Personally I had 3 doctors visits this week, and while I might have only missed a few hours of placement each time, it's really hard to catch back up! So much happens in just one class period!!!
This week I gained a lot of confidence when I realized how much my host teacher values my opinions when it comes to instruction. Because I've been so sick most of the lessons I'm teaching are planned collaboratively with my host teacher and our amazing paraprofessional (in our inclusion class).
Speaking of which, at my host school science and social studies inclusion classes do not have a special ed co-teacher. Instead they each get a paraprofessional. The paraprofessional I work with is incredible and does the job of a co-teacher without having the title. I question if the administration feels science and social studies classes are not "rigorous" enough or important enough to require a co-teacher..
Lastly, I had a CPS situation this week with a student and it made me realize how easy it is to become attached to students. It's hard not to worry about them when they're outside of your classroom.
Sorry to hear that you've been having so much trouble with sickness lately. I am sure that makes it tough to focus on teaching. On the bright side: having confidence in the classroom really helps your teaching because you can be more engaging and the students will typically respect you more if you act like you know what you're doing (even if you're just faking it til you make it). That's great that you have a parapro to help with students with disabilities. I have a few students in my class who could benefit from extra attention but it is really tough to do when I am also trying to teach the rest of the class. I am sure that you can also learn a lot about special education from the parapro. I have also noticed how much I care about my students and I have really enjoyed getting to know them over the past month or so.
I can't even begin to understand how difficult teaching must be for you at this stage. Not only do you have an autoimmune disease, new teachers are expected to get sick more often because they are dealing with new germs. However, I believe that your desire to teach will surmount the physical illnesses that beset you. I also think that overcoming illness will help you develop the grit needed to become a truly magnificent teacher.
I think we are getting to the start of the semester where the stress is starting to get overwhelming. Edtpa is a lot of work and not a simple task. My encouragement to myself and you all is that the most-stressful part of the semester is almost over: after mid-March we will not have to think about edtpa again and we will have more time to focus on our teaching and job hunting.
One of the hardest parts of teaching full time for me has been creating exciting, creative and engaging lesson plans. With very limited time it is really tough to create engaging lesson plans every day and I end up reverting to traditional lesson plans in order to save time. I think to really engage students requires lots of time planning which I unfortunately do not have at the moment. I am looking forward to a future with a little more time to focus on teaching.
I have no idea how you are juggling being a full time teacher, job hunting, and being in this intense grad program. I can understand why you would need to stick with traditional lesson plans. Hopefully after mid-march you will be able to spend more time on making amazing lesson plans.
I really appreciate your comment about encouragement during this stressful time during the semester. Even though we're all teaching different contents, we're all experiemcing the same stress with edTPA. There's just so much! I constantly feel like I'm forgetting about something.
My encouragement to myself has been "If I pass, which I will, then awesome, if I don't, which I won't, then I can work at Smoothie King and get discounts on smoothies for the rest of my life." Somehow I convinced myself that's a win-win.
Seriously though, we're almost there, and we are all going to pass the edTPa. We just need to take a deep breath.
Thank you Mike, I think we all really needed this right now. Props to you for working full time and dealing with all this! I think we've all got this :)
I feel like the way we are trained to be a teacher actually makes us not want to be teachers. I can't wait for a time when we can actually be teachers as opposed to students.
I commend you for managing to do everything and still make the effort to ensure that everything is creative and engaging. I find myself reverting back to traditional lesson plans from time to time as well in order to save time--I feel like that's where a good number of us are at, too.
Overall I feel like this past week was one of significant growth. As the weeks pass, I grow more comfortable in my "teacher" skin. I've developed some great relationships with students and feel like I m truly a part of their lives. I have certain students that I joke around with and certain students that just need a "hey, how was your weekend?". One afternoon, I was out in the hall waiting to leave and one of my students was out there as well. I struck up a conversation about going to college, getting out of a small town, etc....what I would consider go-to small talk with a senior student. I enjoyed talking with her, but I didn't think too much of it. The next day, she said to my host teacher, "Did Ms. Blount tell you about the great conversation we had yesterday afternoon? We had a really good talk". Something that seemed so simple to me obviously had a small impact on her. And that made it more meaningful to me. It inspired me to continue reaching out to my students to build those bridges. I have students who I consider to be some of my favorites...yes I have favorites. Deep down we all do. What's interesting is that these students are often the same ones that other teachers find to be a challenge (worded much nicer than they would say). That in itself was just a great reminder that it's not always the student so much as it is the way we interact with that student. I still have a long ways to go but it's been encouraging to have already experienced that first-hand. Teaching itself has been rewarding but like most I am nervous about EdTPA. However, I just remind myself that in 3 months we will be done! Sure it sucks now and it will get suckier before it gets better but it's not forever. These could potentially be the last higher ed classes that we take and I've grown to appreciate that a lot more than I did during my undergraduate years. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I genuinely find it horrible. For instance, last night I made a fresh cup of hot coffee. I sat down on the couch with my laptop and suddenly woke up to said hot coffee poured all over my shirt. Those are the horribly funny things that make college such a memorable time in life. I feel like I'm starting to ramble and there's plenty more I could say in terms of growth but I'll leave my thoughts at that for now.
