Sunday, November 18, 2012
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.
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Mel,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you got some real learning experiences in this past week. Glad to hear you got an opportunity to do some extracurricular activities after school. This is not what every teacher feels the need to participate in, but you make it sound so fun and rewarding. Sounds as if you are having fun as well as learning wonderful things.
Melanie,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are having full experiences. I think that working with IEPs is so important. I'm glad your teacher thought you did a great job!.
Doing market day was interesting. I'm glad you are involved in the life of your school. It makes a great impression on others and blesses them.
I'm wondering if you can blog on your Parent Teacher Conferences.
Dr. Meyer
Melanie,
ReplyDeleteI also have experience now with completing Present Level of Performance for either IEP or 504 plan students. How detailed are the assessments? The ones I had to complete had separte learning/academic categories, and then sub-categories for each. I would have to rate the student on a scale of 1 - 3 with each sub-category. 1 means needs improvement, 2 being satisfactory, and 3 being a stregnth. Then there were additional comment boxes for each and lastly I had to input the students grade as a percent. How did your parent teacher conferences go? 30 minutes is a long session for each seperate conference. I only had 5 minutes with each parent(s). Hope everything goes well these last two weeks.
-Dan Brackn
Mel,
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to read what you are up to in student teaching. When I sit and read about what you are experiencing, it helps me see that I am not alone. All teachers face experiences that aren't always fun and enjoyable, but like you said, the time with the kids makes everything worth it! Teachers are an interesting bunch of people if you think about it. We all share a passion for teaching kids something about life and helping them take the next step in their educations. Sometimes it can be frustrating to think that all the "extra's" we have to do are just keeping us from truly benefiting the students as much as we could without the loads of paperwork. Thanks for helping keep everything in perspective. Hearing your views so positively about the load of work a teacher carries is inspiring and contagious! Thank you!
Kelly VandenBerg