StudentTeachingWeeklyLog

Week:4September8th12th
1. Howdidyouspendyourtimethisweek?Whatresponsibilitiesdidyouhave?
ThisweekIspentpartofmydayobservingandpartofmydaybeingtheprimary
teacher.Itaughtforanhourandahalfinthemorningthatincludedthirdgrademathand
secondgradewriting.InmathIwasteachinglessonscenteredonmoneyandusinga
calculator.Theselessonswereinthesmallgroupsettingandinvolvedalittlemodeling,
butprimarilyworkingthroughtheEverydayMathcurriculum.Inwriting,wecontinued
doingSpellingMasteryandalsostartednwiththeBeingaWritercurriculum.Thefocus
thisweekwashowtogetideasforwritingandImodeledonewayandthenguidedas
studentsbegantheirfirststory.Icontinuedcheckingoutsixthgradersattheendofthe
daybygoingovertheirplannerswiththemandmakingsuretheyhavetheirneeded
materialstogohome.Therewerealsoacouplebehaviorsituationsthatmymentor
teacherhadtoattendtosoIwouldjumpinandimproviseinstructionwhileshewasgone.
Thisincludedeitherfollowingherplansorjusthavingstudentsfindsomething
productivetodosuchaspracticingfacttriangles.
2. Whatwereyourmostsatisfyingexperiences?Whatwereyourmostchallenging
experiences?
Mymostsatisfyingexperiencethisweekwasgettingtostartteachingmath.Math
wasmyfavoritesubjectinschoolandIhaventhadasmuchexperiencewithitasIhave
reading.AssomeonepursuingamathendorsementIwasexcitedtostartusingthe
knowledgefromthoseclasses.Thebeginningoftheweekbeganfrustratingbecausethe
studentswerejustsimplynotgettingit.Iendeduponlygettingthroughthreelessons
insteadoffivethroughoutthecourseoftheweek,butbyFridaytheytrulyunderstoodthe
lesson.EventhoughittooklongerthanIinitiallythoughtsomethingfinallyclickedand
allthreestudentscouldeasilyarticulatetheirlearningtargetandhowtosolveproblems
relatedtomoney.
Themostchallengingexperiencethisweekwasjumpinginasneeded.Mymentor
teacherwaspulledawayseveraltimestodealwithsituationsthroughoutthebuilding,
whichleftthestudentssittingtheredoingnothing.Icouldntjustsitthereandallow
instructionaltimetobewasted,however,Ioftendidntknowwhatherplanswereor
exactlywhatshewasdoing.Therefore,Itriedtostepinbutdidntknowhow.
3. Whataretheplansfortheupcomingweek?
Theplanfortheupcomingweekisformetostartteachingaportionofthirdgrade
readingandthirdgradewriting.IwillbedoingtheReadingMasterycomponentofthe
readingblockandtheSpellingMasterycomponentofthewritingblock.Thisdoesnot
requiremuchadditionalplanningsincethecurriculumsareprettyscripted,butitdoes
givememoreexperienceandinteractionswiththestudents.Apartfromthatadded
responsibility,Iwillcontinueobserving,teachingthirdgrademathandsecondgrade
writing,andwillhelpoutwhereneeded.Iwillcontinuetocheckoutthesixthgradersand

helpwithdismissal.Additionally,Iwillbeattendingaprofessionaldevelopmentdayon
Monday.
Week:6September22nd26th
1. Howdidyouspendyourtimethisweek?Whatresponsibilitiesdidyouhave?
ThisweekIspentmytimefullbelltobellteaching.Iwasresponsibleforallof
theplanning,implementing,andassessing.Jillwashereasaresourceandtoadviseas
needed,howeverIwasprimarilycompletelyindependent.Iadministeredandgradeda
fewassessments,provideddirectinstructionandmodeling,andfacilitateddiscussionsor
independentwork.
2. Whatwereyourmostsatisfyingexperiences?Whatwereyourmostchallenging
experiences?
Mymostsatisfyingexperiencethisweekwasbeingabletoteachbelltobell.It
wasntalwaystheprettiestthingeverandIcertainlyhadmychallenges,butattheendof
thedayIdidit.ThiswasthemostrealteachingexperienceIvehadthusfarandIhada
lotofresponsibilitiesonmyplate,butIgotthroughit.Itwasalsoreassuringtohave
moreplannedthanIcouldgetthroughratherthannotenough!
Themostchallengingexperiencethisweekwasclassroommanagementasa
whole.Iaddedsomeofthemoredifficultgroupsintermsofbehaviorandtheirabilityto
getfrustrated.Therefore,ittookmealittlebitoftimetogetagrasponthedynamicsand
figureouthowtokeepallstudentsengagedandmovingforward.Ifeelbytheendofthe
weekIwasdoingslightlybetterandImlookingforwardtocontinuemovingforward
nextweek.
3. Whataretheplansfortheupcomingweek?
Theplanfortheupcomingweekisformetocontinuefulltimeteaching.Iwill
continueeverythingthatIhavebeendoingwithplanning,implementing,andassessing
3rdgrademath,6thgrademath,2ndgradewriting,5th/6thgradewriting,2ndgrademath,and
allof3rdgradereadingandwriting.

