Heather Soden

Student Teaching Journal

1/31- 2/4
Week 1:

Week 1 was a whirlwind. I encountered all sorts of new faces and places. From classroom aides,
students, principles, and classroom teachers and then multiply that by each different school
site; it was a lot to take in. Luckily, I did not get lost and managed to show up at the right school
site each morning.

First impressions: there are not enough hours in the day. My teacher and I have upwards of 50
students on our case load and our schedule is jam packed. We are lucky if we get 20 minutes
between classes in a day. I have no idea when she has time to plan lessons, reply to emails,
attend meetings, or complete any paperwork such as IEP’s.

Takeaways: I am absolutely in love with the students that we service and despite the hectic
schedule, the joys of the profession are wonderful. I’ve been spending most of my time trying
to interact with the students and build a good rapport with them.

2/7- 2/11
Week 2:

Week 2 was a bit less stressful. I am beginning to know the schedule a bit better, and the
students and aides are becoming a bit more familiar with seeing my face. This week, I’ve been
documenting the specifics of each classroom we service. I’ve been recording data such as the
class size, popular activities, which type of class it is (M/S, M/M) and grade level. I am taking the
time to do this so that I may be successful when planning lessons later on in the semester. I’ve
planned my first lesson plan, (a 3rd grade basketball unit), that I will be teaching next Friday.

It was super hot this week, so we decided to play clean our backyards with splash bomb over
the volleyball net one day. The kids LOVED it. Even the GenED kids joined at the end and
everyone had a great time. Great day to be in APE!

As I’m beginning to understand my students a bit better, I have been testing out some ideas to
motivate them. I have a student who is constantly complaining about doing anything. One day
this week, he started complaining that he didn’t want to play. Instead of trying to encourage
him to join, I decided to play volleyball with the peer mentor at my station. After watching us
have fun, he decided to join on his own.

First impressions told me that most of my students were nonverbal. I am learning that they do
have limited vocabularies but perhaps choose not to use their voice. I tied a kids shoes
everyday this week and didn’t think he really knew who I was. He said my name today; it was
awesome. These kids know way more than I think.
2/14- 2/18
Week 3:

Just when I thought I would be completely settled in our routine, week 3 hit. We had Monday
off due to Valentine’s Day/ Lincoln’s Birthday and we are working around a testing schedule for
Wednesday and Thursday this week. That means 25 min classes at Stanford middle school.

Yesterday, I helped a student participate in the general PE class to compete in relay races. It
was the most 1 on 1 time I had had with that student thus far. To motivate the student, I had us
drink “speed potions” to defeat evil by working together and running fast. He loves “defeating
evil and making friendships.” In the down time, we played various versions of patty cake to
keep him entertained.

I taught my first lesson this week. It was the first day of a 3rd grade basketball unit I planned. My
students were very receptive to me; one student even held my hand by the end of class. My
teacher and I had the same notes about the lesson, which was to come up with a stop signal to
regain the student’s attention and to have the students put the ball on the ground when giving
instructions. I used a white board to write up the day’s agenda, which really helped me
remember the order in which things were planned and I think the students really liked knowing
what came next.

I also got to observe my master teacher teach a general elementary PE class that our consult
student is in. It was really cool to see the difference between a GPE and APE elementary class.
The teacher was extremely grateful to pick up some new tricks and the kids were extremely
enthusiastic and helpful.

Week 4:
2/21- 2/25

The big highlight from this week was surviving my first observation by my amazingly supportive
supervisor!! I taught a 3rd grade basketball lesson to two students. The lesson was animal
themed with the focus of the lesson centering around improving basketball skills such as
dribbling and the bounce pass. The students seemed to really enjoy the animal themed
locomotor activity and the interactive “Tap in/out” PowerPoint I designed on my iPad. The
feedback to improve upon included being aware of the sun, being clearer with directions and
language and provide more challenging options if the current challenge is too easy. Thinking
about how to scale the skill up and down to meet a student’s needs are definitely things to
think about prior to the lesson.

When planning a lesson, there are a few things I need to make sure I am thinking deeply about.
Those things include: activity time, lesson purpose/ goal (and stating those to the students
during the lesson), scaling a skill up and down, the name of the activity (the name is
everything!) and catchy cue words (rhyming is ideal).
One day this week, we got rained on mid class. We all (gen ed and special ed), headed into the
gym to take cover. Our class moved to the APE room and engaged in a whole class volleyball
game. This was a magnificent display of quick thinking and adaptability I’ve been hearing so
much about.

