Teaching edTPA! 1/29/21 Reflection

 Week of Reflection: Friday January 29, 2021

This week has been a 5/5! I have had a great week. This week I was able to teach 3/4 of my classes regularly, as well as continue teaching my edTPA unit. The knowledge that I was actually recording my lessons for Pearson was a bit intimidating at first but my students are such rockstars! They have really engaged with my learning segment and see the central focus as relevant which is everything that I could have hoped for. My low performing target student was more on task than he’s ever been, and answered several questions SPOT ON! I did a happy dance on my drive home that day. Then, I had a student tell me that my virtual assignments were his favorite. It was so nice that I thought he was joking at first, but he really liked being able to use examples from music that HE liked. YAY for student choice!! I taught an additional class this week, and will start my full takeover on Monday. I have really grown in my ability to confidently lead my classes. I had a behavior setback in my first class today, which caused me to have to adapt quickly to diffuse a few of my students’ anger at each other, but I think that I did a good job handling it. I also learned a lot from the situation, and have adjusted the student’s seating chart in a way that will be helpful in the future. I will build upon my content from this week next week by moving further ahead in sight reading level, and by progressing in the pieces that my students are learning. I will also teach the last two lessons in my edTPA segment on Monday and Tuesday. I have felt a big growth in my confidence this week, and my CE noticed it too!

 My short term and long term goals are aligned because I am starting my full takeover on February 1st (MONDAY!). My edTPA preparation goals are also still aligned with the School of Education calendar and my long term plan. I could have spent more time practicing piano to play parts for my students this week, and I could have spent less time questioning my teacher instinct. However, I have really improved at this from last week. I have always struggled with apprehension when cueing students in rehearsal, but I think that it is still improving. I noticed that I struggled again with this after my students’ had a rough patch with each other this morning, but I was able to recognize that and push ahead and improve for my next cue. My logical steps for next week are to finish my edTPA learning segments and write my teaching commentary. I know that next week will be a very busy week because of the tight turnaround time, so I know that I need to prepare to manage my time well. I can clear the mental clutter of reflection from this week, as I begin to look forward to next week. I am going to shift my focus to refining my content for Monday and Tuesday.

This week, I analyzed my student’s flipgrid assignments, reflection assignments, and edTPA assessments that were completed on their virtual days. I was also affirmed by my students telling me that they enjoyed the assignment and by the fact that a large portion of my students were quite successful. This made me feel more confident in my knowledge of my learners! I am really excited to continue teaching edTPA. I think that I have a really solid segment, and that it has been meaningful for students. I look forward to finishing it out.  My advice for my student teacher friends remains the same: trust yourself and treat yourself with grace! You are working hard, and you are doing good work!! Trust the process, and be kind to yourself as you grow. 

I was a teacher leader (NCTCS 1) in my classroom this week as I facilitated more effective rehearsals, even when rain prohibited some of my original singing plans from taking place. I became more effective at using my entire class time and redirected student focus effectively and with a positive outlook. I improved my NCTCS 2 standard this week by working with an EC student one on one during virtual learning on Wednesday, and by working to create success strategies for a student whose IEP and behavior intervention plan are being reworked due to the student’s challenges with virtual assignments, and with focus in class. I made my content relevant to students (NCTCS 3) by discussing the context and background information about the pieces they sang. I planned instruction appropriate for my students (NCTCS 4) by listening to their flipgrid recordings and using my knowledge of their understanding of the music to inform my planning for how much to teach and what to review next week.  I reflected on my practice (NCTCS 5) between Cohort A and Cohort B in Chorale. I restructured the order that I asked some questions, and I asked some more specific guiding questions where needed. 

Dr. Johnson and I have not yet discussed my expectations for my portfolio. My CE and I do not need additional support at this time.