What  did  you  do  this  week?  February  14   This  week  I  started  working  more  into  co-­‐teaching  the  instruction  for  all  classes.  I  helped  look  

through  resources  for  some  last-­‐minute  content  for  assessment,  and  supported  Emily  as  she  planned  her  assessment  

March  8   My  second  week  bell  to  bell.  I  taught  ever  class  solo,  excluding  first  period  tutor/study  hall  when  Emily  helped  students  with  their  work,  too.  

March  28   Much  of  my  week  was  spent  helping  students  research  and  cite  sources  in  addition  to  keeping  students  on  task.  They  were  beginning  a  research  project  and  using  computers  and  books  to  take  notes  all  week.  

April  18   I  taught  more  Romeo  and  Juliet  to  each  class  except  Lit.  and  Comp  (the  honors  class).  I  think  Julie  misses  teaching  and  doesn’t  particularly  want  to  give  up  all  of  her  classes,  so  I  understand  her  hesitation  to  let  me  teach  these  kids.  

       

What  responsibilities  did  you  have?  February  14   Toward  the  end  of  the  week  we  started  thinking  a  lot  about  the  next  unit  with  the  Freshman,  which  

is  Romeo  and  Juliet.  The  unit  is  starting  next  week,  and  I'm  working  really  hard  to  plan  it  right  now,  sorting  through  content  they  already  have  and  deciding  what  I  want  to  use.  Today,  I  had  more  responsibility  teaching  the  sophomores  than  I  ever  had,  guiding  the  reading  and  leading  discussion.  Emily  started  to  take  a  back  seat  and  it  was  really  helpful  that  I  started  class  with  her  out  of  the  room  for  a  moment  running  a  quick  errand,  and  I  think  that's  been  a  good  transition  for  us.  I  am  also  planning  my  lessons  for  Composition  all  next  week  as  we  begin  their  editorial  papers  as  a  precursor  to  their  research  project.  

March  8   I  chose  the  topic  of  the  week  for  sophomores  to  do  their  research  unit.  This  was  a  transition  from  a  sort  of  survey  I  distributed  last  Friday.  I  observed  that  many  of  them  were  interested  in  the  environment,  so  I  selected  a  couple  articles  on  the  topic.  

March  28   I  had  more  responsibilities  than  I  thought  I  would  have  considering  it  was  my  first  week  of  a  new  placement.  Had  I  have  just  observed,  I  would  have  been  completely  useless,  and  the  experience  

would  have  been  rather  pointless  because  Julie  wasn't  "instructing"  as  one  might  see  in  a  different  activity/unit.  The  students  were  expected  to  be  working  and  on  task,  so  it  was  best  that  I  was  involved  as  best  I  could  be  rather  than  simply  observe.  

April  18   This  week  we  progressed  through  Romeo  and  Juliet  Act  II.  I  wrote/distributed/graded  a  quiz  on  act  one  to  see  how  well  I'm  pairing  what  I  teach  with  what  I  assess.  It's  very  similar  to  last  week.  I  probably  need  to  add  variety.    Today  (Friday)  we  have  professional  development/  Data  day.  I  am  trying  to  participate  and  give  my  opinion,  but  mostly  I’m  doing  what  I  can  to  look  at  data  and  help  them  understand  it  so  they  can  think  about  what  to  do  next  year.  I  did  try  to  give  them  some  input  when  they  were  considering  the  bullying  survey  data.  Many  students  are  willing  to  turn  to  a  friend,  brother  or  sister.  Very  few  are  themselves  willing  to  turn  to  an  adult.  So  I  thought  it  might  be  a  good  idea  to  encourage  students  to  advocate  for  their  peers  somehow,  and  teach  them  ways  to  support  their  friends  being  bullied  by  encouraging  them  to  talk  with  an  adult,  or  going  to  an  adult  themselves.  

   

What  was  your  most  satisfying  experience  this  week?  February  14   Planning  is  my  favorite  part,  because  I  learn  so  much  when  I'm  doing  it.  I  get  deeper  into  the  

content  than  I  have  before.  It's  been  really  great  because  neither  Emily,  nor  I  have  ever  read  Antigone  before,  so  it's  a  work  that's  new  to  both  of  us  and  we're  both  working  together  really  easily  because  we  don't  have  experience  teaching  it  before.  I  think  I'm  able  to  add  things  to  discussion  a  lot  more  easily  because  of  this.  

March  8   Over  the  weekend  I  graded  the  editorials  of  students  in  comp.  This  paper  was  almost  entirely  one  I  did  on  my  own.  I  created  the  rubric,  I  taught/explained  the  process,  provided  students  with  a  graphic  organizer  that  didn't  limit  them  to  a  predictable  structured  essay,  but  gave  them  the  choice.  In  reading  their  essays,  I  was  very  happy  to  see  that  most  of  them  were  thoughtful  and  I  could  tell  that  the  students  seemed  to  be  having  fun  with  their  topics.  This  didn't  really  show  last  week  when  they  had  work  time,  but  overall  each  of  the  students'  voice  sounded  passionate  in  what  they'd  written.  

