Weekly Rating: 4 - I have had a great week. I have learned SO much about preparation and delivery of instruction. 

• Observe: A pleasant surprise that I have found this week is just how much joy I find being with my students in the classroom. Because I have always thought I would teach middle school choir, I figured I would enjoy teaching grades 3-5 more than the younger grades. However, I have found so much wonder and joy in the K-2 students that I must say they brighten my days a whole lot!

• Reflect: This week was the first time that I was not able to watch Mrs. Fogleman deliver a lesson before I taught it. Usually she has been teaching at the beginning of the week and then I am able to replicate it the next day. I learned, however, that getting up in front of the class without this process is much more difficult.

We had teacher work days on Monday and Tuesday. I am still using Mrs. Fogleman's lesson plans, so on Wednesday I came in to teach the students a brand new set of lessons. Since Friday was such a good day I think my head may have been blown up a bit. However, once I taught my 5th grade class, I began to feel totally unprepared and under qualified, and to be honest-I was not happy at all. I kept thinking about how I've heard about all of the Student Teachers last year having small breakdowns, and I almost thought I may have one. However, something just clicked in my brain: I am new to this. Of course there will be moments when I feel like my lessons didn't make sense or that my students didn't learn or engage in class like I expected/hoped they would. But I remember specifically thinking that I wouldn't let that particular lesson go as poorly as it did the next day. I went home and really thought about how to pace the lesson and have it make more sense to the students. It definitely made a difference and the 5th grade class the next day seemed to enjoy the lesson. It was adding rhythmic accompaniment to a familiar song. We added 3 different rhythmic patterns which were played on shakers, cabasa, and claves to the song Amazing Grace. It definitely took a lot of practicing, but the students were able to put it all together and it worked really well.

• Focus: Now that I am becoming more familiar with students and their names, I am thinking of new focuses. Obviously one of my most major areas that needs improvement is discipline. Mrs.F and I have talked about my strengths and weaknesses in this area. I am strong in positive reinforcement and proximity control. I have been trying my best not to "zap" anyone, as we have spoken about many times. However, I have been given the advice that sometimes it may be necessary to address the issue straightforwardly. A new and very important focus point for me is going to be in assessing my students. This week I realized that I have been so focused on doing the procedural activities of teaching that I have not been focused on actually teaching my students and making sure they are learning the objectives we are covering. I think this may be a natural progression: get into the classroom, begin teaching lessons and learning how to do it (procedural processes) and then actually start teaching students information. A major step is going to be when I begin creating my own lesson plans. This will give me more intimate knowledge of what I am trying to achieve with my lessons.  

• Be productive: I definitely think I should have spent more time preparing to teach the lessons that were assigned this week. 

• Have courage: I am apprehensive about teaching 4th and 5th graders. They're just at this age where my silly tactics and quirky personality doesn't really have any effect on them. I am going to have to find ways to be relevant and "cool" without being that teacher that tries too hard. I think giving them independence to find out information and create things will definitely spark their enthusiasm. 

• Begin anew: I have a list of all the materials I will need for the lessons next week. I also recently found out that the library has a resource area with ALL of our elementary music textbooks that we use in this class! That's awesome, so I can plan and practice at school. I must start looking a week ahead of next week. I will be starting my edTPA unit within the next two weeks after this coming week. I should make sure all of my preparations are in order and continue to get my Video Release forms back in. I should also, obviously, continue making lesson plans.
• Data analysis: This week I informally assessed my students as we were trying to play xylophones and rhythmic patterns at the same time. There was no confidence to be found about that lesson in that room (including in myself). Though I had to struggle through that lesson, I was determined to go home and reevaluate/reorder the lesson to make more sense.
• Advice: Advice I would give to Student Teachers of the Future: Don't get too full of yourself. I though, oh yeah-I've got this thing down pat and then I face-planted. Always make sure you know what you are about to teach. Take the time the night before to look at the lesson plans, practice it out, and consider what your students will be thinking as you guide them through each part of the lesson.
  *Learn from your mistakes. Don't get too down about it. I was upset as I walked my students back to their room. But I realized-Hey, Austin you have exactly 5 minutes to get your act* together because you have 2nd grade to teach next. Keep moving, reflect on it later, and do better tomorrow.

