Kacey Spencer

First Six Weeks Student Teaching Reflections

8/27/2017
Weekly Reflection 1
I absorbed so much information this week. All of said information culminating in me completing over
half of my classroom community blueprint assignment. I found I can do almost the entire assignment
except the SOMIE lesson plans. I’m quite proud of myself. I’ve been jazzing up the pages I have done,
printing them, and putting them in plastic sleeves in a new binder I bought. I pretty much spent my
entire four days off working on it.
I learned that guided discovery can be used for more advanced academic concepts such as similes. I
found a good video that models it. Finding resources for my ten classroom practices was a bit difficult. It
gave me some great ideas though. One thing I noticed is that I will likely have to create templates for
letter to parents from scratch. Most of the examples I found online were blurry or not up to my
standards. I got excited at the idea of a weekly or monthly class newsletter I could send home to
parents. I really liked some of the templates I found. Good thing I have a talent for design on the
computer, so I can easily create my own templates to meet my needs.
I haven’t started my motivational plan, but when the DRTA asked that I list ten ideas I could use in my
plan, it gave me a good head start for a draft. By the time our first seminar rolls around, I will likely have
the blueprint completed. I need to get started on the data binder as well.
I have so many questions for my cooperating teacher tomorrow. I’m going to make a list to bring with
me tomorrow so I don’t forget anything. I have no idea what to expect tomorrow, but I have a feeling, I
will be able to collect a bunch of artifacts to save either for myself or for my homework assignments.
I have a lot of questions to ask during our first seminar as well. I should make a list of those questions
too while I’m thinking of them.
9/3/2017
Weekly Reflection 2
This week was very full. I met all sorts of building staff at Bamber Valley and got to know my PLC. I went
to at least 4 staff meetings. Some talked about data, others PBIS or scheduling. I learned a lot about how
I plan to set up my classroom for the first day of school by seeing several different rooms at different
grade levels. I compared what I saw with what I read in The First Six Weeks of School and some of it
matched up, some of it did not. For example, I found my cooperating teacher’s room to be almost too
stimulating for the beginning of the school year. The walls were full of displays and information that was
a lot to take in. Her displays were beautiful, just a bit overwhelming for new first graders. I also saw very
sparse classrooms that seemed cold and boring. Classroom decorations aren’t everything and don’t say
much about the quality of the teacher though.
I learned a lot at one of the professional development trainings I went to this week. I really enjoyed the
session about elementary math resources. They talked about how students learn math and the different
stages of learning they go through. It taught me about myself and how my brain works with math. I got a
lot of great artifacts and resources for my homework and my future classroom. My cooperating teacher
taught me about the two by ten method of which I had never head. She said that if you have a student
that often gives you difficulty or gets on your nerves, invite them to your desk to talk about anything
they want to talk about for two minutes. Do this for ten days, and you often find you make a good
connection with that student. I also learned what kind of movement I should be prepared for and how
to dress accordingly. The first pair of shoes I wore hurt my feet so badly, I had to go find something
comfy I could wear all day long. I became even more open-minded about what alternative seating
possibilities are available in the classroom.
I met the families of nineteen of the twenty children in my classroom. I was surprised to find myself
greeting most families that entered the classroom because my cooperating teacher was often talking to
another parent. Sometimes they mistook me for the lead teacher. All of the students seemed excited to
start their first day, so that makes me feel good about the year.
Some included artifacts:
Photos of alternative seating in a fifth grade classroom at Bamber Valley and a Morning Meeting book
my cooperating teacher shared with me.
9/10/2017
Weekly Reflection 3
This week was obviously exhausting. We spent what felt like a lot of time explaining classroom rules and
expectations, and it still doesn’t seem like enough. Students started to come out of their shell and were
less shy about misbehaving. They have started to test the waters. The students have already understood
that I am not “the boss,” so they come to me often to ask permission for things because they think my
cooperating teacher would say no. They also aren’t afraid to goof off or not listen to me. I had a bad
experience with small group work. Students were extremely distracted and I had no authority. I know I
am supposed to learn from an experience like that, but I have no idea how I could have done differently.
Like I said, the students already understand that I am not the “teacher.”
