Student Teaching Journal

This journal serves as a reflection of each week during my student teaching. Additionally, analysis of my
observed lessons are included.

Week 1: My First Week of Student Teaching (November 4 – November 8)

I think overall, my first week of student teaching went well. My first day was more observing my master
teacher and the classes as a whole and getting to know the students in each class period. The goals I had for this
week was to get to know the students in the classroom a little better and learn their names, which I was able to
learn some of the approximate 200 students as well as some of their interests. In particular, two students were
able to connect to me this week. In particular a male student who shared with me that his sister attended the
same college I did for my undergrad (which started on Wednesday). On Thursday and Friday, he would come
up to me before class would start and stick around a little bit longer after class to speak with me. On the other
hand, I had a female student who would share with me a little bit about herself and her interest in possibly
pursuing a career in teaching.
Throughout this week, I did witness the different dynamics at play within each class period. I think this
would be useful for me when teaching my lessons. I notice that a lot of students will listen to their music during
independent work times or they socialize with others in the classroom. I think when teaching my lessons, I
could incorporate music as well as interactive and engaging group activities that allow for students to talk and
collaborate with their peers for academic tasks, rather than just day-to-day conversations. Considering many
students are in sports, it would be beneficial for them to include bodily-kinesthetic tasks within a few lessons so
that they get up and moving, rather than sitting at a desk for an hour. I could also include activities that utilize a
word wall to support and boost their academic vocabulary.
On Tuesday, I observed my master teacher as she went over the previous reading with her students and
lecturing a little before having them read, following along to the audio. For sixth period, she let me take control
of the classroom (on the second day!) and both of us thought I did well. It was a little nerve wracking since it
was the second day, but I believe that the students responded positively, and I had a better feel of the classroom.
On Friday, since my master teacher was out, I ran all of the classes with a substitute present. For each class,
they were to create their own crossword or word search using their vocabulary from the past five lists. I felt like
I gave the instructions well and had them up on the board so students were given a visual and auditory cue on
what to do. I did struggle with classroom management for a few classes, since some students had decided to not
do the assignment in class (since I assume because they knew it was due next Tuesday they would do it at
home), so for the majority of the classroom period they were on their phone and/or talking to their peers. It
varied from class to class. It was difficult for me to motivate those students who did want to do the assignment,
even if I was standing beside their desk. For one student in 5th period, I knew he was speaking to another
student. I had walked over to his desk and was speaking with him. I asked if he could start out small (he was
doing a word search) since I noticed he had barely anything on his paper. I asked if he could do a few rows with
one or two vocabulary words to start, but by the end of the period, he didn’t have much done. I think next time,
I would say that an assignment like this one would be due at the end of the period that way they would be better
motivated to complete it. Or, I could scaffold an assignment like this and work on one with them to model how
to do it. I felt like I could have done better in getting students to work on this assignment.
For next week, I would like to continue in getting to know the students as well as working on my
upcoming observed lessons and maybe sit in during staff meetings.
Week 2: My Second Week of Student Teaching (November 12 – November 15)
Not much has happened during the second week that was different than my first week of student
teaching. I have been observing my master teacher and how she teaches, getting to know the students more, and
I’ve been more involved in the classroom. During the week, the class spent most of their time reading the
classroom novel Sold by listening to an audio book version while following along. I think this is a good tool to
have especially for EL students and neurodiverse students. For EL students, hearing the book read as they
follow along will assist them in which they are able to visually see and hear the words being read. For
neurodiverse students, the audio book will help them follow along as they read the text. I think for my own
teaching, if I have class time for reading I would like to incorporate audio books if available for my students.
Throughout the week I was grading student work as well as inputting the grades into Aries. Since I
never had any experience with inputting grades, I felt like this helped me learn some of the basics of teaching.
Additionally, I was able to gain insight into students’ progress and where they are at academically based off of
their grade and work they submitted. I think I would be able to utilize this information in my lessons to better
incorporate strategies that would ensure that all students have access to the content. I would also like to make
my lessons relevant to the students since I’ve noticed and listened to them talk and discuss with each other the
types of things they like and what they do.
On Wednesday there was a staff meeting but my master teacher was unable to attend, so I am looking
forward to going to the next staff meeting when there is one. My goal for the remainder of this semester is to
attend a staff meeting and/or an IEP meeting.