This week marks the end of our volleyball unit. I am excited to see how our students perform in
a skill that is arguably easier to perform: basketball. I’ve never played basketball in my life, so
prepping for this unit will be a challenge and also extremely beneficial for me.

Week 5
2/28- 3/4

One highlight from this week was how excited my students got for an activity I planned. I set up
an obstacle course for them and they loved it! I wrote down a few preposition words in chalk
(in, through, around) to guide the students through the pathway. One student even threw a
tantrum because she wanted to stay there the whole period.

I was also able to attend the CAHPERD conference this week. What an experience! I attended a
mix of lectures and activities. I volunteered for a lot of activities and had a blast; I even won
some equipment! I won a tri net and some soft rubber balls, which was pretty cool. One big
takeaway from the conference came from a lecturer. He told us to never “force” students to
participate/ exercise. He said its better to allow them to sit off to the side if they refuse to play
and to let them know they are able to join whenever they’d like. I can see technique this
working well with one of our Autistic students who is oppositional defiant. Another takeaway
was to theme the entire lesson when setting up stations. It can be very general (like throwing
and catching) so the students are better able to connect and understand what they’re doing
throughout the lesson.

Week 6
3/5- 3/11

Dear Journal,
Not much to report this week as I was out sick on my death bed. As St. Patrick’s Day is coming
up next week, I did begin to plan some themed lessons in celebration of that. Aside from that, I
have been brainstorming some broad themes that can work well with stations for my
elementary aged students. Ready to tackle next week.

Week 7
3/14- 3/18
This week was a rollercoaster. Conflicts arose but a productive conversation came about in the
end. Being that it was St. Patrick’s day on Thursday, we did a Green week theme in celebration
of that. It was the first week that we kept all of the elementary lessons the same and it was
such a relief to keep it consistent. Going forward, I plan on keeping the elementary lessons
similar to make life easier. In other news, I’m filming my TPA lesson on Tuesday. Hope it all goes
well!

I did my first triennial assessment on a student this week (KeSi). I assessed him using the C-Tape
and I will be writing up the assessment report for his IEP meeting. He’s such a great student, he
even drew me a picture at the end of the assessment.

Week 8
3/19- 3/25

To prepare for this week, I made up a series of soccer stations that could be used in multiple
elementary school settings. We replicated the lesson 4 or 5 times amongst the schools we
services. Many of the classroom teachers commented on the station’s accessibility for all of
their students and the consistency of keeping with one theme. I made station cards and
provided a few modifications on the cards for future weeks to come. During the lessons, I kept
a careful eye on the lowest performing students and was able to note adjustments for the week
to come. Simple adjustments such as providing a stool at Burbank for one particular student
who hates PE and purposefully flops at each station will make the skills so much easier for the
aides to prompt if she is in a seated position. I’m finding that in general, my lessons are
reaching the majority of the students with average abilities but may need more attention to
detail for students on the lower end of the ability spectrum.

The highlight from this week was without a doubt the March Madness Tournament at Stanford
Middle School. We played a series of small, sided half court games with the student. Each team
was introduced with their team names and accompanying pump-up music. Cheerleaders lined
the sidelines to cheer on the athletes. I think the structure of this lesson highlighted abilities for
everyone. It was such a great way to end the basketball unit.

Week 9
3/28- 4/1

This week was pretty chill. I presented my first assessment report this week. It was the first
assessment I performed on a student from start to finish and was able to present my
recommendation in the IEP meeting to the student’s parent. Although I was a tad nervous, it
went well and it was nice to meet the student’s parent to get a better picture of their home life.

We continued on with the soccer lesson this week at the elementary schools. Things to note
when starting a new lesson: take the time to introduce each of the lessons thoroughly in the
beginning. This way, you can quickly review them for the following weeks and focus on any
changes or ways to build upon the skill. Prime the student’s mindsets and let them know that
the skills will be difficult in the beginning because they are new. Prime the adult’s mindsets by
letting them know the first week of a new unit will require a lot of physical prompting.

