Intern Posting 14

I'm very sad to be writing about my last week in the classroom. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by. It seems like yesterday I was meeting the students for the first time during our welcome meeting. I can still see them walking into the classroom that day, some of them hiding behind their mothers and some of them racing toward the toys. I don't think I will ever forget meeting some of the students.

On the first day of kindergarten, many children and their parents came in crying. A lot of the children had difficulty adjusting, and many did for several weeks after. Looking back at that time now makes it easy to see the progressions each child has made. The children rarely, if ever, cry for their parents and there are many friendships in our classroom now. Each child has grown educationally and to witness their progressions was more rewarding than anything I have ever experienced in my life. I really feel like I made a difference somewhere.

My experience in this classroom will always be a part of my life. I could not have asked for a better mentor teacher. She was always there for me, both professionally and personally. She respected me and taught me more than I ever would have imagined. Her aide was tremendous and very helpful as well. I think we made a fantastic team together. I have grown so much as an educator and also as a person. I now have confidence that I can be in charge of my own classroom and I also know exactly why I chose to teach kindergarten. I will never forget my mentor or these students and how they impacted my life.

Intern Posting 13

This week was the last week that I was teaching 100% of the time. I am very sad to think that I will be leaving soon, but I am happy with the improvements I have made as an educator. I have seen myself learn how to finally take control and manage the classroom when students are being difficult. At first, I had difficulty giving the students a light when needed. However and thankfully, I have learned that students don't respond well to multiple warnings and that the situation will work in my favor when I take control of it.

I have also seen myself grow more confident in my teaching skills. Before this year, I never had much of an opportunity to be 100% in control of the classroom. I did lessons on my own before, but never for an entire day or with planning everything on my own. I am happy to have had the opportunity to take control because I now know that I can accomplish it. I can take the time to plans weeks in advance and I can make lessons that benefit each of my students. I did make mistakes along the way, but I am becoming becoming better and more confident each day.

I can't believe my time of teaching at East Dale has come to end. I believe that I am very prepared for my own future classrooms, but I know there is still a great deal to learn. Mrs. Koski was great and more helpful than I ever imagined. She made me feel like I can be a good teacher and made me realize why teaching is something that I want to do for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for this opportunity and I know I will take these moments with me forever.

Intern Posting 12

This week I was more in control of the classroom than ever. My mentor teacher had to take half of the day off on Monday and Tuesday and she also took all day off on Thursday. Although I really like my mentor teacher and love to have her in the classroom, there is just always that little bit of excitement knowing that the class is really mine for the day! I definitely still need my mentor teacher's guidance but knowing she's not there to help me is challenging and exciting in that manner.

On Monday when my mentor teacher left for the afternoon, the students were surprisingly well behaved. I think they are just so used to me doing math in the afternoon that this was not anything out of the ordinary for them. However, one child did receive a demerit and neither I nor the aide new how to properly fill out the form. On Tuesday morning, the students were very loud and didn't seem to want to listen. I had to be more stern than usual, but after a while they became better behaved.

Although I have a lot of practice in the classroom, I believe that being alone with the students provides me with greater insight into what my first year of teaching will be like. I must admit, after Tuesday I was a little overwhelmed so I know I still need more help. However, I love being in the classroom and love to learn more each and everyday!

Intern Posting 11

This week was a shorter week due to a holiday on Friday, but it was also one of the first weeks that I really began to feel like I was getting into the swing of things. I feel so much more comfortable with the organizational system my mentor teacher has set up in the classroom and I even think I might adopt her system in the future! I also have figured out how to plan for entire weeks. Although I still get a lot of help from my mentor teacher, I now know when to get material ready and I have found it easy to create weekly lesson plans. Planning for 100% of teaching was difficult for me but I am surprised at how easily I have adapted!

Along with getting into the swing of things, I have finally realized that my time in kindergarten is quickly coming to an end. The thought of leaving the classroom in just a few weeks is very hard for me to handle. I have been a part of the students' lives since the second they walked through the front door. It is difficult to realize that I have to leave halfway through the school year and I know I will miss everyone very much. However, I am already looking forward to the chance to come back to the classroom during my contract hours. I have learned so much from these students and know there is much more to learn!

Intern Posting 10

I am well into my action research by now and have found myself as interested as ever. At the beginning of my research I was still uncertain of what paths to take or what data to collect, but today was one of the first days that I realized I am right on track. I have spent about 5 weeks collecting data. So far, my data collection has been extension and I realized that I have a huge amount of data. I have at least 5 different letter recognition assessment scores for each student, at least 5 different writing examples for each student, Benchmark test scores, learning preference observations and assessment scores, and also information from my mentor teacher in the form of notes. Today was the first day that I realized just how much data I have collected.

