Good afternoon Dr. Stilwell,

I was not sure if I still needed to send my weekly log since student teaching in coming to an end.

This was an outstanding week. I feel like I have hit my stride with my students as I completed

my five week bell-to-bell session. We are comfortable with each other and overall the class

periods have been flowing well. I am finding myself more relaxed and using more humor with

them as we get our work done. This five week period has given me an idea of how much time it

does take to build rapport with the students. I have seen the value of taking a few minutes to talk

with them about my life and what is going on with them personally. This week students have

been working on laptops, researching the four candidates and where they stand on issues. The

students engaged the material and were really focused on learning more about the candidates.

We had good discussions about the delegate race, especially after New York had their primary

on Tuesday. It is going to be an adjustment starting tomorrow as I begin to fade to the

background and Mary takes the more active role. I am going to miss these students. I have been

stretched over this student-teaching process, but have no doubt I am a better teacher because of

it.

Good morning Dr. Stilwell,

I cannot believe I only have a few weeks remaining. This week was really fun to teach. We are

starting Unit #6 which is focusing on political parties and examining where the parties stand on

current issues. Most of the students did a survey in which they found out what political party

they find themselves, and Democrat was the heavy favorite. As the week went on, we spent more

time examining the primary races and who is the favorites. The students were asking great

questions and there was a genuine interest in whom the next President will be. One of the main

reasons is Donald Trump, which makes sense considering the diverse population of the

classes.The area that was a challenge this week is patience with students. We had some final unit

projects we had to get done and it was difficult at times keeping the students on task and focused

on what they needed to do. I struggled at times when students would complain that they didn't

understand, even though I had repeatedly showed them what we were doing. I know this is just a

normal part of being a teacher, but at times this week I really had to take a deep breath and try to

keep my frustration to a minimum.

Good evening,

This was a challenging week, but I felt like I grew as a teacher at the same time. The challenging

part was found on Monday and Tuesday. The students and I had to adjust to being back at school

after Spring Break. Even though expectations were clearly communicated both by a 8th grade

general assembly and myself going over expectations before each class period, more students

than normal struggled with making correct choices in the classroom. I left school on Monday and

Tuesday feeling like I was a terrible teacher and wore out! However, as the week continued, a

sense of normalcy started to take place between the students and myself. Classes started

becoming more in sync with how things were prior to break. I felt more comfortable and

confident in the classroom and it showed in how I was dealing with students and in classroom

management. I am looking forward to starting another week and the experiences of being a

student teacher.