Glad to hear you are making connections with students. I agree that the stress is mounting right now, but by March 15th EdTPA will at least be done. I think from there it will get a little easier. Having just finished filming my EdTPA, I recommend checking the video every night and really explaining to the student's how important it is to be model students on camera because it could mean the difference between you being a teacher and failing. Even if that is not completely true, it helped me a lot. My second day filming there was a lot of movement in class and every five seconds someone was waving at the camera or doing a dance. It sounds funny, but all that footage was not usable. But they want you to do well, so letting them know what the video means to you will help. Good Luck!
That's awesome to hear how you're building personal relationships with your students. It makes planning instruction a lot easier when you truly know your students and what really engages them.
I feel the same way and it only makes me more anxious to get through this program. The security and comfort that accompany a career will make teaching a truly solid career.
Thankfully we are not going through this alone. Some days that is the only thing that keeps me standing. You are right, things always get worse before they get better. It won't last forever (although it seems never ending right now) and we will be better because of it.
I get what you mean about developing the relationships with students. For some reason I find myself drawn to the ones I hear other teachers talk about in less than flattering terms. I can't help but want to get them in my corner and let them know that I'm in theirs. Someone needs to be. I kind of like all our students, but there are a couple that just pull on my heartstrings more than others.
This week was rough for me overall. I had a three day game over the Great Depression and New Deal that got the students excited and mostly engaged, but it was so tiring as a teacher. I am still not entirely sure my students got what I wanted them to get out of it, and by the end of everyday I had to warn my 4th period class that I was not in the best mood. But I am happy to say I did a good job of keeping the annoyance I had at one class ( particularly my second period) from spilling over into the other classes. I mostly accomplished this by taking my host teacher’s advice: be upfront with your students about why you seem to be in a bad mood. The students then take that into account and try to be better behaved for you, for the most part. Most of my stress stemmed from two student’s in my second period that are clearly pushing my buttons and testing me. I had a heart to heart with one girl, who is always getting in trouble for disrespectful behavior. I don’t know how much it helped because she missed the next two days of the game for being put in ISS because she went off on a different teacher. The one day I had her after our talk went much better and I am hopeful for the future. On my end at least, I feel I understand her a little better now and can adjust my interactions with her accordingly. I had to roll with the punches this week, and had to change my plans based off student’s being pulled out of my class for government testing and scoliosis screenings. Now my final test is moved to Tuesday next week. I am very ready for my school’s winter break and plan to use that time to get caught up on job applications, EdTPA write ups, and planning of the next unit. Overall, I am happy with how my two weeks of solid teaching and planning went. My host teacher was absent Friday, and the substitute said I held my own well. We were doing a Jeopardy review game and I had told my classes that if it went well and everyone was engaged and interacting appropriately, we would play two rounds of Jeopardy. If not, I had a review sheet they could work on to help review. Surprisingly, only my second period was successfully able to avoid the work sheet. Telling me the talk I had with them as a class worked. My second period as a group have a hard time focusing, turning in work, or staying calm. So we had a talk and decided when they enter the class after connections, we will have a minute of head down quiet time. It worked like a charm and I intend to keep it. In conclusion, this week was a learning curve for me, but I now have my teacher mean voice and disappointed voice down. And I know, that even in a bad week, I still enjoy teaching.
As time passes I have become more at home with teaching as a career. I look forward to years down the road when EDTPA is nothing but an unpleasant memory and my time in this grad program is a difficult task that I overcame. However, for the time being I am forced to focus on the present but can only hope that the end of this semester will come soon.
I guess the "honeymoon period" is over. This week has felt like I'm caught in a whirlwind. I will be starting my 10 day/edtpa this week, but it's also PCHS winter break-they get friday and next monday & tuesday out (a blessing and a curse). Also with the slave database project they are doing all semester long, EVERY & ALL fridays are devoted to that. Things have been VERY busy and stressful. Hopefully with the upcoming break, I can recharge and get back in the game.