When I turned in my approval form to my small group facilitator, she made a note of how my action research seemed like a lot of work. I will be honest and say that at the time I did not understand why she thought this research would require a lot of work. However, now that I am deep into my research, I realize what she was saying. I may have collected a ton of data, but I needed to and I also need to collect more. With my action research I am looking at learning preferences, teaching styles, letter recognition, and writing skills. Although I am interested in all that I am researching, I now understand that I am taking on a lot of work.

I am pleased with all that I have completed to date and will continue my research as planned. I do know that I will have to make some adjustments. Some students have mastered letter recognition so I need to focus my participant portion of my action research paper solely on the students who have not mastered letter recognition of all 26 letters. Also, the students are rapidly progressing with their writing skills because they are writing everyday. I may need to realize that because writing is used daily, I may not be able to collect accurate data because I won't have time to collect each writing example. Some of my findings may be inconclusive at the end of my research. Although I want to be able to conclude something from my research, I am still very interested in what I am researching and will be happy with whatever outcome.

Intern Posting 9

This week was the first week of teaching 100%. Although I was not adding much more teaching material to my 75% of teaching, I was nervous about teaching Reading on Monday. On Mondays from 10:00 to 11:50, we introduce the new story of the week, review new high frequency words, and discuss our new letter of the week. I had never experienced those activities with the students and I had only watched my mentor teacher do those activities a hand full of times. On the few occasions that I did get to watch her teach these activities, I took notes on the order of which she completed each task so that I would be better prepared when I was doing the teaching.

I try to be as prepared as possible for any new experience in my life so when gathering materials to teach this for the first time, I made sure I had plenty of examples and activities to work on with the students. I also made sure I had back-up material available in case I had extra time toward the end of the lesson. While preparing for this lesson, I even made sure to practice what questions I was going to ask the students as well as determining discussion topics beforehand. I believe that, because I was so prepared, my lesson went very well for a first time.

Before actually beginning the lesson, I was nervous but not as nervous as I thought I would be. I moved right along from technology aspects to the reading aspects, but did struggle a little when introducing the new high frequency words. I do wish I would have spent more time reviewing the old high frequency words. However, my nerves quickly vanished and I became comfortable. I realized that it was just like teaching everything else, it's only a different topic. I loved having this experience and can't wait to have more fun with it next Monday!

Intern Posting 8

Now that I have been in school full time for several weeks, I think it is important to describe how I have grown or changed as a teacher so far. I have had a lot of experience with young children during my field experiences and my summer jobs up until now, but being in a structured classroom everyday undoubtedly allows a person to change as an educator. Almost every day I witness something I have never seen before and each day I become more comfortable and take on more responsibilities. I love that I get to be in this type of environment for those reasons alone.

In previous field experiences and even during the beginning of this semester I always knew that I needed to work on my "teacher voice" and setting expectations with the students. I had the most trouble finding my "teacher voice" because I was uncomfortable correcting another teacher's students. However, I am so comfortable in my new kindergarten classroom that I find myself well on my way to having a great "teacher voice." I now correct students right away and have even managed to correct students without disturbing the rest of the class or my teaching.

I am so happy that I have made it to this point of my teaching career and can't wait to see what else is in store. I think I still struggle with allowing students too many chances at times and I am not always quick to change their bees when necessary. I am working to become better in that category and believe that if I have made it this far, I will not have any difficulty reaching that goal in the future.

Intern Posting 7

Today was the first day that I began teaching 75%. I'm lucky because my mentor teacher and her aide are extremely helpful and provide me with a lot of great ideas for my lessons. I like that my mentor teacher is very organized and has everything done a week in advance. I'd consider myself organized too, but I probably was not as organized as she is. I like that she is providing me with a routine and organizational skills because she is an experienced kindergarten teacher and knows how to make the classroom run smoothly. I am slowly catching on to her routine and it is more than helpful.

I was not as nervous about teaching 75% as I thought I would be. I've been teaching for a while now and was confident that I could handle 25% more. I have noticed it takes longer to write lessons and it takes longer to plan, but the concept is still the same. The one thing I have had the most difficulty with is getting all of my materials together and my lessons separated from one another. Once I write my plans for the week I find it difficult to gather my supplies and depend on an aide to create everything for me a week ahead. I love the aide's help and I need help, but for some reason I'm finding it difficult to organize my supplies a week ahead. However, I love being organized a week ahead and am sure I will get used to it!

