Week 14- Last Day & Final Blog!

Jarrell Harris 

Final Blog

 

Thursday was such a quick day, I taught my final lesson and taught out of my comfort

zone, connecting my MT’s hovercam to my laptop. The lesson ultimately turned out

to be a success. My MT allowed me to walk the students to the bathroom, I am happy and glad to know that she has grown to trust me overtime. In addition to that, the students have immensely become accustomed to me. In celebration of my last day, we went out to the playground and soaked up some sun. Following that, my MT allowed to me to come in and lead a game of charades, it was soooooo FUN! The students truly had a blast! The students did not want me to leave, it was bittersweet. My MT and the students presented me with a padlet on the smart board, with: notes, GIFs & drawing from the students. The students expressed how much they would miss me and how they didn’t want me to go. I shared some tears, I am truly going to miss my MT and certainly, the students. I was even able to leave my MT and the students with encouraging words and lots of gratitude! 

 

• 2 strengths going into FE and now

Going in-

1.     Communicating and collaborating w/ MT      

2.     Easily connecting with the students

Now-

1.     Swifter at developing lesson plans 

2.     More flexible and adaptive 

• 2 areas that you improved

1.     Balancing work and time-management 

2.     More savvy with technology 

• 2 areas that you still need to work on
1. Differentiating 
2. Posing questions that students
• most fun experience

• Doing a Go Noodle dance with my MT and the students for a first time, whew, it was funny and an unplanned workout.

• most challenging experience

• Teaching under deep thoughts of my father passing, but with I did it

• best lesson taught and why

• Best lesson: Teaching ‘comparing fraction’ using my MT’s hovercam, the students enjoyed it and participated heavily
• Why? It stretched me out of my comfort-zone

• worst lesson taught and why

• Worst lesson: Science lesson (Earth Environments)
• Why? I had numerous of laptop notifications popping up on my screen while I taught, in addition to that, I had a very intricate time share my screen and making content visible for the students to see

• 3 things you learned specifically from your CT
1. How to simultaneously cater virtual and in-person hybrid students when teaching 
2. How to grade assignments on Google Classroom
3. How to virtual manage students 
• 3 things you learned about yourself
1. I am more willing than I thought I was to learn from other teachers  
2. My heart is even more for the ECE field, it makes me happy teaching kiddos!
3. I have the ability to manage more than I thought I could manage 
• 3 things you learned about children/students
1. They are like sponges and have the ability to learn with no limits 
2. They are fully capable of bringing knowledge to the table – that I can learn from
3. They mean well and simply need proper guidance 
• 3 things you learned about the education field
1. It is a very demanding field
2. It requires and deserves dedicated educators
3. One big family of diversity (I love it!)
• what you wish you had done differently

• I wish I would have purchased a monitor, this would have helped the flow of my teacher smoother 

• what you are excited about in terms of student teaching

• I am super excited about impacting little ones, meeting families as well connecting with more seasoned teachers!

• what you are most anxious about in terms of student teaching

·      I am most anxious about teaching properly and accurately

 

Week 14 - Final Goodbyes!

 Paulina Kedzierski

April 29, 2021

Thursday was a final day observing first graders at Coretta Scott King Elementary School. The day went by just like any other, except the students were anxious to get the goodie bags that I brought as a goodbye present. So the students don't get distracted during instructions, I decided to hand out the bags at the end of the day. At the end of the day, my CT and I exchanged goodbye gifts. I thanked the students for allowing me to teach them and for taking part in my instructions. At last, with a blink of an eye, the semester is over.

Two strengths going into FE would have to be patience and remote experience from the last semester. Having three children of my own, quickly I have learned to be patient, and take the time to explained things, sometimes multiple times, instead of getting upset with them. Next, last semester I had the opportunity to observe toddlers and preschoolers in person and teach remotely. This experience allowed me to ease some anxiety over teaching remotely. The two areas that I improved since the beginning of the semester are the knowledge of more teaching strategies to instruct the students and more confidence in my abilities to instruct remotely and in person at the same time. After a second lesson teaching both ways, I have noticed that I was more relaxed and aware of students around me and on the screen. With that in mind, I still need to work on two areas that I struggled with while instructing, accommodation and differentiation, and engaging students in problem-solving and critical thinking. I am getting better, and I am aware of what I should have changed in my lesson to get proficient in those areas. I am hoping that student teaching will allow me to perfect the two areas. 

