Ready for My Own Classroom

Hi Everyone!

I'm probably not alone when I say I've been feeling a little discouraged lately. On one hand, I'm so excited about Student Teaching, but the edTPA project coming along with it is what is causing major dread in my life. With days like today, I'm thankful for those people in my life like Dr. Nanney and my mom who are nothing but encouraging souls. Aside from the overhanging dread of edTPA, my experiences this semester have been phenomenal in preparation for Student Teaching. I'm constantly learning about new resources and ideas to use in my future classroom, and I cannot wait!! Every article, document, worksheet, and children's books I read gets me more anxious to be a teacher.

This week has been heavy on the course load, but I'm proud of my perseverance through it all. Every day has been hit with the feeling of giving up, however that feeling has not won. The goal I have set for myself to become a teacher will not be bothered just because of some school assignments - and I must keep reminding myself these assignments should make me a better teacher. I'm also satisfied with my clinical interactions this week! I was able to lead "morning time" completely on Wednesday, talking about the days of the week, student star of the day, and introduced a new letter: Ss. I talk every week about my increasing comfort level with the kids and "getting on the Kindergarten level," but it really is amazing at the growth I've experienced within myself and with the students! The love I have for these students grows and grows, and I'm already sad I have to leave them in May.

In the coming week, I plan to share my 435 edTPA lesson plans with my CE and get her opinion on them. I will be teaching in about 3 weeks, so it's coming up soon! I also have made an action plan to work on my pdp and PLN, since those projects have taken a back burner lately. I class, I contributed with my team working on air resistance. This was a neat experiment and brought to my attention concepts that I don't normally think about, like factors of speed and gravity. I can help my colleagues more in the coming week by getting on top of my game and putting more effort into group projects.

Attached here is a website I came across this week when Dr. Nanney shared with us a worksheet from this source. Let me tell you, I am in love!! This site provides games, activities, worksheets, lesson plans and more for all subjects K-12! I've already searched through many worksheets and have easily been able to relate them to the Kindergarten standards. Also, since we talked about "SWH" in class, here is a short video that further explains what this is and how it helps students in the classroom. SWH causes students to go deeper and better understand their science instruction! Inquiry and SWH seem to go hand in hand.

Working on my edTPA lessons and searching through resources has improved my understanding and action on NCPTS.III.d: "Teachers make instruction relevant to students." I know the students in my class better now that I visit them 3 times a week, and so thinking of ways to make instruction relevant has become more second-nature with every passing week!

I had to look up a current event of the week since I hadn't heard of one, but this article is really cool! A team recently explored the South Pacific Gyre, which is a huge area in the ocean. Typically, tons of tiny pieces of trash gather here, so the team went to check the pollution levels. They found the garbage patch and discovered it's bigger than the size of India! It's so important to recycle and be aware of our carbon footprint on this earth. The site is centered towards students, so a 5th grader could easily report on this.

This week's text facilitation project was great! I learned more about Inquiry-Based learning, but especially loved the video on creating a 5E lesson plan. We have to do so for our water cycle project, so this was quite helpful. I didn't think about different types of inquiry learning-like Structured, Controlled, Guided, and Free. The picture this group included provided informative points.

Finally, these are my tweets of the week:

As referenced above, we worked to deepen our understanding of air resistance yesterday, which was fun and informative! I liked this project because it's cheap and easy. Students get to work with STEM and create their own parachute however they think it would affect air resistance. 

Edutopia talks about classroom management in this post, which has greatly been on my mind this semester. Knowing your students and what they deal with will better help teachers understand and treat students more like the individuals they are.  The article also went into detail about compassion vs. friendship, which is a fine line to walk. Compassion involves listening and showing students you are supportive, while making choices that are in their best learning interests, too.

Technology has been the bane of my educational existence! Like I said, I have such a hard time thinking of ways to integrate technology effectively. This article talks about how technology is helpful in blending different learning styles. It can help with problem-solving and teamwork, like with the breakout boxes talked about in last week's post! I need to become more accomplished in integrating technology since NCPTS. IV.d says, "Teachers integrate and utilize technology in their instruction."

Have a great weekend,

Gabrielle :)