Just roll with the punches and do what you can with what you got. I'm excited for the break too! I keep telling myself I'm gonna use the time to work on stuff but in reality I'll probably just play pokemon all break XD
I feel you. GMC's schedule over the next few weeks is very hectic, and trying to plan what I need for edTPA and the two week unit with what my host teacher needs, what edTPA needs, and what I need has been very, very challenging. But, I guess that's just a part of teaching...
I'm sure that has to be rough trying to plan around those Fridays. I definitely agree about the winter break being a blessing and a curse. I start filming for EdTPA the first day back from break. I'm betting on the students being extra spirited. But as everyone else has said, it will be over before we know it.
Well this week was pretty eventful. Smooth and good, but also eventful. I started filming for EdTPA and I got into the meat and potatoes of my 10-day unit.
The big highlight for my week came on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, I had planned for the students to participate in a debate. The way the lesson was structured was I would divide the class into teams, have them research their positions, then debate. I gave them the debate questions at the beginning of their research time so they would know exactly what to look for. What ended up happening (with one block) was the students spent about twenty-five minutes on social media, five minutes actually researching, then they'd give simple one-word answers with no explanation (IE: "Do you support this?" "Yes" "Why?" "...I dunno ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ") Needless to say, this really frustrated me, especially since my other American History block did it PERFECTLY.
I reevaluated the lesson I realized I could have structured it better and been clearer with my instructions. I ended up telling the class that and they also told me a bit of context and background would have also helped them out. So I had to go back and reteach the lesson the next day on the fly and it ended up working out :)
Oh, and one of those germ-infested teenagers (who I adore so much) gave me pinkeye. Don't worry though, I'm no longer contagious!
Having to adjust to the differences in each set of students has been one of the biggest learning experiences for me. It's crazy how a lesson in one class can take 30 minutes but in another class it takes 50 minutes (the entire period). It's great that you were able to address the problem and open up that line of communication with the students. It seems to have greatly paid off.
This week was really amazing. On Wednesday, we finally did the living museum that we’ve been building up to for weeks. The result was astonishing. Every one of the museum exhibits was fantastic. One group built an entire speakeasy out of cardboard, another group choreographed an entire 1920’s dance, another built a cardboard truck out of cardboard that had secret compartments where alcohol was smuggled. I don’t know exactly how many people came throughout the two hours, but it was definitely in the hundreds. Being there to help with this project has been my favorite teaching moment so far.
Race has been coming up a lot in my classes. We had a heart to heart with our first period class as they’ve been very talkative and disruptive, and one of the black students said it was just ‘their culture’ (referring to the other black students). Mrs. Lee took this as an opportunity to explain code-switching and, in my opinion, did a great job of it. However, the rest of the class period, a few of the black students jokingly started ‘talking white.’ This isn’t at all what Mrs. Lee or I wanted. When we talked about code-switching, we meant that there is behavior that is appropriate in different situations, not that the black students need to ‘act white.’ It was frustrating, because I want my students to be themselves, but at what point are we asking them to be someone else when we’re asking them to code-switch?
I did a museum project similar to that when I was in fifth grade and it was awesome!! I learned a ton from it and I still remember the projects years later! I'm sure your students both had fun and were able to learn tons!
This week was eventful, that's for sure! On friday there was a threat made by a student on social media about bringing a gun to school. Luckily the sherrif's department took care of it the night before but nevertheless many students were understandably nervous. I tried my best to reassure the students and bring positive and calm energy to the classroom to help them feel better. Surprisingly it worked! The students in first and second period were on task and productive. The students were also being very sweet and giving me paintings they wanted me to have. After second period more and more students started to get checked out of school so we ended up just watching a movie for the remainder of the day. Although that was a stressful ordeal I think I learned a lot about the proper protocol and procedure for instances such as this in schools and i'm glad I could help my students feel better :)
I heard about this situation. I am in the same county, but a different school, and it was amazing to me how quickly false information spread. I heard that he actually brought the gun to school, and just found out that that is untrue.
Honestly, I went into this program prepared for a lot of long nights and busy days. Now I am trying to figure out how to add more hours to the days that I have. The biggest struggle I am having is time. I don't seem to be able to get everything done no matter how late I stay up at night or how early I get up in the morning. The reality is that at some point, you might as well go on to bed because when you get up the next day and look at what you have done in the early morning hours, most of it is a mess and has to be thrown out and done over.
