Student Teaching JournalWest Hempfield Elementary School

8/20/13Today marked the beginning of my student teaching experience in the

Hempfield School District. I spoke with my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Testa, and agreed to meet her at her West Hempfield Elementary fourth grade classroom to get acquainted. Mrs. Testa and I introduced ourselves and spent the afternoon getting to know each other. She showed me around the school and introduced me to some of the faculty members as well as Principal Sarnelli. She showed me around the classroom and explained her typical routine and philosophies towards teaching.

8/21/13I accompanied Mrs. Testa to a Hempfield Area School District In-service day. I

attended an assembly run by the superintendent at Hempfield Area High School 8:00am to 11:30am. After the assembly, the faculty returned to their home school for a staff meeting. Mrs. Testa introduced me to many faculty members and made me feel very welcomed. Principal Sarnelli ran the staff meeting at West Hempfield Elementary. I was able to see how the faculty members work together, as well as how the faculty communicates with the principal. I enjoyed the sense of community within the district.

8/22/13I accompanied Mrs. Testa to a second Hempfield Area School District In-

service day. Today’s meeting, which was for all of the fourth grade teachers in the district, took place at Stanwood Elementary School. In this meeting, we covered a variety of topics. Curriculum revisions in math, language arts, science, and health were discussed. We each received assessment anchor packets for math and language arts, and also covered pacing guides. The changes in technology were discussed, as well as PSSA dates. Lastly the topic of Title I was covered.

8/26/13Today was the first day of school for the Hempfield students. Mrs. Testa felt

that it would be very beneficial for me to attend the first day of school for many reasons. She felt that the students would see me as a figure of authority from day one, and that they could get acquainted with me while also getting acquainted with their new fourth grade rules and expectations. I was also able to observe the structure of a typical day and learn the classroom regulations alongside the students.

8/30/13Due to our student teaching seminar meetings, I was unable to be in school

for the majority of the week. I returned on Friday for full day. Although Mrs. Testa did not require me to come to school until September 3rd, I felt that observing her class, daily routines, and her teaching methods could greatly benefit me and improve my skills for when I start teaching her class.

Before the students arrived to school, Mrs. Testa showed me some of her methods of organizing important information. She showed me her Parent Log, which contained all of the contact information for each student’s parents or guardians, emergency cards, a questionnaire filled out about each child by a parent or guardian, and a communication log. The communication log contained specific spaces to document the students name, the date, which parent or guardian was contacted, how they were contacted, and a reason for contacting. A Parent Log such as the one Mrs. Testa showed me is definitely a tool that I will keep in my classroom after learning about its benefits.

Class began with a 30-minute workshop period in which Mrs. Testa had the students work on a Biography Poem assignment that will be used in a project. I walked around and assisted students at their seats until I was assigned to help one student catch up who was absent the previous day. After the workshop period, I walked the students through the building to music class. While the students were in music class, Mrs. Testa gave me packets of math materials and explained what we would be covering. I retrieved the students from music class, led them to a bathroom break, and finally back to class. We began math class, which covered lesson four of the fluency plan, which is to be completed before beginning unit one. The lesson consisted of “Mad Minutes,” which is a timed multiplication quiz, and a lesson on arrays on Mimio. Mimio, which is new to me, is a teaching aid that is present in every classroom in the Hempfield School District. It is very similar to a Smartboard technology, but is operated using a projector, the computer, and a special pen that is used directly on the whiteboard. After Mrs. Testa taught the lesson on arrays, I walked around the class and gave assistance to pairs of students who were working on problems in their books. I also graded the Mad Minute quizzes and handed them back to the students. Mrs. Testa explained that she announces the names of the students who get perfect scores to the class, so I did that was well.

The following language arts lesson was presented by Mrs. Testa on Mimio as well. She covered the weekly focus question, the weekly amazing words, as well as spelling as the students participated from the carpeted area in front of the whiteboard. Students then broke into pairs to read the weekly story from their books.

