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#1: Observation of groups during reading centers

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#1: Observation of groups during reading centers

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Red Group: This is the lowest level of learners in the classroom. The red group is composed of two boys and three girls. Most of the group is very talkative and often has issues getting work done when not separated from friends. The red group meets with the teacher more often than the other groups because they require extra help to make sure they are keeping up with the rest of the class. While observing this group working together during reading centers, they struggled to figure out how to play the math game and had to receive extra assistance to figure it out.

Green Group: The green group is composed of six girls. This group works well together, and often, the students help each other out when they are confused. Some of the members of the group work hard, but some have trouble and can become a little chatty. While observing this group, I paid attention to how the students interacted when members of the group were off task. Some members of the group reminded the ones who were talkative or not doing their work about what they should be doing. In doing this, it helped to keep everyone on task and allowed for a successful working environment for the group.

Yellow Group: The yellow group is composed of four boys and one girl. This group is very talkative and often gets in trouble for not being on task. These studnets have to be redirected multiple times while working together and often have to be separated from certain group members. While observing this group, I paid close attention to how the students were interacting with each other. Some members of the group are very off task while working with certain students. I took this opportunity to move the students around to see if they worked more efficiently when paired with students they usually wouldn't choose to work with for assignments. I found that the students were more on task and didn't talk as much as they would with people that are their friends.

Blue Group: This is the highest level of learners in the classroom. This group is composed of three boys and three girls. They are always in need of being pushed because they tend to finish their work before other groups of classmates. The girls and boys have to be separated so that they are not with their friends. While observing this group of students, I found that the boys are more talkative and often have to be separated from each other. Once this group focuses on the task at hand, they work efficiently and usually finish very quickly.

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#4: Write a positive handwritten note to a parent about something that happened that day

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#4: Write a positive handwritten note to a parent about something that happened that day

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I wrote a note home to a parent about a student who took the time to help out one of our students with a disability. Recently one of our students had to have a foot surgery and wear a boot on her foot. She normally wears leg braces and sometimes has to use forearm crutches. With the boot on her foot, she has recently had to use a wheelchair to help her get around. She has been very antsy because she wants to have the opportunity to do the same thing that everyone else is doing. Normally she keeps up with the students but recently in her wheelchair its been hard for her to keep up with everyone else. At P.E., the students were participating in a competition to run as many laps as they possibly could. This competition took place across second grade and the students in first through fourth place overall would receive a prize. Instead of sitting out of this activity she wanted to participate. The students were running laps outside so she had to wheel herself through the grass in order to make a lap. She got over halfway through the first lap but had to take a break because it took a lot of energy to push herself through the grass in her wheelchair. One of the students saw that she was having trouble and decided to help push her to see how many laps they could get done together. Instead of trying to get the prize like the rest of the students, he took the time to help out a friend. I wrote a note home because I was so impressed with how amazing he has been helping out friends in their time of need.

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#13: Write a reflection after creating the newsletter about what you learned/will do to engage families regularly

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#13: Write a reflection after creating the newsletter about what you learned/will do to engage families regularly

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This meet the student teacher newsletter was made to send home with the students to let them know a little more information about me. After I handed out the newsletters to the students they started asking me more questions about what I liked and talking about what I said my favorite things were. Students started raising their hands and telling me that they had a dog and telling me about some of their favorite things. When I passed out the newsletter, I also gave out an all about me sheet that I asked the students to fill out for me. When the students came back with their papers, I was able to have a chance to learn more about the students just like I had given them the opportunity to do. When the parents came in from parent/teacher conferences I had multiple parents tell me that their child was so excited to tell them about their student teacher. These get to know the teacher newsletters give students an opportunity to make connections and learn more about the person who teaches them on a daily basis.

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#16: Remind parents about an upcoming event

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#16: Remind parents about an upcoming event

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While my mentor teacher was out a couple of days for a personal reason, I took over teaching the class with help from a substitute teacher. The parents needed to be reminded about the upcoming field trip the following week. My teacher had me print out and send home a paper to remind the parents about the field trip.

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#17: Communicate with parents using a technology application like Remind 101

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#17: Communicate with parents using a technology application like Remind 101

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While my teacher was out for the day, I used Class Dojo to let parents know when students acted up in the classroom. When students get a negative dojo, we add a comment onto the mark to let parents know what occurred. I also used the website to send home a reminder message about the field trip to the Corn Maze that we had back in October. I also sent home a paper reminder but a couple days before the field trip I sent out a message on dojo to the parents.

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#20: Participate in a Parent/Teacher Conference

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#20: Participate in a Parent/Teacher Conference

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On October 17th and 18th, I participated in parent-teacher conferences with my mentor teacher. I also attended one in September and another one on October 23rd. During these conferences, I had the opportunity to observe my mentor teacher work with a number of different families. Observing more than one conference allowed me to see how to adapt based on the family that you are dealing with. For the students who were performing well in the class, the conferences were very short. For the struggling students, my teacher took the time to prepare a notes page that outlined all of her concerns. This allowed for a way to make sure that she covered all the important areas during the conference. Her conversations with the parents are very positive and she did a very good job adapting to the different personalities.

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I completed the same running record on three students in the classroom. My teacher gave me the opportunity to assess a low, medium, and high student in the class. By giving me this opportunity I was able to see students at different learning levels in the classroom. During a personal development day at the beginning of the semester, I attended a session that reviewed how to take a running record on a student. Two videos were presented and we had the opportunity to conduct running records on the students. At the end of conducting the running records, we reviewed our work as a group. This session gave me a review of how to conduct running records and helped me for when I had to conduct running records in the classroom.