NCTCS: 

Standard 1: Teachers demonstrate leadership

1a. Teachers lead in their classrooms.
I can tell that I am becoming more comfortable in the classroom. Though I am still sometimes forgetful (things like putting the books away, giving DoJos on the way back to class, etc), I am definitely a lot less frantic than when I first started teaching. I was also asked to speak on a panel on Saturday at the edTPA camp. I spoke to the ed 250 students about taking their courses seriously and getting started on their big projects now. I encouraged them to get in front of actual students and begin getting comfortable in that role, so it's less of a shock when you start student teaching. If you have the procedural elements down, you can focus more on assessment and actual teaching. I'm just honored that I was able to speak to the students about their future!

Standard 2: Teachers establish a respectful environment for a diverse population of

students

2c. Teachers treat students as individuals.

One of my biggest ways of demonstrating this standard is in my desire to learn the names of my students. I am so passionate about knowing who they are as individuals. I am taking more time to start conversations with students in the hallways or in the morning as they come inside from their cars. Today was "AR Reward day" where we played Bingo in the gym during specials time. This gave me a huge opportunity to speak and interact one-on-one with the students as I traveled around checking their Bingo Cards and helping them find the numbers they were supposed to number. Students have even begun to call me by name. This morning during car duty a girl flung her car door open and said "hello Mr. Beasley" and I just beamed with happiness. One of my kindergartners told me today during Bingo that I was a good teacher. It's just nice to know they are becoming more comfortable interacting with me and I with they.

Standard 3: Teachers know the content they teach

3d. Teachers make instruction relevant to students.

As I have spoken to above, my 5th grade flop was a huge lesson for me. Mrs. F gave me great pointers about making the students more engaged and willing to cooperative with the engaged parts of the lessons. At first I chose only one person per percussion instrument to play a specific rhythm. We would practice it about one time and then I would give the next person a different instrument and they were supposed to magically understand what I wanted and do it. After Mrs.F and I discussed it, I realized at their age, students find comfort in numbers. So the next day I added 3 people to an instrument, we practiced it and then added it to Amazing Grace while the rest of the students sang. Then I focused only on a different instrument group of 4 students and we practiced then added it to the singing class; so on and so on until I had 3 different instruments being featured. Once they practiced playing their rhythms all together we added the singers in and it went pretty well!
Standard 4: Teachers facilitate learning for their students

4a. Teachers know the ways in which learning takes place, and they know the appropriate levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development for their students.

Retweet what was above.

Standard 5: Teachers reflect on their practice

5c. Teachers function effectively in a complex, dynamic environment.

Rather than being intimidated by the teachers here and their already close-knit community and crazy dynamics, I have begun to relish it. The teachers and staff here are so friendly. I have started making my own relationships with the teachers and not only relying on Mrs. F's to coattail on. It is definitely becoming a home to me, and I am enjoying it a lot. 

• Management Question of the week: 
• Portfolio: I have begun working on EE7: Website, Technological Evidences, Professional Development Plan and Resume. I started looking at the SIP and trying to figure out how to incorporate implementing those goals into my lessons and demeanor throughout the school day. + I began keeping my journal of all of the NCTCS and will soon have lesson plans and snippets of artifacts to include in them.
• Support: My biggest goal for this week is to get my edTPA lesson plans solidified. I am probably going to be teaching my unit within the next week or two! 

January 20th, 2017

Weekly Rating: 5 - I have learned through experience and observation this week!

• Observe: This week I began easing myself into the classrooms. On Tuesday I began with Kindergarten and on Tuesday I picked up 1st grade. On Thursday I taught K,1,2 and today (Friday) Mrs. Fogleman was out of town so we had a substitute, meaning I taught 1, 5, 2, and 4th grades!!! 

This experience was the most telling. With no real pressure about being "watched" by Mrs. Fogleman, I felt free to be myself and teach the way I wanted. I followed her guidelines and most of her style, but I made it my own! I had a lot of fun today, even though my 4th grade class was a bit rowdy. I made sure to take roll today in class, trying to put faces with names. I think most of my students appreciated that! 

• Reflect: I learned a great amount this week. Today, especially, I learned how to infuse just an ounce of my personality into the lessons. I'm a pretty goofy guy, and I had to realize through observing Mrs. F that I can't be goofy or lackadaisical all the time. I have kids who are sometimes right on the brim of excitement and being chatty, etc. I have to be the one in charge and keeping everything moving. 