Later in the afternoon I took over Mrs. Testa’s recess monitor duty, which I was taught about on my first day at West Hempfield. After recess, Mrs. Testa taught a simple social studies review lesson to a different class while our class was learning science. Mrs. Testa gave me the opportunity to teach the same lesson to our class. I followed her lesson plan and taught the students about the Northeastern states and their capitals on Mimio. First I reviewed the states, capitals, and state abbreviations with a map on the whiteboard and then I broke them into two teams for a review game. During the review game, each team sent one student up at a time to go against each other. I would ask for a state’s capital or abbreviation and the first student to answer correctly with one guess would put a point on the board. The class began to struggle with some of the state capitals, so I paused the game and quickly reviewed the students’ trouble spots. This made the game run more successfully because students gave more correct answers. I noticed too much

chatter from the teams, although I explained that talking, shouting out answers, or inappropriate behavior would result in the loss of a point. I took a point away from a noisy team and this decreased the classroom chatter. After the game I made sure both teams said good game to one another to enforce the importance of good manners and sportsmanship.

9/3/13Today was the first official day of student teaching. I was able to jump right

in because I’ve already become familiarized with Mrs. Testa’s class. I began the morning with a creative lesson during the class’s 30-minute workshop period. The activity that I introduced was making apple trees out of construction paper. The students were to write their name on the trunk and five positive adjectives about themselves on the apples. This activity not only ties in the with seasons, but it also ties in with getting to know each other at the beginning of the year, and the Johnny Appleseed story that the students will be reading shortly. To introduce the lesson, I questioned the students about the transition from summer to fall and different activities that one could participate in at this time of the year. When students stated that apple picking was a seasonal activity, I introduced the apple tree that I created as a model. I then demonstrated how to construct the tree by using example pieces that I had precut. Before I allowed the students to get materials, I had them write their five adjectives down so they could be corrected for spelling. Once students had their adjectives corrected they could begin designing their tree. I provided stencils for the different parts of the tree incase students wanted to use them, but I was pleased to see many students making their own unique tree parts. Some students finished, but most students were able to store their unfinished trees to finish during tomorrow’s workshop. Tomorrow I will tie the activity into the Johnny Appleseed story.

I helped students during math class, which was partially direct instruction done by Mrs. Testa. I walked around and monitored the students and helped individual students with problems. The students then took a quiz, which I graded. After the quiz the students completed their Mad Minutes activity. I ran this activity and graded the papers. At the end of the day I announced the perfect Mad Minutes papers and also had private discussions with two students who performed poorly on the quiz. I talked to them about their errors and had them explain their process so I could correct them.

Mrs. Testa taught today’s social studies lesson to the other fourth grade class, and I taught the same lesson to our original class once again. I felt that this lesson went well, despite it being the very end of the day. I taught the first half of unit two lesson one. I introduced the lesson title, which was “From Sea to Sea,” and I asked the students what that might mean. When I revealed the answer, I also pulled down the map to use as a visual. I then had the students preview the pages in the lesson and pick one idea to share in pairs. I walked the students through the objectives, lesson summary, vocabulary words, and then had the students popcorn read as a class. I stopped after each new idea to discuss it with the class. To ensure students were paying attention, I had everyone clap once each time a vocabulary word was read. As the lesson went on, the clapping became less frequent, so I had to

continually monitor and ask frequent questions in order to keep students on their toes. Partially through the lesson I felt that I was losing students due to the straightforward delivery of the material so I decided to lighten the mood with jokes and extra enthusiasm. This adjustment seemed to work very well because I had students laughing and smiling while also paying attention and raising their hands. The class is very driven by Mrs. Testa’s reward system so I will probably use this as incentive when I’m struggling to get the students to focus at the end of the day during a dry lesson. I ended the lesson with a short closure of having the students turn to their groups and share one interesting fact they learned. I had each group share their most interesting fact.