On Friday, my master teacher gave me the option to run half of the class in a co-teaching style. Students
had a vocabulary quiz where they had 12 words. The first half was spelling and the second was matching the
words to definitions. I gave the quiz out to periods 2-6. This gave me the opportunity to work on my classroom
management in getting students settled down and ready to work during the period. I know I struggled with it at
first, but I think for the last two class periods I did better at settling the students down. This is something I need
to work on with the students. I would like to come up with a signal for them that means I need the classroom to
be quiet and need their full attention. I’m thinking that the bell my master teacher has upfront might work. I
have to try it out again. For 6th period, I ran the class fully, so I gave the vocabulary quiz and once that was
complete, I had students prepare to write down essential quotes as they read. I believe I did well gaining and
keeping students’ attention throughout the class period. I think I have grown in my confidence in being in the
front of the classroom and using my voice better and in a manner that shows the students that I am confident in
what I am doing.
For next week, I have my first supervised lesson, so for the weekend and on Monday of next week I will
finalize my lesson plan.
Week 3: My Third Week of Student Teaching (November 18 – November 22)
I think during this week I was more involved with the classroom than my previous two weeks.
Additionally, I was able to attend a department meeting on Wednesday.
On Monday I observed my master teacher for the majority of the school day. She started off each class
with grammar by having them write down two sentences that were projected and having them correct the
sentences using a different color pen/pencil. She then went over the corrections with them. Reflecting on this
part alone, I think having these small intros to the class sets the tone of the period while providing additional
supports for students in understanding grammar mechanics. For the bulk of the class period, she played the
audiobook for Sold and stopped at three different points in the novel. At each stop, she had students write an
essential quote, following a double entry journal style. Since the class only had a class set and not a personal
book, it was hard to actually have them annotate the novel as they read, therefore, pulling essential quotes was a
good alternative that had students pinpoint significant quotes from the text that helped to propel the theme. I
was able to take over periods 5 and 6 for that day. Tuesday was similar in what she had them do, and for this
day, students finished the novel added one final essential quote and watched part of the movie adaptation of the
movie.
Wednesday was a busy day for me. In the morning there was a department meeting that I attended with
my master teacher. During this meeting, all English teachers were discussing possible revisions to the school’s
academic policies, and in particular the school’s dress code. Teachers shared their thoughts on the current dress
code while explaining their reasoning behind removing certain rules and editing others to be more inclusive of
today’s adolescents (such as hair color). They also discussed having to change certain wording to be less vague.
It was insightful seeing what kinds of issues there were at the school and what types of initiatives would be
needed to have a more positive academic learning environment that focused on learning and student
engagement with little to no distractions.
Wednesday was also my first observed lesson for this semester. I was observed in 6th period but I taught
the lesson for all classes to gauge my pacing and alter anything, which I did during 1st. Considering classes were
shorter, I wasn’t able to do the individual student activity, which was then pushed to Thursday’s class. I focused
more so on the modeling process of how to complete a double entry journal for the students to have a refresher
and to help solidify certain skills. Overall I think the lesson went well in all classes. I had good control over the
class and students were engaged from what I saw. As I was writing my responses, students were copying it
down. During each class period, I modified my pacing to either go slower or speed up the lesson as I gauged
how fast students moved through the activities. I found for the beginning of the class activity there was great
insights from the students about the novel. I did have a few hiccups with this activity in the first few classes
since I frontloaded the students with too many directions. By 6th period I frontloaded them with directions as the
had to complete each task, that way they were not confused with too many directions. For myself as a teacher, I
think I did well in having a good voice and confidence being up in front of the class. I’ve noticed my growth
from my first supervised lesson to this one. If I was to modify this lesson, I think I would allow for longer time
in student groups at the beginning of class and actually have students face each other. This lesson would work
better in a longer class period, such as if there was block schedule. Additionally, I would have liked to have
more student collaboration with each other since they do have good insights and are able to share their
knowledge with their peers. Lastly, I would give clearer directions on the assessment activity and/or change it
altogether. I know I struggle with the assessment portion of my lessons. I think for my next supervised lesson I
will work to improve the assessment piece that way I would be able to obtain data that would help me figure out
and gauge students’ learning and understanding as well as if I need to reteach parts of the lesson.
Overall, for the week I think I have improved my relationships with my master teacher and students, and
have grown as an educator. My goals for the rest of the semester is to work TPE 4 and TPE 5. I would like to
design a lesson that uses strategies that meet individual learning needs and assist students with specific learning
needs, as well as use multiple methods to assess student learning and use assessment data from a variety of
sources to plan and modify instruction. I would like to attend and IEP meeting to learn more about the students
in the classroom with an IEP and reflect on how I could provide additional supports and modify my lessons to
ensure their needs are met.
