When the Fun is Almost Over.

This week was really good. I was observed for the 4th time and we had a pep rally but it was my 9th week so I would have to give it a 5/5!!!!!

Observe: My pleasant surprise this week is the amount of students that have told me they were going to miss me and they hope I am teaching 8th grade next year so that they can have a chance to have me again. I also had two students bring me gifts and it was so thoughtful. One student got me a little easter box with candy and a bible verse and the other students gave me a notebook the same colors as my wedding colors and wrote me a sweet note. I am really going to miss these kids (well, most of them anyway) but I am excited for graduation and excited to have a classroom of my own. I always write my blogs during planning after I have had two classes and today we are doing an activity with an iPads. The students were given a choice. They could do an activity on the iPad to learn more about factories during the industrial revolution. This activity was a thinglink.com (you need to check it out) and they could navigate this themselves and answer questions, watch videos, and play games that would help them learn more. This could be one individually or with a partner. The other choice was that students could research inventors of the Industrial Revolution and fill out a chart on three of them. They were then to create their own invention and try to “sell it to me” like on the show shark tank. They had to come up with a name for their invention, why people should buy their invention, what makes their invention unique, a slogan for their invention, and a sketch. They were then to create an advertisement poster where they tried to convince people to buy their product. I was pleased with the way the class was divided up. About half of the class chose one thing and the other half chose the other. This happened in first and second block. 

Reflect: This week, being my last five day week as teacher in the classroom is bittersweet. We are finishing up the Industrial Revolution. What my experience with this week has taught me is that kids need choice, sometimes. It is important to make sure that each student is learning in an environment that fits them and I will not only build upon that next week with the continuation of the activity from today but also for the rest of my teaching career. 

Focus: My short term effort for this week was hit on the head with the activity from today. I was working towards completely fulfilling that standard and I think I finally did. This goes back to my long-term goal of making sure that each student is learning and that their learning matters. They say discovery is the best way to learn and these self-guiding activities are great, in my opinion. 

Be Productive: I could have spent more time planning this week. I honestly didn’t because next week is “easy.” We are reviewing for the test on Monday, on Tuesday we are taking the test, and on Wednesday, we have a field trip in the morning and a presentation in the afternoon. 

Have Courage: This week, there was not a whole lot of apprehension that affected my decisions. I actually thought this week I was faster on my feet than I have been and believe me, we had some interesting situations this week. I am proud of what I have grown into and I hope that as I get my own classroom I am able to continue developing my leadership as a teacher. 

Begin Anew: I can clear the clutter of being sad that is it my last week and remember to have fun with my students as much as I can. 

Data: This week I analyzed data in terms of a sheet that had students answer questions very similar to those they will have to answer on the EOG. The questions can right from the story and the answers were right there easy to find. What I found is that some students can not infer or “read between the lines.” If the answer is not explicitly stated then they are not interested or willing to search in the passage. This to me is a problem and something I will try to combat in my own classroom later down the road. 

Standard 1: I have focused on being a leader in the classroom this week because the students look to me for advice and I need to stop looking at my CE so much and make more decisions and this week I did that and made an effort to do so. 

Standard 2: Teachers embrace diversity. This week I have been trying to make sure that I embrace diversity to make sure that all students feel safe and comfortable in my classroom.

Standard 3: This week I tried to make my instruction relevant to my students by giving them a task that is fun, interesting, and modern. 

Standard 4: Teachers integrate and unitize technology in their instruction. This week with the activity we did today I definitely integrated technology. 

Standard 5: This week I was focused on students learning because that is important. It is important for teachers to make sure students are learning their best all of the time. 

#napoleon

This week has been pretty great. I had my first experience with parent teacher conferences and my students played Kahoot and made Instagrams about Napoleon. That being said, this week was definitely a 10/10!!!!

Observe: I achieved a few pleasant surprises this week but most of them came with the parent teacher conferences that we had on Thursday. I had so many parents say how their students were coming home excited to tell them about what they had learned and that they loved me. This may seem silly, but it really made me feel good because some of the students parent’s who said that are of really quiet students who do not seem to enjoy the class or me very much. We also played Kahoot this week and made Instagrams about Napoleon and the students LOVED doing this. They had a great time with Kahoot and I saw some improved quiz grades for sure. They were also so creative with their Instagrams and they turned out so wonderful!! How we created the Instagrams was that in a group they analyzed a picture of Napoleon and answered some questions about aspects of the picture. They did took their answers to the questions to create hashtags on some hashtag sticky notes that I found at Dollar Tree. The next day, I had the students get back into their groups and they had to use their hashtags and picture of Napoleon to create his Instagram, and they were GREAT!!! I was so pleased with how they turned out and the kids had a blast creating them. They were also really excited to play Kahoot. They have been asking since Tuesday if we are going to do it again. I am so glad they enjoyed it and like I said earlier, I can really tell a difference in their scores. 

Reflect: This week I learned that learning can be fun, interactive, and relatable to kids and it doesn’t have to take the entire class time. I also learned that if the students are really into the review or the material they do better on the tests and quizzes that we give them. This may be a no-brainer but there is not always time every day for fun interactive activities. Next week I am going to make sure I am reviewing in a fun way multiple times a week so that the material is being engrained in their heads. 

Focus: This week I have really had them aligned by trying to make the material as relatable to the students as I possibly can.

