Week 4- Friday, January 29th

     This week was the first week of my 10 weeks! I enjoyed it a lot. I definitely know that teaching is what I am meant to do. I am not the best teacher, there will always be room for improvement, but I am proud of myself for making it this far. This week was a 4/5. I don't want to give it a 5 because I know that there will be better weeks to come. I had a great week with my students. 

    This week, I was able to successfully get through my first full week of taking over. It was not as scary as I thought it would be. It is great to have a supportive CE. I was able to get to know my students a little more this week through activities in the lessons and causal discussions at lunch and recess. I have some great kids in my class. One activity that the students completed was a poem about themselves. I learned a lot from their poems! My lessons/experiences this week taught me that I need to model more than I thought. It is easy to sometimes assume that students know what you are asking of them. However, they might not. It is important to always model what you are asking the students to do so they are more confident in themselves as well as complete the activity correctly. My short term goals of completing lesson plans and teaching them successfully still align with my long term goal of passing EdTPA and successfully completing student teaching. In order to meet those long term goals, I will need to be successful in my short term goals. I could have spent more time this week working on my lesson plans early in the week. As usual, indecision impacted my lesson planning process. I go back and forth on a lot of ideas. The first logical steps for next week are to teach my EdTPA lessons and start my lesson plans for the next week early on. 

    This week, I was able to assess data from assessments in my lessons. I taught some of my EdTPA lessons and was able to see what the students had understood from the segment. Next week, our students will be completing the MAP tests which will provide me with a lot of data on the students. One piece of advice that I can offer to other student teachers is to make sure you have a great relationship with your CE. I am very thankful for my CE and her guidance. She gives me feedback, helps me grow, and is easy to talk to. Having that positive relationship can create a world of difference throughout the student teaching experience. 

NCTCS Standard 1: This week, I had the opportunity to lead in my classroom. I took over everything this week. I was able to establish a safe environment, communicate my expectations with the students, and facilitate student learning. 

NCTCS Standard 2:  I have been able to create a positive and nurturing environment in my classroom. I know that my students come from different backgrounds. I communicate with my students and listen to what they have to say. 

NCTCS Standard 3: This week, I aligned my lessons with the Standard Course of Study. I was able to teach the content successfully to the students. 

NCTCS Standard 4: As hard as it has been, I was able to allow my students to work in teams during some activities. This helps them develop social and leadership skills. 

NCTCS Standard 5: I was able to meet with my supervisor to reflect on a lesson that was observed last week. I was also able to reflect on each lesson I have taught this week with my Clinical Educator. 

    I have been polishing my Task 1. I have also taught some of my lessons for Task 2 this week. I will be teaching the rest next week and will begin my commentary. 

At the moment, my clinical educator and myself do not need any extra support.