Last Blog Before Student Teaching!!!

I cannot believe this is the last time I will blog before I am officially a student teacher! This semester has gone by so fast, but has been so beneficial and I have learned SO much!
   This month I was able to practice a lot with differentiation. During phonics and math lessons on Monday's and Wednesday's, my teacher sends a group of 5-6 students back to my desk so I can move at a slower pace and give these students more individual help. My EC student is not able to write very many letters and cannot write her numbers. Since this is the case, I would draw dots of what she needed to be writing so she could trace them. This is NCPTS 2, Teachers Establish a Respectful Environment for a Diverse Population of Students under Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs. Because my student was not able to complete the task being asked, I had to differentiate and adapt my teaching and change the instructions for her to meet her where she is at so she can still feel like she is being successful. I was also able to teach my re-engagement lesson for math to 3 students who struggled with the number bonds (adding numbers) concept. I took the three students to another classroom so they could focus with no distractions. They thought it was an awesome privilege and felt really special. When I was teaching, the female student who is my EC student was not able to write her numbers so I had to draw the dots in the form of the number so she could trace them. The two boys were able to write their numbers for the most part. One boy needed me to draw dots so he could trace them for one number. This would also be NCPTS 2, Teachers Establish a Respectful Environment for a Diverse Population of Students under Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs. My EC student could not complete the writing portion of the lesson, so I had to adjust and draw the dots for the numbers so she could trace them.
Something I learned this month from my teacher was about self-assessment. I asked her how often and how she uses self-assessment. I also asked her how she measures how well she is doing, and what she needs to change. My teacher assesses herself on a daily basis. If she sees that something isn’t working, or if the students aren’t engaged, she will have to come up with something different on the fly to keep their attention. Some things work for some kids and some don’t for others so she changes it based on kids. She said she also has to make alternate lesson for kids not on that level. Her biggest thing is she meets the students where they are, which means she has to assess and adjust her teaching on a daily basis. My teacher self-assesses herself based on how students are doing and responding. If she talks about something and they have no idea what she is talking about, she knows it is time to re-teach. Since they do not do tests, it is based off how they react and what they know. This NCPTS 5 Teachers Reflect on Their Practices under Teachers analyze student learning. My teacher reflects on her teaching and practices based off how the students are doing. This is exactly how I want to assess myself in my future classroom. Self-assessment is crucial to student learning and growth. If the teacher isn't changing the way she teaches according to students needs, then every student will not be able to grow into their full potential. 

I have again stuck to following Amy Fast on Twitter who is a school administrator that has a wealth of knowledge. This is something I feel very strongly about. I believe teachers are the leaders in the classroom, but leadership and control do not have to go together. I think it is important for the students to be involved and have a say in their education and what they are doing in their classrooms. From experience, I have learned more and felt more love when my teachers had a student based classroom, and that is exactly how I want my future classroom to be run. I do not want my students to ever feel like their opinions or voice doesn't matter.

The second tweet by Amy Fast is another very great and relevant tweet. In schools, most teachers measure students' abilities by their test scores, which in the end is how well a student can memorize information and facts that have been taught to them. In the real world, your GPA, and SAT scores are not going to matter. What's going to matter is if students have perseverance, hope, creativity, optimism, communication and social skills. These are the key concepts they need to be taught in schools. Yes students need to learn, but they can learn without having tests to measure how successful they are. These are all key concepts I will teach in my future classroom. I want my students to truly feel how much I love and care about them by showing them how to be successful in life. This is NCPTS 3 Teachers Know The Content they Teach under Teachers make instruction relevant to students.

      I have also been keeping up with the same PLN called the THC Teaching channel. You can go to the website and there is a box that says "what are you looking for." You can then type in anything you are curious about grades K-12. This time I typed in "Classroom management." Classroom management is what I am most worried about, especially in kindergarten because they do not like to listen. While reading and searching about classroom management, I watched a video of a teacher who was struggling with classroom management and his administrator said to him " You're not teaching mathematics; you're teaching kids." That is the mindset we all need to have, no matter what subject we are teaching. We are teaching kids who are eager to learn if we have a positive, safe, welcoming environment for them to do so. This is also NCPTS 2 Teachers Establish a Respectful Environment for a Diverse Population of Students. As educators of America, it is our responsibility to get these children ready for the real word and help them become successful 21st century citizens.

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teach-kids-nea