While I love the teaching aspects of what we are doing, the demands of everything together have made me feel like I am not being able to do any of it well. That is difficult for me to swallow. I am already having to relearn content that I haven't looked at in years so that I can turn around and teach it to my classes. With all of that bombarding my mind, I feel like I got a bit of an unexpected blessing on Friday. I keep all of my files in class folders, and I was looking for a document with information to use in my lesson plans when I came across my summary for our June class. Reading what I had written then gave me a glimpse back at how I felt in the beginning of the program. I didn't feel nearly so tired and beat up as I do these days. Then I decided to fine the one from our July classes. I just thought we were busy in July! After reading them, I am just as tired. There is just as much work left between me and a teaching degree. I am overwhelmed by what remains between now and graduation, but.... my perspective has had a bit of an adjustment. I'm too close to the finish line to quit now. I will be like Dori, "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." I think what I wrote in my class summary still holds true, for me at least. Anyone who wants to be a teacher has got to be a little bit crazy. Now I, we, have to be crazy enough to see this thing through to the end.
I know what you mean by feeling tired ALL the TIME! As soon as I think I've got a hold on it, I'll feel my eyes getting heavy and my mind wandering. But, Shari...you did such an amazing job on Saturday with your simulation! You sounded like a teacher and you had the whole class excited to be in your "salon". You really are going to be the most amazing teacher and I wish my kids could be in your classes!
Sorry I'm a tad late on leaving my comment everyone! But overall, I had a very positive and beneficial week 4. I began to incorporate my 10-Day Unit plan with one of my Middle School courses and they met and went beyond my expectations. They all participated great and were very quick to respond whenever we had group discussion during my lessons. The one downside to it all was that I underestimated how knowledgeable my students were and unfortunately found this out after most to all scored perfectly on my pre-assessment; what a joy. That being discovered after Day 1, I had to re-edit my lesson over the next couple of days to raise expectations. With the two projects I had incorporated for the first week, the students met expectations and met the deadlines as well; I couldn't be more proud. The frustrations and stresses that I am experiencing at this point has nothing to do with the classes or the placement itself, but rather all of the work outside of that in the sense of preparing Mini-Lessons for our teaching reading course. I feel that I am not alone with feeling anxious and stressed about these aspects of the semester, but I guess that's how it gets at this point in the semester. Overall I had a great 4th week and couldn't be more excited for the weeks to come, for EdTPA videoing to be finished, and for Winter Break coming up for ACE next week! Thank God Almighty and we got this everyone! Hang-on!
My unit started this week, and it went really well. I was planning to do my edTPA next week, but I learned that they have a break, and now my schedule is all messed up. I am trying to decide what to do, but overall, my week went well.
So this is in response to Shari because somehow I can't comment directly on your post: Shari, we are almost there! Soon we will be done with edtpa and after that it is all down hill! After this program being a full-time teacher will make us feel like we have an incredible amount of free time (although it is still a lot of work)!
My first true mental break down happened this past week. All things considered I guess that's not too bad. Does anyone have any stress tips? I've been getting way too overwhelmed about things that shouldn't bother me this bad.
Planning cohesive/meaningful units has been a real challenge. EdTPA combined with the task of creating solid unit plans from scratch has really stressed me out. Any advice in this area is also appreciated.
This week, I took on another class (one of the intro classes) and I had expressed to my host teacher that I had wanted to use her lesson plans for it since she was still leading the other two intro classes. I have found that I like my plans better! Everyday, I conferenced with my host teacher to figure out what needed to be done and how to go about teaching what they needed to know. What was different about her plans than my plans is that my plans have specific time-stamped strategies and activities for students to do to fill up the whole class period. Hers don't. The good thing is, the projects we came up with have worked really well for the students and they're learning what they need about the topic (shading). Next week, I start my EdTPA filming and my 10-Day unit. Wish me luck!
For the majority of the week, I was out of commission with the flu, unfortunately. I'd never had it before and it totally kicked my butt. On the bright side, I managed to make it to the student talent show--and they were absolutely phenomenal. It was so much fun. My main concern right now is that I am not doing enough for my students in college support. They have made it very clear to me that they are self-sufficient when it comes to working independently, and I have never doubted them--and their performance clearly reflects their ability to take responsibility for their studies, but I worry that aside from asking them if they need help or offering information and clarification, I am useless to them. Or maybe that's the anxiety talking, I am unsure. My world history courses are going well--thankfully, I'm getting the hang of staying ahead with the content, so I feel good, for now.
Personally I had 3 doctors visits this week, and while I might have only missed a few hours of placement each time, it's really hard to catch back up! So much happens in just one class period!!!
ReplyDeleteThis week I gained a lot of confidence when I realized how much my host teacher values my opinions when it comes to instruction. Because I've been so sick most of the lessons I'm teaching are planned collaboratively with my host teacher and our amazing paraprofessional (in our inclusion class).
Speaking of which, at my host school science and social studies inclusion classes do not have a special ed co-teacher. Instead they each get a paraprofessional. The paraprofessional I work with is incredible and does the job of a co-teacher without having the title. I question if the administration feels science and social studies classes are not "rigorous" enough or important enough to require a co-teacher..
