Student Teaching: Week 6

What I Did This Week


Monday: attended edTPA camp, planned for the coming IM2 lessons and exam, met with mentor teachers to address snow day plans

Tuesday: planned for coming IM2 lessons/exam, graded papers

Wednesday: planned for coming IM2 lessons/exam, graded papers

Thursday: planned for coming IM2 lessons/exam, graded papers

Friday: wrote this blog, attended office hours, attended two IM1 classes, graded papers, prepared lesson materials


With 3 snow days and a day off, this week did not hold much aside from preparation/meetings.



What I Will Do Next Week: A Reflection


Teach IM2 - We didn't have IM2 this week

Teach IM1 - I opted to wait and teach this lesson when I have access to the appropriate technology come next class

Adjust to hybrid teaching - We haven't returned yet

Learn about the school building - I haven't been yet

Expand on my edTPA reflections and do some more work on the writing - I did a small amount of work on this and probably should have done more, but I wanted to appreciate my snow days

Plan IM2 for the week - Did a ton of work on this. I feel pretty comfortable with where we ended up

Grade/give feedback in IM2 - I always do this, it still feels comfortable and fine



What I Will Do Next Week


Teach IM1

Teach IM2

Adjust to hybrid teaching

Learn about the school building

Do a deeper dive into the edTPA materials, since all of the classes for it will have been taught



How I’m Feeling & What’s On My Mind


I have had a tough mental health week, and I felt very stuck with the snow and lack of reason to move or do anything. I am hoping that the coming week, seeing real human beings in person, will be helpful for my overall emotional health, even if I'm a bit worried for my physical health. Zoom school from a 2-person dorm room is quite lonely, and I often don't stand up for 3+ hours at a time, which just is not healthy for me.


What I’m Learning About Teaching and Learning


Ha. This question is hilarious this week. I'm sure I "should" have some good answers still because I should always be learning and growing, but, like I said above, tough week on the brain. Didn't do much, so I didn't learn much, other than to try to stop listening to my brain in times like that. Which is about my own learning, but not really about my students in any way.

I wonder now if I should have put a challenge out there for students somehow connecting math and snow activities just for fun....... I sure made a lot of spheres.

I learned (not that I didn't already know this, but I experienced it for the first true time) about the frenzy of planning when schedules keep changing. In the long run, it was not a big deal to shift things and I think I would have been able to come to a calm place about it, but knowing the edTPA segment was involved made things a bit more stressful. Impromptu meetings are still good and helpful and were a source of comfort when I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Strong teamwork helped out a bunch as well.

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