Internship Week 14 Reflection

Today, I experienced a true loss for one of my students.  I was sad to learn his grandfather passed away and he was extremely close to him.  This was very unexpected, as his grandfather passed away in his sleep.  I just told him how sorry I was and if he needed to talk throughout the day I was there for him.  He turned to my mentor and told her what had happened and she told him how sorry she was and how he can find comfort in the fact that he went peacefully.  My mentor teacher has a way of making you feel very loved and comforted.  I could tell she calmed the student down and was able to help him feel better.  It is this quality that I want to possess.  

I want my students to feel secure and to feel that they can tell me anything.  She has the maternal instinct that I long for, which I’m sure comes from being a mother herself.  Her caring actions are reflected in every aspect of her classroom.  The students come to her for good news, bad news, and news that they might not tell others.  This leads me to my point- teachers are not there solely to teach.   Teachers are there to provide support to our students, be mindful of what is going on at home, and make our classroom inviting, so that students feel comfortable.  Comfort makes us open to many things- students need to feel comfortable in order to learn and function in our classroom.  It is up to use to provide this environment and always be there for our students to feel that way.  The last three weeks of my teaching, I will make it my goal to show my support to students.  

Internship Week 13 Reflection

Practice makes perfect.  That's what they always say! This is something that I have learned throughout the internship, but this is something I would like to reflect on in particular this week.  I admire my mentor teacher for the routine she has created within her classroom.  I can't help but wonder how long it will take me to establish my own classroom routine.

Each day at my internship, the students work on individual work stations for reading.  I really love this idea, but I find myself struggling to balance my time in between all of my students.  All students are on a different level and I feel that individual work is extremely important, so I have tried to accommodate all learner needs.  I feel that the further along I have taught, the better I have become at balancing my time.  However, I think that when I get my own classroom, I will have to start out by doing a lot of the group work with accommodations and modifications initially because I will not have anyone there to help me ease into it. Once my students and I have adapted to the classroom atmosphere and schedule, then I can go to individual station work.

Creating a routine is something that must be practiced constantly.  As I observed my classroom teachers in the early weeks of the semester, I saw how well the students responded to her and everything was so organized.  I want that to be reflected in my student teaching, as well.  The only way that will happen is for me to continue practicing dividing my time where needed and enforcing a set schedule and routine for the students to abide by.  This will be something I will strive for in order to make my classroom an effective learning environment.

Internship Week 12

I realized that there are many things that I have no control over when it comes to schedule interruptions.  This week was certainly a week that I had to adjust my plans in order to accommodate the new schedule that was going on in the school.  

This week, there was a two-hour early dismissal, two assemblies, and a Career Day party.  I only get my students a limited amount of time as it is, so working with the new schedule seemed to really put me behind.  However, this was good practice for me.  I was able to adjust my schedule so my students were receiving the most important instruction that was needed for the week.  

I tried to focus on writing during the reading and writing time so the students had an adequate amount of practice in something I noticed I didn’t incorporate enough the previous weeks (during the first 9 weeks).  I sectioned off my guided reading accordingly so each student got the chance to at least read their book, even if that meant they have yet to finish their comprehension questions.  I made sure to get in as much of my action research in as I could, but could not get the final read in, which is a key part to my study.  However, I have learned to adjust.  I can complete that Monday.  What hasn’t been done I will incorporate into the new week.  

I know I have done the best I can with the amount of time I had last week, and for that I feel accomplished.  I have taken time to reflect on this topic because I know there will be many times that my weeks will be altered.  Through this week, I have learned to prioritize.  What NEEDS done will be completed.  What can be extended will wait until the next week.  As long as I put my students' needs first, then I have done my job.  

Internship Week 11

There are a couple things I would like to reflect on this week.  One of them being my action research project and the other being planning for a substitute teacher.
First, I will reflect on my action research project.  I have to say that I am so pleased with the way things are going! It brings me such joy to see the progress of my student, as well as his boost of confidence at the end of the week when we are finished with his guided reading story.  Even if I see one aspect of improvement, such as three more words being identified allowing the fluency to be more smooth, it brings an instant smile to my face.  I know my student is taking my project seriously, and I know he sees his own improvement.  I have thought about it and I think the next few weeks of my implementation I am going to show him his weekly progress.  I was going to wait to show him at the very end, but I think by showing him at the end of each week, it might motivate him even more! I am really happy that I decided to go with repeated reading strategies.  If there is one thing I could change, it would be to implement it with another one of my students that is on the same guided reading level as the student I did my AR with.  This would have been beneficial because they are already partner reading together, so they would have been working on the same story, as well as the same strategies.  Also, it would have given me more to analyze to see if the strategies would have worked on more than one student.  I will remember this when I do research in my own classroom.
The second thing I am reflecting on is preparation for a substitute.  This took A LOT of time to do.  In a special needs resource room, no two students are working on the same thing, or if they are it's on a different level.  I realized the importance of detail.  You are always on your toes in my classroom! I had to prepare my substitute for the spelling test day- which is certainly the most hectic of them all.  I wanted to give a detailed description so this would run as smoothly as possible for her.  I literally gave her a step by step instruction manual that will aide her throughout the day (hopefully).  I asked her to leave me a note to see what went well and what I could have done to better prepare her so I am looking forward to the outcome on Monday morning.  Overall, I feel that I prepared the sub well, but it is up to them to implement everything I laid out for them.  