Lastly, I had a CPS situation this week with a student and it made me realize how easy it is to become attached to students. It's hard not to worry about them when they're outside of your classroom.
Sorry to hear that you've been having so much trouble with sickness lately. I am sure that makes it tough to focus on teaching. On the bright side: having confidence in the classroom really helps your teaching because you can be more engaging and the students will typically respect you more if you act like you know what you're doing (even if you're just faking it til you make it). That's great that you have a parapro to help with students with disabilities. I have a few students in my class who could benefit from extra attention but it is really tough to do when I am also trying to teach the rest of the class. I am sure that you can also learn a lot about special education from the parapro. I have also noticed how much I care about my students and I have really enjoyed getting to know them over the past month or so.
DeleteI can't even begin to understand how difficult teaching must be for you at this stage. Not only do you have an autoimmune disease, new teachers are expected to get sick more often because they are dealing with new germs. However, I believe that your desire to teach will surmount the physical illnesses that beset you. I also think that overcoming illness will help you develop the grit needed to become a truly magnificent teacher.
DeleteI miss you so much, and I am so sorry that you have been sick. Please let me know if you need anything.
DeleteI think we are getting to the start of the semester where the stress is starting to get overwhelming. Edtpa is a lot of work and not a simple task. My encouragement to myself and you all is that the most-stressful part of the semester is almost over: after mid-March we will not have to think about edtpa again and we will have more time to focus on our teaching and job hunting.
ReplyDeleteOne of the hardest parts of teaching full time for me has been creating exciting, creative and engaging lesson plans. With very limited time it is really tough to create engaging lesson plans every day and I end up reverting to traditional lesson plans in order to save time. I think to really engage students requires lots of time planning which I unfortunately do not have at the moment. I am looking forward to a future with a little more time to focus on teaching.
I have no idea how you are juggling being a full time teacher, job hunting, and being in this intense grad program. I can understand why you would need to stick with traditional lesson plans. Hopefully after mid-march you will be able to spend more time on making amazing lesson plans.
DeleteI really appreciate your comment about encouragement during this stressful time during the semester. Even though we're all teaching different contents, we're all experiemcing the same stress with edTPA. There's just so much! I constantly feel like I'm forgetting about something.
DeleteMy encouragement to myself has been "If I pass, which I will, then awesome, if I don't, which I won't, then I can work at Smoothie King and get discounts on smoothies for the rest of my life." Somehow I convinced myself that's a win-win.
DeleteSeriously though, we're almost there, and we are all going to pass the edTPa. We just need to take a deep breath.
Thank you Mike, I think we all really needed this right now. Props to you for working full time and dealing with all this! I think we've all got this :)
DeleteI feel like the way we are trained to be a teacher actually makes us not want to be teachers. I can't wait for a time when we can actually be teachers as opposed to students.
DeleteI commend you for managing to do everything and still make the effort to ensure that everything is creative and engaging. I find myself reverting back to traditional lesson plans from time to time as well in order to save time--I feel like that's where a good number of us are at, too.
DeleteOverall I feel like this past week was one of significant growth. As the weeks pass, I grow more comfortable in my "teacher" skin. I've developed some great relationships with students and feel like I m truly a part of their lives. I have certain students that I joke around with and certain students that just need a "hey, how was your weekend?". One afternoon, I was out in the hall waiting to leave and one of my students was out there as well. I struck up a conversation about going to college, getting out of a small town, etc....what I would consider go-to small talk with a senior student. I enjoyed talking with her, but I didn't think too much of it. The next day, she said to my host teacher, "Did Ms. Blount tell you about the great conversation we had yesterday afternoon? We had a really good talk". Something that seemed so simple to me obviously had a small impact on her. And that made it more meaningful to me. It inspired me to continue reaching out to my students to build those bridges. I have students who I consider to be some of my favorites...yes I have favorites. Deep down we all do. What's interesting is that these students are often the same ones that other teachers find to be a challenge (worded much nicer than they would say). That in itself was just a great reminder that it's not always the student so much as it is the way we interact with that student. I still have a long ways to go but it's been encouraging to have already experienced that first-hand. Teaching itself has been rewarding but like most I am nervous about EdTPA. However, I just remind myself that in 3 months we will be done! Sure it sucks now and it will get suckier before it gets better but it's not forever. These could potentially be the last higher ed classes that we take and I've grown to appreciate that a lot more than I did during my undergraduate years. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I genuinely find it horrible. For instance, last night I made a fresh cup of hot coffee. I sat down on the couch with my laptop and suddenly woke up to said hot coffee poured all over my shirt. Those are the horribly funny things that make college such a memorable time in life. I feel like I'm starting to ramble and there's plenty more I could say in terms of growth but I'll leave my thoughts at that for now.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you are making connections with students. I agree that the stress is mounting right now, but by March 15th EdTPA will at least be done. I think from there it will get a little easier. Having just finished filming my EdTPA, I recommend checking the video every night and really explaining to the student's how important it is to be model students on camera because it could mean the difference between you being a teacher and failing. Even if that is not completely true, it helped me a lot. My second day filming there was a lot of movement in class and every five seconds someone was waving at the camera or doing a dance. It sounds funny, but all that footage was not usable. But they want you to do well, so letting them know what the video means to you will help. Good Luck!