Intern Posting 7

Monday was my first kindergarten parent-teacher conference. I have previously attended a third grade parent-teacher conference, but there were some differences between the two. One thing that stood out to me was that kindergarten conferences often acknowledge student behavior instead of just student academic achievement. This makes sense because kindergarten is a time when social skills are learned and behavior is carved to meet the needs of what is expected from structured classrooms. I just found this interesting and it is something I definitely want to make a note of for my future classroom.

Another difference I found between the two and something that I really enjoyed was that my mentor teacher gave each parent examples of the students' work and showed them all something they could work on with their children. She gave great examples of how well the students were doing, but made sure to give ideas of how each child could improve. I just thought that was a wonderful way to get the parents involved as well as looking out for the success of each child.

At both conferences I have attended my input was welcomed and valued at the same time. I'm really starting to feel like everything is coming together and I am growing more as a teacher each day. Monday's conference was a big eye-opener for what next year could look like for me and I am glad I had this opportunity. I will without a doubt take what I learned on Monday with me forever.

Intern Posting 6

This week was my second week of teaching math in the classroom. Although the first week went pretty well, this week started off roughly. I began this week by teaching the kindergartners how to compare two or more patterns. The students have done an excellent job with shape and color patterns so far but when I introduced comparing the two, the students had great difficulty.

The purpose of my lesson was to show how a color pattern such as red, blue, red, blue could be represented by a shape pattern such as square, circle, square, circle. Both patterns have two repeating attributes and can therefore represent one another; red equals square and blue equals circle. Before I even began this lesson I knew it was going to be difficult to teach because I had a difficult time understanding the teacher's manual. I reviewed the on-line math with the students and also did a manipulative activity, but the students still were not catching on.

I am still wondering what I could change about this lesson to benefit the students more. I know that I found myself explaining the information and talking with the students more than I usually do during lessons. I felt that the students weren't understanding so I was trying to explain, but I wish I would have explained the lesson more visually or with a hands-on approach. A few students did understand by the time we reached the assessment portion of the lesson, but the majority did not. I definitely want to practice this skill more with different approaches in order to determine what works best for the students.

Intern Posting 5

Although I have been in school for five weeks now, this was the first week that I truly realized I was teaching school but still going to school myself. I had two seminars this week, one for the exit portfolio and one for action research. At the exit portfolio seminar, we talked about the video tape assignment that will be included in our exit portfolio. At first I was not aware of the importance of the assignment but after hearing the information regarding the assignment, I am excited to get started!

On Monday of this week, I recorded myself during the 40 minute morning meeting. I wanted to record this part of my day because there are several activities that go on during this time. For example, in this short 40 minute period the students and I say the flag pledge aloud, call the weather hotline and talk about the weather and time for the day, we sing and dance to activity songs, review calendar information, and count how many days we have been in school together. I am happy with what we are able to accomplish during this time, but reviewing the video allowed me to look at the morning meeting with a different perspective and I was able to find some things that I would like to tweak.

For the video tape assignment, we are encouraged to record ourselves teaching at least once a week. That way, at the end of the semester we will have several hours of teaching time recorded that we can cut and edit to fit into our exit portfolios. With several recordings I will be able to present myself as the teacher I wish to be, and am. I will visually be able to portray my teaching styles, my beliefs, and my interactions with my students. I will most certainly record myself as much as possible and am excited that I am on my way!

Intern Posting 4

Now that I have been in the school for a few weeks and have caught on to the daily routine, I have seen parts of myself progress as an educator. Although throughout this program I have been in several different classrooms and have spent time teaching, I have never been in a classroom full time. Everyday I am able to interact with the students and practice my teaching skills. That continual practice and experience has made a world of difference for me.

On the first day of school this year I was so excited, but nervous at the same time. I'm not sure if I was not very confident in myself as a teacher or maybe I am just more comfortable in a kindergarten classroom, but I like the progressing teacher that I am in this classroom. Although I believe my behavior management skills still need some more work, I am beginning to take charge in negative situations and also reward students for good behavior. I have learned that when students see others being rewarded they, too, wish to be on good behavior and be rewarded.