Today, however, while I was teaching 2nd grade, we were playing simple rhythms on the xylophones. I had been letting every student (in groups of 6) go up and play. The students who were not up playing xylophones were told to take out their "invisible mallets" and play along with the ones up front, just for the sake of practice and getting better. Therefore, since they already had been practicing their rhythms with their invisible mallets, I made the rhythms slightly more challenging each time a new group came up. I asked the class if I should add a bit of a challenge to the rhythm. They, of course, all agreed! I asked what I should put in there to try and trip the players up. I heard "half note," "rest," "eighth notes." I told them it was going to be a secret and tried to cover the white board as much as possible with my body and told them not to look, knowing they were dying to know. They I revealed it and they burst out in laughter as I had chosen some of their suggestions (I added eighth notes to the sequence). I laughed at their laughter, and it just made me realize how much fun teaching can be. 

• Focus: I have been focused on trying to learn both teacher's and students's names. It is very important to me to know them and for them to know that I care enough to learn all 560-some of their names. They are great kids and deserve for me to address them in a respectful way. As far as my goal of figuring out my edTPA unit, I would say that is making progress. We had an edTPA seminar on Tuesday and I learned a lot about how to approach the project and align my assessments with my instruction! 

I learned that I am going to have to figure out exact, methodical ways to instruct and assess my students. I have to give reasons for why I am doing almost everything in the class. That changed the way I am viewing the entire process. I am going to have to figure out how to make sure my assessments actually assess their learning progression, and checks their learning throughout the process with scientific research to back it all up. 

• Be productive: I could have spent more time this week at home planning for edTPA. I usually get back to school and am so beat that the very last thing I want to think about is school work. That isn't to say that I am not enjoying it, it's just that I get back to my apartment and am tired.

Monday and Tuesday are work days. Also, today (Friday) was an early release day, so I am now getting caught up on some work. Monday and Tuesday I am coming in to get my edTPA hopefully figured out. I am meeting with the teacher of the class I am using for my focus class for edTPA. I'm exciting to hear what she has to say about their learning styles and abilities. This will definitely help me in the progression of planning my unit. 

• Have courage: Now that I have actually started to teach in class, I am more readily available to answer this question. At the beginning of the week, when I began with Kindergarten, I was apprehensive to even talk about discipline to my students. I was letting a lot of things slide and Mrs. F was the one who would speak up from her desk, "guys, make sure you're listening to Mr. Beasley." 

However, with more experience in front of the students, I have become more outspoken and willing to remind students of their expectations. Today in our 4th grade class, I definitely had to manage behaviors. They were chatty and just wanted to shout out every little answer or thought they had. I finally just stopped talking until they were done. I told them straight-up that I am going to be the one teaching their classes for a while, so the way I expect them to speak to me in class is for them to raise their hands so that I may listen to their answers in a manner that gives them respect. Them shouting out answers to me is NOT respectful. I told them I was glad they were engaged and excited about answering, but I would rather look them in the eye when they were giving answers and give them the attention they deserve. They seemed to follow this expectations much more readily once I actually expressed what I wanted from them. 

• Begin anew: This next week will be the closing in of the gaps of my full-time responsibility. Though I taught all of the classes that we saw today, I didn't get the "full load" since it was a half day. I still haven't taught 3rd grade. However, now that I have taught 5 and 4, I feel as though I might as well go ahead and let next week become my first "full-week," if it counts as a full week since we won't be here Monday and Tuesday (?).
  I am heading home right after school today. So that is exciting! I am going to my nephew's 2nd Birthday Party!!! So I know this will be a time for me to relax and have a great time with my family. I am also going to see one of my best-friends from college who has been fighting lymphoma for the past few weeks. I am just exciting to see all these special people in my life and let my hair down (haha).  
• Data analysis: A piece of data that I analyzed this week would be the lesson plans that were used last week (hopefully that counts as data). Since our weeks have been so WhaCkY these past few weeks, I have had to make sure the students aren't getting repeat lessons. For example, last Friday Mrs. F gave a speech about the Talent Show that is coming up. I recorder her giving her talk and we have shown it to every class this past week. Therefore, the classes that heard it last Friday didn't need to see the videos again, so I had 10 minutes of extra time that I haven't had with the rest of the classes this week. 
• Advice: Advice I would give to Student Teachers of the Future: be courageous and figure out how to be yourself while teaching. Of course there will be a bit of time when you are figuring out how to do all that comes with "teaching" but don't forget to be yourself. 

