Lessons Unplanned

My sweet goodbye letters I received from my 2nd Graders. It has been an absolutely crazy last 2 months, but I have been having the BEST time. While UCI has been getting intense (the edTPA.. help..), I started my new Student Teacher placement in a 5th grade class in IUSD (Irvine Unified School District) and have fallen in love with teaching 5th grade. It was tough saying goodbye to my 2nd graders, and I wish I was able to spend more time with them. While it was extremely challenging at times, I learned so much from those students, and how to be a better teacher. It was so fun spending the time before Winter Break with them, and getting to experience the week before break as a teacher, instead of a student. The excitement that surrounded Winter Break was contagious and the students were all so excited to talk about what they had planned for Winter Break. My last day was bittersweet, and I was given a huge envelope of student letters, each note capturing the student's personality ...

These last few weeks have been some of the toughest weeks I've ever been though. UCI school has picked up and I've begun to teach lessons at my observation placement. Writing lesson plans and learning what works and what does not in a classroom has been eye opening. I've had a few bad lessons and learning on the spot about classroom management and directing students has been exhausting. It's rough being the student teacher and not the real teacher and I've had to learn how to present myself as an authoritative figure that students need to listen to. Creating a lesson that successfully engaged the students wile also touching on state standards while also planning for every minute of the day is nearly impossible. I've had a few tears but also some really great teaching moments. I was able to reteach a lesson that went going so poorly my Mentor Teacher had to stop and discipline the students the first time I did it. It was incredibly discouraging that I was not ...

These past few weeks have really put me to the test, and I've been doubting that I could take on the incredibly important role of being a teacher. Watching my Mentor Teacher lead the class, and then attempting to do it myself made me see that I still have SO much to learn and while the classes at UCI I'm taking are very valuable, there's nothing quite like field work. The classes I had been taken at UCI prepared me for creating a culturally diverse class, and exposing my students to a range of thinkings that may be outside their world. Then I get to the classroom and realize that teachers have to balance a diverse class environment, staying on track, covering an incredible range of ability and learning styles in the classroom, and also trying to get through science, math, language arts, P.E., history, and reading all in 1 day. I also learned that classroom management is incredibly important, and I'm now 100% convinced students can sense when you're doubting yoursel...

Another day, another teacher dress Last week I was able to attend my first Back to School Night NOT as a student! I was able to see what a teacher does at Back to School Night, and get to see all the parents of the students that I'm getting to know. It was fun to see some of the parents, and a lot of them had the same facial expressions and reactions as their child. Seeing Back to School Night from a teacher's point of view made me really appreciate how much preparation the teacher had to do to give parents a general understanding of what the goal was of the school year. I can also see how important good relationships with the parents is, and how much parents and teachers need to work together. I have so many ideas for my own Back to School Nights and what I want to share with the parents of my students! Leading a reading group!  This week I got to lead a small group in a reading and discussion. This was the first time I had the chance to actually somewhat interact...

First Day of School picture! Today marks my first day of working in a classroom! From now until Christmas Break*, I will be spending 2 days a week in a 2nd grade classroom watching and learning from my awesome mentor teacher. Today was the first day of school, and let me just say I owe all my past teachers big time! Seeing all the work that goes into preparing for the first day and how much it really takes to lead a classroom of fresh-from-summer kiddos blew me away. Today we spent a large amount of time going over classroom expectations, and getting to know the kids and their BIG personalities. It was also a day of them getting to know my mentor teacher and myself, and for a large part of the day it felt like my name was "excuse me miss teacher". It's hard to remember that they're still 2nd graders, and are getting back into the swing of things just like we are! I am so excited to see how much their little brains grow during the time I'm with them, a...