EvaluationofTeachingPostLessonReview
November14thJamesandtheGiantPeachCharacters
Strengths

Character profile Students were engaged and listened intently while I

explaining the directions. They were excited about creating the profiles and
that they had the freedom to create them anyway they choose.
Brainstorming Characters The students were easily able to identify the
characters in the story and we were able to have a small discussion about
which characters they thought should be included in the activity.
Introduction Students did well with giving a brief synopsis of the story and it
helped to set the stage for the activity.

AreasforFurtherDevelopment

Modeling It would have been helpful to have an example to show students

what I wanted it to look like. All the posters looked differently and students
interpreted some of the categories differently or didnt fully understand what I
was looking for.
Group Expectations The students really appeared to struggle working with
others. Many asked if they could work by themselves, got into an argument
and immediately ran to me to sort it out, or pouted in the corner and refused
to contribute to the group. I think many of these issues could have been
resolved if we had gone over it before hand.
Timing We simply ran out of time to share the posters. This took away one of
my main objectives since they were not able to hear about all the characters
and we missed the discussion about how each character plays an important
role in the story.

Whataretheimplicationsforyourfutureteachingandpupillearning?

I would love to revisit the characters at the end of the book and do a similar
activity to see how the characters have changed, how their roles have
changed, and why they were important in the story.
Following the completion of James and the Giant Peach, I would also like for
students to write journal entries as one of the characters. This will allow them
to put themselves in that characters shoes and being to see the struggles
they faced throughout the story.

Asagroup,studentscompletedacharacterprofileon
sixofthemaincharactersfromthetext.Eachgroup
tookaslightlydifferentapproachtoconveythe
requiredinformation.

EvaluationofTeachingPostLessonReview
November18thLifeCycle&Time
Strengths

Read Aloud Students were engaged and listened intently while I was reading
the text. They were looking at the pictures and asking questions as we read.
When they would get distracted, I would stop reading and wait for their
attention and they picked up on this pretty quickly.
Introduction Reviewing the definition of a life cycle and asking students for
the four different parts of the life cycle demonstrated that they had taken
something away from last weeks somewhat chaotic lesson.
Plenary The video I had wanted to show was not working, but I still had five
minutes left before students were to pack up and go home. Therefore, I had
several students come up to the front of the classroom and explain the life
cycle in their own words. This was very beneficial not only for me to get an
idea of their understanding but for their peers to hear it explained in another
way.

AreasforFurtherDevelopment

It was hard to do a read aloud with all the students sitting at their desk. I wish
I had used the document camera to portray the pictures, because the
students got chatty as I was walking around showing the pictures.
I would have liked to have more resources for the students. It was hard for
them to generate the information with only the fact sheets and the read
aloud. In the future, I might show a video or something to do more preteaching.
I think teaching the vocabulary more in depth would benefit the students.
They were struggling to follow the story with some of the words that were
used throughout.

Whataretheimplicationsforyourfutureteachingandpupillearning?

Since we ran out of time, the students did not get the opportunity to illustrate
the stages. That way they are able to visualize the steps that they have been
studying.
Following the completion of the life cycle of a butterfly, I plan to introduce
another animals life cycle. This will reiterate the definition of a life cycle and
give students the opportunity to extend their thinking beyond one example.