NCTCS: 

Standard 1: Teachers demonstrate leadership

1a. Teachers lead in their classrooms.
I would say I progressed in this element of the standard because I sought to use positive reinforcement in my classroom as much as possible. I shared my expectations with my students, helping them understand how they were supposed to act lending them the opportunity to "make the right choice" which is said many times throughout the day in this music class.

Standard 2: Teachers establish a respectful environment for a diverse population of

students

2a. Teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing

relationship with caring adults.
This week we were out on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. day. With our Kindergarten classes we sang a song called "Sing About Martin." The song sings about "peace, caring, loving." After singing the song, I made sure to ask the students to list some of the words they heard from the music. Once they named off a word, I asked them what that word meant and then asked if anyone had an example they would like to share, or an idea of how we could treat one another with love and respect.

Standard 3: Teachers know the content they teach

3a. Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of

Study.
Mrs. F has gotten me into the routine of verbalizing our standards to the kids before we begin lessons. This helps us to center our attention on what we are about to be teaching as well as getting the students in tune with our work that we are about to begin. I have also been asking students to show me the ASL sign for specific vocabulary words that we will be using or learning about in our lesson. For example, my 2nd graders were talking about the differences between "pitched" and "unpitched" instruments. One of our ASL signs is "pitch." So I asked if anyone knew what the sign was, showed it to them, and let them think about what that ASL sign meant. Many of them knew it and were able to tell me the word that went with the sign. From there I lead into the question: "What is a pitch?" This started our discussion about pitches and fostered greatly into the rest of the lesson as well as helped solidify music-specific vocabulary.

Standard 4: Teachers facilitate learning for their students
4e. Teachers help students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
I would by no means say that I am yet near where I expect to be in this standard. However, I feel that my instruction this week began positive behaviors in my lesson delivery that will lead right into helping students to think more critically. For example, reflecting on my week, I can hardly think of a time that I came right out and said many of the instructions to my students. I often lead with a question or observation. All of my classes used the xylophones this week. But before we could jump right on the xylophones we had to cover the instructions that we needed in order to safely and correctly play. I would ask, "what do you see that is the same/different about all of these xylophones"(for we had out sop., alto, and bass). I would ask, should we touch the bars of the xylophone? How should you walk up to the xylophone? Where would be the best spot on the bar to make the most vibration? etc.

Standard 5: Teachers reflect on their practice

5a. Teachers analyze student learning.
Doing this blog alone is a huge way of reflecting on my practice. I have found myself sitting in my car or even around my apartment and analyzing what I did or didn't do right during class. I am trying my best to listen to student's answers, see their performances on the xylophones, hear them sing and analyze what my next step in the lesson needs to be. I hope to reach out to their teachers in the next week or so and learn how to better assess and instruct them.

Management Question of the week:

• What do you do when you have a student who is messing up or doing things just for the sake of humor?
  
• Portfolio: I have begun working on EE7: Website, Technological Evidences, Professional Development Plan and Resume. + (I started looking at the SIP and trying to figure out how to incorporate implementing those goals into my lessons and demeanor throughout the school day. 
• Support: I am going to need time to process and plan in the next meeting with my University Supervisor. 

January 13th, 2017

Weekly Rating: 5 - It has been a great week!

• Observe: I am still in the observing phase of Student Teaching. Since last week was our first week back to school, the students were given a "Special Reward Day" to help ease them back into the daily routine of being at school. We watched "Happiness is a Warm Blanket; Charlie Brown." This week, however, we have had normal classes and it has been great to see Fogleman in action. We had snow days Monday and Tuesday and then a two-hour delay on Wednesday, so it has been a bit of a short week! 

 I have become much more familiar with the layout of the school. I am also learning students' and teachers' names (at a very slow pace). We have had "car duty" this week, so I have been outside helping the students get out of their cars and into the building. I have found that I am very cheery to see the students and love saying "good morning" to them. I think this is a very beneficial and important part of being a teacher. I get to greet them and make them feel welcomed back at school every morning.

Another great accomplishment that I have encountered this week is in regards to my Student Teaching portfolio. Yesterday I met with Erin Cook to get my resume squared away and I even have my classroom website mostly finished! I'm proud of the work that I have accomplished thus far. 

• Reflect: I think the biggest lesson I have learned is that taking initiative is a cornerstone of being a teacher. I was timid and shy when I arrived here at FES. I did not feel comfortable telling students that they needed to follow rules or instructions. I also did not know how to relate to my fellow teachers. It is daunting to come into an established atmosphere with it's own way of doing things and "assigned" roles of participation.