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One student in the classroom was struggling with behavior in the classroom. The previous year in first grade, this student had multiple outbursts and often got in trouble for acting up. When the student decided she didn't want to complete work in the classroom she would begin to cry saying "I want my mommy" or "I want to go home." Instead of asking for help she instead would cause a scene by making noises. After observing the student acting this way on a couple of instances my teacher had me start to document when the student would act this way in the classroom. At first, it seemed like their wasn't a reason why the student was acting this way. After paying closer attention to how the student was acting, I realized that the student was acting this way because she was frustrated. Instead of asking for help, the student would start acting out and saying that she wanted to go home. Once the student was informed by my teacher that she would not act this way in the classroom she started crying uncontrollably. Instead of playing into how the student was acting, my teacher informed her that she would not act this way in the classroom. In the couple of instances that this situation occurred, my mentor teacher took the time to explain to the student that the way she was acting was not how she was going to get her way. Once the student realized that to get attention from us she needed to ask for help, these instances began to decrease until they stopped completely.

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In addition to using video clips, anecdotal notes, work samples, running records, and photographs I also used the additional strategies below.

1. Child Interview
2. Family Interview
3. Current Teacher Interview

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#29: Use strategies in assessment portfolio

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#29: Use strategies in assessment portfolio

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I used the strategies above to help me gain a better understanding of the student I was completing an assessment portfolio on. The interview on the student, grandmother (mom), and current teacher were extremely helpful in gaining a better understanding of how the student is observed by the people around her. The interview conducted on the student allowed me to talk to her about her interests and school. The student is often very quiet so by taking the time to interview her one-on-one, I had the opportunity to listen to her talk to me about the things she likes and about school.

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The punch card for super star choices was used in my teaching to help me reward students for actively participating in the lesson. The big problem that I have encountered as a student teacher has been to keep students from talking out of turn during lessons. The students are also very talkative during time where students are supposed to be working quietly on independent work. I rewarded students with punches who constantly stayed on task, actively participated in lessons, and worked hard to complete work. Each couple weeks I would provide the students who had received a certain number of punches with a reward. The student were informed ahead of time about the reward system and only the students who earned the reward would receive it. Normally about half of the students achieved the reward the couple of times that I provided one.

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Every day I provided the students with a question to answer. The first couple days I started out with get to know you questions so I could learn a little more about the students. After a few weeks I began incorporating daily questions that would provide students with the opportunity to review a skill from the lesson the day before, in order to serve as a review before moving into the next lesson.

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A pocket chart was used in the classroom for daily morning work activities for spelling. On Mondays, the students come in and write each word three times each. On Tuesday, the students conduct pyramid words for each word. On Wednesday, the students write a sentence with each spelling word. On Thursday, I incorporated an activity that asked the students to fill in the sentence with the correct spelling word. We also completed other spelling activities over the semester using the spelling pocket chart located at the front of the room.

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#48: Make poster boards for the classroom

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#48: Make poster boards for the classroom

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#49: Posters used in teaching reading workshop lessons

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#49: Posters used in teaching reading workshop lessons

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The posters I created were used to help the students learn how to become more effective readers and writers. Reading and writing workshop were recently incorporated into the curriculum. This time is used to help students gain more effective skills to pay attention to important information while reading that can be incorporated into their writing.

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#53: 2019 NAEYC Conference in Nashville, Tennessee

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#53: 2019 NAEYC Conference in Nashville, Tennessee

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#54: Shared what I learned from the NAEYC Conference with someone from the cohort and my mentor teacher

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#54: Shared what I learned from the NAEYC Conference with someone from the cohort and my mentor teacher

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I had such a fantastic time at the NAEYC Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, that I had to share some of the things I learned when I got back. On the way home, I rode back with Madison Rohm. We were both so excited about everything we learned at the NAEYC conference and spent a large amount of the ride home discussing it. While at the conference, we often attended separate sessions, so we spent time going over the different sessions we attended and what we learned. We were also very impressed with the Expo at the conference and spent a significant amount of time there at the conference. We had the opportunity to meet several educational professionals while at the Expo and were even offered job opportunities while we were there. When I got back to my placement after the trip, I discussed several things that I learned with my mentor teacher. I told my mentor teacher about some of the sessions I attended, and a few of the booths I visited while at the expo. I plan on attending a conference again in the next few years because I had such a fantastic time while I was there.

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#55: Implement something learned from NAEYC Conference

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#55: Implement something learned from NAEYC Conference

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When coming back from the conference, I spent my time focusing on some of the things that I learned. One of the sessions I attended at the conference was all about focusing on student engagement while in the classroom. I have always believed that student engagement is an important...

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As the volunteer chair of AEYC, I help to provide members with volunteer opportunities in the community. One of the volunteer events I went to this semester was Boo at the Zoo. I was stationed at the EdZoocation booth, where I taught children about animals, including alligators, tigers, lions, elephants, giraffes, elk, and ibex. I had such an incredible time working with the children at the event that I went back the next day to volunteer again. The club also puts on social events for the members. This semester we had a Halloween clipboard painting party. Members came together to paint clipboards and talk about the student teaching experience.

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#60: Participate in a book club related to professional readings

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#60: Participate in a book club related to professional readings

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After reading and discussing the book What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd Whitaker with members of the cohort, I was able to look deeper into what I want to be as an educator. The book is all about how to conduct yourself as a professional educator and the importance of interactions in both the classroom and at school. The opportunity to partake in a book club with  Madison and Victoria was an awesome learning experience because it allowed me to discuss issues with people in the same field of learning as I'm in. I have always wanted to be in a book club with friends and this book club was a great learning experience because the book was about something that I'm interested in.