DeleteThat's awesome to hear how you're building personal relationships with your students. It makes planning instruction a lot easier when you truly know your students and what really engages them.
DeleteI feel the same way and it only makes me more anxious to get through this program. The security and comfort that accompany a career will make teaching a truly solid career.
DeleteThankfully we are not going through this alone. Some days that is the only thing that keeps me standing. You are right, things always get worse before they get better. It won't last forever (although it seems never ending right now) and we will be better because of it.
DeleteI get what you mean about developing the relationships with students. For some reason I find myself drawn to the ones I hear other teachers talk about in less than flattering terms. I can't help but want to get them in my corner and let them know that I'm in theirs. Someone needs to be. I kind of like all our students, but there are a couple that just pull on my heartstrings more than others.
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ReplyDeleteThis week was rough for me overall. I had a three day game over the Great Depression and New Deal that got the students excited and mostly engaged, but it was so tiring as a teacher. I am still not entirely sure my students got what I wanted them to get out of it, and by the end of everyday I had to warn my 4th period class that I was not in the best mood. But I am happy to say I did a good job of keeping the annoyance I had at one class ( particularly my second period) from spilling over into the other classes. I mostly accomplished this by taking my host teacher’s advice: be upfront with your students about why you seem to be in a bad mood. The students then take that into account and try to be better behaved for you, for the most part. Most of my stress stemmed from two student’s in my second period that are clearly pushing my buttons and testing me. I had a heart to heart with one girl, who is always getting in trouble for disrespectful behavior. I don’t know how much it helped because she missed the next two days of the game for being put in ISS because she went off on a different teacher. The one day I had her after our talk went much better and I am hopeful for the future. On my end at least, I feel I understand her a little better now and can adjust my interactions with her accordingly. I had to roll with the punches this week, and had to change my plans based off student’s being pulled out of my class for government testing and scoliosis screenings. Now my final test is moved to Tuesday next week. I am very ready for my school’s winter break and plan to use that time to get caught up on job applications, EdTPA write ups, and planning of the next unit. Overall, I am happy with how my two weeks of solid teaching and planning went. My host teacher was absent Friday, and the substitute said I held my own well. We were doing a Jeopardy review game and I had told my classes that if it went well and everyone was engaged and interacting appropriately, we would play two rounds of Jeopardy. If not, I had a review sheet they could work on to help review. Surprisingly, only my second period was successfully able to avoid the work sheet. Telling me the talk I had with them as a class worked. My second period as a group have a hard time focusing, turning in work, or staying calm. So we had a talk and decided when they enter the class after connections, we will have a minute of head down quiet time. It worked like a charm and I intend to keep it. In conclusion, this week was a learning curve for me, but I now have my teacher mean voice and disappointed voice down. And I know, that even in a bad week, I still enjoy teaching.
ReplyDeleteAs time passes I have become more at home with teaching as a career. I look forward to years down the road when EDTPA is nothing but an unpleasant memory and my time in this grad program is a difficult task that I overcame. However, for the time being I am forced to focus on the present but can only hope that the end of this semester will come soon.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that!
DeleteOh EdTPA, Why must you torment me so....... I am so feeling your pain!
DeletePreach. EdTPA bro. 😖
DeleteI guess the "honeymoon period" is over. This week has felt like I'm caught in a whirlwind. I will be starting my 10 day/edtpa this week, but it's also PCHS winter break-they get friday and next monday & tuesday out (a blessing and a curse). Also with the slave database project they are doing all semester long, EVERY & ALL fridays are devoted to that. Things have been VERY busy and stressful. Hopefully with the upcoming break, I can recharge and get back in the game.
ReplyDeleteJust roll with the punches and do what you can with what you got. I'm excited for the break too! I keep telling myself I'm gonna use the time to work on stuff but in reality I'll probably just play pokemon all break XD
DeleteI feel you. GMC's schedule over the next few weeks is very hectic, and trying to plan what I need for edTPA and the two week unit with what my host teacher needs, what edTPA needs, and what I need has been very, very challenging. But, I guess that's just a part of teaching...