I have, however learned just how welcomed I am here at FES. I am daily asked how everything is going, or told that I am welcomed here at Fallston. Fellow teachers regularly ask me when I will begin teaching and how I am enjoying it. Lunch with all the "specials" teachers has become much less intimidating and I feel more comfortable taking part in the (many) conversations happening at the table! As far as students go, I am becoming more vocal with them. I have started to ask them questions when we are walking down the hallways (even though we aren't supposed to be talking-whoops!), and this week I have been singing with them on the risers or just participating in their classes. I have seen how moving a student to a new seat will definitely make a great difference if they were sitting beside someone they were tempted to cut-up with. Fogleman does a great job of pointing out the "correct" behaviors that are warranted, which perks up the ears of students who are not following directions, usually making them do what they should be.
I've discovered that third grade will probably be rowdy every class I have with them. Their schedule is "Core Blocks" from the beginning of school until lunch, which I think is around 12 for them, followed by "specials" which is us. So they are fidgety and ready to move. I think this will help me plan lessons for them. I will want to have them moving and interacting with one another in a controlled way.  On the opposite side of the spectrum, Kindergarten is our last class of the day. They are tired and sometimes have a hard time staying awake-which will also warrant some movement and excitement in my lesson plans. 

• Focus: One of my short-term efforts thus far is to address both students and teachers by name. I am also putting in a lot of thought into my edTPA unit though I am having a hard time nailing it down. I think these will positively influence my long term goals of knowing the students that I am teaching and figuring out how best to teach them. 

I feel almost as though I have "writer's block" while trying to plan out my unit. When things are so important, I clam up and put too much thought into it. I definitely know that I need to take a step back and make my mind thing more logically. I think the toughest part that I have found is deciding how to start my unit. What do I want the students to know/not know yet. What am I trying to get them to discover? Hopefully I can hold more discussions with my supports to decide how best to move forward.

• Be productive: I think I have actually spent my time very wisely. If anything, I could spent more time with edTPA-just getting acclimated and figuring everything out. However, I think I have done a lot of great things with the time I have been afforded.
• Have courage: I touched on this in my "observe" reply, but I began this experience with apprehension. I was unsure of how it would go and even still am unsure of how well I will do at teaching music. As I addressed above, however, I have been gaining confidence in myself and taking the extra strides towards meeting the teachers, getting to know the students, and being more active in the classroom. 

Monday we do not have school (MLK), but on Tuesday I will begin taking responsibility for Kindergarten. This is exciting and also very terrifying! I am very glad that I will be teaching this specific class because I observed their class a fair amount last semester and feel relatively familiar with their classroom atmosphere. They are precious. We will be learning about the classroom instruments and even playing some, so I think they're going to LOVE it! I think I'm most worried about logistical things: Doing their ASL vocab correctly, making sure not to forget the Bulldog Bone, keeping their attention, etc. Thankfully, Fogleman will be here to help me through it. She's a great support. 

• Begin anew: Next week will begin my 3rd week in the classroom. I can't say that I need to "declutter" much. I hope to plan more of my edTPA unit this weekend, though. I am hopefully going to speak with my designated class' teacher to receive more information about their IEPs and other learning behaviors, so that is a good way to get myself prepared to make the best lesson plans according to their specific needs. I will look over Fogleman's lesson plans for next week and get myself ready to have Kindergarten on Tuesday, K1 on Wednesday, K12 and Thursday and Friday!
• Data analysis: This week in preparation for my edTPA unit I have been looking over Bloom's Taxonomy and discovering the progression from lower to higher thinking skills. I have printed out a few charts with appropriate vocabulary, actions, results, and procedures. This has helped me to try and pace my lessons to accommodate the progression of learning by students.
• Advice: If I had to give advice to future student teachers I would say to go ahead and begin your work. You can easily knock out a good amount of EE7 and begin thinking about what you would want to do for your edTPA unit. I know that it is hard to get yourself moving and doing work that isn't "due" until later on in the semester, but I know it is going to pay off once I actually begin teaching.

NCTCS: Once I begin making/giving lesson plans, I will talk more about how my lessons aligned with the standards! 

• Portfolio: I have begun working on EE7: Website, Technological Evidences, Professional Development Plan and Resume. 
• Support: I am going to need time to process and plan in the next meeting with my University Supervisor.