Hello there,
I just realized that it has been a month since I last posted a blog! That doesn't seem possible! I have been so busy the past couple of weeks... However, I finally found some time to update you on my crazy, busy, yet fulfilling life.
Over the past month, I have finished my last summer class with an A, I babysat the twins again, I went to the first seminar of the fall semester, and I participated in my elementary school's professional development week.
Today, I am going to reflect on my experiences during professional development week.
Monday: Responsive Classroom Workshop
This workshop focused on social-emotional learning environments. Some topics covered include: morning meeting, interactive modeling, logical consequences, and guided discovery. We participated in engaging activities and games from 8:30am to 3:00pm. This workshop was jam-packed with information, for example, we were introduced to a variety of energizers to get students refocused, and learning strategies.
The main focus was morning meetings, this will be the first year that morning meetings will be implemented into the classroom within this school.
If you are not familiar with morning meetings, I recommend looking into them! It is a great way for you to build a strong community, where each child feels safe in the classroom. Every morning, the students come in and greet one another, share something (feelings, experiences, events, etc.), participate in an activity (song, game, etc.), and read the morning message. The morning message is a short paragraph written out on chart paper that can connect past lessons to that day's lesson, or be a thinking challenge question, where students write their answer on the chart paper.
All the teachers in the school participated in this workshop, so it was a great experience to meet everyone on the first day. I was very excited to meet both of my mentors, who are kindergarten and fourth grade teachers. At the end of the day, I was able to see my kindergarten mentor's classroom.
For more information on the Responsive Classroom, visit their website at https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/
Tuesday: ELM Academy
ELM (Engage Learning Model) is a project-based learning approach to science and social studies. ELM follows five steps: launch, plan, research, create/ critique, and share.
I was able to sit in on a kinder team planning meeting. They planned out the first week of school and the ELM plans for the first three weeks.
I missed the last half of the planning, because I attended a diabetic training session with the fourth grade team.
The last part of the day, I helped my kindergarten mentor teacher set up her classroom. I learned how to work a dye cut machine and the copier. I have a feeling I will be using them a lot during my student teaching ; ) .
Wednesday: T-TESS
The state of Texas has a new teacher evaluation system called T-TESS (Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System). All the teachers attended a training on how they will be evaluated over the next year. I even got a fancy reference flipbook on all the parts and pieces of T-TESS.
Each teacher must set two SMART goals that they will focus on. Teachers are now striving to be distinguished, instead of proficient, in these four areas: planning, instruction, learning environments, and professional practices & responsibilities. Each area is divided into subcategories and each subcategory has a rubric on how to accomplish the distinguished educator role.
*Disclaimer: This is how I understood T-TESS, and I have explained it to the best of my ability. However, some of the information may be lacking or incorrect.
For more information on T-TESS, visit http://tea.texas.gov/Texas_Educators/Educator_Evaluation_and_Support_System/Texas_Teacher_Evaluation_and_Support_System/
Thursday: Workday & Meet the Teacher
My mentor teacher has had four student teachers before me, so she has an idea of how to effectively use me in her classroom. In the mornings, she lays everything out that I needed to do, and places sticky notes with instructions on them. I found this to be a good strategy, because I could continuously be working.. and not continuously asking what I should do next.
I relabeled folders and the turn-in box, wrote names on tags, cut-out supply labels, stuffed student information bags, sharpened pencils, hung hall decorations and posters, and helped make a hallway bulletin board.
That evening was Meet the Teacher Night, which for teachers (and student teachers) means Meet the Parents and Students Night.
I met all the kindergarteners who will be in our class, and their parents. They went around the room and placed all their supplies in the appropriate places (according to the labels). Parents also filled out any forms and grabbed their child's information bag, which had their teacher's introduction letter, my introduction letter, a nutritional lunch plan, going-home information, volunteer sign-up sheet, etc.
Friday: Student Teacher Orientation & Workday
That morning, I attended a student teacher orientation for the school district. We were informed of, who to contact with any questions, school hours, the date of a student teacher seminar, what NOT to do, what to wear, how to get terminated from student teaching, the code of ethics, and how to make the most out of your student teaching experience.
At the end of the orientation, we got our student teaching badges with our pictures on them!
Later, I went back to the elementary school to help my mentor get ready for the first day of school on Monday!
I put supplies in their place, ran copies, put labels on folders and student supply boxes, placed papers in their folders, placed supply boxes in cubbies, and made more name tags.
The main thing I've learned from this experience is, I still have a lot to learn. However, I did realize that I have also learned a lot in college about education.
I was able to pull from my experiences in college this week and apply them to the real-world. However, there are a lot of things that I still need to learn more about. For example, designing and developing instruction with all the resources teachers have, like eduphoria, and lead4ward.
I am so very excited to be starting the first day of school tomorrow as a student teacher.
I have been working so hard for the past three years in college to get to this place. I am hopeful that my student teaching will be filled with amazing learning experiences and opportunities that will help prepare me for my own classroom. Yes, a year from now, I will have my very own classroom!
Happy 1st day of school! I hope you have a great year!
In the comments, please feel free to leave any advice you have for student teachers!
