EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 2

I would give this week a rating of 4. It was a good week, but it was extremely busy and I felt as though I was less productive than I would have liked. I was able to have my initial visit with my University Supervisor and go to Central Services to have my CCS badge and email address set-up. This will help me gain access to school internet and print services. I attended a staff training and an IEP meeting. These were very informative and I felt as though they helped me understand additional effective teaching strategies and ways to meet the needs of my students. My experiences this week taught me that I have a solid support system in my school and I will build on this by seeking advice from my CE, her assistant, administration, and my University Supervisor as needed. Having these resources available and utilizing them will benefit me all throughout the student teaching experience.
My short term efforts of building positive relationships with my students is working out wonderfully. One day this week, I had to be rather firm in redirection, moving one child away from another in line. While she spent a few minutes upset with me, very soon after the incident she came to me, just to give me a hug. Other short-term goals such as creating effective lesson plans and taking on classroom responsibilities align to my long-term goals of successful student teaching, graduating, and becoming an effective teacher.
I spent a lot of time this week editing my edTPA lesson plans and Task 1 commentary after receiving feedback and making plans for future lessons. I feel like I could have spent more time reviewing the Creative Curriculum and Second Step curriculum to better connect my lesson plans to curriculum units. I plan to work on this during my upcoming planning days.
I do not feel like apprehension held me back this week, as I faced classroom challenges with confidence and stepped in to support my CE with instruction and classroom management practices. Next week will allow me some extra time to prepare, as we have two planning days. I hope to use this time to review all of my CE's responsibilities as I prepare to begin my first full week of Student Teaching after we return. Mental clutter I can clear includes my nervousness about taking over the classroom and recording myself teaching. My CE seems to be very confident in my abilities, telling me that she thinks I will do great, which is very comforting to me.
Data I analyzed this week includes my students' ability to identify the numbers 1-5. I learned that many of my students need practice identifying these numbers, and will integrate number identification into my lesson planning and interactions during center time.
Advice I would share this week with fellow student teachers is to reach out regularly to professionals in your school. Talking to my CE, Assistant Principal, Principal, School Social Worker, and others has helped me feel comfortable in my role in the school and very welcome, as they seem to enjoy my active participation in school activities.
For NCTCS Standard 1, I engaged in collaborative professional development learning activities that benefited my classroom leadership. For Standard 2, I cooperated with the Speech Therapist and used suggested resources to support special learning needs. For Standard 3, I have been developing lesson plans based on the NC FELD. For Standard 4, I have consistently encouraged and supported students to effectively articulate thoughts and ideas. For Standard 5,  I participated in activities for professional learning and development provided in the training this week.
I have continued working on my classroom website, and begun my classroom management assignment. I plan to use my time over the weekend, and planning days to continue working on these, as well as make plans for my global awareness artifacts. My CE does not require any support from my University Supervisor that I am aware of at this point, and I am satisfied with the amount of support I am receiving in the form of feedback and availability of support when questions arise.