Aside from student teaching, I helped chaperone the orchestra performance for my middle
school. It was really nice to see some of my PE kids outside of the PE setting. I had no idea the
school had orchestra at all, let alone that some of my PE kids were in there. It was a great
reminder to get involved with other aspects of the school culture. I also went to a faculty
meeting this week. Being an itinerant teacher who is on the road so often, it was nice to
connect with some other teachers at my school. In other news, I submitted my TPA cycle 1 this
week. Hoping all goes well!

Week 10
4/4- 4/8

Up until now, my Kettering students with high behaviors have been quite the challenge. To
shake things up, I decided to implement a behavior plan and incorporate an agenda. Most of
those students are nonverbal or have minimal language, so the behavior plan consisted of
pictures to represent actions. I explained to the students that they needed to get 4 stars in
order to reach their desired activity. Students had the option to choose between playground or
basketball (one of their favorite activities and a place they would often elope to). The behavior
plan is on a white board with 5 Velcro spots on it. The reward sits on the last Velcro position
and students must earn the 4 stars leading up to it to earn the reward. In alignment with the
behavior chart, I incorporated an agenda. The agenda has 4 activities to allow students all the
opportunities to get the reward at the end of class. Including these two elements was
extremely successful. The student I originally planned this for not only decreased his elopement
behavior but actually came back when called upon, which he would previously not do.

Other notes on the plan: I tried to get the students to work together on earning stars, but that
was unsuccessful. I ended up allowing the one student who was behaving to receive the reward
while the other sat out. I’m excited to see if my student who misbehaved this week will do
better in the upcoming weeks now that a punishment (1 minute restriction while others played)
has been doled out.

Another cool thing I got to do this week was observe an APE teacher at Lakewood high school.
It was a GPE inclusion class with 3 APE students who participated in a swimming lesson. The
setting was an indoor gym with about 20 general education students. The teacher utilized pool
noodles and kicking boards. Best tip I picked up during that lesson was the way he set a clear
limit before the lesson even began. Due to the nature of a swimming lesson being such a high
risk, he talked with students before they got in the pool. He reminded them that they only got 1
chance to follow directions, or they will be kicked out of the pool. He had the students repeat
the limit multiple times before allowing them to enter the pool area. One student did begin
minimal off task behaviors, but he immediately called over the classroom teacher and set the
boundary in place. It was a great to see a new realm of APE at the high school level.

Week 11
4/11- 4/15

This week, we celebrated an Easter (Spring) themed lesson. At my elementary schools, we did a
few variations of an easter egg hunt with exercises inside the eggs. The students would search
for eggs underneath the grass, cones, cups and up in the trees. We would then open up the egg
and perform the exercise (egg-ercise) that was inside together. It was so fun and the students
loved searching and opening up the eggs. You can always tell you’ve come up with a fun idea
when it distracts the students from the rest of your lesson. My professor even gave me a great
idea to put something inside the egg that would make a sound to make the experience more
sensory. This idea gets me thinking that trying to make my lessons more sensory could elevate
the APE experience for my students. My Burbank elementary school classroom teacher stated
he would like to see a sensory station incorporated into my APE sessions if possible. Over spring
break, I will be coming up with a new unit for my elementary schools, keeping this thought in
mind. For now, I am going to enjoy some much needed time off during Spring Break.

Week 12
4/25- 4/29
This week we began a new unit: throwing and catching- superhero edition. One thing I picked
up from the APE consortium I attended made me realize that I could be doing a better job of
creating a narrative for my younger students to increase engagement. I decided to go with a
throwing and catching unit to switch things up from the previous sport theme, and building a
superhero lesson around those skills seemed like a good way to go. When I explain the new
unit, I will work to hype up the stations by creating challenges and a backstory related to the
superheroes. The highlight seemed to be Thor’s hammer. We taped a bean bag to the end of a
pool noodle and practiced our overhand throwing. It was the best behaved some of my
Kettering students had ever been and they even did an unpromoted Thor superhero pose to let
me know they knew who Thor was.