9/4/13We began the morning with our usual workshop period. This period was

used so the students could finish their apple tree projects. All of the students worked well and finished their projects. Students who finished early worked on unfinished worksheets, fast math on the computer, caught up on the “Daily Fix-it” in their binders, and helped other students who needed help. I did a better job on gaining the class’s attention when adding a direction or making a suggestion to the class as a whole. Mrs. Testa suggested that I make sure to have all eyes on me when interjecting during work time so the students wouldn’t need directions repeated. I made sure to do this and the lesson ran very smoothly. These projects turned out nicely and will be laminated so they can be displayed for open house.

I did a lot of monitoring during Mrs. Testa’s math lesson on the Mimio. A few students were being very difficult for Mrs. Testa and consistently losing focus. Another student made multiple attempts to skip seat work and fill in the answers after Mrs. Testa had already explained the answers. I felt as though I was firm and fair when I corrected students. I moved closer to students who I noticed weren’t paying attention, which usually helped redirect their attention. Others needed verbal prompting. One aspect of teaching that I feel insecure about is breaking down simple math into even simpler terms for students who struggle. I was able to do this today for many different students today and that was a boost to my confidence.

I was able to observe Mrs. Testa administer the Foresight tests to the students. I monitored the students and answered questions related to directions. I also made sure students kept quiet and busy when they had finished their test. I monitored recess as usual, and spent some time doing work for Mrs. Testa and discussing future lessons while the students were at lunch.

I officially took over social studies this afternoon. I was very nervous to teach Mrs. Testa’s lesson to the students, especially without observing her teach it to the first group. It was even more difficult because I am still learning the first group’s names since they are from another classroom. I felt that the first half of the lesson could have used improvement. I felt nervous and stiff, and I also felt that my delivery of the material was dry. By the end of the lesson; however, I felt more comfortable and it showed in the delivery of the material. The students seemed more engaged and were answering more questions correctly by the end of the lesson. Mrs. Testa reassured me that the lesson went well and that my nerves didn’t

show. She explained that the lesson was dry to begin with, so I did a good job of adjusting my delivery to engage the students and add some humor into the material. I felt that my second try at the same lesson to my own class went excellently. I was comfortable because I had my own students to teach to and since it was my second time through the material I felt that I knew it better. I was able to have fun with the students and I could tell they enjoyed the lesson due to their engagement. Every student raised his or her hand, volunteered to read, or answered questions for me. I felt that the students really understood the material when I was through. Mrs. Testa said she was very impressed with my confidence, classroom presence, and overall delivery. That was another wonderful confidence booster. One aspect that I will focus more on is using correct grammar when teaching.

At the end of the day, I sat in on a parent-teacher conference between Mrs. Testa and one of her student’s parents. It was an interesting meeting to observe due to a sensitive subject, but I feel that it was extremely beneficial for me because I got to see how an experienced teacher would handle the situation.

9/5/13This morning before the students came to school I was able to go over some

odds and ends with Mrs. Testa. She explained to me the way Open House next Wednesday will run, and also gave me another task to complete each day. She gave me her plans for this morning’s workshop period and had me lead the class. First I had the students take out their English homework and I came around and checked it. Students who did not have their homework done received a yellow slip. Receiving a yellow slip for unfinished homework or poor behavior is a school district policy. The consequences of receiving a yellow slip are that the student loses recess and instead sits in the designated quiet room to complete their assignments. I had the students check over their homework with a partner, and then I went over any troubling questions as a class. I then pulled up the Daily Fix-it on the Mimio. The Daily Fix-it is an activity which allows students to correct the grammar and spelling of one incorrect sentence each day. As a class, we corrected this weeks Daily Fix-its. Lastly, I conducted tiered one-minute reads. The class was broken into three different tiers for these reads.

After I brought the students back from art class and a bathroom break, I administered the math Foresight test and monitored the students while they took the 60-minute test. I read directly from the Foresight manual, which is required. I made sure I read clearly and had all eyes on me.

9/6/13Today was an unusual day due to school events that were scheduled during

class time. A fire drill was scheduled into the day, as well as a two-hour school wide assembly on school rules and procedures. Because we ended the first reading unit, all of the fourth grade classes came together during the science and social studies periods to watch Winn-Dixie, which was the story they read and were tested on in the morning.

