EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 13

I would rate this week as a 5, simply for the amount of relief I felt finding out the results of edTPA! This was such a stressful requirement, and to be finished, knowing that I passed is such a great feeling of accomplishment! My experiences this week taught me how to align my virtual lessons further with the requirements given from the OSR, as I attended another virtual preschool meeting that showcased examples from other preschool teachers in the county. I have confidence that my videos next week will be stronger after seeing these examples.
My short term efforts are still aligning with my long term goal of graduation, as I am continuing to complete portfolio requirements as quickly as I can. I feel like I have been very productive in completing my portfolio, as I have been working on parts of that each day. I feel like I could have spent more time on my student teaching video, but I do feel a little bit of apprehension about this. I am a little disappointed that I will not be able to film this in my classroom, and will have to use my virtual classroom instead. I have plenty of video clips from my lessons to use, but as far as my introduction, I was really hoping to film this in my classroom.
Next week, my first logical steps are to continue working on my portfolio, to send out my lessons as I begin transitioning control back over to my CE, and keep in touch with my students and their families. The mental clutter of edTPA is officially cleared, so I feel much more relaxed about finishing the semester.
I am still only receiving a few responses from families sending me pictures their children are making as engagement with my videos, so the data from my students is very limited. The videos of other PreK teachers has definitely given me some ideas about improvements for my upcoming lessons. I feel as though I am building proficiency in NC TCS 1 by continuing to assist my CE and Preschool team members with technology, NC TCS 2 by communicating with all of the various families of my students regularly, NC TCS 3 by continuing to choose activities that align to the NC FELD, NC TCS 4 by delivering appropriate virtual learning to all students, and NC TCS 5 by reflecting on my practice and planning ways for improvement based on strategies I observe from other teachers.
I have completed my Professional Development Artifact and am ready to begin my Student Teaching Video and Dispositions artifacts, which are the only 2 portions of my portfolio I have left to begin. I do not think I need any additional support from my supervisor at this time, nor do I know of any support my CE needs.

EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 12

I would rate this week a 4. In light of all the changes that have been made changing to a virtual learning platform, I have been very pleased with the contact I have had with my students and their families. I accomplished completing my videos for my final week of teaching, which is almost unbelievable, that the 10 weeks have come to an end. I was pleasantly surprised by the support my CE and other PreK teacher have asked from me, as they also transition to the online format of lessons. I have been able to help them learn about using Zoom, creating youtube channels, and uploading video links to deliver lessons to children.
My short term goals of adapting to the online format of lesson planning has brought me much closer to my long term goal of getting my teaching license, as I now feel more prepared to handle the unexpected when it comes to teaching. I feel like much of my time has gone into adjusting to virtual teaching, which is especially challenging when so much of teaching young children is interactive. I know that the time and effort I have put into this has been rewarding, I even had a parent message me through Remind to tell me that her child thought my videos were "so cool!" I spent some time on my portfolio, but would have liked more time for that. I will be spending the next week focusing on that, so it can be completed as soon as possible. In addition to teaching virtually, another challenge has come with my daughter being out of school... I am now essentially homeschooling my sixth grader while teaching preschool, and completing my own coursework. I have confidence in getting it done, but it is a challenge!
I do not feel as though I was held back by apprehension, but actually got more comfortable doing virtual lessons as I worked through them. Next week, my logical next steps are to complete my portfolio and my end-of-experience assignment, then begin submitting some artifacts to Taskstream. With the virtual teaching that is appropriate for my children, assessment data has been limited, however, I do have some who frequently send my pictures of things they are doing related to my lessons, like drawing themselves playing ball, as I had requested this week.
 I have been doing multiple professional development webinars, focusing on NCTCS 4 and 5, however, I feel almost as if I am starting over with implementation of the teacher candidate standards, due to the new ways of delivering instruction to my students.
My portfolio is nearly complete, with the exception of my Professional Development Reflection, Student Teaching Video, Dispositions, and addition to the other artifacts that my come available as the semester continues. My supervisor has been incredibly supportive throughout the semester, especially during this time of uncertainty, and I cannot think of any additional support I need at the time. My CE also does not need additional support, to my knowledge.

EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 10

I would rate this week a 3. It was a little hectic with parent conferences, the Fun Run we had this Friday, and the growing concern of the coronavirus, both from our staff and parents of students. I was very pleased with the parent conferences I conducted, and got very good feedback from my CE in my ability to communicate with parents. She even told me I handled them "like a seasoned pro," which made me feel very confident in how these went.
We spent time in each conference discussing students' ability to identify letters, and while there has been tremendous growth over the year for our students, there is still room for greater improvement. I plan to continue incorporating opportunities for students to build their letter recognition in my future lesson plans. My short-term efforts are still aligned to becoming a proficient early childhood educator, as I work to develop lessons aligned to both the Creative Curriculum, and the needs of my students.
I feel like I could have spent more time planning for the upcoming week, however, during this week, I also began to feel sick, and while I did not miss any days at my school, my time at home was spent resting and trying to focus on my health, especially with the high level of concern at the current time.
I did not feel apprehensive this week, and am still very comfortable in my placement. I love my CE, TA, and all of my students. I did not work as much on my portfolio artifacts this week as I was focusing on my health but next week, I plan to work on those artifacts intensively, including my student teaching video. I feel this is the largest task at the current time, and I will feel relieved when I have started that artifact.
During conferences, I analyzed data related to my students fine motor development, their ability to write their names, draw a person, and identify letters. These are areas that demonstrate kindergarten readiness, and the data will be used to build on these skills. I will also start Brigance Screenings next week to prepare for K-Day and incoming Preschoolers.
I focused this week on building my proficiency in NCTCS 3 by taking several online professional development trainings, and NCTCS 4 by integrating the use of my Smart Board more frequently. I have also been taking more anecdotal notes during the day to increase NCTCS 5, and reflect on my practice after giving direct instruction.
Again, this week, I have not worked on my portfolio as much as I would have liked, but feel as though getting an early start on some of these was very beneficial as I had time to focus on getting myself healthy again. At this time, I do not need any additional support from my University Supervisor, and to my knowledge, my CE needs no additional support.

EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 9

I would rate this week as a four. While it was a very good week overall, I have to say, I stressed about edTPA until I clicked the submission link! I am now already anxiously awaiting the results, and would be thrilled to receive a score that would make me highly qualified, however will be happy just to pass! I feel like submitting this was such a milestone achievement and I am very happy to have it behind me.
Next week, I will be more focused on my portfolio and student teaching experience as a whole, because these are the most important aspects of finishing the semester. Next week I will also begin planning for parent-teacher conferences and K-Day Brigance screenings. I will use the training my CE has provided to score children for Preschool and Kindergarten readiness.
My short-term efforts of planning conferences and Brigance screenings will benefit my long-term goal of becoming a professional early childhood educator. Focusing on my portfolio will also help me meet my long-term goal of graduating.
I feel that currently, my time is being used fairly well, and for the time being at least, I have found a good balance of my course responsibilities, classroom responsibilities, and my responsibilities in my personal life. I am also using more of my time in the classroom to engage with my students and align my instruction to their individual needs.
I did not feel apprehension about much this week, and felt quite accomplished with the amount of positive encouragement I have received since submitting my edTPA. Next week, my first logical steps are to plan and complete at least one element of my portfolio, create lesson plans early in preparing for parent-teacher conferences, and make arrangements to attend a half-day Professional Development training in the near future.
Data I have analyzed this week was based on the Brigance screenings done at the beginning and middle of the year, to understand the screening process and how much growth the children in my class are showing. I am currently focusing on NCTCS 2, 3 and 4, as I plan to engage with diverse groups of family members during conferences, build my understanding and ability to express the content of Preschool curriculum and standards to families, and better facilitate learning for my students by tailoring my instruction to a wide range of needs and abilities.
For my portfolio, I have already completed my website, and have begun putting together my Global Awareness artifact, and my SIP artifact. I feel like the student teaching video will be the most daunting task for the portfolio, so I plan to start that within the next few days, as well. At this point, I feel that I need no additional support, and to my knowledge, I do not think my CE needs any additional support from my University Supervisor.

EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 8

This week has been a little crazy with the deadline for edTPA approaching so rapidly. I would give this week a rating of 2, simply because of the amount of stress and issue with getting everything done in very limited time frames. My engagement with students was not as deep as I would have liked it to be, and I have felt as though edTPA has hindered me from fully focusing on student teaching. My instruction plans still engaged students in learning, but I spent much of the time I would typically be engaging with them during free play revising tasks and completing commentaries to meet the deadline for today's seminar. I could see a difference in some of the behavior of my students when I was less engaged in center time, as they would frequently come to talk to me as I worked on developing lesson plans or revising commentaries. One pleasant outcome of the week was that I have completed all edTPA Tasks, with the exception of the final edit of Task 3! This feels like a huge relief and I feel like I will be able to concentrate better on my teaching.
I will use my experience of using my time to work, rather than engage with my students to change this drastically. Without an overwhelming amount of work to do, I feel like I will be able to be more engaged with my students without letting any of my other responsibilities get pushed aside. Engaging my students is my top priority in the classroom, and edTPA has recently been a huge roadblock for me accomplishing that as much as I would like.
Short-term efforts of completing edTPA make me feel better about my long-term goals of graduating and completing my portfolio requirements, which is another huge feat before the end of the semester. I do not really feel like I had much time to spare or delegate to different tasks with the demanding tasks of edTPA, but feel as though my time will be put to much better use in the future now that that is complete. I was not apprehensive or indecisive about anything this week, and actually made some decisions with complete confidence this week.
Mental clutter I can clear is the overwhelming amount of focus on edTPA! I am very excited to be able to focus on other important aspects of student teaching. The data I have analyzed has been the assessment data for edTPA, and Galileo data collected from a high performing student and a low performing student, demonstrating areas of mastery, what students are ready to learn, and what they will need extra time to be prepared to learn.
My focus has been a little limited in regards to NC TCS this week, however data collection has been valuable to me as I develop lesson plans aligned to student ability and readiness to gain new skills. I have also had limited time to focus on portfolio artifacts, but have plans to focus heavily on these in the upcoming weeks as I get closer to the end of the semester. To my knowledge, my CE needs no additional support from my university supervisor, and the only support I can think of that I need at this time from my supervisor, and the education department, is review of edTPA Task 3 Commentary.

EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 7

I would give this week a rating of 4. While it was a rough week, with my children being very restless and active during my instruction, as well as having many behavioral outbursts that are not typical of this group of students, there were many reminders of why I love teaching. There were times where my students would come seek me out specifically to help them with something, times when I engaged in meaningful child-initiated discussions with my students, and times when they just "got" everything that I was teaching them. I was given a copy of my class group photo, which shows each of their little faces happy to be at school, and it is a true reminder of how much of a difference I make in each of their lives, by loving and supporting them as they learn and grow.
Reflecting on the week, I learned that I need to provide many more opportunities for my students to gain letter awareness. After a follow-up assessment to measure growth on letter recognition, I saw that many of my students are still struggling significantly with identifying letters. I will build upon what students know by integrating more opportunities for them to practice identifying letters.
My short-term efforts still feel primarily focused on edTPA, however, this aligns to my long-term goal of graduating and getting my teaching license. I feel like I could still spend more of my time preparing materials in advance, as I still am finding it a little hard to balance daily classroom responsibilities, planning time, and EDU 450 coursework, in addition to my responsibilities as a wife and mother. Things are getting done, but not really keeping me as ahead as I had hoped I would be.
I am not apprehensive about anything at the current time, and feel very comfortable in my position in the classroom. The children seem to enjoy the lessons I plan and teach, and are for the most part, very respectful of the expectations I have for them.
The first logical steps I can think of for next week, are to look over all of my edTPA Tasks and revise any areas that I may need to, having that completed. It is hard to believe that the submission date is so close, but I know it will be a huge relief to have it completed and submitted.
As mentioned before, I analysed the data from students' ability to recognize letters, and this has led me to adapt my future lessons to include more opportunities for students to practice this skill. I also had an art activity, where students wove strips of paper to recreate woven fabric, which allowed me to analyze several areas of student development. By looking at their completed works, I was able to determine their levels of fine motor skills, their motivation to continue working at challenging tasks, and their understanding of positional terms, "over," and, "under." I can now use this data to develop additional activities to build and strengthen these skills.
I am currently reviewing the notes from my last observation regarding my proficiency in the NCTCS, and am creating lists and collecting data as evidence of meeting each standard. I have completed my classroom website, and am ready to refine my PDP, SIP, and Classroom Management Plan. I do not need any additional support, and to my knowledge, my CE needs no additional support from my University Supervisor at this time.

EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 6

I would give this week a rating of 5! It was a great week! I was worried I may be coming down with something contagious of my own early on in the week, but after a visit to the doctor and negative flu and strep tests, I was able to get treated for an early sinus infection. Later in the week we were very busy and excited for Valentine's Day this Friday, and my first unannounced observation was done this Thursday. All of my students were back and healthy, which was wonderful. I had some very successful lessons, with very high levels of engagement from my students, and great feedback from my CE, and my University Supervisor. I feel like I needed a good week like this, after having stressed over edTPA so much recently.
After reflecting on this week, I believe I need to focus on my collection of documentation and professional development engagement in the upcoming weeks. I also think I need to have more confidence in myself, as I have been very concerned with things I have reached out to other professionals for support on, and they have assured me that I am "doing great." It is hard to feel that way though, when I see the perfection I strive for being so far from where I am. But, it leaves me plenty of room to improve!
I will focus on putting more effort in the short term by collecting anecdotal notes and Galileo data to base my instruction around, directly aligned to the abilities of my students, effectively guiding my long term goal of helping them achieve kindergarten readiness skills. I will also continue working on my portfolio and edTPA submission documents in my long-term goal of getting my teaching license. This week, I could have spent more time focusing on my portfolio, but this was put on hold while I focused heavily on completing and reviewing edTPA tasks. I find it easier to concentrate on one or the other at certain times and feel better about the quality of my work this way.
I am not feeling much apprehension at this point, and hope that my upcoming lesson and global awareness integration goes as planned, although I am ready to make necessary adaptations based on my students' engagement and understanding as the lessons progress. My steps for next week will be focused on completing my lesson plans early, continuing to work on edTPA and completing my classroom website. As the website is completed, I will be able to shift my focus to other important portfolio artifacts that need my attention.
My main data was gathered this week through observations, and it guided how I delivered my instruction. During our group time, I was able to gauge my students interest in the learning focus, and made adaptations to my instruction to improve engagement and understanding for all students. I had some wonderful work samples created by my students, however these were done on white boards and lost when students erased their work. I will be sure to have students recreate these work samples on paper, or take a photograph the next time work samples are created this way.
I plan to focus more on NC TCS 4, facilitating learning for my students by continuing my professional development through trainings available either online or offered by the OSR, and NC TCS 5, reflecting on my practice by acquiring more documentation around which to shape my instruction based on the abilities of my students and determining what new skills they are ready to attain. As I mentioned before, my website is almost completed, which will open up my time to focus on other portfolio artifacts I have started, including my PDP and developing classroom management plan. I do not feel as though I need any extra support at this time, as I reach out to my University Supervisor regularly and receive feedback quickly. My CE does not need any additional support at the current time either, that I am aware of, although she has contact information to reach out to my US at anytime.

EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 5

This week, I would rate as a 4. It started out very rough, with 7 students in my room being absent with the flu or flu-like symptoms. My first edTPA lesson was also not what I had hoped it to be, with my students struggling to "get" the concept of predicting. We are in our clothing unit, and I provided a mystery bag filled with a coat, snow boots, hat, gloves, and a scarf. When I asked students to predict where we might go or something we might do wearing these clothes, many of them answered, "Disney World." I also had one who attempted to be funny, answer, "the beach." Throughout the week, however, we consistently reviewed the key vocabulary and definition of predicting, while incorporating as many opportunities for making predictions as possible. We predicted the weather, we predicted what would be served for lunch, and continued making predictions based on clothing and where we might wear specific types of clothing, connecting our unit to the learning segment planned for edTPA. Students began to show greater understanding of prediction and using information related to the topic, and to the story we were reading over the course of the week, which was relieving to me. Reflecting on the week, I believe my students were not as prepared for this concept as I had originally believed, and are not yet ready to build on this concept. I believe they would instead benefit from integration of learning domains and reinforcement of pre-reading skills and pre-writing skills related to letter recognition, an area in which they are still struggling. While the lesson was age-appropriate, I was slightly discouraged because it was not exactly developmentally appropriate for the ability of my students. They did grasp understanding as the week progressed, so it was not a total failure of a learning segment.
I feel more able to focus on my long-term goals with my edTPA lesson being completed. I feel like this week was productive in preparing me for the completion of my edTPA tasks 2 and 3. I spent most of my time this week focused on edTPA, and can now move on to focusing on other elements of my planning and teaching.
I became a little apprehensive seeing my first lesson go so poorly, however, made adaptations to the lesson and reframed my plans and instruction to make it more aligned to the developmental abilities and needs of my students. For next week, I plan to continue working ahead, as well as prepare my materials early, so I will not be putting things together the night before. Advice I would offer to other student teachers this week is, go with what your students need, more than what you have planned. I spent so much time preparing and planning my edTPA lessons, and have had to change course drastically to help my students grasp the concept. It was daunting to make such adjustments at the last minute, but it has been so beneficial to my student's learning. Most of the data I have analyzed this week was related to my edTPA segment and it significantly changed my plans for instructing my students as they learned the skill of predicting.
Continuing to build on my NCTCS proficiency, I am focusing on standard 1, element 1b, to display the ability to use appropriate data to identify areas of need to be addressed in a school improvement plan. As this is the first year PreK has been a part of the SIP, I am actively attending SIT meetings and adhering to the plan to integrate Kindergarten readiness skills and utilizing the Second Step curriculum to build social emotional maturity. For standard 2, element 2b, and plan my instruction to include the influence of diversity. I utilize many multicultural images in my lessons to integrate a respect for diversity and teach global awareness. For standard 3, element 3d, I am integrating 21st century skills in my instruction my utilizing the NC FELD, which features goals for young learners that align to 21st century learning. For standard 4, element 4d, I am hoping to be able to integrate technology back into my lessons, as I am still waiting for my Smart Board projector bulb to be replaced. For standard 5, element 5a, I am hoping to  use my student data to create ways to improve student learning by reflecting on work samples and anecdotal notes to help identify the learning needs of my students.
I have continued working on various portfolio artifacts and have set my PDP goals and put my classroom management plan in place. There are no questions either me or my CE have at this point. We are looking forward to the upcoming weeks and seeing our students grow.

EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 4

I would rate this week a 3. It has been a good week, but there is so much sickness going on in the PreK classrooms, it has been a very challenging week. Children are either leaving school early with very high fevers or missing many days after being diagnosed with the flu. In spite of this, the week has been productive as I began my first full week of instruction. I could tell that although we have been transitioning little by little classroom responsibilities, the children still were a little out of sorts when I took over instruction. They were restless and very excited during our first group activity on Monday, but by Tuesday, they were much more settled and ready to engage. I honestly don't feel like I have any brag-worthy accomplishments this week, except that, I made it. I made it through the first of the next ten weeks of student teaching, and have learned that I should try and be more firm in my expectations of students. I have noticed a tendency to let small behaviors go until there are several children doing something that becomes a disruption and it takes more time than it should to get them settled back down again. Especially during transitional times. I hope to incorporate more transitional activities in the next few weeks, as the activities that we use for transitional times like GoNoodle videos are unavailable until the light in our Smart Board projector is replaced. I was also able to attend a SIT meeting on Monday which I enjoyed very much. It was very brief, but covered some important information and helped me get to know my school a little better.

Next week, I will be teaching my edTPA lessons and I am still anxious about that. I feel right now that my short-term goals are getting in the way of my long-term goals and vice versa. When I think about the things I need to finish by the end of the week, I feel like there are so many small details I have to work out and submissions to keep up with, that the finish line gets fuzzy. When I think about long-term things like graduation, I feel stuck on what to do next in the short-term. I am hoping I will feel more focused after  my edTPA teaching week is over, and some of that stress is gone.

I think I could have spent more time preparing my materials for my lessons. I think it will be better for me to plan and gather my materials a week in advance and keep them organized by day so they are ready when I need them, instead of doing this the morning of the activity. As I already have my materials for next week ready, if I begin planning for week 3 now, I will hopefully stay ahead in my planning.

I did feel some apprehension this week, as I still feel a bit strange taking over someone else's classroom. It did not stop me from taking on classroom responsibility or inhibit my instruction, but it stays in my mind every day. I can't help but remember I am a guest in my CE's classroom, and even though she has been so welcoming, supportive, and encouraging to me, it still feels a little weird to "be in charge" of her classroom. I know it's only temporary and that I will feel better about it as I go on. Next week, I plan to continue working on lesson plans to stay ahead and portfolio artifacts to get those completed as soon as possible. I am currently looking at data on my students' ability to recall the names of various buildings, as well as each buildings purpose. The data collected from the lesson this week will allow me to determine students' readiness to move on to the next unit, or if we need to revisit some of the information and skill building activities before students are ready to move on. I think my advice for other student teachers this week would be to take your vitamins and do everything you can to stay healthy! The flu is so scary right now, we had a minimum of 7 confirmed cases by only Tuesday of this week.

In terms of strengthening my proficiency in the NC TCS, I am focusing on facilitating learning for my students by integrating more opportunities to engage in multiple learning domains related to the lesson content, and collecting data to inform my instructional plans so that I may reflect on my practice and better meet the needs of my students.

I have started to focus more on my student teaching video plans, recording every lesson so I have plenty of clips to use and rewriting my philosophy. I have also begun integrating my global awareness plans for the month of January into this weeks lesson, and am creating February global awareness plans. I think it will be good for me to narrow my focus and be more productive on specific tasks instead of doing a little all over the place. I met with my University Supervisor this Thursday, and she answered all of my questions, so I can not think of any additional support needed at this time.

EDU450 Weekly Reflection 3

I would rate this week a 4, it was short but productive, overall. The children were out of school three days this week, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and two planning days. I feel as though I was able to use this time to look ahead and get some preparations done for the upcoming weeks. Reflecting on this, I will use what I have learned about having time to get ahead in my planning and preparations to stay ahead. Now that I have had time to make plans for the next few weeks, I can continue planning and have time to make adjustments to lessons or materials instead of planning only for what is next. My short and long-term goals are still aligned, as everything I am working on is related to my lesson plan development, edTPA artifacts, portfolio requirements and overall effectiveness as a teacher. I feel like I have been productive this week and feel more at ease being ahead in my planning. That being said, I have not taken much time to "recharge," and do feel a bit exhausted from constantly filling my time with planning and building my portfolio. I think, with as much as I have gotten done, I could have taken just a bit more time to relax. On the other hand, knowing myself, if I had done this, I would have felt like I did not use my time wisely. I did not feel apprehensive about making decisions this week, but at times felt like I could not settle my focus on a single task. I want to get it all done, so I scattered my thinking a bit to work on little bits of many things.
Next week begins my first full week of teaching, and I am very excited. I think my planning and preparing has cleared a lot of the mental clutter I would be feeling if I wasn't ready. Data I have analyzed this week includes my student's ability to recognize capital and lower case letters. I created a checklist for analyzing this data so I will easily be able to see which students are struggling with letter recognition. I also conducted my student interest surveys this week, so I can begin to review the parental input and student interviews to set behavior management goals for my students and keep track of behavioral progress.
One piece of advice I would share this week goes back to what I mentioned above. Take time to care for yourself during this time, as it can easily become overwhelming to focus on nothing but lesson plans and assignments for student teaching. Taking a hot bath, watching your favorite movie, or taking time to do anything you enjoy can help you feel refreshed and ready for the next challenge. I am going to try taking this advice myself.
I am currently focusing on element 1c of NC TCS 1, beginning to develop professional relationships and networks. I have reached out to members of my school's SIT team and intend to join them for the upcoming meeting next week. For Standard 2, I am developing my plans for global awareness, as element 2b calls for understanding the influence of diversity and planning instruction accordingly. Element 3b calls for encouraging students to investigate the content area to expand their knowledge and satisfy their natural curiosity, and I am building on this skill by allowing children to explore their natural interests in our classroom learning centers, and building on child initiated questions by expanding thinking and introducing new ideas related to their interests. For element 4d, I am working to integrate technology with my instruction to maximize student learning by using the Smart board and use of IPads in the technology center. This is somewhat difficult due to the limited about of screen time (15 minutes per day) children are allowed at this age. Finally, for element 5c, I am integrating a variety of research-verified approaches to improve teaching and learning. I am actively striving to include high order thinking questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy, Marzano's high yield strategies, and skills aligned to 21st century learning.
For my portfolio requirements, I have still been working consistently on my classroom website, which is coming along nicely. I have nearly completed my resume and am preparing to set up my appointment to have it reviewed and approved. I have begun developing my classroom management plan and have conducted my student interest surveys and parent surveys. Next week I plan to discuss these further with my students and develop specific goals for them that will improve their behaviors. I have also begun preparing my global awareness activities and artifact for my portfolio, as well as collecting documentation for my professional development artifact and reviewing my philosophy of education for my student teaching video. At this point, I do not know of any support my CE needs from my University Supervisor and I am looking forward to my first observation where I can hear her feedback and ask some questions I have pertaining to portfolio artifacts.

