Student Teaching: Week 8

What I Did This Week

Monday: attended an IM2 planning meeting, graded exams, graded homeworks/balanced up the gradebook, worked on edTPA

Tuesday: attended math department meeting, reviewed upcoming exams for length/clarity/etc, worked on edTPA, graded exams

Wednesday: proctored an IM1 test twice, met the seniors in advisory as they came back for the first time, worked on edTPA, planned IM2 retake exam, graded exams

Thursday: taught IM2, met the sophomores in IM2 for the first time, proctored an IM1 test twice, planned for the next IM1 section, worked on edTPA

Friday: helped in an IM1 class, taught IM1, graded homework/tests/etc, made copies, wrote this blog, worked on edTPA, planned for IM2 review/quiz


What I Will Do Next Week: A Reflection

Teach IM1 - I did this on Friday! We only had this class a few times this week since we gave tests and had asynchronous days, but I had fun working to develop/plan for it and then get to teach it.

Teach IM2 - I love feeling closer to this class every time I teach it and it was awesome to add a couple more kids in person this week

Grade and return IM2 tests - I felt like I kept up with the grading pretty well, but they still took about a week to turn around in the end. They're all back now!

Have a grading meeting/discussion/learn more about how grading works for IM2 - we talked quite a bit about this and got to an okay place. I still don't really understand why their system works the way it does, but I at least understand how it works.

Attend a department meeting - this was pretty fun, even though there wasn't much to talk about. It's nice to meet at least a few of the other teachers since I haven't really meant anyone else

Finish some teaching side projects for teachers! - I built some fun marker boxes out of recycled cardboard!


What I Will Do Next Week

Teach IM1

Teach IM2

Plan for IM1

Plan for IM2

Work more on my edTPA

Take a little less of the teaching load but hopefully work more on the IM1 planning


How I’m Feeling & What’s On My Mind

I feel fine this week. Most weeks aren't normal, and this was no exception, so I don't feel like I've ever truly gotten into a "groove" here, but this week was good. Part of that is probably owed to only having 3 periods of actually teaching class. It's wild how often the schedule changes, but a lot of it is the weirdness of COVID this time around. It's definitely keeping me on my toes and helping me practice flexibility and grace, even more so with myself than with others.


What I’m Learning About Teaching and Learning

I'm thinking a lot this week about control and submission in the school. I'm so tired of these students being quite and facing forward and having their head buried in their work. I want them to be humans! Who talk and laugh and interact and make jokes! We finally saw a bit of that in 3rd period today when I encouraged them to work but also talk and it was wonderful. A balance has to be struck because of COVID, so from what students have told me, it sounds like teachers have all veered to complete silence to make sure no one is transmitting the virus and getting too close when they talk. If they're going to be here anyway, it seems like we have to compromise. I try to help them keep distance, but I let them turn around and talk and help each other with questions still and overall they're still quite respectful of keeping distance.

I had a lot of fun this week coming up with a relevant context for the students in comparing types of functions, but it was also kind of tough! Part of that was the specific content, so I hope it becomes a bit easier in the future. It really makes the math so much more fun and also ACCESSIBLE. We've been working problems with car value depreciation or finances, but, truthfully, Mr. C and I don't even always understand exactly how the context works, so that means it's just as difficult if not more so for the students to figure out what the heck is going on.

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