Blog #10- Can Almost See the Light at the End of the Tunnel!

  

(What Does “There Is Light at the End of the Tunnel” Mean?, n.d.)

Candidate Name: Caitlyn Hamrick

Week of Reflection: Oct 25, 2024

  Rating the Week

My overall experience this week would probably be a 3 that became a 4.6. It had a great start to the week, and some lessons did not pan out quite like I planned. I felt a great amount of support from my grade level team members this week, and I loved experiencing that. It was an eye opener this week of what I am looking at to come. The thing that built the week would definitely be finding out that I passed my edTPA because though many told me that I would pass easily, I was not so hopeful because the circumstances of finishing and submitting my edTPA was scary and I did not submit as great a quality as I wanted, but my scores came back better than I expected.

Seven Questions 

What pleasant surprises / accomplishments did I achieve this week?

My biggest pleasant surprise this week and accomplishment would be passing edTPA because it has been the biggest hurdle that I have ever overcome in school, and its great to know that it is behind me and I am so close to achieving a childhood dream. Another accomplishment this week would be bonding with my students because my students and my CE put on wuite the surprise for me when the news of my edTPA came back. I had just given my students a math test, and I had been eye balling my phone in between monitoring students to wait for my edTPA to come back, and I needed to run down the hallway for a moment, and I left my cell phone in the classroom with my CE, and she answered it and received the news. I came back in the classroom, and my CE and all the students in the classroom were standing in their chairs cheering and applauding, saying, "You PASSED!". It was so sweet that I almost wanted to cry.

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

My biggest work experience lesson that I learned this week is the benefits of including and expanding on current events for instruction. This week, I replaced my center time with a series of lessons on elections, and some of the students were fascinated by it and others were not. I did face some hard to answer questions and comments that I had to strike down with such a sensitive topic, but it was a pleasure to get to be the one to educate them on such a major topic and to discuss with them and get a picture of what their current knowledge was of what an election is and how our political system is. It was weird for me to think about how these students do not really have any memory of a president prior to President Biden, some of them were not aware of who the president is, and some had no idea that other nations do not pick their leader the same way.

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

My long term goals are to complete my student teaching semester successfully with a preparation for licensure and feelings of confidence in my abilities to lead and educate in a classroom, independently. My shorterm goals are still simply getting my lessons prepped and ready to start the next week strong, and this week I accomplished a major goal that is part of my long-term goal, I passed EdTPA, so I am one step closer to achieving licensure. I am also studying throughout the week for my Science of Reading Exam so that I can complete all requirements for licensure. Another short term goal I have each weekend, that I did not realize. I found that I am really great at designing materials for classroom activities, and I enjoy doing it, so I may add a shorterm goal of designing so many new materials each week that could be utilized for future use.

What could I have spent more or less time doing?

I could have spent more time lesson planning this week. Everytime this week that I sat down to accomplishment planning something, it seemed that I had a hard time maintaining a productive mindset. I need to work on increasing my rate of productivity. I also could have spent a larger amount of time preparing for my Science of Reading Exam and working on my Portfolio. I also need to start prioritizing designing my Philosophy video because I am actually going to run short on instructional times in the coming weeks because of the large amount of field trips off campus, at school events, and check ins. I do think these will also be great opportunities though for me to capture some moments that define what teaching can look like beyond the classroom and value of these opportunities.

How did apprehension and indecision impact what I did and didn’t do?

My biggest apprehension and indecision would be trying to decide prioristization for my lesson plans in the upcoming weeks with the heavy load of field trips and at school activities. In fact, all instructional periods in the morning, Tuesday- Friday are going to be interrupted due to testing or special events or activities. Then the next week is a normal week, and the following week has only one instructional day all week. There is holiday, two field trips, and a school event that will obstruct the events of almost the entire day.

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

The first logical step for next week would be to make sure that I am planned and organized with materials for next week and also to wrap up loading all student data from this week. Another next step for next week would be making a to-do list of the upcoming assignments that I have tendency to overlook or push to the sidelines because I am such a put all my time anf focus into one thing, and it makes it hard for me to think about other things.

