Blog #8: Jumping Back In

 Rating the Week

My overall experience this week would be a 2.7 because I had some highs that were really great. It was also great to catch my breath and catch up on the sleep that I have lost the past few weeks with edTPA weighing on me. I have been working trying to catch up on other things though and worrying about what is to come. I also tackled some tough days with my students this week and being more disciplined with them. 

Pleasant Surprises and Accomplishments: 

This week, my pleasant surprises and accomplishments would be identifying a deficit and misconception in math for one of my WIN students with her multiplication. I love uncovering a pattern in their learning that I can quickly address and fix with some targeted practices. When I picked up on this and realized how I could help her and open her eyes. This was one of those moments that I said makes all the strife worth it. 

What lessons my work experiences taught me that I will build upon next week. 

One lesson my work experiences taught me would be to try and have the final unit test already on hand and looked over extensively for misconceptions and for simply what aspects of the pacing guide to target and practice the most heavily. I took a math test with my students today, and I was dreading them taking it all week because every review day looked scary, but I also knew that this was a unit that I could not hover on because it was a smaller focus of their end of grade, and their time needed to be focused else where. We did the test, and it was tough, I tried to support my students as much as I could, but the test scores showed that they knew more than I thought, so that was a blessing, but I think that it would have helped me to have them better prepared for this test because of its odd set up, if I would have focused and budgeted my time on those topics a little differently. 

How my short term and long term goals are aligned. 

My long term goals are to pass edTPA, see growth with my students, and become comfortable and confident in my position as a teacher. My short term goals each week are to get my lesson plans turned in meeting criteria, and that my lesson plans are aligned to my students’ needs. Each week that I plan and teach lessons, I am becoming more confident and familiar with the day-to-day functions and also what components of the lesson are most critical and how to make targeted lessons. I am also developing more of an eye for what my students needs are, their misconceptions will be, and where they currently stand with their knowledge. I feel that I am learning more and more about making decisions about the smartest next steps for the next week of lessons each week based on what my students have done the previous week. My short term goal of submitting lesson plans for the next week that are sutiable to my students and aligned with the curriculum is helping me to achive those long term goals week-by-week. 

What could I have spent more or less time doing? 

I could have spent more time working on my portfolio and log assignments. I am having a hard time keeping those assignments at the forefront of my brain and keeping them up to date. I could have spent less time resting because there have been two times this week that I sat down to write lessons, I write two, and then when I try to start the third one, I  am in such a state of exhaustion that I collapse almost as if I have been hit by a tranquilizer, and some of those that have been concerned about me would scold me about listing getting rest as I spend less time thing, but I have wondered if it is my body almsot trying to catch up on all the exhaustion its faced the past 9 weeks trying to acclimate to teaching 40+ hours a week and then doing school work and edTPA, but I know that I have to find a balance to keep by body from shutting down so early, 10:00, because it is apprehending me from getting the work done that I need to. 

How did my apprehension and indecision affect what I did? 

My apprehension and indecision have affected what I do because it always gets in the way of my planning because I have a view in my mind of what I want the lessons to look like based on where the students are at and where they need to be, and then I look at the objectives, the materials, the lessons in the pacing guides, and also determining evaluation criteria for assessments to suit the objectives, it always slows me down on wording and expalanation for description of lessons and activities, I am trying to become more bulleted and simplistic on my lesson plans and be better on my evoluation criteria, but what I have in mind when I plan versus when I actually get their work back usually shifts my view on the method tomanage and evaluate for determining their grades, and this often due to determining if my students' reaction to assessments is their need or their want for additional support to complete the assessments.  

NC Professional Teaching Standards 

1.  I would say that I did this by stepping into a position of authority with them this week. I becoming more explicit with my expectations for classroom behavior when completing classroom activities for maintaining a respectful classroom environment by limiting talking out of turn and speaking over one another, wandering the classroom at inapropriate times, and also wise time management for students who have a tendency to lose focus. 

2. For recognizing my students as individuals, during my math review lesson this week, I took problems from their upcoming test, and I changed the numbers and circumstances of the word problems along with the names of the people in the word problems, and I used my students' names, and I even described an activity that one of my students engages in as an after school activity, and I did this to recognize them and to show them that I see them and know their interests, and also to help this student to maintain focus during lessons when this student has a tendency to get distracted during instruction. 

3 and 4. This week, my students had an upcoming test, and when I planned the week, I expected the students to catch onto the skill and objective faster, but the students did not, so I had to incorporate diverse and additonal practices into their activities this week to prepare them for their test on friday, and I did this by consulting with my CE, and I incorproated an online activity and assessment, to amke a fun digital practice, and the students were able to see the content in an alternative format, which I thought was beneficial for them. I looked at the assessment, and I studied what they appeared strong on and what their deficits were, and I selected a practice that focused on practcing that particular skill for the test. I also simply loved the wonderful opportunity it gave me to integrate technology into my instructional practice for my students to increase some of their engagement. 

Portfolio Progress 

I did not make any additonal progress torwards my Portfolio this week, but I did make outside progress such as gathering evidences for my PDP, updating some of my logs, and I have ideas for technology resources that I plan to link and explain on my website because I am becoming accustomed to which classroom technology tools that I find the most effective for my students that I would reccomned for at home parental use. 

Support from University Supervisor

I can just say that continued understanding, and I am appreciative of the support given during the craziness of the circumstances during the hurricane. I am 9 weeks in and have not figured out a way to meet deadlines to extent to which I am used to meeting in previous courses, but knowing that I am trying my best and working with me is all I can say. My CE, I think is doing great and she is always a great supporter and advocate for me. I will hate to say goodbye to her at the end of the semester.