Week 3

It was another very busy week and I cannot believe how tired I feel on a daily basis! I had my first observation on Friday and had the pleasure of getting to meet my college supervisor for the first time. I taught the math and science lessons for our class this week and it went well enough. I had a stomach bug all last weekend, that was still with me Monday, so my first math lesson was not so great. Otherwise, I am off to a decent start. I am becoming more comfortable with using Origo's (the math program) on-line content for presentation of class material. We had our first math centers on Friday to wrap up a segment and the students seemed to really enjoy it (and so did I). I was able to work directly with the lower performing students and use the "number box" materials for Origo. These include graphic cards, dry erase number lines, and six digit number place value expanders. They seemed to grasp the material well and verbally expressed their enjoyment of the activities. Score! I also attended the first after school staff meeting that focused on lock down procedures.

My goals for this week were to pick up the camera and begin recording, bring in Arabic book translations for my student from Yemen, and to succeed with delivering 2 content areas. Again, I was only partially successful in completing goals.
✅I had 3 Arabic books for my student on Monday! I had translations of the first "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" in the series and the first "Harry Potter" as well as a book of popular Arabic tales with English translations side by side. He seemed happy to have these available and appreciates my effort. It must be so difficult for him.
✅Overall, lesson delivery went well. Students seemed to understand content and all went well enough that my CT is satisfied.
✅⛔I picked up the camera this week, but not until Thursday. I attempted to get it first thing, but there were some communication issues, so that set me back. Then I forgot to bring it Friday morning so I did not get to introduce the students just yet.

My goals for this week are to begin filming/get students used to the camera, finalize the math segment that I will use for EdTPA, and figure out a better system for managing the workload of life, student teaching, and EdTPA. Your prayers are kindly requested.


Classroom Confidential

It is amazing how many seemingly distracted behaviors may actually be self accommodations that aide in maintaining focus. For example, Schmidt mentions chewing on clothing. We have a few students who are frequently chewing on their ID (which is worn around the neck daily), and I find myself deterring them playfully by saying something like, "Are you hungry? ("No.") Then why are you eating your ID?" These self accommodation concepts will have me rethinking these behaviors discouraging them.

Luckily, I am very familiar with the idea of "camouflagers" since I was one in my grade school days. I find myself drawn to the "difficult" students because I know something is probably going on beyond the surface value. We have one student who is frequently off task, talking when we are talking, and very easily distracted. Her attendance is not steady either. From an academic standpoint, I am curious to discover what she is hiding. From reading her "All About Me" I learned that of her 3 wishes, 2 of them were social. She wished for more friends and for people to be nice to her. This tells me that she feels a social disconnection, so I have made it a point to have positive interaction with her daily.