Internship Week 10

The fact that I am writing the tenth week of my internship blows my mind! I have no idea where the time has gone.  However, I do feel that I am making more use of my time- so perhaps that is where the time has gone! I have found that every millisecond of time is of use and for this, I have seen a much smoother week.  Guided reading time has been a challenge to me.  I have previously tried having almost each of my 15 students read with me on Mondays, but it finally clicked with me that this just wasn't working.  I have found that it is best to read with half of the class Monday, do their comprehension the next day.  Then do the same with the second half Wednesday and Thursday.  As I talked with my mentor, we both agreed that it truly is all about trial and error.  Whatever you feel doesn't work is worth looking over and reevaluating what might be the best method to fix the errors.  I have found to not be discouraged by something that doesn't work, because it is a lesson to be learned.  I have felt much more confident in my teaching abilities and I feel that I am not afraid to try new things, because I know if it doesn't work, that something else is in store that will.

Internship Week 9

This was a good week, yet exhausting.  I learned a lot about myself as a teacher.  I had quite a bit of behavior issues this week, and I have to say that I let it get the best of me one day.  In the middle of the week, I had one day from 8 in the morning until I left that afternoon that a behavior of a student was building up until finally, an explosion.  I was frustrated, I felt as though I didn't know what to do, and felt helpless.  It was at that point that I realized I will be faced with these situations very often, if not everyday.  It is up to me to deal with it the best way that I can.  As frustrated as I became, I tried my best not to let it show and think to myself about all the things that might be going on in the student's life that was causing them to have a bad day.  I had to remind myself that this behavior isn't happening just to happen, there is a reason and I have to be considerate of the reason.  With that being said, however, I did present a consequence that seemed to reach the student and allow them to understand that respect must be mutual.  At the end of the day, I received something that really touched me and I knew it was said from the bottom of the student's heart.  They came up to me and said, "I'm really sorry, Ms. C." along with a hug.  To me, this meant more than an apology.  This meant that a relationship was established as the student recognized that I am their teacher.  I felt as though the student understood that I truly do want what was best for them and I want them to succeed.
Along with this, I also learned to leave behavior situations to the side and be able to jump from student to student with an enthusiastic attitude and remove my mind from the situation beforehand.  I feel that I did the best I could and felt pretty accomplished as I could go from talking firmly to a student that was possessing an unwanted behavior to a student that is eager to learn.  I've learned that being a teacher is more than teaching.  It is also being a cheerleader, a disciplinarian, and someone to rely on.  These are qualities I am working on possessing- this experience has allowed me to build upon these skills.

Internship Week 7

This week, I learned that sometimes "tough love" needs to be established.  I have learned this week that  I needed to establish that I was an authority figure, and I know I should have done this a long time ago. My students certainly respect me, that wasn't the issue.  I just feel that they didn't take me as seriously as they would another adult figure in the room.  I think it is because they looked at me more as a helper in the classroom rather than a teacher.  This week, I talked to them in a group setting and set some rules.  I let them know that in a week, I will be a full time teacher, and they needed to treat me like one.  I told them that I would appreciate it if they acted the same for me as they did for their classroom teacher.  I talked firmly, yet positively, when something inappropriate happened in the classroom, took apples where needed (behavior plan in the classroom), and encouraged students to do the right thing when I had to correct their behavior.  I feel that the students really took me much more seriously.  I no longer feel that I am looked at as a helper in the classroom.  I feel like I am someone they can come to now initially.  However, if there is one thing I have noticed, it is that my mentor teacher is always extremely positive, even when something undesirable happened.  I have noticed the students do no shut down this way, rather they learn to try harder next time, instead.  I am really excited for this week and will continue to remind them of my position in the class.