I have also seen my time management skills strengthen this semester. In the past when I had too much free time in a lesson, I would often get nervous and struggle to think of time fillers. With the morning meetings that I conduct each day with my students, I have been able to take my time, review information, and repeat information as necessary. I have learned that there is always something to learn and act on in the classroom. I love being in this kindergarten classroom and can't wait to see what I learn next!

Intern Posting 3

Today was a new and exciting day for me and the kindergartners because today was the first day that I was totally in charge of the morning activities. Up until now, I have been assisting my mentor teacher, learning the rules of the classroom, and simply getting the "feel" as to how a kindergarten classroom is supposed be. I have learned behavior management systems and how to conduct inventory during the first month of school, as well as how to manage students who do not fully understand the classroom rules. Without a doubt, I enjoyed these last two weeks of school but I was ready to begin teaching!

When I arrived at school this morning I was nervous, but not as nervous as I thought I would be. I had seen my mentor teacher review the calendar, the weather, and the morning message so many times that I had confidence in myself. I think that little bit of confidence really helped me out this morning because I was relaxed and knew my mentor teacher would be there to help me if I needed it. Being prepared for all lessons is something that I have learned is a necessity in the education field.

Thankfully, the kindergartners were wonderful and gave me the respect that I had asked for prior to any of the morning activities. Almost all of the activities went very well and I was happy to learn that the students were excited about the Candy Land behavior management chart that I had made and introduced to them today. However I did seem to struggle with keeping the students interested during calendar time, but I think incorporating a song/dance activity before beginning calendar will help the students stay focused. I had so much fun today and can not wait until tomorrow!

Intern Posting 2

The most important thing that I have learned about kindergartners so far this semester is the fact that the students, without a doubt, need structure and a daily routine in order to exist in a healthy classroom environment. My mentor teacher has done an excellent job of keeping her students on track by introducing classroom management systems and by making sure the students follow all of the rules of the classroom. In this posting I wish to discuss Mrs. Koski's classroom management systems because I believe they are extremely helpful and I may want to use some of these systems in my future classrooms.

In order to keep the students interested and to feel as though they have responsibility in the classroom, Mrs. Koski has set up a job chart. The job chart has about 10 different jobs, such as door holder and supply helper, and the students rotate through each of the jobs weekly. The students really seem to be excited to have a job and take great pride in helping the teachers. Another system that makes the students excited is the stinger bucks chart and ticket buckets. If students are following the rules or do something very nice, they are then rewarded with a stinger buck to use at the school's store or a ticket to place in a bucket where prizes are given.

Although we try to reward students for good behavior as much as possible, there are times that we have to address bad behavior situations. When students are not acting appropriately they must move their name from a green bee hive to a yellow bee hive and then eventually to a red bee hive if the behavior does not cease. If the students are on a yellow bee hive they lose 5 minutes of recess and if they are on a red bee hive they will lose 10 minutes of recess. This system seems to work well but if for some reason the students are not responding to the system, a call home is often appropriate. I have seen this system used in several classrooms and believe it is something I will use in the future for sure!

Intern Posting 1

This Monday was the first day of school for the kindergartners at East Dale Elementary. As an intern in one of these kindergarten classrooms, I was both excited and nervous to meet my students for the first time. I have worked with this age group before so I thought I would be able to prepare myself for the students' arrival. I thought about how I would greet the students and what I would do if certain situations arose. However, around 10:30 on Monday morning I realized I was not prepared for everything.

My students this semester seem to be very, very excited to start off the new year. Although I knew school would be a new experience for most of the students, I never thought that most of the students would not already understand the "rules" of school. Now that I think about this, I seemed to be naive in that aspect. I was absolutely not prepared for my students not to know that they shouldn't speak over their teachers or that they shouldn't walk out of the classroom without asking. I guess on the first day of kindergarten I learned that every minute of the day is a learning experience.

As this week continues, things become less exhausting and run a little more smoothly every day. Lining up for the bathroom takes less time and the students seem to have an understanding of the rules set forth based on their actions. The students are beginning to know each other and I can really see them starting to trust their teachers. Every day has been different, as I now know every day will. I love the excitement and eagerness of kindergartners and look forward to a great school year.

