Blog #5 Hanging On

 Candidate Name: Caitlyn Hamrick

Week of Reflection: September 20, 2024

   

• Rate your overall experience of the week: 1-Very difficult | 5 – Great week

I would rate my overall experience as a 3.5 because it still feels like I am on a slippery slope and cannot get things in the aligned way that I want them to be no matter how many late nights or early mornings I pull. I am doing simply what I can and the chips may fall where they fall. I do feel like I am learning alot, and I feel that I am really getting to the point that I have a bond with my students and with some of the other staff and faculty at the school. I really do love the teachers, the students, and the environment at the school, and I know it will break my heart to leave it when the time comes to say goodbye.

• Seven questions to end your week:

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

• My greatest accomplishments this week would be receiving 3 job offers, and I had to basically speed date with principals and speak to them during my 20 minute lunch period. There was also only 1 of the 3 meetings that I even knew was going to happen, so it was last minute and very nerve wracking. All of the positions being offered to me have their pros and their cons. The position I am learning most torwards and I am most hopeful to receive is a long commute from my home, and I know that would be a major adjustment for me for getting work completed, but I have been told that the school is most definitely worth the drive, and once I get there, I will not want to leave. The teachers even told me that they would call me crazy to not take the position because it was such a dream school. I am nervous of not getting the positon, and I am also just as nervious to receive the position because the huge weight of last minute responsibility that would come with it. Another accomplishment I made this week would be making it through my first math module and getting my grade book almost up to date. I have kept my papers graded, but I am trying to design a strong and effective online gradebook that is filed by subject and is color coded so that I can see at a glance, which assignments were the easiest and most challenging for the students, and I can also quickly determine whether it was the assignment or the students themself and if I need to pull them and re-teach them. Also another accomplishment for me would be completing Task 2 commentary, and that was a big reflief, for sure!! I am definitely going to go back and revise before submission, but it pulled a big weight off of my shoulders. I also in-depthly analyzed my assessments for task 3, gave feedback, and I have been designing a strong comprehensive table to deliver the student data on google sheets.

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

• Google sheets has become one of my most favorite teacher tools. I also, LOVE review days with my students because it is a great wake up call for my students and myself as to where they are at, and I love getting the opportunity to slow down from introducing new material to keep up with the pacing guides, and simply clarify misconceptions for the students that could hinder them during their assessments. I think my greatest lesson that my work experience taught me this week would be maintaing eye contact with my students because when teaching, you can get caught up in the delivery of the lesson and making sure you cover the objective, but your students may say they are with you, but they are really not, and I really learned that lesson with my students, especially in math. The students were learning a very complicated objective, and I have hammered the procedure into them, and I have done practice probklem after practice problem. I focus on the problem and making sure that I am working out the problem. I am great at thinking aloud as I workout problems, and I am great about asking questions or giving students an opportunity to fill in by leaving by statement open. I will say these though often times with my eyes down working on writing out the problem as it is displayed, and talking through it, but I am not checking the students in their eyes if they are truly following me and who is really calling out when I prompt students to shout out answers at me. My CE has pointed this out to me, "eye contact, eye contact, eye contact" repeatedly and I see why, and it is a habbit I am trying to build. I will also continue to still build upon getting more organized so that I can follow through with my plans and not keep moving them to the next day because I I spend way too much time on a simple task. I have also worked on following through on discipline with my students to show them I am serious and to teach them to respect me.

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

• My short term efforts and my long term efforts aligned because my long term effort would be to pass edTPA and other licensure criteria, pass EDUC 450 with at least a B, and to set my self up for successful, independent career in teaching. My short term goals would being able to design, organize, implement, and assess and reflect next steps for lesson independently based on student data. I am doing this each week by writing lesson plans given some consultation from my CE, and I am working torwards each week, becoming more efficient and self-aware for designing lesson plans that are most well suited to my students' needs and suit the NC standards while also maintain consciousness of my own health and wellbeing. I designate specific points of the day that are delegated for planning, teaching, grading, and I have hygeine and health goals I try to maintain for myself. I am having a hard time getting a decent hours sleep at night.

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

• I could have spent more time during the wek afternoons, working on writing my lessons. I could also spend less time over planning for my lessons. I tend to revisit and replan them multiple times before feeling comfortable with them. I could spend less time worrying about having enough time, and planning schedules that end up being unrealistic for me to meet. I think my philosophy for the week should be do not worry or overthink it, just do go and do it.