Despite the mixed up schedule, I administered and graded their Winn Dixie reading tests, spelling tests, and a math quiz. Before the math quiz I taught math to

my students for the first time. I used Mrs. Testa’s plans and the Mimio presentation that she had already prepared. I was nervous to teach this lesson because math is my weakest subject, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well the lesson did. I was able to break the simple concept down into an even simpler concept and I felt confident that the students grasped what I was teaching by the end of the lesson. Their good scores on the math quiz reflected how I taught. I also ran the quiet room during recess. The quiet room is for all fourth grade students who have lost recess time due to punishment, or need to stay in to complete work. I worked individually with two different students on assignments they did not complete at home. Both of these students are low achieving students who my cooperating teacher feels may move into Title I in the future. Despite having to refocus these students constantly and monitor to ensure they are actually working, I really enjoyed working with them. Working with struggling students is a passion of mine, and when I see one of those students grasp a concept or do well on a test I feel a sense of accomplishment along with them.

9/9/13:Today was my first time running the morning routine without Mrs. Testa.

She had a head teacher meeting to attend, so a substitute teacher was in the room for the first hour of the day. Although she was required to have a substitute teacher in the room, she explained that she wanted me running the classroom as if I were on my own. I had the students follow the usual morning schedule, which is coming into the room, unpacking their backpacks, recording their homework into their planners, updating their data sheets, and completing the morning assignment before announcements. I ran the morning workshop, which was an early preparation for Halloween, and then took the students to itinerant.

Mrs. Testa returned, and once I picked the students up from itinerant I taught a math lesson on multiplication properties. The lesson went well, although it ran about ten minutes over the allotted time. Mrs. Testa and I had a chat about time management and wrapping up the lessons on time, even if the students aren’t completely comfortable with the material. She appreciated how thorough I was with the material and making sure each student understood, and she also felt that I did a good job, but she explained that she would rather continue with the lesson during the next math class than take time from reading class, especially since many of the students are in Title I.

After lunch and recess I ran “Do DEW” which the students really get a kick out of due to the name. “DEW” stands for drop everything and write, so the students find a comfortable spot in the room and write for five minutes and the share their entries with a group. Mrs. Testa and I choose a different group to join each day, and we also share our DEW entries. After Do DEW, I taught social studies lessons to both fourth grade classes. The lesson went exceptionally well because I was able to play a game that I created for the students. The game is called “Picker,” and is an adapted version of “Flyswatter.” Instead of giving the students flyswatters and having them smack the correct answer on the whiteboard, I gave them pointer fingers and displayed laminated noses with answers on the board. The students were divided into teams and once they were asked a question, they would pick the

nose with the correct answer. Mrs. Testa really liked this game and actually asked me to e-mail her the nose image I used so she could make her own “Picker” after I leave in October.

9/10/13:Today was a very stressful day at West Hempfield Elementary. With Open

House tomorrow, as well as variety of educational and behavioral issues to address and monitor, Mrs. Testa and I had our hands full. Mrs. Testa began the day with a classroom meeting so she could address behavioral and focus issues the students have been having. After itinerant I taught a math lesson. Today was the first time I taught a lesson that I was disappointed in. I taught the distributive property, and the students had a really difficult time grasping the concept. I ran out of different ways to explain the concept so I had to ask Mrs. Testa if she had a better way to teach the students. After the lesson, Mrs. Testa told me not to be disappointed in the lesson due to the difficulty of the material for fourth grade students. She said she would prefer me to ask for help than send the children off to work on their own without understanding. She discussed different methods of working with students during math time, especially because the classroom is so divided with high-achieving students and Title I students. She explained that the students who grasp the concept can be given the opportunity to work on their own at their seats, but the students who struggle can join me on the carpet in front of the whiteboard. I am excited to test out this new method during the next math lesson.

I taught my usual social studies classes in the afternoon. The students did a great job focusing and seemed very engaged in the lesson. Mrs. Testa and I had students from each class come up to the front of the class to demonstrate the “rainshadow” activity that Mrs. Testa enjoys doing with her students. She lead the activity during the first class, but allowed me to do it on my own during the second class. It went great and the students had a lot of fun with the material.