The most fun experience would have to be the activity from last week, Earth Day. We decided to create an Earth Day card. While watching a video showing us how to fold the paper quickly, my CT and I noticed that remote students got frustrated and sad that they could not fold the paper correctly. We paused the video, explained to students that it is OK to get confused, and we started from the beginning. At last, we completed the activity, students had fun, and so we did. The most challenging experience for me was helping a student struggle with every aspect of schooling because he was not present for remote learning. While my CT instructed the rest of the students, I would stay with this particular student and help him with math, reading, and writing. I just hope that next year, when everything goes back to somewhat normal, he will get the help he needs. 

The best lesson taught would have to be Social Studies, Wants, and Needs. The students participated and complete flipgrid where they had to give examples of wants and needs from their lives. It was so much fun reviewing the videos. While doing so, I have noticed that all students could give me many examples for want and needs. They even justified their choices, which was fun to listen to. However, the worst lesson taught must be the science lesson, Vibration, and sound. I knew that this lesson will be difficult, but I decided to proceed with the lesson. The lesson was too difficult for first graders. The hands-on experiment that I wanted students to work with was fun for children, but they had difficulty understanding the reasoning behind the experiment. I will have to work on my science instructions!

3 things learned from my CT

• Each day, take the time to talk to your students about anything they want to share. 
• Stay on top of your daily tasks so you do not fall behind.
• As much as you love your students, you have to be firm when it comes to time and students wanting to play. 

3 things learned about myself

• I can quickly just to changes placed upon a teacher. 
• I can be patient with students, especially with a student who has behavioral issues. 
• Before, I was afraid that I will not know how to act when students misbehave, but quickly I learned that the skill comes naturally. 

3 things learned about the children, students

• First graders are smart children, eager to learn despite the behavior issues that they possess. 
• Children want to be heard and will act so that they can be heard. 
• Children want to be recognized for their successes. 

3 things learned about the education field. 

• The teacher must be flexible and adapt quickly to changes that can happen quickly. 
• Teachers wear many hats!
• Students look up to you, and you must set a good example.

One thing that I wish I would have done it differently is my science lesson. I wish I would listen to my inner voice when it told me that this lesson is difficult. Once I was teaching the lesson, after I noticed that is not going well, I should have change gear the lesson to something less difficult. 

I am nervous about starting my student teaching, but at the same time, I am excited to be in a normal setting with a classroom. Finally, I am anxious about instructing a classroom with twenty or so students. 

Week 14: Last Day!

Mary Fayta

4-29-21

  This is the last day in my MT's classroom! Although I am excited to finish up such a hectic semester, I will miss my MT's students. It was such a great experience being able to teach them and they have been such a joy to teach and to interact with. I will miss them for sure! I will also miss my MT, she has been such a great support to me. She has been so kind and she has taught me many things that I will take with me as I move forward with my career. I also taught my last lesson today! My last lesson was a science lesson on the moon phases. I read the students a book and I also showed them a video as well as explained why the moon phases occur. Then we completed a craft. We drew the earth with all eight moon phases around it. Then to finish the lesson the students completed the exit ticket found below. I thought the lesson went well and I was happy to finish my final one!

   The rest of the day went along as usual. The in class students followed along with what the online students were doing on their Chromebooks at their desks. The students had indoor recess so they got to play with hula hoops in the classroom which was a lot of fun. My MT also wants the students to learn to type properly. So I helped her register all of the students onto a typing website. It looked really cool and the students seemed to enjoy it. At the end of the day I thanked my MT for all of her help and her great advice and I said goodbye to the kids. And just like that the semester was over.

Here is a picture of my exit ticket.

Week 14- Last Day

 Yasmine Mustafa

5-2-2021

It is a bittersweet feeling that we are now at the end. It is so crazy to think that not to long ago we were worried that we would not be meeting the students. I was super nervous in the beginning thinking that we were going to have to be in person while teaching remotely too. I have learned so much and I am truly grateful for the opportunity that was given to us.  

