Blog #14 - Starting to Say a Painful Goodbye

 Candidate Name: Caitlyn Hamrick

Week of Reflection: November 22, 2024   

• Rate your overall experience of the week: 5

• Seven questions to end your week:

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

Pleasant surprises and accomplishments that I achieved this week would be that I am on the verge of completing my Philosophy Video, and when I started this video, I was nervous and felt defeated like there was no way I could make a video to the quality that I need to, and it is starting to come together, and that is a big relief. Another accomplishment for me this week is that I was able to construct my list of 15 educational resources for my portfolio. I also updated and drew the conclusion, based on my evidence that I met both my school improvement and professional development plan goals, and I am very excited to report on that. I also completed my last global awareness lesson this week while also completing my take over weeks, so I feel that this week has been a week for checking off boxes. To top it off, I made a sash with all of my students’ handprints on it to wear at graduation, and it turned out so well! Friday afternoon, my CE surprised me with a little party where my students gave me a huge group hug, wrote me letters, and showered me with sweet gifts. Among the gifts was a necklace that says “Miss H” , a name that only my students call me because of my CE and I having the same last name, so that was especially sweet!

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

Some of the biggest lessons that my work experiences taught me is that working to always complete everything is really counterproductive in the end. It is okay to not complete every component of your lesson, and that is what really shows being a teacher that is responsive to your students. Your plans do not always unfold the way you expect them to, and your students don't always pick up as fast as you expect, and the best thing you can do is slow down and take the time to focus on their areas of weakness. It is best to take out the extra and focus on the meat. I had lessons this week that did not completely unfold as I expected, and I did not touch on everything I had listed in my plans, but I saw exceptional growth with my students. In fact, I think I saw the largest amount of As at one time than I have seen before, and it told me that everything is finally clicking, and my students are finally reaching a state of independence, and that has been a goal for me all semester. 

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

My short term efforts and my long term goals are still aligned because my goals were to pass my student teaching semester and become a competent and independent teacher. My goals each week revolve around preparing and implementing my lesson plans each week, and the coming weeks will focus on a lot of aligning all of my final assignments for my portfolio, and these assignments give me a lot of time for reflection, and the time of reflection will allow me to consider what went wrong and what went right to make me a competent teacher. 

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

I could have spent more time on my behavior management plan, and I also could have spent more time on making my screencastify videos, but I was really productive in accomplishing other Portfolio related tasks. I could have also spent less time researching things and being indecisive on which is the best one. 

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

Apprehension and indecision has impacted the length of time it takes me to accomplish tasks such as coming up with my list of instructional resources and designing my Philosophy video. 

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

The first logical step for next week is to complete my portfolio video and to get my last few official forms signed and completed. 

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

• 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 tools and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element.

I most demonstrated the standard of leadership this week when my CE was removed from the classroom to aid in positions that needed to be temporarily filled in the mornings and afternoons, and though my responsibility would be no different than if she was present, but I made sure that I was in full control and holding my students entirely accountable for what the expectations were even when my CE was not present in the classroom as well. I just really feel that pride of leadership when I am in the position of leadership without the training wheels of my CE to fall back on if things were to go haywire, and to see the influential effects of it. 

• 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.

An activity this week that demonstrated standard 2, establishing a respectful environment for diverse learners would be whenever my students were having their center time, and I had the classroom in a positive and productive state because my students were understanding of the expectations during this time, and I did have one point when a student was not meeting this expectation, and her behavior was counterproductive to her own learning and those around her, so I instructed her to go and work at a separate seat, and though I at one time would have seen this as harsh I see it as evidence of good teaching practice because this decision was beneficial to her as well as others. I also did not just leave the decision there, but we conferenced afterwards about what aspects of her behavior during independent work time are unacceptable, reasons for those behaviors, and ways that those behaviors could be unavoided in the future.

• 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.

Standard 3 states that teachers must have content knowledge, and I would say that I demonstrated content knowledge this week by studying the content of the student’s upcoming test in Wit & Wisdom and Math, and then using that knowledge of what the students already know and need to know in my planning of instruction. The planning and practice of the review was evident in the students' test scores later in the week. 

• 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.

Standard 4, facilitation of learning was addressed this week whenever I designed review lessons prior to their assessments that were well aligned with what the students were going to experience on their test. I also increased students’ foundation of mathematical knowledge and problem solving fluency on an independent level with the implementation of multiple check in review lessons in the form of whole group and small group lessons, and this was greatly beneficial to student learning, and I was extremely proud of their performance at the end of the week. I decided to implement my own strategy for practice and assessment that my CE actually did not use herself, but she has grown to love and plans to continue after I am gone, and that is generating personalized quizzes on IXL, and the quizzes are five questions, and they align to the objective being addressed during the math lesson for that day, and it is a great way to gather data for student understanding, identify deficits, and then apply that data for planning the following week. 

• 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.

Standard five says that teachers are supposed to reflect on their practice. This week, I reflected on my practice by reviewing students’ performance on a practice morning test on Thursday to determine which questions to review and have students take notes on the whole group. The students then took these sheets home to study, and then the students overall scored exceptionally well on their tests the next day. 

•  Other:

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

I have completed the list of instructional resources (15), identified my five tools to make screencastify. I have also completed my school improvement plan and my professional development goals. I have also completed all of my global awareness lessons, and I have also completed all of my observation reports as well. 

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

My clinical educator is wonderful and very sad to see our time together come to an end, but she is excited to see me start to see the light. 

• What support do you need from your University Supervisor

I have received the answers that I most recently needed from my University Supervisor.