student teaching weekly log

Student Teaching Weekly Log

Name: Melissa Waudby Week 5-02/24-02/28

1. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did you have?This week I spent most of my time teaching all of the periods for the majority of the class time. I was responsible for starting the class and instructing most of the lesson from Wednesday onward. I was also responsible for creating the lesson plans for those days.

1. What were your most satisfying AND your most challenging experiences?My most satisfying experience was on Wednesday when I went classroom expectations and rules with all of my classes. The resulting conservations really surprised me in a good way. I thought that almost all of the discussions were very productive and helpful in continuing to build my relationships with the students. I think that the students responded very well to the fact that the lesson was a discussion that they could have a large part in instead of a lecture of what they should and shouldn’t be doing. My most challenging experience was on Thursday when the students were in the computer lab researching for an assessment. I think that the most challenging aspect of this experience was that the assignment had been changed from the original format my mentor teacher and I had discussed the day before in addition to the plan being very unclear. I think I was very unclear in my communication to the students, and as a result they were very unsure of what to research. I think that in the coming weeks, I will have to be more direct and clear in my learning objectives for the students.

1. What are the plans for the upcoming week?The plans for the upcoming week include me teaching the class almost entirely on my own. We will be examining the Indian culture, including Hinduism and the caste system. We will be finishing the week with working on skills for the district assessment, which will be the following week.


Name: Week 7-3/10-3/13

2. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did you have?I spend all of my time this week teaching all of the class periods, for almost all of the time. My mentor teacher did have to give some directions to the students during some of the class periods, but I was in charge for the majority of the time. I was responsible for planning and implementing lessons and creating the supplementary material. I was also responsible for grading the students understanding of unit concepts and terms on the district assessment.

3. What were your most satisfying AND your most challenging experiences?My most satisfying experience this week occurred while we were completing a review activity. I was facilitating a review game of jeopardy and the students were saying the answer out loud. I was shocked at how many students knew the information. We had been studying the Hindu Caste System and some of the caste names are very hard to say and remember. Most of the students knew the names and pronounced them very well and I was very pleased that they had an understanding of the material.My most challenging experience this week was trying to find my own style of classroom management. I feel that sometimes when I want to be stern with the students, I come off sounding really mean and unfriendly, which is not my intention. I am trying to find a good balance between being friendly and not being a push-over. I think that our discussion during group time this week really helped me understand how to make this balance happen and find my own style of classroom management.

3. What are the plans for the upcoming week?We will be having one week of break and then coming back for the rest of the semester. For the week after break, I will be planning and implementing all of the lessons and giving all of the assessments. For the beginning of the week we will be working on primary and secondary sources and finding the main idea and significance of these documents.



4. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did you have?

I spent all of this week full time teaching. I have been planning and implementing lessons based around the topic of economic systems. I was responsible for almost all of the daily activities including, taking attendance, lesson planning and implementation, classroom management and disciple, and assessing student learning.

2. What were your most satisfying AND your most challenging experiences?

My most satisfying experience this week was being able to implement a simulation demonstrating the concepts of communism and capitalism and having the students enjoy the simulation has well as learn a great deal. I held the simulation at the beginning of the week and throughout the week would ask the students about the simulation. In hearing the students’ responses and their understanding of the concepts from the simulation I felt a deep sense of satisfaction because they got out of the lesson what they were suppose to. I was very excited to see that the students were learning and taking in the needed information.

My most challenging experience this week was changing my lessons to accommodate the Iowa Assessments. During the previous week it was explained that we would only lose one class period to the test. However, at the beginning of this week, we were informed that we would lose two whole class periods. This change of plans really threw me for a loop because I had the unit planned to meet each grading deadline. I had to re-plan and re-organize 3 weeks worth of lessons in order to fit all of the material into the pre-determined chunk of time. I think that this experience really taught me the valuable lesson of working extra time into a pacing calendar. During my time student teaching, I have realized that issues like this come up weekly and that a wise teacher always plans for the unexpected, which includes having extra time in the pacing calendar.

2. What are the plans for the upcoming week?The plans for the upcoming week include continuing to plan and implement all of the lessons for each class period. The plan is to teach about China and why communism was so readily accepted in China. During the week, the school’s principal, Dawn Stahly, plans to observe at least one class period. I will continue to have the responsibility for taking attendance, completing behavior reports and grading assessments.



5. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did you have?

I spent all of this week full time teaching. I have been planning and implementing lessons based around the topic of China, specifically communism in China. This week’s lessons also included information about different communist countries such as North Korea. I was responsible for almost all of the daily activities including, taking attendance, lesson planning and implementation, classroom management and disciple, and assessing student learning.

3. What were your most satisfying AND your most challenging experiences?My most satisfying experience this week was having the students really connect to one of the lessons from this week. On Thursday the students watched a video about life in North Korea. The students were very interested in how they lived and how different North Korea is to their lives in the United States. In reading their reactions to the film, I was very impressed that my students could compare and contrast their lives to the lives of people in North Korea so well. I was also very satisfied to read that my students were thinking with an open global view.

My most challenging experience this week was classroom management during a group activity that the students completed on Monday. During this lesson, I had asked the students to work in small groups to answer questions based on research that they had completed on Friday. The students were very off-task and most of the groups took a very long time to complete 5 questions. It was very challenging because I thought I had given clear, explicit instructions, but the students were acting like they were never given any instructions at all. I think that this experience has taught me to always be very clear, precise and explicit in giving directions, even writing them out step-by-step. I also learned that if this behavior is present, to immediately shut it down by using the behavior plan in place (warning, time out 1, time out 2, etc.)

3. What are the plans for the upcoming week?The plans for the upcoming week are to wrap-up the unit by having both a re-teaching day and a review day before the district assessment. Students will also start to work on their final summative assessment. Their summative assessment will be a Socratic Seminar in which the students will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both a market and command economy. I will also continue to be responsible for taking attendance, completing behavior reports and grading student assessments.

student teaching weekly log

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