Going into field experience I would say a strength of mine was being confident around students. I have worked with children ages 3-6 for about 4 years. I felt that this helped build my confidence a lot. It helped me both online and in the classroom. A strength I gained now is teaching hybrid and in person. I honestly never thought I would be put in a situation like this but, I am glad I was. It taught me so much. I am also not that great with technology but, I feel that now I learned a lot that I can bring into my future classroom.

Overall, I feel that I improved a lot on my teachings. In the beginning, when I taught my first lesson I did not do so great, now that I have taught my last lesson I got a 100%!! I definitely felt the improvement teaching my last lesson. Given all the feed back, previous lessons, etc., it truly did make an impact on my overall improvement. Another area I would say I improved on is actually engaging both virtual and in person students. I feel that in the beginning I kind of just focused on the virtual students since I only had three students in person. As the term went along I saw my self just naturally including and engaging with both in person and virtual students. 

Two areas that I think I need to work on still is my pace and time. When it comes to my pace I feel that I go super fast teaching my lessons because I always feel like I am going to run out of time. Doing this it makes me forget to include parts of my lessons and not engage students entirely the way I anticipate. It is something that I am continuously working on. Time and pace is very important because it literally can make all the difference in student's comprehension and overall learning. 

• Most Fun experience: Getting to create break out rooms and read with different students of different levels
• Most challenging: Dealing with technology 

The best lesson I taught I feel was my second whole group literacy lesson. I was able to make it a literacy lesson all while focusing on earth day as well. I read a Dr. Seuss book that the students enjoyed so much. I was able to ask higher order thinking questions. Lastly, the students were able to create persuasive letters and read them out loud. They were so excited to read their out loud, I absolutely loved it.

I feel my worst lesson was my Social Studies lesson. It was one of the very first lessons I taught while we were still remote. I was still adjusting to google classroom and a lot of my interactive activities were not working for the students and I felt myself immediately loose confidence. I let minor inconveniences affect my entire lesson. I did learn from my mistakes and improved throughout lessons.

3 Things Learned From CT:

• Not everything goes as planned/ always have a plan B
• Different classroom strategies that help when teaching hybrid
• Never show that you lost your confidence it affects both you and the students. Keep pushing

3 Things Learned About Myself:

• I am capable of way more then I think
• I have a passion for learning new things everyday
• I do a great job and I am in the right field 

3 Things Learned about the education field: 

• New things pop up everyday
• Not everything goes as planned
• There will be bad days

What I wish I done differently, I would say honestly getting to know my MT more from the beginning. We grew such a great bond towards the end of the semester that I wish we would have started sooner. She truly is such a great Mentor and has taught me so much that I will take on. 

I am super excited to start student teaching! I am excited to meet my CT and the new students I will be working with! I am also excited to set up the classroom and make it feel like my very own!

I am most anxious about being in a Kindergarten classroom. I really enjoyed my second graders but, I know that it will be such a great experience! 

One of my favorite pages from the book my MT and students created for me!

Week 14 - All Good Things Come to an End

May 2nd, 2021

By: Kate Drish

What a whirlwind of a semester! As I look back now, I remember feeling very unsure and nervous in the beginning. I was wondering how in the world I was going to get through this semester navigating an online/hybrid learning environment. As I'm writing this I remember how timid I was as a teacher candidate, not feeling confident enough to be able to overcome the obstacles and teach meaningful lessons to the students. This was one of the hardest semesters but I'm happy to say now that I am a better teacher because of the scholars, my MT, these courses, and our professors. I am prepared for anything that's thrown my way! Student teaching- bring it on!!

Going into FE and still presently, I feel as though I did well on my lesson plans and making them engaging for students. I also feel that a strength of mine is being flexible, as this is an important characteristic to have as a teacher. (Note: I can credit the fire drills, tornado drills, change of lessons, and my MT leaving to lead the class by myself, in helping me become more flexible).

One area that I think I improved on is researching and incorporating effective teaching strategies both in my written lessons and when teaching. Another area I feel I improved on is asking higher ordered questions to promote students' thinking. This helped me a lot during those important whole group discussions.

Two areas that I still need to work on are accommodations and differentiation. These areas have always been a struggle for me, and I'm glad to have shown some progress towards this semester at getting better. I hope with student teaching, I'm given more opportunities to learn and practice this skill so I can become the best teacher I can be.