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.

EDU 450 Weekly Reflection 1

I would rate this week as a 5, it was a great week!

This week, I was pleased to see how quickly my students have adjusted to returning to school after the holiday break. I was able to assist my CE in collecting mid-year work samples from students and contribute to the school-wide Backpack Ministry program, which provides food to families of students in need, by donating 90 pounds of oranges. I was able to put in place some classroom management strategies and engage the students in brief periods of instruction to assist the transition of classroom control from my CE to myself.

My experiences this week have shown me that the students will need some time to adjust to my role in the classroom and I will build their understanding of the transition by actively assuming greater responsibility each day. Because I was only present a few days each week last semester, I believe my daily presence in the classroom will help them gain understanding of the transition.

I am currently focusing on building relationships with my students and discussing upcoming plans with my CE. I believe establishing bonds with students will deepen their connections to my teaching and creating a well-developed plan will allow for a smooth transition of classroom responsibility.

I think I could have spent more time involving myself in my CE’s instruction, however, want to take this on at a careful, consistent pace, so as not to cause confusion among students, I am currently seated close to the group during instruction and plan to accompany my CE at the front of the group next week before taking over the instruction.

I did not feel any apprehension or indecision this week, and instead took on all classroom responsibilities offered, taking initiative many times, especially in regards to classroom management and maintaining classroom order. I assisted students in maintaining proper volume, gained their focus before transitions, maintained order during brief moments of down time between transitions, and led the line multiple times throughout the day.

Next week, I will take on more classroom responsibility and take more opportunities to involve myself in instruction as I prepare to take over teaching. I do not feel as though I have much “mental clutter” to clear, however can make a sequential plan to be successful.

Data I have analyzed this week includes my student IEPs and work samples. This will shape my instructional decisions by allowing me to analyze the abilities and areas of weakness of my students, specifically which skills they need to build on.

One piece of advice I would share with other student teachers at this point would be to enjoy your students. They each have personality and strengths that will shine if we take a few moments to appreciate them as individuals.

To increase my rating for element 1 of the NC TCS, I used positive management of student behavior by assisting children with conflict management multiple times each day. For element 2, I focused on engaging my student with autism in classroom activities, per his IEP. I provided him with support and encouraged his peer interactions, which were successful. For element 3, I prompted student curiosity beyond required coursework when we noticed a burnt-out light bulb. We discussed the filament inside a light bulb and how, when it goes bad, the light bulb doesn’t work anymore. For element 4, I am working to establish classroom practices that encourage all students to develop effective communication skills. When children have a problem, I am encouraging them to talk to one another and share how they feel, instead of intervening immediately to solve the problem for them. For element 5, I am actively seeking opportunities to expand my professional knowledge and build my professional skills. I have several planned professional development experiences and will be shown by my CE some of her data collecting resources and technologies outside of my student teaching requirements.

For my portfolio, I have begun building my classroom website and my resume, as well as my lesson plans and School Improvement Plan. My CE is looking forward to meeting my University Supervisor this coming Monday, as am I, and I feel comfortable at this point in the semester. Support I would like to receive throughout the course includes feedback and clear submission dates and expectations.