Be productive: I could have spent more time making sure that I not getting behind and that I am staying on top of what I need to be doing to help make myself and my students successful.

Have Courage: This week there was not really any decision that was hampered by indecision. I am on the tail end of my student teaching so my decisions are not beginning to be influenced by experience to some degree. 

Begin Anew: Next week I just need to stay focused and make sure I am doing everything I need to be doing to be successful

Data: Some data I analyzed this week was the quest that my students took. I compared the grades to the last quiz and it showed me that most grades had improved a lot. Between the two quizzes I had my students do more relatable and interactive things. I also tried to make the material more interesting and it seems to have helped. 

Standard 1: 1d: Teachers demonstrate leadership in their school: This has always been one that I struggled with and this week I feel like I have done something right. I have decided that students need to write more and in the SIP there should be a push for more writing in the literacy component and not so heavy on the reading because writing is literacy also and some of the language and grammar that these students use is terrible. We wrote an essay and I had to teach a lot of the students how to write a complete sentence. How you write is a reflection of how you speak. Writing helps you to develop a formal language that is important for obtaining jobs and for the rest of your life. 

Standard 2: 2a. Teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults. This week I have had quite a few instances that have required me to step in and mediate. I had two students become angry when working on their Instagrams because they did not feel like their group was listening to them or taking their ideas seriously. I also had a student who thought she was being made fun of but the other student was just joking and she became angry and said some inappropriate things to him. I had to step in to make sure that each student was in an environment in which they felt safe and like their opinion mattered. 

Standard 3: 3c. Teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/disciplines. Global awareness was integrated this week in a discussion about the Vienna Congress and the delegates that they sent. We began to talk about how in a month or two it will time for Democrats and Republicans to send delegates to help decide who the nominee for president will be. 

Standard 4: 4b. Teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students. This week I really feel like Kahoot and Instagrams were great for them and really helped them dive into the content. 

Standard 5: 5a. Teachers analyze student learning. I am constantly analyzing data and using different methods to see the best ways for students to learn. 

Who needs compete sentences anyway?

This week I can definitely give a 5. It was a great week but I am very happy for it to be over. We finished a project where my students made a video about a government during the FR and I am so excited about what they created!

Observe: This week we had two major things happen. My students created a video and they wrote an essay. I was pleasantly surprised with some of my students and the way they were able to take information and create a video. Some of the videos were great but others were not so great. I also gave them a peer rubric to grade their group on how well they did during the project. I asked for feedback about the project as well. I was pleased with what the students wrote for the most part but some of them did not enjoy the project (which I expected). My students also had to write a 5 paragraph essay this week based on some Document Based Questions we did last week. THIS WAS A PAIN!! It has become quite obvious to me that students do not write enough. I also did some investigating and found out that in language arts, they are not required to write in complete sentences and they only ever write their spelling words and stems. I became very frustrated with this assignment because I was constantly having to explain how to write a sentence. That being said, after a lot of guidance and reading and rereading essays, some of them turned out to be pretty good. I was very impressed with how hard the students were working on them and there are some students that never work at anything who were working their tails off the complete this assignment. 

Reflect: This week I learned that you cannot please everyone with every single lesson or project. The goal of an activity is to make sure that the students are having the material reinforced and not every student will enjoy every activity. Next week I will combat this problem with making sure we are doing a variety of activities that can please every student at least one day. 

Focus: I am still trying to create lessons that are real for my students. This week with the videos, I tried to make them relate their government to something physical that they had to do or make (song, play, etc.). I am also going to do this next week by doing a simulation of the Industrial Revolution which I hope will be memorable and meaningful to the students. 

Be productive: I could have spent more time explaining to my students how to write. This seems silly but they need to know how to write. Writing is linked to literacy. I think we have moved to a point in education where there is such a push for knowing how to read that writing gets pushed to the side while it is important too. 

Have courage: This week I did not have any moments where indecision impacted what I didn’t do. I have become more confident and I am also becoming more sassy (if that is appropriate). I am finally growing into my skin in terms of decision making. 

Begin Anew: My steps for next week is to make sure I am still confident with my discipline and that I am teaching my students the foundations and that I differentiating my instruction to make sure that every student is getting something out of my lessons. 

Data: This week I analyzed the videos and the some of the essays. Once I looked at some of the essays that have been completed and I took up an entire classes essays because they were struggling. I used this by revamping how I explained it the day before. I also had to create a guided template for them to use because they needed some extra help. 

Standard 1: 1c: begins to develop professional relationships and networks: This week I attended a PLC. My PLC does not meet much but I did attend this week. I also have developed a friendship with a lady who has shared some resources with me. 

Standard 2: 2b: incorporates different points of view into instruction: This one is something I am working on with the DBQ. It uses different POV to describe life before the revolution and different causes. 

Standard 3: 3b: Encourages students to investigate the content area to expand their knowledge and satisfy their natural curiosity. This is one that I have trouble with. This week I have made sure I am encouraging students to learn and investigate things they may have questions about or things that could help enhance their learning. 

Standard 4: 4d: Integrates technology with instruction to maximize students’ learning. I have done this this week by using touchcast for my students to make videos about the French Revolution. 

Standard 5: 5a: Uses data to provide ideas about what can be done to improve students’ learning.: I have done this this week by discussing with my CE about how students writing more could be a good way to improve literacy.