Conclusion

I am so sad that my time in the classroom is over.  I am going to miss going there everyday, it was a great start to my day.  I can honestly say that I am more excited to be a teacher.  I wish I could get a job next year teaching!

Week 11 Overview

This was my last week of field experience.  It went by way to fast.  I am going to miss the classroom so much.

Weekly Hours: 10 hours 30 minutes
Total Hours: 119 hours

Day 41, April 20

Today was my last day of field experience! In class they were working on the link the systems activity.  I went around to talk to some of the groups and answer some questions.  I also helped check the article summaries. The classes gave me a round of applause at the end.

Day 40, April 19

Today in lab they were working on the same thing.  I walked around and helped some of the groups think of more activities that they did.  They were having a hard time thinking about what they were doing for all the 1440 minutes in one day.

Day 39, April 18

Today in class they were working on their article summaries.  I went around and answered a couple question and to to talk to some of them.

Day 38, April 17

Today in lab they were counting their caloric intake and the amount of exercise they did in one day.  I walked around and answered some question.  Whitney gave me a hug at the end because she was sad to see me go.

Week 10 Overview

This was a great week.  I really don't want the last week to come.  I am loving spending time with the students. I wish I had started to really talk to them more at the beginning.

Weekly Hours: 10 hours 30 minutes
Total Hours: 108 hours 30 minutes

Day 37, April 13

Today was the first link the systems day so Mr. Craig had to give a lot of instruction on how to do it.  Then when they were in their groups I helped him check their article summaries.  Then I wrote down all of their questions on the board on a sheet of paper for Mr. Craig to answer later for the Moodle.  During second I went around to talk to some of the groups and we talked about their plans for next year and I gave them some recommendations about teachers and classes.  A lot of my students are going to be on Link Crew with me next year.

Day 36, April 12

Today Mr. Craig was gone so Mr. Cox was the sub again.  He didn't have the plans for the student assistants in the sub plans so I had to call Mr. Craig to get that.  One student assistant was gone and the one that was there was on crutches so he couldn't do much.  I felt like he was my student assistant though because I then decided to have him just work on his homework and I used the key to get the elevator for him  There were more kids at interventions because it was the last day and we kept running out of sheets and having to print more.  I stayed by the buckets of ice again because some boys were having competitions about who could keep their arms in the longest.  During second, I had to go the the trainer's to fill the cooler with more ice.  It was way to heavy for me to carry.

Day 35, April 11

Today in class was the day they worked on their article summaries.  I also had one girl who came into work on her interventions.  While they were working I helped Mr. Craig check the research component.  I was surprised at how many kids had the wrong pieces, because they claimed they didn't hear, even though they had already been through the process for a week.

Day 34, April 10

Today was lab, and it was also and intervention day.  I stayed near the intervention kids to help them and check their sheets.  I also stayed near the buckets of ice because I wanted to make sure all of the ice stayed in the buckets.

Week 9 Overview

This was a great week for me.  Besides the struggles in the lab, this lesson felt like a great breakthrough for me.

Weekly Hours: 12 hours 40 minutes
Total Hours: 98 hours

Day 33, April 6

Today was my last official lesson on the reproductive system.  I made the whole presentation myself, and I did it for both blocks.  This is definitely my best by far.  I felt very right standing up there and I wasn't uncomfortable even with the subject matter.  Second hour Mrs. Pramenko came to watch which I was a bit nervous about, but she though I did a great job.

Day 32, April 5

Today in lab not as many fish died.  I helped get the fish into cups.  I mainly helped students with interventions.  I also helped Kendra who came in for help on her article summary.

Day 31, April 4

Today was a PLC day.  The whole department met together to go over standards and AP forms.  The standards were boring but the teachers were having a lot of fun with it.  We also had breakfast. Then in class they were working on article summaries.  I went around and answered question they had.  We also tested out some things on the smart board for my lesson.

Day 30, April 3

Today was the goldfish lab.  The majority of the fish died the night before from what we think is a disease.  We were only left with a few fish left, but enough to last until the pet store opened.  During lab I watched the fish die, answered questions, and worked on keys for interventions.  Mr. Craig left in second hour to get more fish.

Week 8 Overview

This was a stressful week for me.  Not really related to Teacher Cadet, but it still affected it.  It was a pretty mellow week which was good because I just wasn't feeling my best.