Academic Language

Academic Language in Early Childhood Education consists primarily of vocabulary used to establish and build content understanding. Academic language allows for students to engage in content areas in the most meaningful ways and gain conceptual understanding of various disciplines. As children progress, the will build on the language demands of vocabulary to include language functions, syntax and discourse. Academic vocabulary used across disciplines  is modeled by Bloom's Taxonomy, and can help teachers scaffold lessons to build further conceptual understanding and procedural fluency. I have included a graphic representing Bloom's Taxonomy and associated verbs of learning engagement below, as well as a link to the source at the bottom of this entry.



My primary questions regarding academic language are based around building by own use of academic vocabulary and incorporating more use of Bloom's Taxonomy in intentional teaching. To build my understanding and ability, I can use resources such as the ERIC database, which holds extensive information regarding the use, function, and benefit of academic language in Early Childhood classrooms and environments.

https://www.teachthought.com/learning/what-is-blooms-taxonomy-a-definition-for-teachers/

In addition to the link to an article discussing Bloom's Taxonomy, here is a link to the ERIC database as mentioned above, as well as additional resources on academic language and vocabulary.

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1105406

https://www.researchconnections.org/childcare/resources/32999

https://www.theedadvocate.org/academic-language-connection-school-success/

Ensuring Effective Teaching and Learning

Effective teaching and learning go hand-in-hand, as demonstrated by the process of edTPA, which is designed to optimize learning through intentional strategies and engagement opportunities for all learners. By planning, teaching, and assessing in an intentional manner, instructing becomes a learning process, providing educators with both experience and evidence in effective practice. In other words, this cycle helps teachers know what works.
Planning lessons with the needs of the student in mind can allow for more effective instruction, as the lesson is more tailored to the individual needs of the learner. Assessment is used to prove that the plan for instruction, as well as the instruction itself, is effective for the learner. As this process is implemented by educators, learning is taking place. Educators are learning more creative ways to connect with students, learning ways to apply research-based strategies, and learning more about creating a positive and enriching classroom atmosphere. The effective teaching and learning cycle truly creates an unending opportunity for educators to improve their practices, and grow in the field of education.
Looking back on my action plan, I set the goal for myself of rereading both the edTPA Handbook and the URLP Document before January 31. I have completed my reread of the URLP document, but have not yet begun my second reading of the edTPA Handbook. I will begin that as soon as possible, to maintain my personal goals.

Learning Reflection

Over the past few weeks, as my exploration of the edTPA process intensifies, I am learning more and more about the complexity of lesson planning, the finesse of instruction, and the proper means of assessment, reflective practice, and reteaching versus reengagement. These processes all coincide with one another in a delicate balance that all result in an effective teaching process and a highly qualified teacher.
Planning commentaries, Instructional commentaries, and Assessment commentaries are not for the faint of heart. Although I have been creating lesson plans for years, I have never fully immersed myself in the step-by-step thinking of edTPA. That being said, this intensive process is orchestrated to bring reflective practice into teaching, before planning occurs. edTPA is giving educators greater insight into the why of our planning, more differentiated thoughts of how instruction will be given, and more self-reflective thinking as to what can be adapted to meet the needs of students. This may include anything from inclusive/adaptive devices, to changing teaching style. One means of avoiding the need to reteach is to plan integration and inclusive practice into the planning of the lesson, as there is a higher retention rate when lessons are taught to meet the multiple modalities.
Multiple modalities is a relatively new term, as well, although again, high quality educators have been doing this all along. We know that Harold Gardner theorized multiple intelligences and that students have varying ways of learning, from kinesthetic, to musical, to existential. Multiple modalities is just this. As education has developed to meet the needs of learners, we have come to understand more about various modalities of learning, and how to go about integrating what we want to teach with the learning styles and needs of the learner.
Though this is a sliver of all that edTPA is comprised of, it is truly eye opening to me that this process will benefit educators, learners, families, and communities by offering the best practices throughout a student's school career, preparing learners for life outside the classroom as a contributing member of society. I am excited to delve deeper into the edTPA process, as I can feel myself becoming not only more knowledgeable about the processes of planning, assessing and instructing, but more comfortable navigating the processes as well.

What Makes Learning an Engaging Experience?