DeleteI'm sure that has to be rough trying to plan around those Fridays. I definitely agree about the winter break being a blessing and a curse. I start filming for EdTPA the first day back from break. I'm betting on the students being extra spirited. But as everyone else has said, it will be over before we know it.
DeleteWell this week was pretty eventful. Smooth and good, but also eventful. I started filming for EdTPA and I got into the meat and potatoes of my 10-day unit.
ReplyDeleteThe big highlight for my week came on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, I had planned for the students to participate in a debate. The way the lesson was structured was I would divide the class into teams, have them research their positions, then debate. I gave them the debate questions at the beginning of their research time so they would know exactly what to look for. What ended up happening (with one block) was the students spent about twenty-five minutes on social media, five minutes actually researching, then they'd give simple one-word answers with no explanation (IE: "Do you support this?" "Yes" "Why?" "...I dunno ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ") Needless to say, this really frustrated me, especially since my other American History block did it PERFECTLY.
I reevaluated the lesson I realized I could have structured it better and been clearer with my instructions. I ended up telling the class that and they also told me a bit of context and background would have also helped them out. So I had to go back and reteach the lesson the next day on the fly and it ended up working out :)
Oh, and one of those germ-infested teenagers (who I adore so much) gave me pinkeye. Don't worry though, I'm no longer contagious!
Having to adjust to the differences in each set of students has been one of the biggest learning experiences for me. It's crazy how a lesson in one class can take 30 minutes but in another class it takes 50 minutes (the entire period). It's great that you were able to address the problem and open up that line of communication with the students. It seems to have greatly paid off.
DeleteOh, protip for the stress: Bob Ross' shows are on netflix and they are an AMAZING stress reducer!
ReplyDeleteRemember: We don't make mistakes, only happy little accidents :)
I always loved watching him. Never did get a paint and brushes though. Had to love his trees!!!
DeleteThis week was really amazing. On Wednesday, we finally did the living museum that we’ve been building up to for weeks. The result was astonishing. Every one of the museum exhibits was fantastic. One group built an entire speakeasy out of cardboard, another group choreographed an entire 1920’s dance, another built a cardboard truck out of cardboard that had secret compartments where alcohol was smuggled. I don’t know exactly how many people came throughout the two hours, but it was definitely in the hundreds. Being there to help with this project has been my favorite teaching moment so far.
ReplyDeleteRace has been coming up a lot in my classes. We had a heart to heart with our first period class as they’ve been very talkative and disruptive, and one of the black students said it was just ‘their culture’ (referring to the other black students). Mrs. Lee took this as an opportunity to explain code-switching and, in my opinion, did a great job of it. However, the rest of the class period, a few of the black students jokingly started ‘talking white.’ This isn’t at all what Mrs. Lee or I wanted. When we talked about code-switching, we meant that there is behavior that is appropriate in different situations, not that the black students need to ‘act white.’ It was frustrating, because I want my students to be themselves, but at what point are we asking them to be someone else when we’re asking them to code-switch?
I did a museum project similar to that when I was in fifth grade and it was awesome!! I learned a ton from it and I still remember the projects years later! I'm sure your students both had fun and were able to learn tons!
DeleteThis week was eventful, that's for sure! On friday there was a threat made by a student on social media about bringing a gun to school. Luckily the sherrif's department took care of it the night before but nevertheless many students were understandably nervous. I tried my best to reassure the students and bring positive and calm energy to the classroom to help them feel better. Surprisingly it worked! The students in first and second period were on task and productive. The students were also being very sweet and giving me paintings they wanted me to have. After second period more and more students started to get checked out of school so we ended up just watching a movie for the remainder of the day. Although that was a stressful ordeal I think I learned a lot about the proper protocol and procedure for instances such as this in schools and i'm glad I could help my students feel better :)
ReplyDeleteI heard about this situation. I am in the same county, but a different school, and it was amazing to me how quickly false information spread. I heard that he actually brought the gun to school, and just found out that that is untrue.
DeleteMore than 60% of the school left. El oh el.
DeleteYikes, that sounds rough! I'm glad everything turned out ok and the students were able to get some comfort in the classroom.
DeleteHonestly, I went into this program prepared for a lot of long nights and busy days. Now I am trying to figure out how to add more hours to the days that I have. The biggest struggle I am having is time. I don't seem to be able to get everything done no matter how late I stay up at night or how early I get up in the morning. The reality is that at some point, you might as well go on to bed because when you get up the next day and look at what you have done in the early morning hours, most of it is a mess and has to be thrown out and done over.
