Week 5

2/5-2/8

Classroom Confidential
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This chapter caused me to see my relationship with parents as similar to a teammate. We are working together to help their student do their best and thrive. It helped me to see that parent communication is not just me shooting information and events at parents. Parents are a necessary resource to reaching my students. They have important information that I do not see in the classroom. They can communicate with me things about their students that may or may not work from what they have noticed at home. I also learned that like students, not every parent is the same. Therefore, communication with each parents is not going to be a one size fits all. It is important that I individualize communication with each parent. 

In Novice Teaching we discussed parent-teacher conferences. However, I feel that I learned some more helpful tips from this chapter. I feel better prepared in that I know that it is a good idea to send out an information sheet. Parents may have many questions about the conference and things they are unsure about. By sending out an information sheet that addresses many of the questions, parents will be put at ease. I also learned that to make the most of a conference it is beneficial to have students and parents complete a survey to help me get to know the parent and student better. I appreciated the before the conference advice which was to consider questions parents may ask. I don't want to feel unprepared or caught off guard if a parent asks me a questions so it is good to be thinking of a variety of questions that may come to me. I feel more prepared for the actual conference day by knowing helpful tips such as putting a sign on my room to help parents locate it, making sure to have appropriate seating, and having an agenda set to help the meeting's productivity. I had not previously thought about exactly what happens once conferences are done. Therefore, I feel better prepared by knowing that I should follow up with parents after the meeting through letter or e-mail to let them know how the things we discussed are progressing.  

What Happened

This week was definitely a good one even with the stress of planning my lessons for the EdTPA. I feel like I'm finally getting into a groove. In the beginning weeks I was struggling with my inner perfectionist and found there to be not enough hours in the day. However, as the weeks go by and the more subjects I take over I am starting to get the hang of being content. This week I taught phonics, literacy comprehension, math, and science. My cooperating teacher was out on Monday and Friday we had a snow day due to the weather. Needless to say, it wasn't any ordinary week. 

For science, we had some fun as we began our lesson on Newton's three laws of motion. I introduced lesson 2 of the chapter by having the students perform an experiment. This experiment helped students better understand motion and forces. Generally, I do the experiments whole class to guide discussion and discovery. Also, sometimes materials aren't available for everyone. However, this time I decided to split the students in groups and have them perform the experiment together. We began together as a class discussing predictions, performed the experiment separately, and then came back together to discuss results. I liked how the experiment went and handing over the discovery to students. They were able to practice the scientific method, work with their peers, and come up with conclusions and ideas on their own. This experience caused me to now know that I want to do experiments using this method when possible.

Students were wrapping up figurative language this week with my cooperating teacher. They were split into partners and received a book that included idioms in it. The students then created a book of idioms by choosing and illustrating idioms that they selected from the book they received and describing their meanings. I thought this was fun way to finish up idioms and assess their knowledge in a different way than just a pencil and paper test. The students also began their figurative language iMovie trailers project. The student choose a few different types of figurative language and must choose pictures with examples and write the meanings of each throughout the movie. Again, I find this type of assessment to be much more authentic and meaningful for students. 

In phonics this week I started a new phonics unit on compound words. Normally we begin phonics units by having the students do a blind sort and then check the sort as a class. However, I decided to do a mini-lesson on compound words before to set students up for the sort. I chose a fun activity in which students colored words that were compound green, and words that were not blue. My class really enjoy coloring and drawing so I think this was a great way to incorporate their interests and introduce a new concept. 

In social studies my cooperating teacher made good use of the jigsaw method to cover the explorers. She gave each group or pair of students an explorer that they had to research and record important information about. Then the groups compared their information and will present this coming Monday. This strategy makes the explorers much more interesting than just going through and reading each of them. 

For the Literacy comprehension skill this week the class was working on determining importance in a text. I used this 5 day packet that my cooperating teacher showed me and really liked it. The packet consisted of a variety of texts such as interviews, charts, and table of contents. We began the skill practice as a whole class on day 1. On day 2 we completed one text as a class and then the students completed the third one with their tables. Now the students will do the final two on their own. I think this method of practicing a comprehension skill has a nice flow and use of scaffolding.  This method demonstrates IPTS professional teaching standard 6, which states, "The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills."

What I learned 

Each week of having more and more subjects to plan for has helped me a lot with my flow and pacing. Before when I only had a few subjects I found it more challenging to transition in and out. I also had more time to overthink my lessons. However, when I am teaching more subjects I have gained a new confidence and don't have time to overthink or second guess. This week I started to really feel like I was finally getting the hang of planning and flowing from lesson to lesson. 

I also learned that it definitely helps to plan for the next week during the week to see what is ahead. This strategy definitely helped me as I was trying to plan for the EdTPA and keep up with day to day planning. 

I would say that I learned many useful tools for assessing students learning this week and got to see them in action. Some of the assessment tools my cooperating teacher used were jigsaw presentations, iMovie, and booklets. I really noticed a difference in students attitudes because many didn't realized that they were even being assessed and were genuinely engaged, which I think isn't necessarily a bad thing. I learned quite a bit about communication this week as well. Collaborating with another a teacher can be a wonderful thing but it is so vital to let each other know what you are thinking a planning. In prior weeks I felt more flustered and trying to gather my thoughts. However, this week I got a lot better at communicating with my cooperating my thoughts and plans by copying my lesson plan book for her. I learned about communication through the student in my class with an IEP and paraprofessional. The special education staff, principals, parents, paraprofessionals, and cooperating teachers have been recently collaborating to figure out how to help the student get the most from school and enjoy it again. 

Goals

One of my goals for this upcoming week is to be content in my planning and just do my best. With my EdTPA taping coming up this week there can be some anxiety surrounding the week ahead. However, I am trying to remind myself that overthinking, putting extra pressure on myself, and stressing out will not help me do my best. Another goal of mine for the next week is to take my results from the post step and use it to decide next steps and necessary feedback.