those tasks can be a time consumer.
• Apprehension and indecision impacted what I did this week by making me change my mind about lesson plans, and then having to rewrite plans, or causing me to hit a wall in my plans for my lesson and it will throw of my pace and performance when teaching.  
• My first logical step is to check off the things on my to do list for this week and plan my tasks out for next week.

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

Some data that I analyzed this week was my students' performance on edTPA and I analyzed their performance on their math exit tickets and during our guided problem sets. It guided my decision to integrate additional math practice this week in their centers where they will practice building that skill. I am also go to push out their math test one mroe day next week, and I am going to integrate a review day before the test.

• NC Professional Teaching Standards (be sure to reference activities from your lesson plans to solidify your answer)

• This week, I demonstrated leadership by taking charge of leading lessons and specific points of the day as the head teacher. I did this in the afternoons when teaching math and centers. I become my responsibility to lead the transition between the two and making sure that the students were well instructed on their next task before they began. I also implemented my official strategy that I am going to consitently use to amnage the classroom and to grab their attention when I need to, and it is going to be "clap twice , clap twice fast, clap once". The students then respond with the same clap pattern. They love doing it, and it is so efffective, I even witnessed my CE trying to try the same strategy to grab the classrooms attention at one point, and it made me feel very proud of myself.
• One way that I implemented standard two would be trying to implement hooks in my lessons that are strongly related to my students recent experiences and their strong interest in hums and musical things. I helped them skip count by having them hum for skip counting by three to the tune "We Will Rock You." I also simply grew respectful relationships between the students and myself, and I know this because my students respond to me much more immediately than they used to. I also spent time today, closely observing what learning strategies are most effective with one of my students, and it seems that working more in a one-on-one scenario and not pushing him really hard will keep him from shutting down.
• I made sure that I was always on point with this standard this week, and it has been so challenging and time consuming to do so. I spend time at night before bed, studying and making any last minute preparations for lessons, and I have found that revieiwing the lesson quickly before giving it improves my delivery signficantly because it is fresh on my mind and I can keep the big picture in my mind. I prioritize learning my content every week.
• This week, I integrated and facilitated knowledge this week by aclimating myself to use new tools in the classroom and how to use them to ensure my students can view my own work and follow along, and this process is crucial to them having the most positive and enriching learning experience, especially in math!
• This week I reflected on my practice consistently. I reflected on my edTPa each day to figureout what msitakes did I make in today's video, which ones can I avoid tomorrow, and how can I avoid them. What do I need to emoahsize and review the next day? I took this into consideration every night. After reflecting on my performance and the students' perforamance based on their exit tickets, I am going to implement face central activities into the centers next week that focuses on the students practicing the related skill.
• I have started to complete my classroom website, my professional development plan, and I have also started to plan for the completion for my school improvement plan and my EC plan, and I am going to meet for my second interview my the EC teacher, and my first independent meeting with her.
• I think my clinical educator is doing great this week. I do know that we both are having a hard time making time for the students having an assessment at the end of their math lessons, because the teacher's did not typically do that for every lesson, and it has been a time crunch to get them in, but I do enjoy seeing where the students stand in their understanding of the concept.
• The only support I need is just the continued understanding that I will get things turned in. I pull late nights every night with limted hours of sleep just to squeeze in getting the assignments completed. The understanding is appreciated, and I definitely need that understanding and support to continue.