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

Some data that I analyzed this week would be my students'performance on their Wit & Wisdom unit test and writing, and I also analyzed their measurement math test. The students completed review lessons on using customary measurement, and I choose what to focus on in the review based on their response and performance in prior lessons, and I made the choice as to when to officially give them their math test based on their fluency and response to tasks relating to measuring and converting units of customary measurement. Their math test scores showed me that some of them scored low due to lack of reading the questions closely because I remember their performance with similar problem earlier in the week, and I also saw students that I was concerned about and thought would have a low score, come back with a score that was surprisingly higher. One of my consistently lowest math students who displays some anxiety with math, this student actually scored proficient on her math test, so I was exceptionally proud of her!

NC Professional Teaching Standards

• 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.

This week, I lead in the classroom by, as my CE said, finding my teacher voice. She said that I have become comfortable and consistent with taking control and maintaining a position of authority with the students this week. She said that I have done a phenomenal job doing that this week, and she left me alone with the students extensive amounts of time during the week. I can tell now that my CE is comfortable leaving me to lead the classroom, whereas before, I knew that it was hard for her to let me lead when it was hard for me to maintain that position of leadership with them, whereas now I it is a much more natural thing for me, and she sees that.

• 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.

I would say that one element of standard two that I witnessed and experienced a little this week would be adpating my teaching to the benefit of my students. I came to the writing portion of my Wit & Wisdom lessons on Shark Attack, and my students always have a hard time with writing because it is a big leap in the writing requirements and expectations from second to third grade. I decided to try to push them this week to work more independently on their writing tasks to build their stamina and to pull away the hand holding that they have become reliant on. I gave them the responsibility of finding all their evidence and writing their own elaborations, whereas before, the students usually did one with me, and I had them do one of them on their own, and we wrote the topic statement together, so the students only wrote half of the paragraph on their own, and now the students are being expected to do almost all of the writing on their own with some guidelines. I did know that there would be a few students that are not yet capable of working at that level of independency. My students that are strugglign students have a tendency to shut down and give up, so I had to set them up well be sure they fell confident rather than just giving these students the shove that the rest of the class received. I took these students to the back table, and I helped them locate evidence in the book based on the prompts, and we discussed the meaning of application of evidence and elaboration because though their is clarification of the difference betwen them on their organizer, the students have a hard time not just repeating their evidence in their elaboration, and I plan on doing more indept instruction on the difference and application of these two things prior to their next paragraph writing.

• 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.

This week, I decided, with some consultation with my CE, to replace center time with lessons on elections, and this was a great way to educate the students on current events, and it aligned with the North Carolina Standards for 3rd grade, understanding the structure and functions of the local government, so I was really excited to see that I could teach the students on this with current events and that it still aligned with standards. It was really a golden experience. I just wish I had more time to do it because we were really short on time.

• 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.

This week, I integrated and utilized technology more often for students with their reading passages to get them exposed to reading onlline. I expanded on this, this week by actually consulting with my CE on how we could set up a way on Google Classroom for our EC student to be given a passage with the other students that is similar in subject and content to the other students, but the passage is on his level, and whenever it is social studies and science, he can have them read aloud to him. It really made it easier for us to find ways to meet this student and his needs in another way. I love any opportunity I get to make this student feel capable of achieving the same work as his peers to build up his confidence and willingness to work harder.

• 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 this standard, I would say that I got to add to my professional growth by attending a professional development on RTA, which is program that will not begin until after I have finished my student teaching, but it was a great development that explains the procedure, application, and reasoning for RTA. I actually had a parent that overheard me at my nephews ball game, and she ended up asking for unput from me about the purpose and application of RTA because of the giref and strife she is having at home with her own son doing RTA at his school. She had many questions, and I loved to be able to give her some secure answers and explain to her the benefits of RTA and how it is worth it in the end.

                

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

I have started to consider and research my online instructional resources I would like to use. I have also started to video foucs more on capturingmoments in the classsroom that could be used for my clips, and I have put alot more thought and consideration into my educational philosphy. I have also started on mapping out and designing the digital evidence of my behavior plan that I have been using and plan to discuss for my portfolio.

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

I think my clinical educator just wants to make sure I am okay and that she is supporting me to the extent that she can. She always trying to offer advice where she can and building me up in my areas of growth, but I do not think that she needs anything from my university supervisor. I am the same as I am in previous weeks. I am trying to get through everything, just a continued working understanding.

What does “there is light at the end of the tunnel” mean? (n.d.). Quora. https://www.quora.com/What-does-there-is-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-mean