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

• It impacts everything I do because every lesson plan I make, I am still full of apprehension and indecision, and it affects the quality of my delivery of my lessons due to my lack of confidence, and it can lead to me having to spend an excessive amount of time reteaching or reclarifying because of a messy delivery to my students. It also acts as a barrier for following through on completing lesson plans because I am often unsure on whether it is the best course of action for my students, and I spend more time mkaing plans for my plans than I do actually recording my plans.

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

My first logical step would to translate my overview notes and lesson plans into my edTPA templates and to also set myself up with a plan to complete my commentary for Task 3. I also need to go through all of my logs and records to make sure that they are clear and up to date, so that I have a strong idea of where to start fresh with my kiddos next week. 

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

This week, I noticed that my students are still developing their skills for solving 2 step word problems dealing with multiplication and division, and I did that my analyzing student test data from their end of module assessment. The students still averaged for class overall as proficient, which was a pleasant surprise, but I still have a select number of students who are not meeting the necessary criteria to move forward, so I will be pulling them to revieiw problems from the test and to practice additional similar problems with them until they demonstrate understanding and independent application of the strategy and concept. 

• NC Professional Teaching 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.

• O demonstrated leadership this week by taking over teaching all subjects in the classroom. I also step into the position of implementing and following displinary measures with my students to enforce classroom rules and expectations. This demonstrated to the students that I am a leader in the classroom and must be respected when I give rules and expectations. I am also being left alone in the classrom and increasing amount of time now. I am actually being left alone in the classroom sometimes for entire subject lesson period, so it is teaching me to maintain the classroom during transitions and lead the classroom where to go next with a more independent mindset.

• 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.

• One of the ways that I established a respectful environment for my students and meeting their needs would be when I decided to send home teacher notes for one of my struggling students with specific step-by-step isntructions for how to solve the problems that we complete in class. I also pull him aside with as many opportunities as possible to check on him and to give him some one-on-one instruction intermittenly during instruction. I also noticed students that were becoming easily distracted by the other students in their pod and as a result, their work was not being completed though I knew they were bright students, I suggested to my CE that it would be a smart choice to make some seating adjustments in the room to move those students forward and separated from the students that they are tempted to talk to during lessons, and she very much agreed.

• 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.

• I showed that I knew the content that I will teach my analyzing upcoming assessments for my students, and then identifying the specific skills and objectives that they will need to know for this assessment, what has not been covered, and I made sure to emphasize and question the students on these components before the assessment was given.

• 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.

• For facillitating learning for my students this week, I decided to add an additional lesson and revieiw activity into the lessons that were not originally included in the curriculum pacing guide to build student background knowledge and understanding of the content in our Wit & Wisdom reading that they would assessed on to build their comprehension of the story and strengthen the content related vocabulary. This also addressed our science standard that we have been focusing on dealing with learn about the earth's ocean and its elements. We did a fun flipbook that the students got to color, draw, and map out the food chain or the ocean. The students really enjoyed, and I saw a huge jump in their understanding and comprehension of our Wit & Wisdom lessons when I gave them their summative on the book.

• 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.

• For reflecting on my practice, I always spend time, duringmy down time at recess or right at the end of the day to talk with my CE about the successes and failures of the day, reasons why, and we decide furture plans for the next day to acvoid repetition of those mistakes and for upcoming weeks. I also soemtimes have had to make ammendments to lessons by doing additional guidance before independet practices to ensure student understanding for the final assessment.

•  Other:

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

• I have doen some filiming, started making logs, and I have made plans for global awareness lessons, and I am also making plans for technology tools I want to include on my portfolio and reflect on with their effective strategies. I am also going to be working torwards making records of completion for my school improvement plan this week by starting teaching my WIN group.

• What support does your clinical educator need from your University Supervisor?

• My university supervisor only ever worries about my health and well being because of the late nights that I pull and she always wishes to help me as much as possible, so understanding and grace that we are working our hardest to meet the standards of completion for student teaching and ensuring quality educational environment for our students each day.

• What support do you need from your University Supervisor

• I can only say that I am trying to get final completion done on my edTPA and I am having a hard time doing that because I am overwhelmed with lesson prep, and I can only say that continuing to understand that I am trying to make dew with the little time I am finding to complete edTPA and meet my educational responsibilities. Everyone around me is constantly telling me they are worried my wellbeing because of how many hours I put in and am pulling 18 hour work days, 7 days a week, but its all I can do to barely stay on top of it is all I tell them.