Week #2 (August 24 – August 28) Reflection

Sarah Gilbert

Grade: 3

August 28, 2015

Week Rating:  5

1.         This week, I had a very pleasant surprise.  One of my students has parents who are both deaf.  I took ASL as my foreign language at GWU, and so I have been able to use sign language with her father frequently, which has been very helpful.  I was also shocked to see so many advantages of starting the school year with the students.  They came into open house to meet their teacher last week, and met me at the same time that they met Mrs. Lawson.  They came in on Monday understanding that I was a teacher, not someone taking notes in the back of the classroom.

2.         For next week, I will be taking on a few jobs in the classroom, and the experiences of this week will help me work successfully with the students.  I have learned how some of them process information, and I have learned how to serve as more of a disciplinarian in the classroom.

3.         One of my long term goals is good classroom management.  A goal that I had for this week was to make sure that the students understand that I am not their friend, I am their teacher, and to get to know them. I have observed Mrs. Lawson this week, and I have also watched the students as well.  Watching them from the first day is very helpful, and I have learned which students will have a harder time in class than others, and how each student responds to various actions from the teacher.  I have already decided, with Mrs. Lawson’s approval, which student I would like to monitor for the classroom management portion of the portfolio.  I will begin that process in the next couple of weeks.

4.         I wanted to spend a lot more time learning Rutherford County’s curriculum sites LIF and MIF, but I still have not been given a school MacBook or county email, and so I do not have access to these sites yet, which frustrates me a bit.  My CE is very frustrated with it, and is trying her best to get one, but the county office is swamped, and a student teacher MacBook is not on the top of the list.  I do understand this, but it is sort of annoying.

5.         At the beginning of this week, I didn’t feel quite comfortable telling the students to clip down.  While the students did come in on the first day understanding that I was someone in charge, I didn’t quite feel comfortable in disciplinary action to start with; I felt like I was imposing in on Mrs. Lawson’s classroom.  However, when I talked to Mrs. Lawson about this on Tuesday, she assured me to start using more disciplinary action.  Then, I felt comfortable with telling the students to clip down.  Once I started doing this, it seemed like any doubt that I was a teacher was removed from the classroom.

6.         The first step for next week is to begin planning the Math lessons that I will be starting the week after.  Since I don’t have access to MIF yet, Mrs. Lawson will print out the information that I need from the website.

7.         This week, we took the STAR Reading Tests to find out the reading level of each student. The school benchmark ratings are color-coded.  Red means that the student needs urgent intervention, yellow means that the student requires intervention, blue is an on-watch alert, and green means that the student is at or above grade level.  In our class of eighteen students, we had one student in the red category, three students in yellow, three students in blue, and eleven students in green.  All of the students in the red and yellow categories, as well as one student in the blue category, are identified as EC, or currently being placed in the EC program. 

North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards:

·             Standard 1b:  Since I had not started teaching yet, I feel that “teachers lead in the school” is appropriate for this week.  I have collaborated with Mrs. Lawson to set up a functioning work space where the students can learn and thrive.  I have also attended county professional development trainings to better understand Rutherford county’s school systems.

·             Standard 2a:  I chose “teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults” because that is what this entire week has focused around.  I have been able to be a part of these children’s school day from the very beginning, and that allowed the students to be more comfortable with me.  A lot of this week has been spent establishing that relationship from the start.  It did not take long at all for the students to know that they were loved, by both of us, and they were being taken care of.  The students are already picking up the early states of multiplication very quickly, and they know that they have the support of both Mrs. Lawson and myself.  It is really a great classroom environment.

·             Standard 3b:  I have been studying third grade curriculum over the summer, and I have been working very hard to make sure that I know the curriculum.  I feel that “teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty” is an accurate statement.

·             Standard 4a: I am not very experienced with third grade, and I have asked Mrs. Lawson so many questions and taken so many notes on third graders.  I have become much more knowledgeable about third grade maturity levels and thought processing.  I have learned more about the personal life issues that may inhibit these students in the future.  I have worked hard to understand the methods and how children in third grade should be able to respond and learn to things.  Standard 4a,“teachers know the ways in which learning takes place, and they know the appropriate levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students”, was difficult, and I knew that I was not experienced with third grade, so I have worked hard to learn about the grade level.  I still have a lot to learn, but I am definitely making progress.

·             Standard 5a:  This week, the students took the STAR tests to determine their AR reading levels.  The test gives up their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development), which serves as their reading level.  From those results, we could see who made benchmark and who needs intervention.  We also used their results from the STAR test to determine their AR points goal for the first six weeks. Standard 5a, “teachers analyze student learning” was definitely shown in the STAR reading test, and the next few weeks will have even more testing and more data to analyze.  I was also able to attend an EC Referral Meeing for a student in our class.  His father and grandmother was present, and it was a very productive meeting. 

Other:

·             Elements of Portfolio Started/Completed:

o   Resume

o   Website

o   Technology Tools

o   Discussion Boards

o   Philosophy of Education

o   Parent Video Consent

·             Mrs. Lawson does not need anything from Dr. Parker at this time.

·             I do not need anything from Dr. Parker at this time.  Thank you for the encouragement, Dr. Parker!