This week, I had a set goal in mind for what I wanted to get done at my clinical placement that was outside of the norm for me. Like Clarker, said we do not have much more time to spend in our placements before we are student teaching so I am trying to be very intentional about the time I am spending in my placement each week. I got to shadow a car duty which was good for me because I will be assigned car duty sometimes when I am student teaching. So, it is good for me to shadow some of these duties and see what goes on before I am doing it on my own.

I also got to attend a faculty meeting this week. It was a good experience to hear what's going on throughout the school right now and it helped me to understand some more of the dynamics of the school by seeing how everyone interacted. I am being really intentional at learning as much as I can about the school as a whole. I want to be someone that they feel can be part of the team and that they can hire because I fit. I have done the fundraisers, the open houses, and now I want to be involved in other areas. So, I am being intentional about going to all the meetings and doing the duties and spending the time outside of what is expected of me. I want them to know I am willing to do whatever to contribute to the students and the school as a whole.

In the classroom, I have become much more intentional about watching what my CE does to meet the needs of each individual student. How does she differentiate? How does she know their needs are being met? As I was working on edTPA task 1, I was learning that I am not the strongest when it comes to differentiation. I have to really think about how I am going to differentiate and then I go back and forth with myself about whether or not what I am doing is best for each student. It shouldn't be that way and I do not want it to be that way when I am student teaching. I need to know and be intentional about learning about what each student needs in each area of content. This is important because I want to be the best teacher I can be and give them the best experience individually. So, as I am watching and learning the individual needs of each child. I have been talking about IEP's and 504's and needs outside of those too. I am intentional about asking her what she does to meet those needs and she is so good about telling exactly what they need and exactly what to do to meet those needs. For example, while we were talking about my lesson plans, she told me "You are going to want to see ________ close to you, he needs that or you'll need to modify this for _____, this is what I would to modify it to meet their needs." It has been so helpful for me to learn about this and I will continue to so that I can make each learning experience the best it can be for each student individually.

https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/18-teacher-tested-strategies-differentiated-instruction

These are some great tips of "teacher-tested strategies" for differentiation, if you have time to look at them! Background information is key and getting to know your students better while they are in your room. Also, I like the idea of using multiple approaches to instruction. That way, you can cover a variety of learners! This is a big part of treating students as individuals. I am thankful for my CE who does such as good job at meeting that standard and is helping me work to become more proficient at it!

This week has been a week full of reflection for me. I guess getting so close to student teaching has got me thinking about what it took to get me to where I am now. I look back on my experience and I am in awe at the growth that I can see in myself and in my peers in what seems like such a short amount of time! My mindset has changed and I am at the point where the thoughts of student teaching no longer scares the living daylights out of me. I think about taking over to student teach and I feel excited! I think it has a lot to do with the relationships I have worked hard to build with my CE, my students, and all of the staff as a whole in my clinical placement. They have given me encouragement, support, and something to look forward to each week. It feels like I fit right in and I never thought I would feel so comfortable at another school. My CE is my lifeline this semester. She is my coach, my mentor, and my friend. After our meeting, I messaged her and talked to her about next week and teaching my literacy progression. I thought about what Clarker said and I asked her if she would mind to watch for some specific areas that I know I need to improve on. Transitions, engagement, and differentiation are areas I am targeting to grow in as an educator and I am asking her to watch me help me specifically in these areas. She said she didn't mind and was there for whatever I needed! So, I am excited to get some specific feedback as I teach my learning progression! This will allow me to effectively reflect on my practice and improve myself in targeted areas where I know there is room for improvement.

As I was working hard on LE 6 and 7 this week, I learned a lot about my school that I hadn't paid attention to before. The amount of students who are affected by poverty especially had an impact on me because I did a training over the summer on poverty and how it affects our students. Everything from their vocabulary to their engagement is impacted. It is often disheartening because it is easy to feel helpless when you see how some of these students are living. Most of the time, I spend more time with many of these student then I do my own family, I am dedicated to them so I want them to have every opportunity to succeed and it's frustrating to see poverty drag them down. So, as an educator, I ask myself, "What can I do to make this better?" I am doing outside research on this now and I am sharing an article I found that has some good information on what we can do to help out students in these situations.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may13/vol70/num08/How-Poverty-Affects-Classroom-Engagement.aspx

The best thing you can do for these students is invest in them. Take the time to understand their situation. I am learning attention and affirmation go a LONG way with all students especially those that are struggling. Each student I have is an opportunity to really shape a life and it is my responsibility to do so no matter their background. I hope you will find this information useful and share your thoughts and ideas on how we can help these students!