Week 4: My Fourth Week of Student Teaching (December 2 – December 6)
Not much occurred this week for student teaching. On Monday students were given an online fairy tale
to read and answered questions that were posted in Google Classroom. The remainder of the week my master
teacher went over the fundamental elements of a one-chunk paragraph in Jane Schaffer format and practiced
with the students each day. On Tuesday she went over the writing handout. On Thursday she modeled how to
write a one chunk paragraph with student assistance. I took over for periods 5 and 6. During fifth period, the fire
alarm went off (which turned out to be accidental). Since my master teacher was in an IEP meeting during this
time, students started to get jittery and wanting to leave class. It took a little bit to gain control back, but I was
finally able to in order to continue the lesson. This revealed to me that I need to learn better management skills
in order to address these types of situations, such as when an alarm goes off or if there is a drill. As the rest of
the week progressed, my master teacher moved from having students watch and assist her in writing a one-
chunk following a t-chart and shaping sheet, to having them work with a partner or group of three, and finishing
off the week with them writing a paragraph on their own. I think this is a great strategy to use when teaching
students how to write that way they are scaffolded into the writing process, therefor making them more
successful.
On Wednesday I attended a school wide staff meeting, the last one for 2019. The staff meeting helped
me gain insight into the different dynamics at play at the administration level, as well as what issues there were
at school. What stood out to me the most was the discussion about safety and the issues they have been having
with regard to two groups fighting on and off campus. I noticed my first week there was an altercation at the
park across the street, so having more information on what was occurring helped me as a student teacher. This
way, I was informed and if I saw something happen on campus I would be better at helping administration
resolve any further issues.
For me, Friday was the most important say thus far regarding student teaching. I had an incident occur in
sixth period in which I had students who began throwing things in the classroom, in particular crumpled up
paper and a pencil. In the moment I had called those students out on their behavior and had asked them to stop. I
addressed this with my master teacher and we ended up having an hour-long conversation regarding classroom
management. We decided that for second semester I would come into the classroom and start fresh with the
students. I wanted to establish my class procedures such as how we listen to each other, how to come into the
classroom, and other norms. I was going to start that first day and reestablish classroom expectations that way
when I take over fully, our students will know what to do and how to carry themselves during class time. I am
looking forward to next semester and creating my own classroom management plan.
Next week are my final observations.
Week 5: My Fifth Week of Student Teaching (December 9 – December 13)
This was my busiest week of the first semester of student teaching. I had two observed lessons and a
department meeting that I attended.
My second observed lesson was on Tuesday and my third was on Friday. I think overall my lessons
went well, but there were areas of improvement. On Tuesday I felt as though I had a well-planned lesson that
facilitated students’ involvement and critical thinking. I utilized Padlet to have students become familiar with an
online tool to collaborate with others. However, I did have a student write an inappropriate message on Padlet
anonymously during my observation. I stopped the class and addressed that it was inappropriate and showed a
lack of respect to me as a teacher and to their classmates. I learned from that that if I wanted to use something
like Padlet again, I would have students sign in so they would not be anonymous, holding them accountable for
their actions. The rest of the class period went by with the canned questions activity. I did have one student blurt
out answers or always wanting to respond, which was quite a distraction to others. I was thinking of some ways
to minimize something like this, such as talking to the student or saying how I appreciate him wanting to
respond and ask another student. As a whole, I think the class went well and students enjoyed the questions.
On Wednesday we had a meeting with the English department. They discussed scores from essays they
had students complete for all grades (9th-12th). It was interesting to me because they had each category down to a
numerical value, which I wasn’t familiar with what those meant, and had data for all students in each grade,
starting when the current 12th graders were in 9th grade. I liked that there was data to see how students improved
in their writing over the years. This is a great tool to use to see which areas of improvement are needed in each
grade level to ensure that students are well rounded in their education for English/language arts.
My third observation was a struggle for me. My master teacher was not able to be there so I was in
charge of the class the whole day. There was a substitute teacher, but it was difficult because I felt as though a
lot of the students who knew this sub knew he was more lax with them, so it was a struggle to get their attention
and keep them focused. I think the first three periods of the day were the most difficult for me, but the last three
were a little better. In sixth period, which was observed, I had the same student who was blurting out answers
on Tuesday, continue to do so again, which I think he was doing to get attention and a laugh from others. I did
give him a warning that if that continued I would have him step outside. He did once more and I asked him to
go outside. He was hesitant at first, but did so. During a transition in the lesson, I went outside to talk to him for
a minute. We both went back to class and things were a little better. The lesson itself was a direct lesson which
consisted of a free write, annotations/analysis of a poem, and an exit ticket.
I know for next semester and my last 10 weeks of student teaching I want to start off with classroom
management, such as setting up my classroom expectations and having a restart. I basically would like to start
off as if it was the first week of school before continuing on with the new novels. I would also want to begin
incorporating new learning technologies and different assessments, like more project based assessments.