Weekly Hours: 10 hours 25 minutes
Total Hours: 85 hours 20 minutes

Day 29, March 23

Today in class they filled out their intervention sheets.  Many girls told me how happy they were about their grade on this test.  Then they did a gallery walk to look at the projects.  During that time I walked around to make sure everything stayed relatively quiet.

Day 28, March 22

Before lab I dissected a frog for the students and put in the pins for identification.  Then during lab I walked around and answered some questions.  During second hour I talked to Mrs. Kirgan.

Day 27, March 21

Today was the test day.  I took attendance, but there wasn't much to do.  During the test we decided on what my last lesson would be and I got all of the materials needed for that.  During the second hour test some of the girls asked me questions.

Day 26, March 20

Before lab today I helped put pins into some of the vertebrates.  I stamped labs and took attendance.  Then during lab I walked around and helped kids identify what some of the parts were.

Week 7 Overview

This was a fun week for me.  I taught two days in a row which was fun.  I definitely feel great when I am in class with the students and I feel like I know how to handle situations better.

Weekly Hours: 10 hours 25 minutes
Total Hours: 74 hours 55 minutes

Day 25, March 16

Today was a normal day in class.  I took attendance, but the computer has been really slow lately.  Mr. Craig was having them do a group teaching activity so I went around to make sure they were on task.  We were talking about how second hour would probably end up off task, so we had to think of a way for them to be accountable.  We though screen shots would be best, but there was a big paper fiasco at the printer.  The idea didn't work, but just saying that their work might be collected made second hour stay mostly on task.

Day 24, March 15

Today was the invertebrate lab again only I presented the intro this time.  I think it went much better.  I felt very comfortable presenting the information and it was also fun.  Then I spent the rest of the time answering question and helping out.  I was hands on again, and I think that some of the guys that didn't respect me as much do now because they were amazed that I would touch the squid with my bare hands when even the wouldn't.  One guy also apologized to me because he "yelled" at me even though he want't even talking to me.  He apologized for being disrespectful which was very cute.

Day 23, March 14

Today I did a lesson.  I spent 1st hour watching Mr. Craig and taking notes on it.  Then second hour I did the lesson.  I felt so much more comfortable.  I took time and they had time to make notes.  There still weren't any questions so I still need to work on that.  I had a lot of good conversation with my student because they asked me for help with their prezis.  There was also a lot of conversation about the dissections.

Day 22, March 13

Today was the invertebrate dissection lab.  At first I was hesitant to touch the creatures, but then I realized that if I wanted the students to be hands on I had to demonstrate that.  I spent the class going around and giving help with how to cut the specimen and what to look for.  Whitney K. is the one who calls me Mrs. Wybenga.  she said I was the best student teacher ever :)  It made my day.

Week 6 Overview

This was definitely a different week just because of the schedule but it was also fun for me.  I liked seeing a different side of the morning kids and I felt accomplished when I helped with the copying problem.

Weekly Hours: 6 hours 30 minutes
Total Hours: 64 hours 

Day 21, March 9

Today was the first normal day after TCAP's.  In class there was a movie shown to make it a relaxing day.  However I dealt with a big copying fiasco.  There were about 100 copies of next weeks lab missing, so I went around to talk to all the teachers about the number of labs they had.  Eventually I took it down to the copy room to have some emergency copies made and then I picked them up during passing period.

Day 20, March 6

Today was a research day for the ecology project because only Tuesday is having lab this week.  I went and unlocked the doors for the computer lab.  Mostly I walked around and helped answer questions but I also helped with computer issues because the prezi server was backed up.  I had to tell one group of boys to stop playing games on their computers and they reluctantly agreed.  But then after they started doing in again so I got Mr. Craig's help.  I feel like they have some respect for me because they listened for a while, but I was frustrated when they started to do it again.  Besides them most of the others respect me because they are seeking me out for more things like the bathroom.

Day 19, March 5

This was TCAP week for 9th and 10th graders so the schedule is a bit different.  I was in the class on Monday, and then only Tuesday and Friday.  The classes are blocks that usually go in the morning, but we are seeing then in the afternoon.  That was obvious because 1st hour was much more chatty.  They were supposed to be doing research individually, but most of them got off track and started to chat.  I think Mr. Craig allowed this because many still got their work done and it was a long day for then.  They were talking about old TV shows and Mr. Craig and I even joined in.  2nd hour is already chatty, so they were even more so.  The instigator, Kendra W, was back so that didn't help.  Unlike 1st hour they didn't get much work done they were really just gossiping.  It was really frustrating because they literally wouldn't stop, not even to listen to the homework.