I had opportunities to do some read alouds with the students. I really enjoy the microphone system in
the classroom. One doesn’t have to raise his/her voice to be heard.
We had an unsuccessful morning on Friday. We ran through all we had planned with an hour left over.
And at that point, the students were very restless and distracted. My teacher played some dance videos
and then played a group game. My teacher called the morning a “colossal failure even after 20 years of
teaching.” I thought it was good (for me) to see that even seasoned teachers have unsuccessful days.
The students had great fun playing with the STEM bins. STEM bins are something I would like to include
in my math classroom. They are bins with manipulatives of some sort (Legos, tangrams, geoboards, and
Lincoln logs). Some bins have templates or suggestions of what to build. The second grade STEM bins
have questions such as “how could you make your creation sturdier or hold more weight?”
We administered a Words Their Way spelling test and I was able to score them all since I had done it
before for fourth graders at Riverside.
9/17/2017
Weekly Reflection 4
I have a lot more responsibility in the classroom now. On Monday I led my first morning meeting. It went
pretty well for a first time. The greeting was a high-five greeting. The sharing was everyone’s favorite
season and why. The activity was silent ball. Afterward my teacher advised me how to improve. I should
have modeled the high-five greeting as many of the greetings turned into awkward handshakes. For the
sharing, I should have explained what the seasons were and modeled with a sentence stem. Some
students did not understand the seasons and struggled with explaining why. For the activity, I should
have had clearer game rules. The students really enjoyed silent ball, but clearer rules would have made
it better. On the same day I led math. I taught a mini lesson and then broke the class into math stations.
My cooperating teacher used math stations last year (her first year teaching first grade) and had great
success with it. The only station that had issues was the “choral counting.” I didn’t give the group
enough direction and they became loud and rowdy. If teaching a K-6, I would love to experiment with
math stations. I wouldn’t mind trying stations in 6-8, but I’m really interested in project-based learning.
I lead math again on Tuesday. It went a lot more smoothly with the stations. I had to administer a
number writing assessment. First graders are expected to be able to write the numbers 1 to 120 when
they move to second grade, so we had them practice number writing to determine their current skill
level. Bamber Valley does something called “flexing” in which groups of students of similar skill level are
put into groups and move classrooms for reading or math. I am interested to see how this works next
week.
On Wednesday I led morning meeting again. I was more careful to model the greeting, and it went
smoothly. Sharing and Activity were great as well. During math stations, my cooperating teacher used
Rekenreks with a group. They are similar to an abacus and teach students to (de)compose numbers and
understand part-part-whole. I like hands on manipulatives in math. There are students at all grade levels
that still need physical, visual representations to grasp mathematical concepts.
On Thursday we had NWEA testing. There were a lot of technological issues, but we eventually got all
students through the test. Fortunately, I had experience with using the proctor program of the NWEA
last spring, so I was able to help. It was worthwhile to have multiple exposures to this test.
Friday Morning Meeting was difficult. It was extremely hot as our classroom does not have air
conditioning. Students were very restless and rowdy. I had trouble commanding the room. I am unsure if
it was the heat or that the students don’t see me as the “official” teacher. I have not yet figured out how
to improve in this area.
9/24/2017
Weekly Reflection 5
On Monday we started our morning with a field trip to Quarry Hill. The behavior on the bus ride there
was great, but it slowly slid downhill as the field trip went on. I feel that we did not set the students up
for success before the trip. I read in Teaching Children to Care that a way to invest students in a field trip
is to require all students to come up with a question that they would like to learn about. We also could
have done a better job reviewing behavioral expectations. I feel that my teacher only briefly mentioned
that the students should be expected to behave the same on the trip as they do in school. I do not know
if my teacher gave students a more extensive briefing of the trip on Friday afternoon as I was at a
seminar. So to sum up, I would have gone over expectations more clearly, and perhaps made a writing
assignment of writing a question students’ want answered on the trip.
