Weekly Reflections - Two Stars and a Wish

Week 1: January 21st - January 27th

● Two stars:
○ A couple of students came up to me asking for help when Mrs. Bainter was
with another student
○ Mrs. Bainter is extremely understanding and flexible. She has so many
resources that she really wants to share with me.
● One wish:
○ I wish that the classroom had more rules, or at least expectations, posted
somewhere in the classroom. I noticed that Mrs. Bainter did not have any
classroom rules posted in her room, and the volume of the classroom is hard
to control due to the format of the new building. It is a completely open space
with walls to divide the rooms, but there is an entire hallway for students and
faculty to walk through. Because of this, I am concerned that I will not be able
to establish an assertive, but friendly role as a teacher since they might not
even hear me, or they could talk over me. I have to somehow find a way to
establish respect in the classroom, and I feel like that will be a bit harder
since these students have been with Mrs. Bainter for a whole semester
already. I think something that will help though is when I come to teach for
the first time by myself, I will have an expectations slide before the warm-up
questions. Then throughout the semester I could have those reminders every
class so that students understand the type of environment I am trying to
create. I remember in PBI when Ms. Brewster did that, and I really liked the
environment of the classroom. I already have some ideas on how I would like
to run my own classroom, and I think that this is a good place to start. Some
ideas that came to mind as I was observing this week were that I want
students to come up to the board and work out a problem. I noticed that Mrs.
Bainter works problems out with her students and her students copy it
down, but if I have students work out some examples, it can allow for more
perspective and could spark more questions. In order to do this though, the
first thing I need to do is establish some classroom rules or expectations so
that things will run more smoothly.
Week 2: January 28th - February 3rd
● Two stars:
○ When I got up for the first time in front of the class, Mrs. Bainter told me I had
a very calm presence despite the amount of panic I was in
○ I felt a lot more comfortable the second day
● One wish:
○ One wish that came to mind was that I wish that I can engage students more.
For the most part, I do encourage active participation and ask a lot of open
ended questions for students, but there was one particular instance where I
could not engage one student, Tom. While I was teaching class, Tom asked me
a question, and as I was explaining the answer to him, he completely checked
out. He started spinning in his chair and picking things off the floor, and I
kept asking him what he thinks the next step of the solution, but he just
answered that he did not know. It was very frustrating trying to keep him
engaged as well because there are three boys that sit in the front that were
very loud. Since Tom was sitting in the back, it was hard for him to hear me as
well. Mrs. Bainter is going to separate the three boys, so hopefully I will be
able to engage Tom better.

Week 3: February 4th - February 10th

● Two stars:
○ A student came up to me and told me that she wanted to paint something for
me for when I had my own classroom
○ I had a rough weekend, but Mrs. Bainter is very supportive and very sweet
● One wish:
○ I wish that I was better at time management. I taught third period today and
it was also a half day, so I was working with less time than usual. I tried to
utilize wait time, but I think that I waited a little too long for the time that I
had for the class. I have to figure out a way to address the most important
topics first as well as checking for understanding and addressing any
questions that the students might have. I feel like this is something that I will
struggle with until I get used to it, but Mrs. Bainter has already given me tips
on how to manage my time. On top of the advice that she gave me, I really
think that I need to change the format of my lessons just a bit so that I am
able to have enough time to cover everything.
Week 4: February 11th - February 17th
● Two stars:
○ A student gave me a sticker!
○ The principal mistook me as a student and made me throw away my coffee,
realized later that I was not a student, and gave me a gift card for new coffee.
● One wish:
○ I wish I was more assertive. I know that I am still gaining their trust and their
respect, but it definitely has been difficult because I still feel as if my students
do not take me seriously. When I was teaching, I lead the Speed Dating
activity that was supposed to help the students work together to multiply
two binomials to get its equivalent standard form. However, it did not go to
plan as the students didn't even want to get out of their seats. I got them to
participate eventually, but they often tried to find loopholes to get out of the
activity. It was a little discouraging since the students were not as engaged as
I thought, and it threw me off for the rest of the lesson. I think that being
more assertive when it comes to asking the students to do something will
help.

