Reflections on Week 1

In this first week, I don’t even know their names yet. I’m planning on having them write name tags and be able to identify them going forward from there.

Friday I started cracking down on really learning some of their names. I have a copy of the class list and can begin tracking their progress and assessing their progress once our language lessons begin next week.

Reflections on Week 2

I’ll have to be more conscientious about finding an Exit Ticket for one of the classes – I used it with Portable 3 (P3) and got some great feedback and insight into the students – but beyond that, I’m not graphically or literally tracking their progress yet. I’ll be sure to inquire how to track that either for the sake of assessments or for the “responsive classroom” piece.

I’ve created a series of pages that each have a section dedicated to each student, and can begin recording notes on each of them – including details on their classroom skills and on learning styles, and other details.

I’ve begun jotting down observations and reflections on the learning style and qualities of each student. In conversation with my T.A., he’s said that many observations can be tracked anecdotally or observationally, and aren’t necessarily on a formal document, which I can entirely understand. But the practice of considering and reflecting upon each student will be useful, especially in considering adjustments for differentiated tasks, instruction and assessment strategies.

Reflections on Week 3

I incorporated “exit tickets” to one of the assignments, and it’s made all the difference in keeping the students on task, progressing through lessons and activities, and having the students apply lesson in practice. As a result, I have a lot of material to make informal assessments with and deliver some lessons and tips on grammar, spelling, word choice and improving comprehension.

I still don’t quite have written formal data on every student, but am beginning to identify those who, for example, might not fully grasp a concept, but don’t want to ask for help – and so they don’t get the attention they may require to excel at the task, when it’s possible they could with a little more attention.

But having these notes and taking the time to acquire exit tickets with some material to assess them with has been tremendously impactful in further understanding the academic progress the students have achieved.

Reflections on Week 4

I continued adding details on students, including specifically some which I hadn’t made entries for so far. In the culminating assignment, I will be able to make some further documentations.

I discussed evaluation and tracking and translating assessment scores into the Learning Objectives from the curriculum for Literacy with my T.A. and will be evaluating the submitted user guides from our literacy unit, now that they are submitted. I have an appointment to complete the grade Dec. 19, when I’ll return, gather any final/late materials, and finalize the assessments.

I’ve notes on most of the students regarding their working habits and materials we’ve discussed during check-ins and exit tickets (the check-ins have been valuable in encouraging a focused effort from the classes to stay on task).

Navigation / Table of Contents

Focus areas:

• Teacher Plan Book homepage (link)
• lesson planning (link)
• student observations (link)
• classroom and school context summaries (link)
• reflections for each lesson (link)
• weekly and overall reflections (link)
• reflections on the associate teacher’s classroom management, lesson implementation and assessment & evaluation (link)