This week I had my mid-point meeting and it went really well, I am so grateful to have an SA, FA and my colleagues that consistently support me and help me be the best teacher I can be. I am excited to see what the next six weeks have in store for me and all that I will learn and grow. Some of the goals I have for the coming weeks include; fresh-grade assessment, class management (deciding when to intervene and when not to), hands on and experiential learning, using some inquiry based approaches to learning and use of I can statements as lesson objectives. I was happy to find out that my goals prior to the mid-point meeting aligned well with both my SA’s and FA’s. The one goal I planned to focus on this coming week is fresh-grade assessment and the use of thoughtful and explicit I can statements. Starting on Monday I plan to upload and assess my Daily 3 Math group’s centimeter houses. I also plan to explicitly tell the class what the lesson objectives are each lesson and what they should know and be able to do after each lesson.

As for this coming week I am looking forward to the maker-day on Tuesday and all the creative and innovative projects the students will build. Last week I introduced the classes to what maker-day is and what is expected of students. On Thursday of last week students began to plan out their cardboard creations and all the supplies that are needed and all the steps that students need to take to build/create their masterpiece. And on Wednesday students will be able to showcase their creations for the whole school to see and appreciate. I am looking forward to this week and can’t wait to see the students on Monday!

In last week’s post I discussed the challenges I faced with one particular student and some goals I have to address these challenges. This week things got better and my connection has grown a lot stronger, he is beginning to make eye contact with me and responds to the questions I ask most of the time. On Friday of this week his math group was meeting me at the rainbow table and there were some issues with this student and another classmate. At first it didn’t seem like more than an argument between the two boys but it was much more. My back was turned and one of the boys kept getting up to sharpen his pencil and each time he sharpened it he poked/nudged the one student. Eventually he could no longer take it and shot up from his seat and almost hit the boy who was poking/nudging. My SA saw the tail end of what happened and took both of the boys outside and figured out what happened and a solution to the problem. Afterward my SA followed up with me and had told me that when she was talking with G that she asked him how he should have handled the situation and his response was “Ms.Anselmo has been telling me to try and use my words”. Although G did not use his words in the above situation the fact that he remembered what I had told him and was able to apply it to a real life situation means the world to me. This shows me that I am establishing a connection with me and I believe progress will continue to me made. I spoke to my SA as well as one of the LST teachers on Friday about possible using PECS (picture exchange communication system) with G as a way to offer reminders to him without constantly calling his name or prompting him on what to do next. I am going to try to implement this adaption/communication this coming week. I am excited for this next week and all that I will teach and all that the students will learn.

One more week down, 8 more to go! Again I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by. I genuinely don’t think there is ever a time in the classroom that doesn’t fly by, I always feel like I just don’t have enough time to do all that I planned. That is one of my goals for the reminder of my practicum to be able to effectively plan enough that students are engaged and the learning objectives are met but not too much that I feel let down and frustrated as I am working against the ever running clock. For the next few weeks I am going to attempt to make my learning objectives are clear so students are given the opportunity to reflect back on what they have learned once a lesson is over, not only will this help me teach more effectively it will also give students a chance to learn more about themselves and their own learning. Another area of my teaching that  proved to be challenging for me was specific students and their repeated challenging behavior. During my observation I had called on one individual student a total of ten times, this is less than ideal and something needs to change. I have attempted to establish a relationship/connection with this student that seems to me helpful during one on one instruction or small group instruction. However in a whole class setting challenges still occur, for the next week I will attempt to only intervene when the students behavior is impacting other students learning opportunities. For my observation tomorrow, I will try to remember this as well as quality versus quantity of my lesson planning. I am looking forward to a new week and the excitement and many challenges it will bring!

I can’t believe how fast this week has flown by, it’s been packed with excitement, nervousness and fun! After the first couple days I realized how happy I was to be in this program and to be teaching both classes at Newton Elementary. One of the best feelings is being able to work with all the kids and establish deeper connections with them. I also like the feeling of consistency, although it is all very new it is starting to feel “normal”. When I am at the school everyday I am beginning to feel like I really belong and feel connected to the staff, my SA, my fellow TCs and all the students. One of my goals for my 418 practicum was to work on collaboration with my colleague in the PL Tech cohort and thus far in the practicum we have worked well together and have supported one another whenever needed. We have also decided to do more collaborative planning with our fairy tale unit and a STEM/imagination unit. I am looking forward to the rest of the practicum and the collaboration that will occur between us, however it is definitely still a place where professional growth will happen.

This week I started teaching my SEL unit, measurement unit and my fairy tale unit. All of which started off well and after each lesson my confidence increased and my nervousness subsided. Overall my SEL unit was my favorite to teach as I taught the classes about friendship and relationships, as a class we made a friendship fruit salad. Because it was something that was visual it allowed the students to see what the various components of a healthy and happy classroom are and what happens when a “‘rotten banana” gets added to the mix. My measurement unit started off on a good note however there were some challenges that I faced throughout the week. One area I need to focus on is my transitions between the daily 3 and my timing. I also would like to work on my plans for each daily, plans that are at the correct instruction level and activities that students are able to do without support. To address some of these challenges I have decided to over plan during math with teacher and to have set spaces for each rotation, math with teacher (at the rainbow table), math my myself (pentagon table next to the rainbow table), and math with someone (on the carpet). I also plan to have a very detailed plan for when I am teaching math with teacher and have different adaptations for each of the groups. Lastly I found a lot of the blue group students completed math my myself quickly so I filled in various question starters on the math bulletin board so they can begin to create their own problems. I am all ready to go for math on Monday so I am hoping all of these changes will improve my lessons instruction and daily 3 transitions.