9/11/13:Since today is 9/11, the day was quite mixed up. Instead of our daily

morning routine, all of the students were brought outside to the flagpole for a short 9/11 assembly. Once they returned to the classroom, Mrs. Testa played a 9/11 video and led a discussion on the topic. It was interesting to watch a teacher with such experience explain a difficult subject to the students, especially since the students were born when 9/11 happened and didn’t quite understand.

I taught math after the 9/11 discussion and itinerant. The lesson went well because I was able to address and issues with the distributive property. I was pleased to see that I was able to get students to understand the lesson. I was able to give a quick quiz on the multiplication properties and then begin Unit 1, which is new material for the students. The students did well with the lesson and enjoyed the Mimio presentation during the presentation of new material. During the afternoon, social studies was pushed back a day due to more 9/11 activities.

Tonight was the fourth grade Open House. I was nervous, but ended up having a wonderful time. I got to watch Mrs. Testa’s Open House presentation and even participate in it. I had multiple parents tell me that their children had told

them about me and were excited to meet me. That made me feel great, and by the end of the evening I felt comfortable chatting with parents about their children.

9/12/13:We were able to get back into our normal routine today since Open House is

over and we completed all of our 9/11 activities. We began this morning with a classroom meeting on the carpet. Mrs. Testa talked about Open House and meeting the students’ parents, and then she moved into classroom rules. Mrs. Testa wanted to go over classroom rules and expectations once again because a handful of students are still struggling to follow directions in behave in a way that’s acceptable for fourth grade students. Mrs. Testa also explained to me that since this is the third week of school, we have to be progressively stricter on the students for poor behavior. After this short meeting, I divided the students into their reading groups. I had each group “popcorn” read their leveled readers while I visited each group. I spent extra time with the Title I students so I could ensure that they were focused and able to comprehend their leveled reader.

I taught a math lesson that went very well. Mrs. Testa warned me ahead of time that the lesson would be difficult for the students, but I was able to teach it in a way that they understood. I had the students who understood the concept to work independently after the lesson, and the students who struggled joined me on the carpet for more help.

Social studies was a great learning experience as well. During the first lesson with the other class, I had a difficult time with the students during the review game that I had planned. The students from the other fourth grade classroom were talking throughout the game, so I stopped the game and had the students return to their seats and begin their tests early. After the lesson, Mrs. Testa reassured me that she would have done the exact same thing and that I handled the situation well. The second lesson with my class went excellently and their test scores showed it.

9/13/13:Today was a pretty typical day at West Hempfield Elementary. I

administered a spelling test, taught the math lesson, and taught two social studies lessons. Math went well, and I was able to teach the material in a way that the students understood and had very few difficulties.

Social studies was a wonderful learning experience for me today. Mrs. Cravotta came to observe my classroom, and though I was a little bit nervous, I felt that it went well, especially since the afternoon classes were mixed up due to a boy scouts meeting in the cafeteria. During the first class, I had both classes’ boys, and during the second I had all of the girls. Mrs. Cravotta felt that I demonstrated a good classroom presence and understood the material, though she was disappointed hat I was not able to do an activity with the kids while she was visiting. Due to the mixed up week with Open House, 9/11, and the boy scouts meeting, Mrs. Testa and I felt that direct instruction would be the best way to cover the material. I think the lecture went well, but I am excited to apply what I learned from Mrs. Cravotta’s constructive criticism during my next lesson.

9/16/13:The first day of the week started out as always. I ran the morning routine

and workshop period, and then a math lesson. Math has been going very well ever since last week when I got stuck on explaining the distributive property. Mrs. Testa and I talk during our planning period before math about the lesson I am about to teach and this really helps me feel confident for the lesson. Due to low PSSA scores in the past, Mrs. Testa has me assign a PSSA worksheet each night and we go over these problems at the beginning of each lesson. The students enjoy using the Mimio voting system to select their answers, and I can pull up a pie chart to show how the class scored on each question. At the end of the worksheet I reveal a percentage of correct answers on the screen. I right this percentage on the board until the next day so the students can work towards a goal. The kids love to see how they did as a class and each day they try to beat their previous score.

