Dylan Ryzner

Student Teaching Journal Entry #1

My student teaching experience at Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA) started a little

rough, as I experienced some technical difficulties that did not allow me to sign into the website.
This small hurdle was quickly overcome, and my student teaching was underway. The first few
days were spent familiarizing myself with the new software, learning how to navigate it and
accessing everything I need to. My cooperating teacher was extremely helpful during this
process and was able to answer any questions that I had. I also observed my cooperating teacher
while she taught, contacted students, and worked with students one on one. It is a much different
learning environment than a brick-and-mortar school, and it is interesting to see how the school
operates. Synchronous instruction is delivered once a day, but high school students have the
choice to attend the live session or watch the recording of the instruction at another time. The
rest of the day is spent planning lessons, grading, contacting students, and working with them
through any trouble they are having. My cooperating teacher has been slowly releasing her
responsibilities onto me. Right now, I am responsible for grading and giving feedback on
lessons, contacting students via chat, and I hosted my first live classroom today (1/15). Although
I was a bit nervous, everything went well, and my cooperating teacher had some great tips for the
next time. Planning and preparation is key for an effective lesson. The students also seemed to
enjoy the lesson because it involved a Kahoot! activity with review questions from the previous
three lessons. Next week, my cooperating teacher plans on giving me more responsibility for
keeping in contact with the students, and we plan to start co teaching the virtual live lessons. So
far it has been an interesting and exciting experience, and I’m looking forward to having more
responsibilities which will eventually lead to me taking over everything the current teacher is
responsible for.