Week 5 Overview

This was a good week for me.  I think Mr. Craig being gone made me bond more with the students because they had to talk to me for questions and they wanted to talk to me over Mr. Cox.

Weekly Hours: 18 hours 50 minutes
Total Hours: 58 hours

Day 18, March 1

Today in lab I stamped labs and helped with interventions.  I also helped the student assistant sort the 8th grade honors tests.  I went to the math office to switch out a test that was in the wrong place.  Also in lab I helped students get  a live daphnia and hydra because a lot of students got dead ones out of the cup.  I went to conference and I got to talk to one parent.  Mainly I observed the conferences, and I noticed how every teacher did it differently.  I also saw all the the assistant principals walking around the whole night keeping tabs on everything.

Day 17, February 29

Today Mr. Craig was there for the first part of 1st block so I watched his intro.  Then the students were doing research so I answered questions.  2nd hour I did end up doing some teaching.  I did the intro to class, went over homework, and did the intro to the research grid.  It went much better than the last time.  Then I answered questions about the research.  Also there was an issue with the copies so I went to get more copies for Mr. Cox.

Day 16, February 28

Today was the hydra and daphnea lab day.  It was also an intervention day.  Mr. Craig was gone and so were a few other science teachers so there were a lot of subs who wanted to see a lab into.  I stamped labs, took attendance, and helped with intervention questions.

Day 15, February 27

Today was flex day.  Before class I created a cladogram of the back board.  IN every class I took attendance.  I also went around to check everyone's worksheets for completion.  When they had finished working in groups I checked the cladogram and changed positions of incorrect stick notes.  Then I worked on putting all of that information onto a prezi for the class.  During lunch we talked about how my lesson went and I got similar feed back to Mrs. Kirgan's. I left during 5th to go to AP Chem.  During 6th I watched all the youtube videos on the prezi to make sure they are appropriate.  I also did more research in order to link more things to the prezi.  The flex day was really successful for me.  It makes me wish I could be with all of the classes.

Week 4 Overview

This week was really important for me because it was my first lesson.  I think that was a really important milestone for me to cross.  The students got to see me teach, and I got a real experience in front of the class.

Weekly Hours: 10 hours 20 minutes
Total Hours: 39 hours 10 minutes

Day 14, February 24

Today was my first lesson.  I spent 1st hour watching Mr. Craig teach and taking notes on things to cover.  2nd hour I taught the lesson.  I went fast and ended about 15 minutes to soon.  I was really nervous for my lesson which made me go really fast, and I felt like I could have covered so much more information.  I think I did a good job for my first time, but I really hope to do better next time! When I finished I talked to Mrs. Kirgan about what I did.

Day 13, February 23

Today was similar to Tuesday because I was answering questions about the labs, but I also helped with interventions.  There were not that many kids because the test had a much higher average.  Because of the snow there were a lot of kids who came in late to 1st hour.  On boy, Matt S. Tried to be really sneaky and take a lab before I could mark "no lab", but once I caught him he didn't want it.  He ended up finding his, but he didn't have the questions done so I still had to mark his page.  It frustrated me, but Mrs. Larson said he did that to every one and it was just his personality.

Day 12, February 22

Today Mr. Craig was gone so Mr. Cox was the sub.  I passed back the scantrons to the students so they could fill out their interventions sheets.  Then they worked on a handout that was an into to what I am teaching Friday.  I went around to answer questions which helped me to remember some of the material.  First hour was very quiet, but 2nd hour was, as per usual, pretty chatty.  Their conversations made a lot of people in the class uncomfortable, but they wouldn't keep it down even we we asked.

Day 11, February 21

Today the lab was very self directed once again.  I walked around and there were more questions because what we were asking for wasn't really possible.  We found that it was hard to make a cladogram when we were having students identify specific characteristics.  This was added into the lab intro for the next labs.

Week 3 Overview

After the third week I am liking this even more.  I really liked being a part of the PLC meetings creating a new project, and helping a student was also really beneficial for me.

Weekly Hours: 9 hours 30 minutes
Total Hours: 28 hours 50 minutes

Day 10, February 16

Today was a similar day to Tuesday.  The lab was very self directed.  Maddie R. came into lab and I helped her review the past unit because she had been out and still needed to take that test.  I was really nervous helping her because I had not been in class for that unit so I didn't really know all of the information. I guess I remembered more than I had thought because I was able to help her, and I gave her the idea to check out a book to take home and study more.