Practicum Plan

At the beginning of the semester when we were assigned the practicum plan, I admit that I felt a little overwhelmed. The four sheets of paper that showed the outline of the practicum plan were slightly confusing because of all the different columns and also because some of the columns had the same title. After meeting with our small group facilitator, I was able to understand what was expected of us and the practicum plan seemed like a great planning tool. Working on the practicum plan forced me to look at some of my strengths and weaknesses as an educator and to determine what I need to do to improve as a teacher. I love the practicum plan because of this. I was able to make learning goals for myself that were always in the back of my mind. A few times throughout the semester I did view my learning goals to make sure I was on track. I am very glad I had the practicum plan for this reason. The practicum plan also allowed us to identify and organize all assignments that were due for all of our courses this semester. I do think it is a must for students to view their syllabi and to make notes on when assignments are due. For the type of person I am, I would rather make notes in my planner as opposed to having assignments in chart form, but I can see how this is beneficial for some. In fact, I did write when assignments were due in my planner and don't believe I viewed the practicum plan assignment sheet once. Also, completing this assignment during the first few weeks of classes is stressful because some teachers haven't gone into discussion about the assignments yet. I think it might be a good idea to wait until we have had time to work with our professors.

Characteristics of a Novice Teacher 2

Characteristic three of a novice teacher recognizes that teaching is a moral, professional, and ethical enterprise. Moral and ethical are terms that refer to those value choices concerning actions and attitudes that affect more than one person. I believe that being an ethical teacher is one who demonstrates a professional demeanor and cares to take responsibility for everyone involved in the classroom. An artifact I could use to portray my own professional and ethical enterprise would be my educational philosophy that I wrote in EDUC 400. This paper emphasized my beliefs on what teaching is, along with the responsibilities of teachers for their actions. This paper shows my understanding of the teachers' role and responsibilities in and out of the classroom.
Characteristic five of a novice teacher recognizes that teachers should have in-depth knowledge of pedagogy. In-depth knowledge of pedagogy includes and understanding of human development and learning theories along with an awareness of various educational philosophies. A great artifact that I could use to represent this characteristic would be my math 430 whole group lesson that I wrote on double-digit multplication. This lesson had a differentiated assessment for all learners and the students were able to do a variety of different activities throughout the entire lesson. Therefore, the activities planned for this lesson were developmentally appropriate for students.

Practica Plans

One of my learning goals for this semester was to become better, or more detailed, at writing my lesson plans. I chose to focus on this learning goal because last semester my mentor teacher had a lot of input for my previously written lesson plans. She provided me with great ideas and guidance when writing lesson plans and I wanted to take her suggestions and make them my own. So far this semester, I believe I have made significant progress. I spend a lot more time with the writing of my lesson plans and my new mentor teacher seems to be pleased. I also take more time when revising my lesson plans, which I find to be very beneficial!
Reviewing my practica plan allows me to stay focused and achieve goals that I have set for myself. I have actually already accomplished a few of my learning goals and several of my activities. Now that I am spending more time in the classroom actually teaching, I have thought of a couple more learning goals to add to my list. For example, I want to be more comfortable with implementing sponge activities for the students. This classroom has a lot of independent work time and I would love to allow my students to participate in some fun learning activities.
To evaluate my own progress in completing activities on my pratica plan, I would have to say that I am doing very well. This practica plan allows me to be organized and to know when assignments are due. I can implement my learning goals into my teaching at my own pace, which I find to be very stress relieving. I am very glad the practica plan was assigned to us this semester because I believe it is beneficial to us, as students, and our mentor teachers.

Characteristics of a Novice Teacher

An effective communicator is one in who communicates and recieves ideas, messages, or information through appropriate spoken, written, and non-verbal forms. So far this semester, I have portrayed two different effective communication strategies with my students' parents. I have attended one parent-teacher conference in which I interacted with several parents, took notes, and made a few different comments to the parents. I have also written a welcoming letter to the families of my students explaining who I am and my hopes for the classroom this semester. I proved that I was an effective communicator through both of these artifacts because during the parent-teacher conference I was communicating one-on-one with the parents and recieving their messages. With the welcoming letter I was displaying effective communication by relaying my ideas to the families through written material.
A reflective practitioner is one who attempts to make sense of events in the educational environment and who critically examines choices to inform practice. I believe I have several artifacts of being a reflective practitioner, particulary my reflections at the end of every lesson plan. These reflections for each lesson plan provide evidence of my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher and what went well and didn't go well during the lesson. Also speaking with my mentor teacher about my lessons and taking notes on what she says is also a way to reflect as a practitioner. I can learn from my mentor teacher while reflecting on her suggestions and become a better teacher, myself. The reflections at the end of my lessons are excellent ways to be a reflective practitoner because that helps me to make sense of the choices I made while teaching. My mentor teacher's experience as an educator and her reflection's toward my lesson also help me to understand to a greater degree and influence my teaching each and every day.