I observed Mrs. Testa’s reading lesson closely because I will be taking over reading tomorrow. I feel comfortable with my ability to teach English and reading because that was always a strong subject for me. Starting tomorrow, I will be teaching the full day.

During social studies I covered a quick section in the book and Mrs. Testa and I explained the business plan project and advertisement that the students will be creating instead of completing a test. Mrs. Testa explained the directions to the first class and walked the students through the project, and after observing exactly how she presented the directions; I did the same for the second class.

9/17/13:Today was my first day teaching the entire day. After morning routines,

workshop, and itinerant, I began the math lesson. The students did a great job with creating and interpreting bar graphs, so I was able to include a fun activity towards the end of the period. I had the students ask each other survey questions for a table and graph they would like to create, and then had the students create the graph on graph paper. While most of the class was working on this activity, I provided extra instruction to my Tier II students who needed more attention.

Reading went excellently as well. We started “On the Banks of Plum Creek,” today and I provided various pre-reading activities for the students to discuss before breaking into small groups to popcorn read. We also covered the new vocabulary and amazing words, as well as introduced the weeks new focus question, which deals with exploring new places.

Social studies consisted of students working on their first draft of their business plan and advertisement project. I worked one-on-one with different students throughout both class periods. I was able to answer questions, give suggestions and compliments, as well as extra attention to those who needed it.

9/18/13:Today was a very busy day. Since I am now teaching the full day, I not only

teach every lesson, but also handle the transitions from lesson to lesson, workshop time, morning and afternoon bus duties, recess, and any other prep work or planning. I enjoy it very much and enjoy being busy, but some students are still

demonstrating behavioral and focus issues. Mrs. Testa and I have concluded that students are really struggling to get into their new fourth grade routine and the responsibilities that come with it. Though it is only the fourth week of school, Mrs. Testa expects students to have adapted by now, and I agree that there are too many mistakes and too many situations in which students need reminded of responsibilities.

I also attended a faculty meeting in the morning for Lexia training. West Hempfield Elementary has had very low PSSA and reading scores over the past few years so the district is requiring all students to spend a specific amount of time each week on a computer program called Lexia. This is quite a curveball for the teachers because our days are already packed with lessons and other mandatory plans. In order to meet the Lexia requirement, Mrs. Testa and I will have to pull students out of different classes throughout the day so they can complete Lexia minutes. None of the teachers are thrilled about this; however, it must be done.

Math went well today, which was exciting, especially after two math lessons that I felt were below average. Reading went well too. I went over some interactive grammar material on the Mimio with the students and then broke them into their pairs to continue reading “On the Banks of Plum Creek.” Students worked on a guided reading packet while reading.

During the social studies periods I had the students work on their final drafts of their advertisements. Students were required to have their first drafts approved by myself of Mrs. Testa before moving onto the final draft. Students worked well and the activity ran smoothly.

9/19/13:Mrs. Testa was not in school today. She was required to have a substitute

teacher; however, I ran the entire day as if I were on my own. Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous because I feel that Mrs. Testa prepared me well and I also know my students very well. We began with the usual morning routine and workshop activities. I was able to monitor the class while jumping into different groups to offer help. Math went well too. I was able to get through all of the material and even spend extra time with struggling students while the others worked independently and in small groups. The content was difficult for the students, but I am happy with the lesson because I feel that most of the students walked away feeling comfortable with the new material.

Reading went fine, but I had to spend extra time on different topics because some of my students were losing focus. I had to change up the lesson plan while in the middle of it to fix this. I decided to separate the students into their typical reading groups. Students “popcorn” read in these groups while answering questions. The students were also to begin working on an essay for “On the Banks of Plum Creek.” Mrs. Testa has me provide extra instruction to the lowest achieving group often during reading time, so I worked with them while planning the essay structure as well. While I was working with the lower group, I had students who had finished all of their work ask me what to do next. I realized that I had made a mistake by not specifying this to all students before sending them off to work on

their own. I quickly decided to have them continue working on unfinished workshop materials.