Week 5: February 18th - February 24th

● Two stars:
○ I am starting to get used to teaching 3rd period as well as 2nd period
○ Students in 2nd period really liked the review game that I prepared them
● One wish:
○ I found that when I start to get strict, I tend to trip over my words and I feel
like I do not get a lot of respect because of it. This is why my wish is that I am
more confident in my abilities to be firm when students are not cooperating.
However, I still feel like they do not take me 100% seriously. I have really
good relationships with the students, but I don't know if it is because they see
me as a peer rather than a teacher. I just wish I knew how to present myself
better so that when students look at me and interact with me, they know that
I am their teacher and not strictly just a friend. It has gotten better in 2nd
period, but since I have started 3rd period, every student likes to talk to one
another, and it can get out of hand really fast. I realize that my techniques in
2nd period don't necessarily work for 3rd period, so I am still trying to come
up with ways to gain respect.
Week 6: February 25th - March 3rd
● Two stars:
○ I finally implemented a seating chart in both second and third periods. I am
starting to feel like I am gaining respect from the students
○ Students are approaching me and asking for help. They are getting more
comfortable with me!
● One wish:
○ Even though I have implemented rules and procedures as well as a seating
chart, I am still having trouble with third period. They follow the procedures,
but there are a few students in class that no matter what I do, they seem to
not want to learn anything. I tried to walk a student through a problem and
he was naming random numbers instead of paying attention and actively
listening. It was difficult to communicate with him because he was very
adamant on not paying attention to me.

Week 7: March 4th - March 10th

● Two stars:
○ A student who I was struggling to engage participated and really enjoyed the
activity we did!
○ I tried the Something Good activity again and I was able to have more
students participate! They were very excited to share this time around, so I
am looking forward to using it more in future lessons.
● One wish:
○ I wish to continue keeping students engaged. I found that the more I teach,
the more confident I feel, and as a result I am able to approach students who
are not participating as much in class and probe them more. I find that I am
still struggling with getting students to talk, but I do believe that I will be able
to keep coming up with activities and utilizing the right formative
assessments that will help every student engage in the lesson.

Week 8: March 11th - March 17th

● Two stars:
○ Students are continuing to open up with me and be more engaging. I am
starting to talk to students who are usually the “quiet ones” in class!
○ I am starting to stray from Mrs. Bainter’s teaching style and I am making it
my own.
● One wish:
○ I wish that students respected me more. Yesterday, Mrs. Bainter was not in
class, so there was a sub that took her place. Since the students thought that
Mrs. Bainter was not there, they were harder to engage and teach because
 they felt as if they did not have to behave. It was very difficult to try and have
the students look at me as a teacher instead of a person who is there
temporarily.

Week 9: March 18th - March 31st

● Two stars:
○ My students took their quiz today, and they did pretty well considering they
had just come back from spring break.
○ A student painted a picture for me over break! It makes me happy knowing
that I am seen by the students and they appreciate me being there.
● One wish:
○ I wish that I had more time with the students. I have had a really good
experience being in Mrs. Bainter's classroom, and it definitely made me feel
more confident in my abilities as a teacher. I know I still have a lot to learn,
and that's why I wish I had more time with the students. I feel like I only had
a snippet of what teaching is like, so spending more time with the students
means that I can experience more things and new situations. I am looking
forward to having my own classroom.

Week 10: April 1st - April 7th

● Two stars:
○ Students were very engaged in the lessons that I taught this week so far! They
were asking good questions, and I felt like I was appealing to every student in
the classroom.
○ I feel like the students and I have grown a lot during my time in Mrs. Bainter’s
classroom, and the relationships that I have created there will impact the way
I teach in my future classrooms.
● One wish:
○ I wish I could see how the students do on the unit test Friday. I essentially led
the unit, so I am curious as to how they do because they have been very
engaged in this unit compared to the last one.