March  28   It  was  really  good  to  be  able  to  experience  scoring  the  Iowa  Writing  Assessment  on  Tuesday.  It  was  weird  to  be  out  of  the  classroom  already  on  my  second  day,  but  I  look  forward  to  any  opportunity  to  experience  something  not  typical  of  a  normal  day  for  a  teacher.  The  reality  is  that  professional  development,  and  even  reading/scoring  graduation  requirements  are  part  of  the  job,  too.  So  ultimately  I'm  satisfied  that  I  got  the  experience.  It  was  also  nice  to  see  examples  of  what  ninth  graders  can  produce  when  they  write,  because  I  didn't  get  the  opportunity  to  read  essays  in  the  ninth  grade  class  at  SEP.  

April  18   I'm  to  the  point  where  the  students  are  approaching  me  with  their  questions,  not  Mrs.  Carroll,  and  they  see  me  as  their  teacher.  

   

What  was  your  most  challenging  experience  this  week?  February  14   When  at  the  PLC  meeting  on  Wednesday,  the  staff  practiced  writing  purpose  statements,  which  

they  are  trying  to  have  every  teacher  include  in  their  lessons  and  post  to  Moodle  for  each  day.  While  this  is  all  fresh  in  my  mind,  and  I  have  studied  lesson  planning  thoroughly,  I  was  struggling  to  write  one,  and  especially  figure  out  the  language  they  were  wanting  them  to  use  as  it  differed  from  my  own.  I  often  find  myself  nervous  or  struggle  to  articulate  in  PLC  meetings  or  in  talking  curriculum  with  other  teachers.  But  I  always  know  what's  going  on,  and  where  things  are  heading  in  the  classes  I'm  working  with.  And  I  do  participate  when  I  have  questions  or  inputs.  Another  challenge  for  me  is  definitely  just  getting  students  to  do  their  work.  It's  really  a  struggle  for  me  not  to  want  to  sit  over  everyone's  shoulders  when  they're  off  task.  There  is  one  student  who  consistently  doesn't  do  anything  in  class.  We  were  working  on  a  webquest,  and  he  was  on  youtube.  We  read  Antigone  and  he's  on  his  phone.  If  I  walk  by  him  he  just  casually  opens  his  book  and  says  "look  I  have  the  book  open"  but  I  can  clearly  see  he's  on  the  wrong  page.  There  are  several  students  who  simply  don't  do  anything  with  their  class  time,  and  will  not  do  well  because  of  it.  There  isn't  even  homework,  so  that  kind  of  carelessness  to  even  try  to  learn  anything  is  really  a  struggle  for  me  to  deal  with.  

March  8   During  our  staff  development/plc  time  this  week,  I  really  discovered  one  of  the  struggles  I  think  a  lot  of  teachers  have.  Every  teacher  sees  a  hundred  students  a  day,  and  many  genuinely  care  about  

them  all.  There  are  so  many  students  at  that  school  that  it’s  impossible  for  every  teacher  to  be  an  advocate  for  every  student,  especially  if  they  don’t  experience  them  in  class.  And  at  times  I  think  some  might  struggle  when  they  feel  like  they  are  the  only  ones  advocating  for  their  student.  Many  of  the  teachers  I  have  had  the  opportunity  to  eat  lunch  with  and  meet  during  development  are  incredibly  compassionate,  and  I  can  tell  get  frustrated  by  all  the  time  they  need  for  slower  learners  to  better  learn.  For  those  teachers  with  many  struggling  students,  I  can  sense  it's  incredibly  disheartening  when  other  teachers  may  not  seem  to  relate  or  care  because  their  own  students  overall  are  doing  okay  with  the  way  things  are.  I  don't  know  if  that  makes  sense,  but  I  observed  some  tension  among  teachers  at  staff  development,  and  it's  happened  before,  but  I  think  it's  the  hardest  to  experience  that  tension  when  it  directly  involves  students.  