I just realized that it has been a month since I last posted a blog! That doesn't seem possible! I have been so busy the past couple of weeks... However, I finally found some time to update you on my crazy, busy, yet fulfilling life.
Over the past month, I have finished my last summer class with an A, I babysat the twins again, I went to the first seminar of the fall semester, and I participated in my elementary school's professional development week.
Today, I am going to reflect on my experiences during professional development week.
Monday: Responsive Classroom Workshop
This workshop focused on social-emotional learning environments. Some topics covered include: morning meeting, interactive modeling, logical consequences, and guided discovery. We participated in engaging activities and games from 8:30am to 3:00pm. This workshop was jam-packed with information, for example, we were introduced to a variety of energizers to get students refocused, and learning strategies.
The main focus was morning meetings, this will be the first year that morning meetings will be implemented into the classroom within this school.
If you are not familiar with morning meetings, I recommend looking into them! It is a great way for you to build a strong community, where each child feels safe in the classroom. Every morning, the students come in and greet one another, share something (feelings, experiences, events, etc.), participate in an activity (song, game, etc.), and read the morning message. The morning message is a short paragraph written out on chart paper that can connect past lessons to that day's lesson, or be a thinking challenge question, where students write their answer on the chart paper.
All the teachers in the school participated in this workshop, so it was a great experience to meet everyone on the first day. I was very excited to meet both of my mentors, who are kindergarten and fourth grade teachers. At the end of the day, I was able to see my kindergarten mentor's classroom.
For more information on the Responsive Classroom, visit their website at https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/
Tuesday: ELM Academy
ELM (Engage Learning Model) is a project-based learning approach to science and social studies. ELM follows five steps: launch, plan, research, create/ critique, and share.
I was able to sit in on a kinder team planning meeting. They planned out the first week of school and the ELM plans for the first three weeks.
I missed the last half of the planning, because I attended a diabetic training session with the fourth grade team.
The last part of the day, I helped my kindergarten mentor teacher set up her classroom. I learned how to work a dye cut machine and the copier. I have a feeling I will be using them a lot during my student teaching ; ) .
Wednesday: T-TESS
The state of Texas has a new teacher evaluation system called T-TESS (Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System). All the teachers attended a training on how they will be evaluated over the next year. I even got a fancy reference flipbook on all the parts and pieces of T-TESS.
Each teacher must set two SMART goals that they will focus on. Teachers are now striving to be distinguished, instead of proficient, in these four areas: planning, instruction, learning environments, and professional practices & responsibilities. Each area is divided into subcategories and each subcategory has a rubric on how to accomplish the distinguished educator role.
*Disclaimer: This is how I understood T-TESS, and I have explained it to the best of my ability. However, some of the information may be lacking or incorrect.
For more information on T-TESS, visit http://tea.texas.gov/Texas_Educators/Educator_Evaluation_and_Support_System/Texas_Teacher_Evaluation_and_Support_System/
Thursday: Workday & Meet the Teacher
My mentor teacher has had four student teachers before me, so she has an idea of how to effectively use me in her classroom. In the mornings, she lays everything out that I needed to do, and places sticky notes with instructions on them. I found this to be a good strategy, because I could continuously be working.. and not continuously asking what I should do next.
I relabeled folders and the turn-in box, wrote names on tags, cut-out supply labels, stuffed student information bags, sharpened pencils, hung hall decorations and posters, and helped make a hallway bulletin board.
That evening was Meet the Teacher Night, which for teachers (and student teachers) means Meet the Parents and Students Night.
I met all the kindergarteners who will be in our class, and their parents. They went around the room and placed all their supplies in the appropriate places (according to the labels). Parents also filled out any forms and grabbed their child's information bag, which had their teacher's introduction letter, my introduction letter, a nutritional lunch plan, going-home information, volunteer sign-up sheet, etc.
Friday: Student Teacher Orientation & Workday
That morning, I attended a student teacher orientation for the school district. We were informed of, who to contact with any questions, school hours, the date of a student teacher seminar, what NOT to do, what to wear, how to get terminated from student teaching, the code of ethics, and how to make the most out of your student teaching experience.
At the end of the orientation, we got our student teaching badges with our pictures on them!
Later, I went back to the elementary school to help my mentor get ready for the first day of school on Monday!
I put supplies in their place, ran copies, put labels on folders and student supply boxes, placed papers in their folders, placed supply boxes in cubbies, and made more name tags.
The main thing I've learned from this experience is, I still have a lot to learn. However, I did realize that I have also learned a lot in college about education.
I was able to pull from my experiences in college this week and apply them to the real-world. However, there are a lot of things that I still need to learn more about. For example, designing and developing instruction with all the resources teachers have, like eduphoria, and lead4ward.
I am so very excited to be starting the first day of school tomorrow as a student teacher.
I have been working so hard for the past three years in college to get to this place. I am hopeful that my student teaching will be filled with amazing learning experiences and opportunities that will help prepare me for my own classroom. Yes, a year from now, I will have my very own classroom!
Happy 1st day of school! I hope you have a great year!
In the comments, please feel free to leave any advice you have for student teachers!
Inspirationally,
Ally
Ally