Day 9, February 15

Today was a PLC day so I attended the Biology team meeting. It started with talking about which text book company they wanted.  Then we talked about how interventions went and planned it for the next time.  Then they redesigned the vertebrate project to make it a better overall project and to cover more standards.  I gave some input into this because I know what students should be able to do.  Their team seemed to work very well together and there was no arguments.  Because of that we got a lot of work accomplished.

Also the calender had a lot of dates change so I may need to change around some of the lessons.  In class, it was the plant test so I only had to take attendance.  During the test I made a prezi outline for the new project as a template for the students.

Day 8, February 14

Today in class there was not much for me to do because it was a pretty self directed lab.  I just walked around in case anyone had any questions.  Then during 3rd we planned out all of my lessons tentatively.

Week 2 Overview

After the second week I am already feeling more comfortable.  Having the sub there was a new experience but I think it helped me bond with the kids more because they chose to talk to me, and ask me their questions as opposed to the sub because I was more familiar.

Weekly Hours: 10 hours 25 minutes
Total Hours: 19 hours 20 minutes

Day 7, February 10

Today Mr. Cox subbed again.  I started out just helping him get logged into the computer.  Then during class I helped the student with all of their questions on both activities.  We found a mistake on the worksheet, so I made the announcement to the class about that.  Then during 2nd hour, Emily C. brought up that they needed their labs back which no one in 1st hour had said.  I went to the other room to get all the labs for that class and the next hours.

Day 6, February 9

Today in class Mr. Craig was gone so I was working with the substitute, Mr. Cox.  I mainly worked with interventions but I also helped students with their labs.  I was put a bit on the spot by Ms. Dinmore, so I told the class how to make a wet mount slide.  I was really nervous so I went a bit fast, but it felt natural.

Day 5, February 8

Today in class I took attendance.   I was also in charge of the class a few times because the teacher had to leave the room to help another teacher.  I was very stressed because I did not really know what to do with the class.  They were supposed to be discussing things with their partner, but because it was all girls they just started to chat and they got off topic.  I still wasn't very comfortable so I let them talk.

Day 4, February 7

Today in lab I helped mostly with interventions.  I had my fist student come up to me specifically to get started.  I also helped take attendance and stamp the labs. I also found out that one student is mad at me because I caught him leaving early.  I guess they won't all be happy with me there.  He wouldn't have been caught if I hadn't seen him.

Week 1 Overview

After my first week I am already beginning to enjoy this process.  I know that it might take a while for the students to get comfortable with me, and visa versa, but I have a feeling that we will mesh well.

Weekly Hours: 8 hours 55 minutes
Total Hours: 8 hours 55 minutes

Day Almost 4, February 3

Today was a snow day! Unfortunately it messed up my lesson plan.  I was scheduled to do the introduction lesson today.

Day 3, February 2

Today I helped to get the lab set up.  Again I painted leaves and cut tape in preparation for the students.  I stamped labs and then learned how to take attendance for labs which is different than a regular class.  Then I helped with interventions by checking worksheets.  I also helped a special education boy, Daniel, finish his test.  It was his third day working on it.  I helped lead him in the right direction to get to his answers.  One of the teachers said he wanted me to come back for 6th hour lab because he wanted my help because he knew it would be busy.

Day 2, February 1

Today I went to the PLC meeting.  The teachers went over all of the standards and talked about who was covering what topics.  Then we looked at a bunch of textbooks and online supplements.  I was looking online at samples of books and the resources available. Then in class I took attendance and started to learn some names. I helped dilute test tubes of spinach for a class activity.

Day 1, January 31

Today I helped get the lab set up.  I got the eee's from downstairs and used the dumbwaiter to get them upstairs to the lab.  During lab I helped get the lab ready by painting clear nail polish onto leaves.  I also helped with interventions getting the sheets ready and checking all of the work.  I also helped Mackenzie R. evaluate her test, but it took me a while to find the right intervention sheet.

Introduction

This is a blog created by myself, Katie Wybenga, a Teacher Cadet from the LPS school district.  I will be using this blog to capture my observations and reflections from my field experience.  This will start on January 31st and go until April 20th. I will be in the class four days a week, Tuesday-Friday.

Currently I am preparing my first official lesson plans.  It is making me much more nervous than I expected.  I think that I am over-thinking what I write.  I am trying to plan an entire script out, but I feel like it might be more effective if I think of some words in the moment with my students for the first time.