What another week for of learning and growth! This week I had the opportunity to do open house with the help of the assistant in my clinical classroom. I was nervous about  doing it when my CE asked me because it seemed intimidating to do it on my own. There was really no preparing for it because I couldn't predict what parents were going to say to me or ask me. My CE left me some information to give them and told me not to worry because only about four or five students show up at the most. Imagine my surprise when over half the class showed up! I was excited though to see them all and to get to make some connections with parents. I gave them the information from my CE and a "Meet the Student Teacher" form so that they could get to know me a little bit better. It was nice just to put a face with the parents and just by having some conversations, I got some background knowledge on my students and get information on their home lives that I did not have before. Just talking to these parents let me see how much trust they are putting in me and maybe of them shared their concerns with me. Mostly, it was the question of "how is my child doing?" Everyone just wants to know that their child is okay and is doing well in school. Luckily for me, I did not have to personally deliver any bad news to any parents. I was able to just tell them what I knew, what we are learning overall and I focused on their child's strengths. However, when my CE gets back she will have to sit down with the parents and talk about MAP scores and TRC assessments which will let parents know where their child stands in regards to where all other Kindergartners in the state stand. Some are not where they need to be in this point in the year and we have a lot of progress to make and work to be done. I know I will have to have these same kind of tough conversations when I take over so my CE suggested I sit in with her if it is okay with the parent! This will be an excellent learning experience for me because I have had the positive conversations so now it is time to learn how to have the harder conversations but still have a positive and encouraging tone. This is really only something I can learn by being apart of it so I am grateful to be doing that now with my CE. Much like the open house, this will be an excellent learning experience for me.


Also, this week I began working one-on-one with three students to do a case study on literacy. I am basing my assessments based on what I know they will need to know by the end of the year according to TRC so I am using my CE as a big resource for this. I will know where they are based on my assessments and I will develop lesson plans for where I need them to be. This is doing what I will be doing on a larger scale when I student teach so the practice is good for me. I am excited to see the growth that I can help to foster in these three particular students.

It has been a busy but rewarding week! I am excited to read how all of your clinical experiences are going! We are HALFWAY through the semester! Let's finish strong and keep learning from one another.

What a week full of learning experiences this has been for me. It has been one of the busiest but also one of the best weeks I have had in my college career.

I had the opportunity to co-teach with some of my classmates for math methods and that was a totally new experience for me. We are all placed in Kindergarten so we took the opportunity to teach a math standard for Kindergarten while also tying in a literacy component. I loved working with my group and hearing their ideas and I found team teaching to be a really good experience. We taught it online during a zoom meeting so that added an extra component we had to consider but I thought everyone did a really great job. I have found myself becoming so invested in all of you guys and there is not a day that goes by that I am not communicating with at least a few of you in some way whether it be texts, calls, e-mails or just reading what you have posted. I have been amazed by how much of my learning this semester has come from my peers. We all have a different way of doing things and a different approach to every learning experience and that is the beauty of it because that is exactly how it is in the education field. There is so much to be learned from each other and I take in every perspective that comes from working with you all. I am so thankful for you all.

This week, I also sat down with my CE to chose the students who I will be doing a literacy case study on. She is going to allow me to sit in on her assessments for literacy so that will be really beneficial for me to see. Once I know exactly where my students fall, I will plan lessons that will meet their specific needs and implement these lessons in my case study. It is not often you have time to work one-on-one with students and really target what they need so I am hoping to really make a difference for these students and see some growth in their TRC assessments.

Dr. Clarker and Dr. Wesson also came for a visit this week! I taught a math lesson and this was my first time teaching these students by myself and I was so nervous. I started the lesson and then when Dr. Clarker and Wesson came in, I just pretended they were not there which I wanted to speak to them or acknowledge them but I was scared it would throw me out of my element so I just continued with the lesson like nothing was happening. I did a math lesson on 5 groups and making ten which required me to use a good amount of manipulatives.  The kids did so good though, I was really proud of them and the connections they made. I couldn't ask for a better clinical classroom or a better CE. I feel as if I am exactly where I am supposed to be and that is a great feeling. Although I was nervous, I feel like it was a really good experience. Being observed is just a part of teaching and this was my first time being observed. I am so pleased with the experience, the students did great and everyone was so supportive. I am so grateful for the feedback and for our professors who care enough to come to us and see us do what we love and work to make us better! So, don't be nervous! I promise you will be glad to have had the experience and they are there to help! As soon as the lesson was over, the wheels in my mind starting turning and I started to think of what worked and what didn't. I started coming up with ways that I could make the lesson better and the connections more clear. This is a part of developing in the NCTCS standard- Teachers Reflect on their Practice. The only way I can improve my practice, is to start with reflection, I am so grateful for this opportunity to teach for my professors so I can do just that- reflect with their guidance.

