Molly

Rockefeller
8/30/2015

Student Teaching Weekly Log: Week 1

1. How did you spend your time this week?

This was a hectic week because it was the first week of school and my first
true experience in the classroom full time! I had an amazing week where I
was able to learn a lot about how to begin setting up routines and getting
students minds in the right place for how they are expected to act and what
to do each week. For the majority of the day I was walking around helping
students in groups and assisting the teacher when needed. I graded some
papers and had the opportunity to lead 3 icebreaker activities throughout
the week to let students get to know me and vice versa. The activities went
well for the most part, but learned that I need to be briefer with the
instructions. Another thing both my mentor teacher and I changed
throughout the week was having students repeat the directions back to us.
This seems to work because the students are eager to be called on to repeat
and gives students the opportunity to hear the instructions twice. I tried
this approach with my third icebreaker and I noticed that students paid
better attention.

2. What responsibilities did you have?

My main responsibility was to learn and observe the teacher so I will know
her procedures and understand how she runs the classroom. My mentor
teacher gave me a thirty-minute time slot on three of the days this week to
lead an icebreaker activity. This gave her the opportunity to pull students
and read with them and for me to get to know the students and have them
see me as a teacher and leader in the classroom as well. I found that I was
planning for these activities so I would know how to give directions and try
to plan for various outcomes so we could talk about what happened. It was a
lot of fun and made me excited and eager to have more responsibilities in the
classroom.
3. What were your most satisfying experiences this week?
Throughout the week I found that I enjoyed working one-on-one with
students when they were struggling with problems or not fully
understanding what my mentor teacher was asking them to do. It was
extremely satisfying having the students get and have the aha moment
when I was explaining or trying to prompt them with questions to scaffold
them. Another satisfying moment was when I was talking with three of the
girls after school when I was on parent drop off duty. I asked them what
their favorite part of school was that day and they said doing the activity with

me and that they loved having me in class. That was a feel good moment,
which made me extremely over joyed and feel a part of the class.
4. What were your most challenging experiences this week?

Since I was mostly observing this week I didnt have any true challenging
experiences, I was more so talking in all of my surroundings and just
absorbing all that I saw. The most challenging part was probably adjusting to
the school day and coming to the realization that I am the teacher and on the
other side of the desk. Im still in that in-between place where I dont know
exactly what is happening or what will come next since Im not the full time
teacher. Im learning how to go with the flow and be flexible with plans.

5. What are the plans for the upcoming week?

My plans for the upcoming week are to continue to observe and help out
around the classroom and with various small groups and one-on-one. I will
also try to get more involved in the class and be available to start teaching
with my mentor for various subjects. Im excited to see what this week holds.

Week 2: August 31 Sept 4

1. How did you spend your time this week?

I spent my time this week observing and helping out my mentor teacher. I was able
to work one on one with multiple students who needed more help on various tasks,
which include mathematics (working on place value, number lines, and time) and
reading (I did numerous running records and quick phonics tests).

2. What responsibilities did you have?

My responsibility this week was to do three writing lessons with the whole class. I
planned these lessons with the help of my mentor teacher and went off of what she
did the previous years for the same lesson. I made the lesson my own by making the
paragraphs myself and used prompting questions to get the students more engaged.
I wrote a paragraph and made LOTS of mistakes and had the students help me fix it.
The purpose of the lesson was for students to see that 1. Everyone makes mistakes
and 2. Everyone needs to edit their paragraphs before turning them into the teacher.
We also went over different things like staying on task in your paragraph and
reminding students to indent. The next day I came back to the students with the
same paragraph but made the fixes that they all told me to and added in more detail.
We then discussed how we should be using detail to better describe and explain
things to our readers. The third lesson I came back with a polished and near perfect
paragraph and we went over how a paragraph should look when its ready to be
turned in.


3. What were your most satisfying experiences this week?

I think that my most satisfying experience this week was having the opportunity to
lead and teach 3 20ish min lessons throughout the week. I found that the lessons I
had were planned out and knew where I was headed throughout the entirety of my
lesson and felt prepared for wherever my students would go. When I was asking
students what else needed to be changed for my word choice they pointed out the
word good and we talked about how that was a boring word and we could do better.
This is such a gratifying experience to see students get excited about writing and
fixing my paper. I could easily see how pumped up my students were and how much
they wanted to get there hands on their own writing.

4. What were your most challenging experiences this week?

I was most challenged this week when one of my lessons didnt go as planned. I had
to think on my feet on how to better ask question to get students back on track and
back to where I was going. This showed me truly how flexible I need to be as a
teacher and to adapt with the students. I struggled doing this during my lesson and
felt my head go a million times an hour. I took a deep breath and figured things out
and how to go with the students. This was an interesting experience; yet very
beneficial for me to learn how to go through an experience like this and learn how to
better it for the next time it happens. Now I know I truly need to be ready for
anything and flexible with my plans. Its okay if it doesn't go the exact way I plan and
I need to be ready to go if it doesn't.

5. What are the plans for the upcoming week?

This next week I will be teaching math on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I am
very excited for this experience and have my plans ready to go. I plan on tweaking
my Thursday and Friday plans accordingly to how the ones on the previous day go
and how far we get in the lesson. I used my teachers curriculum book to help guide
me with what Im supposed to be teaching and how to go about it.

Student Teaching Log Week 5

1. How did you spend your time this week?

This past week was my first week of teaching bell-to-bell. It was a tiring and
rewarding experience. I found after every day I was learning something new and
how to better my classroom management. Some days went very well and others I
left knowing that I had learned how to handle a particular situation in a better way.

2. What responsibilities did you have?

My responsibilities were to teach every lesson and plan out the days. My mentor
teacher and I co-taught science on Monday and Tuesday as she has a very specific
way she does science for the entire year and wanted to see it through since she
wasnt completely finished with instruction last week. She does a capacity matrix so
the students will be working independently so they can build their independence.
Now I better know what she expects and how to set it up with the students. After
those first two days I was able to teach on my own bell-to-bell afterwards.

3. What were your most satisfying experiences this week?

I had many satisfying moments this past week, but by far one of the best was seeing
how excited students got while teaching certain lessons. I think that my most
satisfying experience was knowing that I could handle being the bell-to-bell teacher
and planning out/ teaching the entire lesson. I now have more confidence in my
ability and am excited to continue planning for this next week. I feel more confident
about adding more to my lessons now and will try new things this next week of bell-
to-bell teaching.

4. What were your most challenging experiences this week?

My most challenging experience was trying to differentiate properly for my students
in all of my lessons. There is such a wide difference in my classs abilities and I found
myself on the spot trying to differentiate for my students. I know for next week I will
be trying to have more ways to differentiate for my higher-level students as well as
my lower level ones. I found myself often doing this for the lower level ones, yet not
so much for the higher students. By the end of the week I was challenging myself to
better differentiate for those higher students in math and found it going better since
I have rotations in math it gives me more of a chance to give students what they
need and challenge them at their own level.

5. What are the plans for the upcoming week?

I will be teaching bell-to-bell this next week! Im very excited for my second week of
this and to see how I can be better from what I learned last week.