After lunch I had the students do DEW and share in their groups. Both social studies periods were used for each class’s presentations of their advertisement projects. We were able to finish a little less than half in each class. I explained what was expected for the presenters as well as the members of the audience. The first class didn’t run as smoothly as I’d have liked, although Mrs. Testa and I both have a variety of behavioral and academic issues in that class. I had to regulate the presentations closely due to peers behaving inappropriately during presentations. Students also took a very long time to get set up, so I had to keep the class moving in order to get in more presentations. My class ran smoothly, though I had one or two interruptions from students in the audience. Those students received a strike and lost a point on their own presentations and there were no more issues after that.

Overall, I felt the day went well. I got all of the work that was planned for today completed and left the room tidy for Mrs. Testa’s return. I was also able to keep up with the Lexia schedule that was just made yesterday.

9/20/13:The day ran a little differently than most days due to West Hempfield

Elementary’s Walk-a-Thon. The morning began as usual, with morning routines and itinerant. After itinerant, I decided to give the kids a Fun Friday during math because we managed to get all of our lessons completed and are significantly ahead of the other three fourth grade classrooms. First we reviewed our PSSA homework and workbook homework, and then I brought the students up into three groups for stations made up of math games. These math games all reinforced students’ knowledge of multiplication tables and had laminated directions and involved a sets of dice, decks of cards, game boards, and bingo chips. I worked individually with one student during the first two stations, and then let him join in for the final station. This student has been falling further behind each day, and I am happy with his progress from the one-on-one instruction I was able to give him today. He actually said the words “Math is fun when you know how to do it,” while working at the whiteboard with the order of operations. That made my day.

Reading was typical today. We worked through day for of “On the Banks of Plum Creek,” and also reviewed PSSA sample problems on the Mimio voting system. These questions all had to do with subjects and predicates. Some students did quite poorly on these questions, so I had those students work with me at the carpet while other students worked individually at their desks. We worked as a small group reviewing subjects and predicates. I was able to correct most of the confusion about the concept by explaining it in different ways. I also created fun sentences about each student when explaining the concept and this kept the students engaged and having fun while learning a concept that was difficult for them.

Instead of continuing with advertisement presentations in social studies during the afternoon, the fourth grade students had to take their turn participating in the Walk-a-Thon. I had a blast at this event. The students and teachers walked or ran three laps around the school to raise money for various causes. I had a great time watching my students race and cheering them on. The fourth grade stayed at

the event after it was their turn to walk so they could cheer on the fifth grade students. My students made motivational signs during the 20 minute period between recess and the Walk-a-Thon.

9/23/13-9/24/13:This week in class will be a very busy week for the students. We have many

assessments coming up, as well as a district assessment in math and a very important expository writing prompt for the students to begin. First off, Monday was mainly a review day. I planned fun review activities in reading and math, and we used the social studies period to continue with business plan presentations. On Tuesday we had our weekly spelling test, reading test, and took a quiz in math class. Mrs. Testa and I must also conduct 1-minute fluency reads for each of the children, and administer a PSSA practice quiz on reading comprehension. We wrapped up presentations in social studies and began lesson 5, which will be tested on Friday.

9/25/13-9/27/13:On Wednesday we began our new reading unit. This unit is on “The Horned

