February 1, 2019

This week is a 4 out of 5 for me. My week started out with some Professional Development on Monday with a data dive with the entire kindergarten grade level. My middle of the week was tougher getting students finally back into the school routine with this being the true first full week having total control of the classroom. But by the end of the week I was finally feeling the success feeling that students were back into the groove. You never know what each day will bring with kindergarteners and I think that is what makes this experience so difficult!

OBSERVE

This week I observed Thursday BOTH of my behaviorally challenging students turn their entire day around and made great choices, were nice to their friends, and I even overhear one using his manners and offering to share his crayons. While this may seem small for these students this was a huge milestone! I was so happy I could just jump for joy! These two students had the option to bring their lunch back to the classroom and watch a video while they ate their lunch, but instead they chose to stay in the cafeteria and want to eat with me. Again, another surprising but so rewarding moment. 

REFLECT

As I reflect on these student’s behavioral plans, I am seeing some improvements while they are small it shows that I still need to remain consistent and stick it out until the end. Next week I plan to use the sitting with the teacher at lunch reward again since this seemed to be a big hit. 

FOCUS

One of my long-term goals is to make our inclusion time a time that students enjoy learning and practicing on skills that they are lower in. This can sometimes be a boring time simply because a lot of the skills are memorization of sight words, letter sounds, and word building. So, this week I was able to check out some fun activities and new strategies to teach these same skills from our Title 1 resource center. I have been so blessed to be able to communicate freely with our Title 1 specialist and get some advice and ideas for teaching these students during this time. 

BE PRODUCTIVE

This week I could have spent more time on planning what I am going to do for my math edTPA. I feel like I am slacking in this area. I know our deadline will be quickly approaching so this is my next big focus. 

HAVE COURAGE

Since I have had such a behavior issue with my class and my two students were not responding well to the plan, I was tempted to change it. But, after this week I am sticking with it and seeing how it does until the end. This is hard because I want to see immediate effects and I am not, but I also know both of these student’s backgrounds and home life and know that it is going to be a constant battle no matter what plan I implement. 

BEGIN ANEW

Next week I plan to work on my Instructional Commentary since I have now finished videoing and begin to look at my plans for math. 

DATA

As mentioned earlier I had the privilege to participate in a data dive this week. We analyzed all student data with DIBELS and TRC and what our next steps needed to be in our literacy times, the skills and strategies to teach, and how each group with Title 1 has been doing. This was a great time to really see what true teachers do once they have data on their students. Kindergarten is a difficult year having not much data to go off of, but now at this point in the school year we finally have some real data on our students and know what our goals and actions steps need to be.

NCTCS

1b. Teachers demonstrate leadership in the school 

My principal sat in on our data dive this week and thanked me for wanting to participate and know more about the students that we are teaching by analyzing their data. 

2e. Teachers work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their students. 

This week I have talked with a lot of the parents of our students mainly due to behavioral issues, but also to keep them updated with what happens in the classroom. 

3d. Teachers make instruction relevant to students. 

This week we learned about Groundhog Day. This is a difficult concept for students to wrap their heads around, but we sang and danced to a song to help students make better connections. 

4d. Teachers integrate and utilize technology in their instruction.

This week we upper our use of technology in the classroom. For one of our literacy centers students were at a tablet and worked on their Reading Horizons lessons which is our Phonics program that we use. 

5a. Teachers analyze student learning

There was a point this week where I saw that students were not grasping the concept, I was teaching so I stopped and re-directed in a simpler way after seeing I was losing some students. 

This past week I collected some student work to have as evidence towards my global awareness piece for January to go towards my portfolio.