ReplyDeleteWhile I love the teaching aspects of what we are doing, the demands of everything together have made me feel like I am not being able to do any of it well. That is difficult for me to swallow. I am already having to relearn content that I haven't looked at in years so that I can turn around and teach it to my classes. With all of that bombarding my mind, I feel like I got a bit of an unexpected blessing on Friday.
I keep all of my files in class folders, and I was looking for a document with information to use in my lesson plans when I came across my summary for our June class. Reading what I had written then gave me a glimpse back at how I felt in the beginning of the program. I didn't feel nearly so tired and beat up as I do these days. Then I decided to fine the one from our July classes. I just thought we were busy in July! After reading them, I am just as tired. There is just as much work left between me and a teaching degree. I am overwhelmed by what remains between now and graduation, but.... my perspective has had a bit of an adjustment. I'm too close to the finish line to quit now. I will be like Dori, "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." I think what I wrote in my class summary still holds true, for me at least. Anyone who wants to be a teacher has got to be a little bit crazy. Now I, we, have to be crazy enough to see this thing through to the end.
I know what you mean by feeling tired ALL the TIME! As soon as I think I've got a hold on it, I'll feel my eyes getting heavy and my mind wandering.
DeleteBut, Shari...you did such an amazing job on Saturday with your simulation! You sounded like a teacher and you had the whole class excited to be in your "salon". You really are going to be the most amazing teacher and I wish my kids could be in your classes!
Sorry I'm a tad late on leaving my comment everyone! But overall, I had a very positive and beneficial week 4. I began to incorporate my 10-Day Unit plan with one of my Middle School courses and they met and went beyond my expectations. They all participated great and were very quick to respond whenever we had group discussion during my lessons. The one downside to it all was that I underestimated how knowledgeable my students were and unfortunately found this out after most to all scored perfectly on my pre-assessment; what a joy. That being discovered after Day 1, I had to re-edit my lesson over the next couple of days to raise expectations. With the two projects I had incorporated for the first week, the students met expectations and met the deadlines as well; I couldn't be more proud. The frustrations and stresses that I am experiencing at this point has nothing to do with the classes or the placement itself, but rather all of the work outside of that in the sense of preparing Mini-Lessons for our teaching reading course. I feel that I am not alone with feeling anxious and stressed about these aspects of the semester, but I guess that's how it gets at this point in the semester. Overall I had a great 4th week and couldn't be more excited for the weeks to come, for EdTPA videoing to be finished, and for Winter Break coming up for ACE next week! Thank God Almighty and we got this everyone! Hang-on!
ReplyDeleteMy unit started this week, and it went really well. I was planning to do my edTPA next week, but I learned that they have a break, and now my schedule is all messed up. I am trying to decide what to do, but overall, my week went well.
ReplyDeleteI could never be that relaxed about it. I'd be freaking out in your situation.
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DeleteSo this is in response to Shari because somehow I can't comment directly on your post: Shari, we are almost there! Soon we will be done with edtpa and after that it is all down hill! After this program being a full-time teacher will make us feel like we have an incredible amount of free time (although it is still a lot of work)!
ReplyDeleteMy first true mental break down happened this past week. All things considered I guess that's not too bad. Does anyone have any stress tips? I've been getting way too overwhelmed about things that shouldn't bother me this bad.
ReplyDeletePlanning cohesive/meaningful units has been a real challenge. EdTPA combined with the task of creating solid unit plans from scratch has really stressed me out. Any advice in this area is also appreciated.
This week, I took on another class (one of the intro classes) and I had expressed to my host teacher that I had wanted to use her lesson plans for it since she was still leading the other two intro classes. I have found that I like my plans better! Everyday, I conferenced with my host teacher to figure out what needed to be done and how to go about teaching what they needed to know. What was different about her plans than my plans is that my plans have specific time-stamped strategies and activities for students to do to fill up the whole class period. Hers don't. The good thing is, the projects we came up with have worked really well for the students and they're learning what they need about the topic (shading).
ReplyDeleteNext week, I start my EdTPA filming and my 10-Day unit. Wish me luck!
For the majority of the week, I was out of commission with the flu, unfortunately. I'd never had it before and it totally kicked my butt. On the bright side, I managed to make it to the student talent show--and they were absolutely phenomenal. It was so much fun. My main concern right now is that I am not doing enough for my students in college support. They have made it very clear to me that they are self-sufficient when it comes to working independently, and I have never doubted them--and their performance clearly reflects their ability to take responsibility for their studies, but I worry that aside from asking them if they need help or offering information and clarification, I am useless to them. Or maybe that's the anxiety talking, I am unsure. My world history courses are going well--thankfully, I'm getting the hang of staying ahead with the content, so I feel good, for now.
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