My LE 5 has also been a major focus this week! I keep deciding how I want to handle something such as broken pencils and then I think about (obsess over it essentially) and think, is there a more effective way to do this? That is the point though, to think now about how we will handle these things so that we are not put into a classroom without a plan of action for most things. So, I am taking this experience very seriously because it is going to shape my classroom which is so precious to me! I am glad I get to think about this now because it is going to save me from being so overwhelmed later. I am excited to read your blogs and learn from some of your thoughts and ideas! Have a great week!

The countdown is officially on. 95 days until we student teach, NINETY-FIVE. That means that I am only 95 days from beginning the very last part of this journey towards my lifetime goal of becoming an educator. It is so close I can taste it and I get more excited as the days pass. I have gotten past being nervous about student teaching because I finally feel like I  am almost ready for it. That is a great feeling!

This week, I became even more comfortable in my clinical classroom and got to participate in assisting my CE with a math lesson which is good because next week I will be doing a math mini-lesson when Clarker comes to visit! My CE told me the lesson that would normally fall on that day and she told me to tweak it anyway I wanted and then she gave me some feedback on what she would do to the lesson to better meet the needs of our students. I am taking her advice and making some of my own changes too. Like I said in the meeting, I will be along with the assistant next week for open house and my CE is leaving me all of the notes. This is a huge responsibility that I do not take lightly because I will be interacting with lots of parents so it is important that I am prepared and professional. I want them to get a good impression of me and this is one of my opportunities to make that impression! No pressure, right? I am nervous but grateful for the opportunity. This will be a very good learning experience for me. Also, my CE and I have started to observe the students that we know are struggling. We talk about it often and what we can do for them. I love her dedication to what's best for each student and her willingness to work with me as a team. She told me that the tough conversations with parents about the possibility of retention happens in January when she has a very clear idea of where the students are at that point compared to where she needs them to be. She said that is the worst part of the job because who really wants to have that conversation? She informed me that she feels personally responsible when a student does not make the growth that they need to in order to move to first grade. She wants me to be present with her when and if she has to meet with parents to have those tough conversations. She told me that will be good for me to see and be a part of because it is a very tough and real part of the profession!

Also, this week I have spent a lot of time thinking about my own classroom management. As I work on my plan, I think about everything that I have seen in every classroom I have had an opportunity to be in. I think about what I have personally seen work and what I have read about. It is crazy to think about how all of these learning opportunities have impacted me in such a way and allowed me to really think about what is best for my own personal classroom. I am taking the very best of everything I have learned and observed and making it into my own classroom management plan. It is has been really fun to work on, it doesn't even really feel like work because it is something I am so excited to be doing. Thinking about all of these small things that are going to make such a huge difference especially in my first few years of teaching has been a good experience. It's going to help me exponentially to already have a game plan. Planning out my classroom management really relates to the professional teaching standard- Teachers Establish a Respectful Environment for a Diverse Population of Students. The way I manage my classroom is what will help to shape the entire classroom environment!

This has been the absolute best week so far at my clinical placement. It feels like home. Going into this, I never thought I would be able to say that so soon but I feel so comfortable and just like a part of the team and it the feeling I had hoped and prayed I would have going into this. I was able to spend 3 consecutive days with not only my clinical educator but all of the staff at the school this week working the fall fundraiser which just so happens to be a fair that the school puts on for the week. It is big deal in my county and generates a huge profit for the school which goes towards each teacher's classroom fund. I took the time that I was working with the staff (serving food for, I swear, EVERYONE in the county) to develop some more personal relationships. I had lots of conversations with staff I had never met before and even got to serve and speak with some parents that I hadn't met! I went straight after work and it went until about 11 each night so I am super exhausted but super pleased with what I gained from the experience. The principal even pulled me to the side and personally thanked me for my help and told me how impressed he was with me. My CE says that is a really good thing! She and I got to have lots of conversation this week about what is coming up with semester! She is just so flexible and is so willing to work with me with whatever I need- it is a true blessing. I made sure to focus in on what I was missing for LE 4 when I was in the classroom this week and she answered the questions I had on specifics and provided me with some more resources on the school's overall behavior management plan because I felt I was lacking in that area of the assignment. 

   

 She and I also talked a lot about mathematics instruction and what she feels the students need the most so that I can really plan for LE 2. In math methods, I am learning so much new terminology and ways of teaching mathematics that I have never been exposed to. My CE gave me specific reasoning behind her methodologies for teaching mathematics and how she addresses the needs of each student. She gave me specific feedback on how I can adjust my lessons to make sure I am meeting the needs of each student! This made me think of the NCPTS- Teachers establish a respectful environment for a diverse population of students. This is a standard I am working hard to be more developed in and I will really be able to have a lot of practice with this in my literacy and math progression because there is a diverse range of needs in my classroom that will need to be met. I am focusing in on being more proficient at determining the needs of each student and then meeting the needs of each student every time I teach! My CE says this is something that I will get better at as I spend more time actually teaching in the classroom. 

I hope everyone has had a successful and productive week and I look forward to seeing your updates!