February 27th-March 3rd

Weekly Rating: 4! 

• Observe: Where did this week go? Literally I think I winked and it was gone... I think my biggest achievement for this week was understanding and creating my own way of assessing my students. Exit tickets are tedious and time consuming... but I now know what my students know pretty well. Also, I think that sometimes if we put things down on paper we may remember it better...
• Reflect: I gave DoJos and had to back myself up on them.. my students KNOW that I HATE giving negative DoJos... I had a Kinder who wanted to repetitively get out of her seat and sit on the top row. I reminded her twice that she should be seated in her assigned seat... After the third time I gave her a negative and we went on our way. The next day at lunch I noticed on our iPad that there was a message from the Kinder's parent asking why her daughter had a negative in our class... I was unsure what her tone was (as is expected through digital communication), so I made sure to be as thorough as possible when explaining 1. who I was, 2. the situation that occurred and the decision she made that warranted a negative DoJo. I made sure Mrs.F read it before I sent it, and we didn't hear anything back from the parent so I am guessing she accepted my response..

• Focus: I need to get better about doing musical things. It seems that we have been talking a whole lot, and I want to get back to playing games and singing songs/playing instruments.. That's my new short term goal. I am also getting edTPA out of the way here soon.. so that is exciting. I need to be sure my lessons line up and are what scorers would want to see..

• Be productive: I got to Friday this week and realized that I had barely planned at all for this coming week.. Yippeee. Therefore, I will be spending the majority of my weekend creating LPs and SMARTnotebooks. Yay. I await the day that I have a stock pile of LPs created and ready to reuse. 

• Have courage: *Here come a couple of stories...

1. I am searching for jobs like crazy. It has become my nightly routine to search for job openings in NC and SC. It's terrifying to think about moving to the middle of nowhere where I know no one, just for a job. But I am more than willing to do it and kind of excited about the adventure of it. I know that my personality will help me make friends easily wherever I go.. but it can be a bit discouraging when I don't hear anything back from a school after sending in my resume and application..

2. Everyday after school I see the after-school program students playing basketball and what not in the gym. I always think- one day I am going to get out there and shoot some hoops with those kids (I am not very good at basketball, but love to hang out with kiddos). On Friday I stayed a little later at school (until 5) getting some things started for this coming week. I was walking to the copier to print out some things and one of the boys asked me if I wanted to shoot basketball with them.. I said "yes, let me go get my papers real quick.." So I came back and played around with a few of the kids. One of the kids is a new student in 1st grade. I've made it a point to make him feel welcome, greeting him in the hallway and asking him about his old school. I was glad he was there so I could make him feel cared for and accepted at Fallston. Another student told me he had a basketball game on Saturday and I got to ask him about his likes/dislikes... It was just an awesome experience. All of the girls (sitting on the side-lines talking to one another) as well as the boys went crazy when I made my first three shots that I took when I started playing. It's just awesome. I love it. 

• Begin anew: Well... I have to create everything... so I can't really clear clutter... I need to get to work...
• Data analysis: EXIT TICKETS FOR ALL! I have exit ticket assessments from 3, 4, and 5 grades! I love reading over their answers. I always tell them to do things on the back and they love being creative and silly on the back. I am using them ALL to help me move forward with this next week. Tempo words that most often get mixed up in 3rd: accelerando, andante, and allegro... I will use this to reteach next week.
• Advice: Let your students know you are a real human being. Go out of your comfort zone and be willing to look like a fool (most of my shots after the first three were air balls, but my kiddos did not care at all). 

NCTCS: 

Standard 1: Teachers demonstrate leadership

1d: Implements and adheres to policies and practices positively affecting students’ learning.

This may be a stretch, but I am assessing (a practice) my students' learning and reteaching/rethinking my methods of engagement. I think this could be applicable because it will directly support their learning in the next week.

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

• Maintains a positive and nurturing learning environment.

I think my basketball experience covers this nicely, as well as talking to my new 1st about his interest and hobbies.

2d: Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs

• Cooperates with specialists and uses resources to support the special learning needs of all students.
  
• Uses research-verified strategies to provide effective learning activities for students with special needs.

My exit tickets had modified version which I let struggling readers and developmentally delayed students use. This helped them focus more on the content of the exit ticket and less on the procedure of reading/writing/spelling on it.

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

• Communicates and collaborates with the home and community for the benefit of students.

My interaction with the parent of my Kinder (from above) is communicating with home for the benefit of the student. This will help her manage her decisions more wisely (hopefully).

Standard 3: Teachers know the content they teach

3c: Teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content area/specialties

• Demonstrates knowledge of links between grade/subject and the NCSCS by relating content to other disciplines. In first grade we have be repetitively talking about math and music correlations.

Standard 4: Teachers facilitate learning for their students
4e: Teachers help students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills

• Integrates specific instruction that helps students develop the ability to apply processes and strategies for critical thinking and problem solving.

My first edTPA lesson was full of this (in my opinion). We used strategies for remembering and identifying different instruments and how they are made. They thought critically to separate the instruments into the "family" they belong in. The whole learning segment is a "problem" that we are trying to solve!

-while I am here, my sister pointed out how nervous I seemed in my video-but I wasn't nervous at all. She said my hands in front of my chest put together made it seem that I am wringing them, and she also said it took me a while to get to the meat of the lesson... So I definitely sent her that video with hopes of happiness but rather got criticism.. but she explained that she was just trying to help--but still.. They don't seem as excited as I am that I am actually in front of a class-teaching..

Standard 5: Teachers reflect on their practice 5a: Teachers analyze student learning

• Uses data to provide ideas about what can be done to improve students’ learning.

Exit tickets, my friends.

• Management Question of the week:
• Portfolio: 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 + NCTCS, started looking at PBIS more in depth. Am getting very close to narrowing down my focus student.
• Support: Just need to remember that a job will not come easily. Going to job fairs in the near future to market myself.. woohoo! I would also like to go home in the near future.. I miss my fam! haha!