In other news, my Burbank elementary school was the most disrupted class I have seen to date.
They walked out to APE completed out of sorts; even the good kids were throwing tantrums.
Although I had a plan in mind, after speaking with the classroom teacher, we decided it best to
immediately jump into stations without an explanation to keep things moving. It was good for
me to see the low low’s a class can go to so I can learn to adapt and change on the fly to best
suit the temperaments presented.
Week 13
5/2- 5/6

This was a funky week as Stanford Middle school was on a shortened testing schedule. We did a
push in with the general PE class all week but opened up the ropes room to our students as well
as the general PE students. It was so fun to keep our class in close quarters with activities
ranging from low skills movement (bouncy balls) to high stakes strength activities such as
climbing on the ropes. I got to interact with students I hadn’t gotten much interaction or even
communication with all semester. It was interesting to see new students shine by experiencing
new activities since so many of our middle school classes focus on sports or ball related skills. At
my elementary schools, we did our second week of the Avengers throwing and catching unit
and I was able to work out most of the kinks from the first week. The students were able to
access the equipment much better as I was able to diagnose problems in the first week and
plan accordingly.

I completed my 5th observation this week. It was an elementary triathlon lesson with scooter
board swimming, biking and running legs of the race. It was super fun but also a bit hectic.
There were a lot of moving parts. If I were to teach it again, I would make the race a shorter
distance so that my attention wasn’t so spread out amongst the lanes.

I shot my last video for the TPA this week. This will be a very busy week trying to put everything
together for the final submission of TPA 2. Looking forward to the coming weeks when my sole
focus will be teaching and teaching alone.

Week 14
5/9- 5/13

This week, I was focused on finishing up the TPA. I was able to submit on Thursday, which feels
like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. At my elementary schools, we completed
our 3rd week of our Avengers throwing and catching stations. The difference between week 1
when every station was new and week 3 when the students were familiar with the stations was
noticeable. Due to this shift in behavior, I’ve decided to change the format of the units. I will
continue to follow themes, whether they are sport related or skill related, but keep 2 stations
the same to minimize so much change at one time. I have decided to keep the sensory and
obstacle course station consistent for the next unit. I will be curious to see if the student’s
behavior will change on the first day of the new unit.

At Kettering and Prisk elementary schools, we did an elaborate obstacle course. Students need
to complete the obstacles by going over hurdles, under desks, around cones, through hula
hoops, on top of stepping stones, log rolls, and crab walks. This was so cool to see. Students
that have never really shown athleticism were completely engaged in this activity, which was
very cool to see. One student, who the classroom aides said has trouble sitting on the ground,
did every single obstacle multiple times during the session. It was very cool to see how capable
some students can be given the right motivator.

Week 15
5/16- 5/20

This week was open house week at Stanford Middle school. It was so cool to meet the student’s
parents and siblings and watching them all interact. It was also very interesting to see how our
student’s behavior changed while their parents were present. One student who typically only
has one- word utterances said, “Hi Mrs. Levy and hi Miss Heather” when prompted by his
parents. I had completed an assessment on this student earlier in the week, where he did not
say 1 word the entire time.

This week, I rolled out a striking unit with my Burbank elementary school students. It was the
biggest buy in I’ve seen so far with a unit. The biggest change was witnessing the students who
don’t like PE participate and have a great time. One student in particular, yells and screams
during PE and this is the first time I didn’t hear her during the lesson. We put all sorts of balls on
a string and hung them around the play area. We had students use lollipop paddles, hockey
sticks and their hand as an implement. I think they liked these activities so much because it’s
very easy for them to be successful and satisfying to see the ball move in response to their
efforts. I plan on trying it with another higher functioning group and seeing what kind of
reactions I get.

Week 16
5/23- 5/27

COVID

Week 17
5/30- 6/3

This week, I had my last observation at Kettering Elementary school. I set up an obstacle course
with a scooter board option in the cafeteria. It was great because it gave the students a wide
range of skills to work (over, under, around, through, on top of, roll) on and provided a lot of
opportunities to work on practical skills such as balancing and maneuvering their bodies around
objects.

At Prisk elementary, I implemented a striking unit. I used the playground’s natural environment
to my advantage by hanging up objects such as beach balls, bell balls, and rattler balls to strike
at different heights on the pull up bars. Students were given the option to strike with their
hand, lollipop paddles or pool noodles. Students were able to play alone or engage in partner
passing. I think the best part about this lesson was the freedom of choice that was built into the
lesson. Instead of having a structured rotation plan, I had students simply move to a new object
when the buzzer went off. It turned out to be a really fun, successful, low stress lesson that
allowed me to be extremely mobile and work with each student individually.