To those who are new to teaching, or unfamiliar with the demands of being an educator, the question of how to keep students engaged may present only more questions. How to keep everyone's attention and focus on the lesson at hand is not easily included in regular lesson planning, as this is heavily reliant upon differentiation based on the needs of students. Professional educators are equipped with knowledge, techniques, and resources to keep learning exciting, and actively engaging for all students.
To elaborate, hands-on, active approaches to learning have been very effective with the young children (ages 4-5 years old) I teach, as these children enjoy engaging in a wide range of experiences. After all, most experiences are still new to them. I have also found that I am able to maintain student interest in lesson content with a multitude of techniques and research based practices, including positive energy and enthusiasm for learning, asking questions giving children the opportunity to share what they know, and even giving them the opportunity to "teach" me something new. Engagement goes up exponentially when four-year-old's can correct their "mixed-up" teacher! Young students do have limited attention spans, although by alternating between very focused activities and vigorous gross motor activities, teachers can maintain student focus for longer periods of time, maximizing learning opportunities, often with students believing they are only engaged in play.
Reflecting on the best teachers I have had, and applying my knowledge of research-based practice, I can see that these teachers stood out to me because they were adapting themselves to my learning needs. In contrast, teachers I remember less fondly were very rigid in following "the plan," with little interest in differentiation or integrating multiple modalities of learning. Following the plan with no willingness to make adaptations leaves a large gap between the style of the teacher and the needs of the learner.
As professional educators, we know how to plan, how to teach, and how to assess. However, we must be sure that our process is entirely student-centered, and be prepared to deviate from the plan, if that is what our students need. Keeping children actively engaged makes learning fun and meaningful, while ensuring lesson content is relevant and developmentally appropriate demonstrates the professional approach to teaching every student needs to succeed. All students learn differently, and being a highly qualified professional educator gives us all we need to adapt and meet the needs of all students. For more information on creating engaging learning opportunities, click here, here, or check out the infographic below.

Blog 1 Effective Teaching and Learning

To be an effective teacher, one must first be an effective learner. After all, we all began our journey with a clean slate, and a wonderful wealth of knowledge surrounding us. Whether we have found ourselves at a point in time to serve as teacher or student is quite an existential question to ponder, however, there need not be two sides of the coin.
This blog post is specifically geared for those who are currently, or aspiring to be, professional educators, in effort to remind us all that the learning phase of life, is never-ending. Through the recently developed edTPA standards and guidelines for effective teaching, we are clearly able to see that there is always opportunity to grow in knowledge and quality practice.
edTPA has been developed over a twenty-five year assessment of quality and effective teaching, essentially broken down into three simple processes. Detailed outlines and updated clarifications of edTPA are available here.
The first step in effective teaching, begins with planning. There is so much planning. I think back to my days in elementary school, where every moment was filled with excitement, and my teachers always seemed to be ready to handle anything out of the ordinary, and always with a smile. Until I began to develop my own lesson plans, I had little understanding of how intensive creating quality learning experiences truly is. Planning an effective lesson, however, is much more complex than putting pen to paper, with the intent of doing activity X. Quality planning for effective teaching requires, not only consideration of curriculum, theme, and timeline, but requires consideration of the abilities of students, as well as the goals we want students to strive for. Thorough understanding of North Carolina's Standard Course of Study enables a teacher to be better prepared to develop lesson plans with students in mind. Though the NCSCOS prepares teachers for meeting curriculum standards, another important focus is the ability of students before teaching begins.  This may seem daunting for educators, especially at the start of a new year, when we have little to go on, in terms of being familiar with our students. Effective teachers are able to adapt to this quickly, and moreso than ever with the edTPA process.
Before teaching itself is addressed, assessment must be discussed. Teachers who have been in the classrooms, and those who have yet to be, quickly learn that assessment happens at all times, in all ways. Everything from written records of behavior, to portfolios, to noticing "little Johnny" is unusually quiet today are forms of assessment. While I will not yet delve into formal and informal types of assessments, it is so very important to note that it is happening at all times. During the planning phase, teachers are assessing the level of difficulty and necessary adaptations for groups of students who may need extra practice and those who may have mastered the skill identified in the goal. Developmentally appropriate student learning goals for all ages, birth-kindergarten, are available in the NC FELD (North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development).
Teaching, is the third process of edTPA I will discuss, and is the reason we do what we do. I can't think of a single educator who chose to join this field to make lesson plans and running anecdotal logs. We want to teach, and by following the outlines of edTPA, we will be most effective at doing just that. Teaching must come after the planning phase, but in a way, is from then on accompanied by the assessment phase. Assessments can certainly be carried out as teaching takes place, giving the teacher cues about who is catching on to the lesson, and who is struggling to follow along. Teachers must adapt, as necessary, even while teaching so they many effectively meet the needs of students. Assessment occurs again after completion of teaching, and the teacher can then analyze assessment results, then determine if the lesson should be revisited or if students are ready to move on.

This image illustrates that these processes are not limited to any specific order, but rather, interconnect the processes, so they may work together to significantly improve both the effectiveness of teaching, but the effectiveness of learning. This does not surprise me, however, though I am thoroughly pleased with the mindfulness of this method and its conveyance of learning at all stages, as perpetual and entirely interconnected.
This is a brief summary of the edTPA process, and will develop over time as more about the process is understood and shared among the education community. Research on edTPA and its connection to all of the North Carolina Teacher Candidate Standards, most specifically standard IV: Teachers facilitate learning for their students, and standard V: Teachers reflect on their practice, demonstrates that quality and effective learning, come from quality and effective teaching practices. Taking this knowledge and interpretations of the connectivity of quality practice into classrooms of the future can only lead to more effective teaching practice and better prepared learners.