Toad Prince,” and students will be receiving new vocabulary, spelling, and amazing words, as well as learning new grammar material. Students also took the district assessment in math today. Mrs. Testa and I were very happy with how most students performed on the test, though a select few are consistently struggling. Two of these students who are struggling are going to have upcoming meetings about moving up to Tier 3. On Thursday, we reviewed for tomorrow’s social studies quiz. I am still having behavioral issues in my first social studies class. Two students were disciplined by Mrs. Testa for consistently failing to follow directions, and a handful of students lost a lot of points on their business plan projects for turning them in a week after they were actually due. I managed to observe Miss Penasi’s 2nd grade classroom today during workshop time. On Friday, we had Fun Friday math stations during math with both review material and new material to prepare students for unit 2, which will begin on Monday. All of the fourth grade classrooms will now be switching for math starting Monday. My classroom will receive the lowest performing students from Mrs. Hoge’s classroom, and my top-achieving students will go to Mrs. Hoge’s room for math. I am looking forward to meeting new students. We also took a quiz in social studies today. The students in both classes performed well. The students who took the adapted version of the quiz performed well too. On Monday, my class will also be receiving a new student.

9/30/13- 10/1/13:The start of this week is filled with many new changes for the classroom.

First off, a new student joined our class, so I had to prepare for his arrival and introduce him to the material in each class. Second, the school’s reading teachers are beginning to take all of our Tier and Title I students for special instruction every morning during workshop period. This means that 7 of my students will leave for 45 minutes after the morning routine. Lastly, all of the fourth grade classes are now switching for math. Six of my top students will go to Mrs. Hoge’s class for math, and

I will receive six of her lower-achieving math students. I introduced these students to our usual math routines and was able to get into the new material with the students.

Aside from the changes in classes and students, Mrs. Testa is now giving me the responsibility of handling most of the paperwork. It’s a little overwhelming, but I am confident I can do it thanks to Mrs. Testa’s modeling.

10/2/13-10/4/13:Terra Nova testing began on Wednesday. Instead of having math, the

students took their math Terra Novas. On Thursday, students missed both math and reading for Terra Novas. We also had to cut social studies and science short because the students had to take their weekly spelling test and reading assessment. The students had a very test-heavy day, so we made sure to reward them for their hard work. The normal schedule resumed on Friday, except for students who were absent and needed to make up the Terra Nova sections. Math, reading, and social studies are going smoothly. Lastly, I was able to work with Mrs. Testa on some of the formal paper aspects of teaching. She explained what she expected for next weeks lesson plans, and how to use a different type of block lesson plan. These lesson plans are very simple to use, but my responsibility is to use the pacing guide to figure out what lessons should be taught on what days, and how long each should take based on the content. I am comfortable with the plans that I have created so far.

10/7/13-10/8/13: This week is expected to be very busy. While we have our usual lessons to

cover in order to stay with the pacing guide, we also have Foresight Math and Foresight Reading tests, picture day, an afternoon assembly, and a very important writing assignment that is due to the principal by Friday.

We had a typical Monday, which consisted of workshop, math, reading, and my social studies classes. We used the creative writing time in the afternoon, as well as some of workshop time to work on our expository writing assignment.

On Tuesday, we began to focus the day more on finishing the writing pieces. Workshop and creative writing time were used for students to finish first drafts, peer review, and edit. Students will also have individual meetings with myself or Mrs. Testa about their writing throughout the week. Social studies and science time was also cut from 40 minute periods to 30 minute periods so both classes could make progress on the writing process.

10/9/13-10/11/13:On Wednesday we had our usual math class, but instead of reading class we

took our Foresight Reading tests. Our social studies and science classes were also shortened so students could have extra time to work on their expository writing assignments. We also used workshop time in the morning to work on these assignments. Mrs. Testa and the rest of the fourth grade teachers are very nervous about these papers because a writing expert is coming into the school on Friday to

collect them. She will review the writings and grade the fourth grade, as well as the teachers, on how the writing samples turned out.

I was only able to come to school for the second half of the day on Thursday. I was sick so I missed the morning Foresight tests, but was able to make it to school for creative writing, both social studies classes, and bus duty.

Since we finished our latest story in reading class, we were scheduled to have our reading and spelling tests today. Those were completed; however, we were unable to have math class due to the time that our class was called to the gym for picture day. Due to this change in the schedule, we will take our quick quiz on Tuesday, and also review for Wednesday’s test so we can catch back up to where we should be. Picture day also caused today’s afternoon assembly to be pushed back to next Friday.