My most fun experience in FE is when I taught my math lesson. Coincidentally, this was the lesson I was most worried about because I, myself, am not good at math and have often hated learning and teaching the subject. However, because I was able to get the students engaged by putting stickers on my face, I received the best feedback on that lesson. The most challenging experience during FE was during my first literacy lesson, where I found out my students had already read the text I was going to go over. This is also when my MT left school and I was asked to lead the students. This was challenging because I felt unprepared and nervous.

My best lesson I taught was probably my second literacy lesson regarding informational texts. This was the best because the students showed a lot of interest in the book I chose, and did very well on their independent practice. My worst lesson I taught was probably my first literacy lesson because of the circumstances that were at hand.

What I learned from my MT:

1. Never doubt yourself, either way the students will learn something. Be confident. 👍
2. Avoid feeling teacher's guilt. You won't always engage each and every student and that's OK.
3. Set boundaries! Teachers are only capable of so much.

What I learned about my myself:

1. I can overcome anything, as long as I work hard.
2. I need to stop doubting myself sometimes.
3. I am meant to be a teacher! 💗

What I learned about the students:

1. They crave to be taught new and exciting information.
2. Education for them is hard right now, so be patient.
3. They still love stickers. 😀

What I learned about the education field:

1. Teachers will never get the appreciation they deserve, its important to know why you started.
2. Students rely on you for a lot of things, even beyond academics. 
3. Its HARD, but so rewarding.

I'm anxious to start student teaching and hope that my MT is cooperative and supporting like mine was for this semester. I've been placed with Kindergarten so I know that will be an adjustment from my now second graders. I'm excited to be one step closer to my degree and teaching license!

Week 14: Last Day in the classroom :(

 Jamia Royal

5/2/2021

Today is the last day in the classroom and I am sad because my MT will not be here due to a funeral and I am going to miss the kiddos. I made my MT a thank you bag with some of her favorite snacks, a card and gift card. Since there was a sub in the class who was not too familiar with working the hoover cam and the class schedule I was a big help to her! We all know how kids can get when we have a substitute so some of their behavior was not the normal if  the teacher was there. I had to let the students know that the same expectations are set even when Mrs. Sikora is not there. The day went pretty well and one kid had said "Ms. Royal isn't this your last day? So that mean we will never see you again?" This made me happy because the students enjoyed me being in the class, but also sad because I might not see these kids again. At the end of the day all the kids said goodbye, said they will miss me, and the kids in person even gave me hugs. I couldn't help it! 

Field experience this semester was challenging due to COVID and learning how to work remote and adjusting to the "new normal" in the classroom. Two areas of strength going in to field experience was communicating with my MT and knowing about the technology. Two areas I improved in was the prior knowledge part of my lessons and adjusting to the remote setting. I know I still need to work on giving clear instructions and setting expectations. I also need to work on closing my lessons and not just ending them so abrupt. The most fun experience was finally being able to come in the classroom and meeting some of the kids in person. The most challenging was teaching remote and the students in person because kids at home tend to be more distracted so it can be hard making sure they are following along with the lesson. The best lesson I taught was my literacy lesson about character change because I enjoyed the book that went along with it, and it also seem like the children enjoyed the book and writing activity. The students were really participating and I can tell they were able to notice freckleface feelings change throughout the story and the cause of it. My worse lesson was my math lesson, because it was my first day being in the classroom so I had no clue how to work anything and I was also really nervous to be teaching my first lesson on the first day in the classroom. 

3 things I learned from my MT, always remember to pace myself, always set clear expectations, and always just go with the flow of things. 

3 things I learned about myself, this semester I learned that I need to take my time, when planning lessons think about all different learning styles, and honestly if teaching is something I really want to do anymore. 

3 things I learned about children, when they are home they do not do as much work, they adjusted to remote learning pretty well, and the children are really tech savvy. 

3 things I learned about the education field, teachers must be flexible and be prepared for any changes in the schedule, teachers are important role models for children, and I can still be in the education field without being a teacher. 

Somethings I wish I done differently is the way I planned some of my lessons, I need to keep in mind that my energy reflects on the students so however I present my lesson the kids will have that same energy. I am excited to be coming to the end of the program and heading into my practicum, some things I am excited about is meeting the teacher I will be working with and also the children! I am most anxious about teaching in general and wondering how the fall semester will turn out for me! 

Saying Goodbye to my Reflective Rays!

