Teacher Duties

This week was a lot of Thanksgiving fun! My students do not have school at all next week because parent teacher conferences are Monday and Tuesday, and they get the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving. That means this week was the last of our Thanksgiving festivities. No more turkey projects.. On to the snowmen and Christmas trees! I need to get on Pinterest to look for cute Christmas activities!

Anyways, report cards were due this week which means that IEP updates were also due. I got the opportunity to help my teacher with these things. (Not always the most fun duties, but definitely something I need to learn how to do.) I was able to take one student, and do his present levels for each of his goals. This is always something that we learned how to do in school, and we would practice writing them, but it doesn't mean as much until you actually do it for a real student of yours. My teacher looked over them before she turned them in, and she said they looked great! Guess all that practice paid off, Dr. Powell!

My teacher and I have been getting ready for conferences next week. We only have 8 students, and each conference is 30 minutes long. That means we're going to have a lot of time to get things done, which is what I need! My cooperating teacher likes to plan pretty far in advance, and that helps me to stay on top of my planning. I am also looking forward to the actual conferences because I have never participated in them before. This is definitely something I will be doing so it's good that I am getting the experience.

On Thursday after school, it was Market Day. They asked the teachers to help out with the orders. There were about 6 teachers and our principal along with some other volunteers that went after school. They said it would take about a half hour. Things didn't run as smoothly as they had hoped, and we didn't leave until 2 hours later. My principal looked over at me and jokingly said, "Welcome to education!"

I have been loving every second of student teaching, and I have been having such a blast! I love being with the students, and it is so rewarding to see them progress. However, there is more to being a teacher than just working with the students. It also includes duties and responsibilities that aren't always as fun as being with the students. I'm glad that I am able to experience everything that teachers need to do, such as report cards, IEPs, and conferences because it is preparing me for my future as a teacher.

Compassion and Prayer

We always learn about how important it is to get to know our students. We need to get to know them so we can understand them on an academic level as well as a personal level. Since I have two placements, I don't get as much time with my students. This means that I need to work hard to get to know each of them in a short amount of time. I have done my best in both placements to get to know my students academically and personally.

My cooperating teacher and I learned something about one of our students this week. We found out that she is having to go through an extreme amount of family issues that no one should ever have to go through, especially as a third grader. My heart breaks for this little girl and her family, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I cannot even imagine going through something like that, and it just isn't fair that she has to. All I want to do is help, but I'm not quite sure how to.

At the faculty meeting, my student and her family were brought up. Not everyone knows exactly what happened so the social worker didn't mention her name, but I knew since she is my student. Everyone was appalled at the situation, and they were more than willing to help. The social worker said that there will be a big jar for donations to the family. When I walked by it a few hours later, there was already quite a bit of money in it. It was really good to know that the teachers and staff that I work with are so caring and helpful.

I want to do my part as well. I am going to donate money to this family just like all the other teachers. Not only will I do that, but as a Christian, I am going to pray for them. This family needs prayer more than anything else right now. I am at a public school and don't know about this family's faith, but I can only hope that they turn to God in this situation because he always provides.

Along with getting to know my students, another responsibility I have is praying for them. I do this for all of my students, and I will continue to pray for my student's family as well. I hope and pray that they are able to get through this, and that they have friends and family to turn to in this rough time. But above all, I hope that they know God is always there for them, and he is on their side.

Unproductive Days

I had another good week of student teaching! It's starting to dawn on me that it is almost over.. And when it's over, I'm done with college! I am also going to start applying for jobs. How crazy is that?!

Halloween was a lot of fun, and the students all looked so cute!! My favorite costumes that I saw the students wearing were a piñata and Mushu from Mulan (my favorite Disney movie). There was a Halloween parade so all of the students could see each other's costumes. All of the teachers dressed up too, and it was so fun! I was Cat in the Hat. (I am really proud of myself because I made pretty much the whole thing!)

Since I've started at Tyler, there has been one or two days where my teacher and I have looked back and thought, "We just did not get much done today." It's not that we just sat around and did nothing. Things came up. There were meltdowns by students, things took longer than expected, and the hours slipped away from us too quickly. 

The scheduling in my classroom is pretty crazy, and we are changing groups every 25-30 minutes. I was teaching math to the first graders, and half way through the lesson I was like, "Ok! First graders: time to go to lunch! Second graders: time for Music! Third graders: bring your Language Arts to the back table!" When I don't finish the whole lesson, I can't continue to teach it because they usually have to go somewhere or it is time to teach another grade. I can't get over how important it is to transition quickly. If the transition from one thing to another takes 10 minutes, then there is only 15 minutes to teach a lesson. 

But anyways, when I have unproductive days with my students, it is important to pinpoint the problem. I need to know why we didn't get much done because that will help to avoid those problems in the future. My cooperating teacher has stressed the importance of reflection, especially on days like those. According to the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, "The competent teacher understands that reflection is an integral part of professional growth and improvement of instruction" (10A). Reflecting on how the school day went will help me grow as a teacher, and it will greatly benefit my students. 

I think that because I care for my students so much, I want them to get the most out of their time at school, and that is why I don't like to have days where we don't get much done. I have witnessed some teachers being okay with an unproductive day as long as the students stay out of trouble. I think that it is extremely important that my students are constantly learning, and they will continue to learn if I can make the most out of each day I have with them.