Week 12 - Second Placement - Part - Time Teaching

I officially love 3rd grade. Don't get me wrong some days do have its challenges but all in all, I am in an extremely positive classroom with down to earth teachers who sing and dance with the kids all day, District 97 provides amazing resources and support for its teachers. This past Tuesday I attended a coteaching institute day, this coteaching institute day was the last in a series of I believe 3 coteaching institute days. The day was definitely interesting and supplied teachers with resources and tools to ensure that they cotaught effectively. A big push during this institute day was movement. They had tons of research supporting student movement in learning. Many techniques and tools were demonstrated throughout the day. The very next day when we returned to the classroom we implemented the techniques learned and were extremely surprised how effective they were and how receptive the students were to learn how to learn and while moving around. I have taken over whole group instruction for math. Given that this is the time for me to learn I have asked for and I receive effective feedback from both teachers in the classroom regarding my contribution to the classroom and specifically my teaching. Thus far comments are positive and have helped me focus on key points to improve which I am told only will improve once I am familiar with the curriculum. Teaching continues to be a team effort, and I have continued to be included in weekly grade level meetings and discussions regarding planning. 

My focus continues with the implementation of Standard 4 - Learning Environment and Standard 5 – Instructional Delivery as I am teaching, Standard 6 (Reading, Writing, and Oral Communication) continues to be addressed in all lessons as reading, writing, and oral communication are integrated into every lesson. I continued to observe Standard 8 (Collaborative Relationships) and Standard 9 (Professionalism, Leadership, and Advocacy) through the daily professional behavior of both teachers. Throughout each day Standard 1 (Teaching Diverse Students, Standard), Standard 2 (Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge), Standard 3 (Planning for Differentiated Instruction), and Standard 7 (Assessment) are addressed through daily planning and grading of papers. My beliefs about teaching or learning continued to remain the same.