 Stefanie Flory 

May 1st, 2021

    Two strengths that I felt going into FE was building a relationship with the students. I always look forward to engaging and getting to know new students. I felt that going into this field experience was going to be challenging while being remote, but I also think that it helped having the experience of being remote for FE1 and 2 so going into this field experience, I felt more confident. Another strength I had was use of technology in the classroom, with the methods courses and last semester, it gave me opportunity to work with technology tools and methods on how to implement technology into the classroom. This helped me with teaching students remotely. Two strengths I feel I have now are asking higher order thinking questions and lesson planning. In the beginning, the area I struggled with most of my lesson was asking higher order thinking questions, so as I taught more lessons, I implemented more questioning as I learned how the students learn and their own knowledge. It helped me to effectively teach intentionally and use their knowledge to build on critical thinking. Another strength I have now, is with lesson planning. I loved being able to use the children’s interests and ideas with the methods course and my cohorts to use fun,interactive and engaging introductions to a lesson and closure activities. From previous field experiences, those were two areas of the lesson that I tend to have trouble with but over the semester, I learned such cool and fun ways to get the students interested :) The two areas I need to improve on is having an engaging introduction to the lesson and knowing how to answer questions from the students when they arise throughout the lessons.The most fun experience in the classroom was the first day of in person students. This was the most fun experience because I have expected and thought that most of the school year, the students would be remote. However, that did not happen because we finally got the OK to go into a school, yay! This was exciting and getting to see the students and talk to them face to face made me so happy and excited for my future as a teacher! 

    The most challenging experience was teaching for the first day with remote and in person learners. This was such a huge learning experience because to be quite honest, I had little to no experience with working with smartboards and technology using it! From what I can recall, most of FE was remote for me as a student! Having to manage, and learn how to use new technology tools as well as managing a classroom of learners from multiple settings!My best lesson, I would say, was my retelling literacy lesson. I chose this as my best lesson taught because I enjoy teaching literacy! I felt this was my strongest lesson taught in the classroom. This lesson involved a read aloud, which I find to be something I strive in. I love reading to students and listening/talking about the stories as we explore and read it. This was really fun too because the students had to retell the story and I told them to pretend like they were telling the story to someone who has never heard it before. I think this really interested my students and they did such a great job at completing the activity! I think that my worst lesson taught was my math lesson. For math, I had to teach the students about currency in other countries. Not only was it my first lesson, but it was content I really was not familiar with. Due to lack of knowledge with the given country, I had to teach myself a lot before implementing it into the lesson. This along with the nerves I had, and it being my first lesson it was a hard lesson for me and for that I would say that was my worst one that I taught. 

    One thing I learned from my CT is how to strive to accommodate for all learners. My CT does a phenomenal job at helping her students in the classroom as much as she can. I love that she worked one on one with students in person, both supporting and challenging them in areas that she knows intentionally helps them.Another thing I learned from my CT is classroom management for remote teaching. Wow! She amazed me at how well she handled her students at home. She made sure she was talking with each and every students, providing opportunities for students to share with their classmates, setting clear expectations in the beginning and allowing the students Lastly, I learned from my MT how important collaboration with other teachers is in the field of education. My MT worked as a partner with another teacher and the communication and collaboration they had was amazing! They worked well together, were close and effectively worked together to ensure that the children were getting the most effective learning, remote and in person. One thing I learned about myself was that I definitely need to give myself more confidence in terms of teaching, and stop doubting it, I am very good at managing both in person and remote teaching, and that I have the love and patience for teaching. Some things I learned about students and education is that children can easily adapt to changes, they are always watching and learning new things and that including their own knowledge can really help success in a lesson.

In terms of student teaching, I am so excited! I have been placed in a kindergarten classroom and that is the grade I really wanted and want to teach after student teaching. This upcoming week, I get to meet with my MT and talk about the upcoming Fall. She is also going to show me around the school! I am looking forward to meeting a new group of students as well! I know it’s going to be such a fun and good experience! I am anxious of course, because I don’t know what to expect until we get started but I am hoping that my MT and I will work well together and she will help me grow as much as this past MT has for Field 3 & 4.

My students made me a sign, a coffee cup with my name on it, and a gift card to Starbucks! 

I will miss my Reflective Rays so much!!