Week of April 22, 2021

Candidate Name: Amber Tyson

Week of Reflection: April 23, 2021

   

• Rate your overall experience of the week: 1-Very difficult | 5 – Great week

I would rate my overall experience this week a 2 :(.  This has been an all around very stressful week. Even my co-teacher that has been teaching for 15 years has found this to be an especially challenging week.  There have been a lot of changes within our school recently, mounted with extra meetings, responsibilities, testing pressure, interim reports, putting in grades for students that have been virtual and/or moved to the school to ensure final grades calculate properly, EVAAS verification, no planning time, 5th grade hormones and behavior challenges, and the list continues.  It’s just been an all around tough week for our 5th grade team. 

• Seven questions to end your week:

• Observe: What pleasant surprises / accomplishments did I achieve this week? My pleasant surprise/accomplishment this week is that even though I had zero planning time at school this week due to losing my planning time as a result of NC Check-Ins, I was able to complete my lesson plans at home and send them to administration on Wednesday evening.  I was also very proud of my students for truly giving their best effort on the NC Check-Ins they took this week. As a whole, it was evident that they were taking their time to work through each of the questions to the best of their abilities and did not rush through the tests.  

• Reflect: What lessons did my work/experiences teach me that I will build upon next week?  My work and experiences this week left me feeling very frustrated with the education system and demands put on teachers and students, as a whole.  Next week, I don’t so much want to build on this week, as I want to start the new week with a fresh outlook and leave the stress of this week behind.

• Focus:  How are my short-term efforts and my long-term goals still aligned? My long term-goals are to nurture relationships with my students while helping them achieve mastery of 5th grade standards.  My short-term efforts remain aligned because even during a very stressful week,  I maintained positive relationships and rapport with my students. Next week I will be teaching my students the final standards that we need to cover before beginning a period of review to continue to work towards mastery of 5th grade standards. 

• Be Productive: What could I have spent more or less time doing? There is not anything I could have spent less or more time doing this week because despite not having any planning time this week, I managed my time well both after school and at home in the evenings to ensure I completed everything I needed to complete for the week.  

• Have Courage:  How did apprehension and indecision impact what I did and didn’t do?  My apprehension about standardized testing is something that I am continuing to struggle with, especially with EVAAS and teacher value reports now being discussed. This apprehension resulted in me having a conversation with my assistant principal and she encouraged me by telling me what an amazing job I am doing. She said she observes how hard I work every day and acknowledged all that I have endured in my “first year” of teaching.  Having the courage to reach out to her about my concerns helped relieve some of my apprehension. 

• Begin Anew: What is the first logical step(s) for next week? What mental clutter can I clear?  My first logical step for next week is to just keep pushing and finish this year strong. I know these next few weeks are going to be challenging, but I’ve made it this far and I’m committed to ensuring my students’ success. 

• What were some data you analyzed this week and how did it help guide your decisions? This week my students took their final NC Check-Ins. I have not received my data yet, but when I do, this data will help me plan which standards I need to spend the most time on when reviewing for the EOG. 

• What is one piece of advice you can share with other student teachers? Your first year of teaching is going to be hard, but always remember your “why”.

• NC Professional Teaching Standards (be sure to reference activities from your lesson plans to solidify your answer)

• Pick an element from standard one of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. Element Ia. Teachers lead in their classrooms. This week I encouraged my students to take responsibility for their own learning by providing students with opportunities for productive struggle when working through math problems. I have noticed that a lot of my students just give up when a problem is hard, but I have been focusing on helping build stamina to persevere and work through these tough problems with the appropriate level of scaffolding still being provided. 

• Pick an element from standard two of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. Element IIa.Teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults.- This week we had several situations in which students were just being unkind to one another.  Throughout the week I had whole class meetings and private discussions to ensure my students know how much I care about each of them and address the problems accordingly in a respectful and appropriate manner. 

• Pick an element from standard three of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. Element IIIa.Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. This week I planned lesson plans that included the final standards that I still need to cover in both Math and Science. I am so relieved that I have been able to successfully align my instruction and will have covered all 5th grade Math and Science by the end of next week, despite the many obstacles I have faced. 

• Pick an element from standard four of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. Element IVd.Teachers integrate and utilize technology in their instruction. This week I integrated and utilized technology in my instruction to include the use of interactive math and science review via Desmos (www.desmos.com). If you haven’t used Desmos before, it is definitely worth checking out.  It really encourages and promotes student engagement during whole class instruction. 

• Pick an element from standard five of the evaluation tool and explain some activities/strategies you implemented this week to increase your rating for the element. Element Va.Teachers analyze student learning. I have started providing my students weekly spiral review practice sets that I am using as a way to collect data and understand my students’ current needs and weaknesses when considering 5th grade standards as a whole. Being diligent about analyzing my students’ learning (both strengths and weaknesses) will be crucial these next few weeks with only 3 weeks of instruction remaining.  

•  Other:

• What components of your portfolio have you started to complete? N/A

• What support does your clinical educator need from Mrs. Suttle? N/A

• What support do you need from Mrs. Suttle? No support is needed at this time.