Tuesday, students had a bus safety lesson on an actual bus. The bus driver quizzed students on danger
areas and bus etiquette. Student behavior was pretty awful. There were many side conversations and
shouting. Students stood on seats even after they acknowledged that they were not supposed to. The
bus driver was very patient. I was surprised we didn’t have a class meeting about being respectful of the
bus driver’s time afterward. We were supposed to take the NWEA reading test on this day, but we
received a phone call that there were technical issues and our test time was cancelled. I have had the
opportunity to see my teacher have to improvise when plans change. She is very flexible and often has
back up activities available.
On Wednesday we had a super short morning meeting as we had the NWEA reading test rescheduled
for 9:30 AM. Instead of the computer lab, we decided to give iPads in the classroom a try. It was a
disaster. It was not a problem with the iPads, but rather a problem with the NWEA testing site. Less than
half of the class was able to successfully take the test. Again, my teacher and I had to be flexible and
keep non-testing students busy. I was observed by my faculty supervisor in the afternoon. I was told I
did a great job differentiating number talks during math stations. My ability to calmly let students finish
their train of thought (even if incorrect) without jumping in is an asset. An area of improvement would
be having a stronger connection between my assessment and learning objectives.
Thursday ran pretty smoothly. My teacher had to teach PETS (Primary Essential Thinking Skills?) in lieu
of the regular PETS teacher because of conflicting schedules. It was a new experience because she and I
had only seen a PETS lesson taught once before. The students were very squirrely and had to learn a
lesson about listening to and following directions. I experienced flex math for the first time. We used a
number writing assessment from the week before and split the students of our class and the
neighboring class into three groups (above, at, and below). In our class, we worked with the “at”
students on number writing (fixing reversals) and digit placement. We did a count and sit activity that
students really enjoyed. For my whole group math lesson with our class we did math game stations as
review. The students were very loud and rowdy. I’m still convinced that the unbearable heat is
contributing to the student misbehavior. As an adult, I can understand that heat is making me irritable,
but the students likely don’t understand why they are struggling with controls.
I used my morning meeting as a platform to have a discussion about bullying. A student mentioned that
an older student made fun of her for forgetting to wear her Bamber Valley shirt. We talked about how
when someone is doing something you don’t like you say, “Please stop! I don’t like it when you do that.”
10/01/2017
Weekly Reflection 6
On Monday, I got to teach something totally new to me. The students were put into four groups
according to their spelling ability. Each group had a different mini-lesson I was to teach them. I taught a
lesson then introduced their first word sort (WTW word sorts I am familiar). The first two groups went
really well. I had very little time to read the mini-lesson and prep, but I am not nervous when it comes to
improvising. The third group began to get very rowdy. It was an odd occurrence because the trouble
makers were three girls who are almost always on task. My teacher and I had to bring the whole class
together and remind them of expectations. Because of the time taken on group three, I had to rush
through group four. Fortunately, I chose to teach the advanced group last, so they needed little support
to understand a word sort. I feel that my teacher and I have been clear about classroom expectations
and rules, so I am not sure what we could have done differently to avoid the situation.
On Tuesday, I reviewed for the math test. Because Bamber Valley does clustering, and I am in a high
cluster, most of the class thought the review was easy and did not want to pay attention. I kept
reminding the class that if they found the review easy, they may work ahead and ignore me. I kept
repeating that I am going over the review for the rest of the class that want my help. That helped a little.
I was only able to get through half of the review this day.
Wednesday, I finished the review and the class was able to complete the written test. I then had to take
individual students into the hall to give them the oral/slate part of the test. It was very time consuming. I
asked my teacher how she does the process when she doesn’t have a student teacher. She said that she
would have to pull students during stamina reading time or enlist para help when available. We both
agreed it would have taken an extra week to get everyone’s test completed and graded. I don’t know
how these things can be expected of a single teacher.
Thursday, I had to finish giving students the oral/slate test. Because of this, my teacher had to teach the
math lesson to the rest of the class. That really bummed me out. I really like teaching math every day.
Friday’s math lesson was hard for me to teach. It was all open-ended discussion about the importance of
numbers in our everyday lives. I wasn’t sure how to plan for such a discussion. I had a pre-made
PowerPoint that asked why phone numbers were important or how one finds where someone lives, or
why the prices posted at the movie theatre matter. There were times where I felt I was talking in circles
and rambling. My teacher did not give me any advice for next time, so it must not have been as bad as I
thought.