March  28   I  think  one  of  the  most  difficult  parts  of  being  a  teacher  will  be  the  personal/emotional  realities  that  come  along  with  it.  On  Wednesday  in  our  professional  development  session,  we  went  over  active  shooter  procedures,  and  there  was  discussion  of  an  incident  with  prescription  drugs  and  EMTs  being  called  for  two  students.  These  are  realities  not  exclusive  to  that  district,  but  rather  expected  possibilities  in  any  school,  and  that's  hard  for  me.  I'm  signing  up  for  much  more  than  instructing  learners.  It's  hard  to  imagine  being  the  responsible  adult  in  that  drastic  of  a  situation.  I  feel  similar  about  relating  to  students  in  general  if  they're  going  through  difficult  times  or  something  is  getting  in  the  way  of  their  success.  I  want  to  say  I  would  be  able  to  help  everyone,  and  that  I  could  deal  with  anything  that  comes  up.  I  can  accept  getting  to  know  students  and  being  a  friend  as  well  as  a  mentor.  I  can  be  an  advocate  for  a  student  I  recognize  is  struggling  to  learn,  focus,  or  needs  some  sort  of  intervention.  But  even  thinking  about  being  part  of  a  situation  that  may  mean  life  or  death  for  one  student,  several  students,  or  myself  is  a  bit  too  much  to  think  about.  Even  though  I  appreciate  having  the  discussions/preparation  in  our  professional  development  session.  Another  difficulty  for  me  this  week  was  getting  the  sophomores  involved.  I  feel  as  though  I  have  high  expectations  for  them,  but  many  of  them  do  not  have  high  expectations  for  themselves.  I  began  on  a  sour  note  on  Monday,  I  think,  with  an  article  that  was  a  bit  over  their  heads  even  though  I  found  it  on  the  database  that  the  district  uses.  I  realized  this  was  my  own  error,  and  their  boredom  was  largely  because  they  weren't  prepared  to  understand  some  of  the  concepts  we  were  

reading  about.  However,  when  Emily  helped  me  redirect  the  week  to  something  more  within  their  interest  and  understanding,  the  vast  majority  of  them  asked  why  they  had  to  do  it  (write  a  letter  to  the  school  board  or  principle  about  something  they  see  in  their  school  that  they  want  to  change),  or  remarked  that  they  don't  have  a  say  or  a  voice,  and  there  is  no  point  in  trying.  It  is  disheartening  that  they  are  entering  an  entire  unit  on  topics  that  they  must  have  opinions  on  and  ideas  for,  but  they  are  already  not  invested.  

April  18   Any  time  a  student  approaches  me  with  a  question  and  I  can't  answer  it  right  away,  or  am  not  confident  I  know  how  Julie  would  answer.  There  was  a  student  who'd  forgotten  something  at  home  that  was  due  on  Thursday  and  worth  20  points.  She  asked  if  her  mom  could  send  me  a  picture  to  show  me    it  was  finished.  I  didn't  know  what  a  good  answer  would  be,  because  if  I  let  this  student  slide,  the  domino  effect  could  be  unbearable.  Another  student  told  me  he  was  going  to  miss  class  the  day  it  was  due,  without  saying  he'd  be  at  school,  and  in  theory  should  have  it  done.  He  asked  me  in  front  of  the  rest  of  the  class  if  he  could  turn  it  in  on  Monday,  and  every  student  told  me  he  was  going  to  be  at  school  and  force  him  to  turn  it  in.  I'll  have  to  develop  my  policies  further  as  I  continue  to  deal  with  situations  like  thiss.  But  I  think  sometimes  I'm  too  understanding,  too  lenient,  and  should  be  better  prepared  to  respond  when  students  ask  for  favors  and  exceptions  at  the  worst  times.  

   

What  did  you  do  this  week?  February  14   Next  week  I  will  be  significantly  more  prominent  in  Comp  as  well  as  maintain  involvement  as  I  did  

today  with  English  II's  Antigone,  and  work  to  take  more  initiative  in  English  I.  March  8   As  I  "phase  out"  I'm  going  to  continue  with  Romeo  and  Juliet  in  the  ninth  grade  English  classes.  In  

English  II,  our  topic  of  the  week  is  tanning  dangers  and  setting  a  legal  age  limit  on  the  practice  (we'll  see  how  this  one  goes),  and  in  comp,  students  will  be  completing  their  character/theme  analysis  of  We  Are  Marshall.  I  am  most  looking  forward  to  conferences  on  Wednesday  night  to  meet  some  of  the  students'  parents  and  see  what  the  experience  is  like.  

March  28   I'm  beginning  Shakespeare's  Romeo  and  Juliet  again!  On  Monday  they  have  a  final  day  of  research  and  putting  finishing  touches  on  their  projects.    

On  Tuesday  I'm  teaching  a  fun  lesson  in  which  students  will  be  introduced  to  silly  Shakespearean  language.  They're  going  to  create  pickup  lines  and  insults  and  dramatically  present  them  to  demonstrate  the  hyperbole  they  may  find  within  the  play.  I'm  doing  another  language  lesson  on  Wednesday,  and  on  Thursday/Friday  they  are  presenting  the  Renaissance  projects  that  they've  been  working  on  since  Monday.  

April  18   More  Romeo  and  Juliet,  another  quiz,  a  character  activity,  and  we’re  going  to  talk  more  about  some  terms  associated  with  the  play.