Student Teaching Tales

 Candidate Name: Xiomara Livingston 3/05/2021

Week of Reflection: (list the date of the Friday for week just completed)

   

• Rate your overall experience of the week: 1-Very difficult | 5 – Great week

I would rate this week a 4! This was a really good week! Successfully submitting edTPA was the highlight of my week!

Seven questions to end your week:

• Observe: What pleasant surprises / accomplishments did I achieve this week? I was surprised at the perseverance of my students when we experienced a power outage. The power was out for almost two hours during synchronous instruction time. I led in-person students in several games of multiplication bingo to keep learning going during the power outage. Submitting edTPA was a major accomplishment this week!

• Reflect: What lessons did my work/experiences teach me that I will build upon next week? I will build upon traditional methods of teaching. We use so much technology. When technology fails we need to have a strategy in place to keep learning going. I had more conversations and built rapport with students this week. 

• Focus:  How are my short-term efforts and my long-term goals still aligned? My short term goal is to successfully complete my student teaching experience. My long term goal is to be an effective teacher. Possibly become a National Board Certified. 

• Be Productive: What could I have spent more or less time doing? Now that edTPA has been submitted, I can focus completely on student teaching. I will spend time researching strategies that will make learning fun and engaging for students. 

• Have Courage: How did apprehension and indecision impact what I did and didn’t do? I had some apprehension when reviewing how to multiply fractions with students. Word problems can be confusing for adults. I had courage and showed during the lesson. I worked out the problems before teaching the lesson and realized I made a mistake. I used it as a teachable moment to show students that everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes are opportunities that we can learn from. 

• Begin Anew: What is the first logical step(s) for next week? What mental clutter can I clear? Next week I will continue planning and teaching lessons, and enjoy my student teaching experience. Teaching hybrid is a lot different from being full remote. This experience is teaching me how to adapt and facilitate instruction in any circumstance. 

• What were some data you analyzed this week and how did it help guide your decisions? Some data I analyzed this week was in math. Students have the procedural understanding of multiplying, adding and subtracting fractions. The struggling readers have a very hard time with word problems. This data guides my decision to include multi step word problems during guided practice to help students develop their critical thinking skills.

• NC Professional Teaching Standards (be sure to reference activities from your lesson plans to solidify your answer)

• Pick an element from standard one of the evaluation tools and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. This week I empowered students during our mindset Monday discussion. We watched a video message from Kid President about the importance of not giving up. Students viewed a slide of successful people and the challenges they overcame (Walt Disney, Micheal Jordan, Beyonce, etc).  

• Pick an element from standard two of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. I established a respectful environment by treating students as individuals. I lead group discussions. Each student's contribution was acknowledged and appreciated. I am building positive and appropriate relationships with my students. 

• Pick an element from standard three of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. I teach the NC Standard Course of Study. Each week I plan lessons that are aligned with the NCSCOS. I researched strategies to effectively teach math. Fractions is a big part of the fourth grade math standard. I related math content to literacy to help students make the connection when solving word problems.

• Pick an element from standard four of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. This week I helped students use technology to learn content. Students used Padlet, a digital resource to communicate and collaborate new information they learned about energy in science.

• Pick an element from standard five of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. I took part in a virtual professional development course to deepen my understanding of resources to collect data. 

•  Other:

• What components of your portfolio have you started to complete? I added to my running logs and added evidence for my teacher portfolio.

• What support does your clinical educator need from Mrs. Suttle? My CE does not need any support at this time.

• What support do you need from Mrs. Suttle? I do not need any additional support at this time.