Week of Reflection: April 16, 2021

  

• Rate and explain your overall experience of the week: 1 - Very difficult to 5 - Great week 5!!! This was my last week as the full-time teacher in my classroom and I loved and soaked up every second of it. We were learning about insects this week, so I turned our classroom into a garden. Every day a different insect was attracted to the garden and we learned about them. We had butterflies, bees, ladybugs, and ants. My students were so excited to look for the new insect every day, and they were able to learn a lot about each one. It is hard to believe that it is over, 10 weeks flew by!

• Response to these questions to end your week:

• • Observe: What pleasant surprises/accomplishments did I achieve this week? My biggest accomplishment this week was my themed classroom and science lesson. I made all of the flowers myself out of tissue paper, and I planned how to introduce each new insect each day.

  • Reflect: What lessons did my work/experiences teach me that I will build upon next week? Next week my CE begins to take parts of the day back. She will be teaching everything before lunch (math and phonics) and I will be teaching everything after (daily 5 and science/social studies). I will be continuing to teach some of the things we learned in science as well as some social studies lessons next week.

  • Focus:  How are my short-term efforts and my long-term goals still aligned? The short term is to complete my portfolio and finish strong, the long term is to graduate and be the best teacher I can be. Making sure I do my best now will help me continue to do my best in the future.

  • Be Productive: What could I have spent more or less time doing? I could have spent more time working on my portfolio this week, but implementing the different insects each day this week took a lot of time.

  • Have Courage:  How did apprehension and indecision impact what I did and didn’t do? I can't think of any way that apprehension and indecision impacted my week.

  • Begin Anew: What is the first logical step(s) for next week? What mental clutter can I clear? I am going to complete as many areas as I can in my portfolio this weekend and upload some things to Taskstream.

Adapted from: Cernoff, M. (2013, August 7). 7 Questions to End Your Week With. . Retrieved July 21, 2014, from http://www.marcandangel.com/2013/08/08/7-questions-to-end-your-week-with/

• What were some data you analyzed this week and how did it help inform your instructional decisions? Our students did another iStation progress monitoring assessment this week. My CE and I looked at their data to plan our WIN groups as well as to adjust our guided reading/writing groups.

• What is one piece of advice you can share with other student teachers? Soak up every second that you have left in your classrooms. Whether you are still teaching, or only observing, enjoy the time you have left with your students.

• NC Teacher Candidate 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. 1b. Teachers demonstrate leadership in the school. I demonstrated leadership in my school this week by attending several meetings and contributing to the items being discussed. One was our plans for our Kindergarten Registration day, and another was as we were discussing plans for next year's needs.

  • 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. 2e. Teachers work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their students. This week I spent time communicating with the parents and guardians of my students about the time that I have spent as their teacher and letting them know the things that I enjoyed about their child.

  • 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. 3c. Teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/disciplines. This week, I did an insect unit and incorporated all different subjects and fine arts activities into the unit. My students enjoyed it, and they were able to learn about insects in many different ways.

  • 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. 4c. Teachers use a variety of instructional methods. I incorporated many different instructional methods this week. We sang, danced, drew, used technology, watched videos, wrote, and read books about insects.

  • 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. 5a. Teachers analyze student learning. My CE and I looked at the data from the iStation assessment to adjust our groups and plans for interventions for our Tier 2 and 3 students.

• Other:

• • What components of your edTPA and portfolio have you started to complete? All of them.

  • What support does your Clinical Educator need from your University Supervisor? What support do you need from your University Supervisor? None at this time.