Tag: elementary school

Not Exactly a Walk in the PARCC

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parcc

It’s been a while since my last post, mostly because my school schedule was inconsistent. We were on spring break for a week and then had two weeks of PARCC testing. For those of you not familiar with PARCC, I will quickly break it down for you. PARCC stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. The tests are brought to us by Pearson, of course, and are designed to do just what the title states – assess students’ readiness for college and career through math and literacy assessments. Students have three math tests, which average around 110 minutes, and three literacy tests, which average around 80 minutes.

During the two weeks of PARCC testing, the students’ schedules were rearranged to accommodate those with special needs and procedures as well as the overall quantity of students testing. Since I am a long term sub in a supplementary role, I was a 1:1 proctor for a 6th grader in the mornings. The rest of my days consisted of homeroom monitoring and lunch duty. Given the inconsistent schedule, student behavior was less than desirable over these two weeks.

My biggest take away from this was my lunch duty. I was covering two lunch periods during PARCC, which was two too many. Aside from the overall NOISE in the lunchroom, the students are quite possibly at their worst. Many of them are disrespectful to each other as well as to teachers and staff. There are set rules and procedures that the students do follow, but their attitudes are on full display. And this had me questioning my ability to handle middle school. Additionally, the overall dynamic in the lunchroom is a little depressing. I was quickly transported to my own incredibly awkward youth. There are such defined boundaries in the lunchroom. It is easy to identify the different cliques and outcasts and the students are quite vocal about who sits where in the lunchroom. I also saw many students sitting alone, which had me wondering if their isolation was their choice or not.

Lunch duty had me longing to be in an elementary school. I began to focus only on the attitudes and misbehavior of the students at lunch, convincing myself this is how all middle school students behave. Then I ran into the 6th grader I was proctoring and he smiled and said hi to me at lunch. And the 7th grader from my 8th period said hi and asked when we would be having class again. I saw a few of my other students throughout the days during PARCC and they were all nice and friendly, unlike the unruly mob at lunch. I then began reflecting on my experience so far at this middle school. Things have been going well so far. Sure, it has been a little difficult and it has been a little outside my comfort zone. But, that was the plan, right? Explore my options, broaden my horizons, and so forth.

This week we are back to our normal routine, thankfully. I have taken the time to reiterate the day to day expectations for all my classes. I have reviewed my classroom rules and consequences for those not following the rules. For the most part, all my classes fell right back into the routine we had prior to PARCC, which has made me happy. Hopefully my turbulent two weeks was simply because of the scheduling changes and the testing. Hopefully things will return to a semi-normal state and I can really begin to reflect on my middle school experience. Just like with elementary, there are positives and negatives. I want to make sure I am weighing everything accurately so I can confidently apply for various teaching positions for next school year. And that in itself is an overwhelming and intimidating thought.

The Beginning of the End 

The Beginning of the End 

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Even though these last two weeks were short weeks, they have been pretty busy. I had my midterm appraisal from my cooperating teacher and my university supervisor last week and everything seems to be going really well. I feel like I am doing well with my student teaching, which makes me dislike this whole edTPA process even more. My future is in the balance of something that, in my opinion, does not effectively assess my role as a teacher. It’s frustrating at best. And, honestly, this is where I really want to stomp my feet and shout “It’s not fair!” But, I continue to wait and hope for the best. There really isn’t much more I can do at this point. The waiting is torture and I hope to see my score soon so I can either move on or prepare my resubmission. 

Friday all three 4th grade classes gathered for the first of several mini assemblies for “Erin’s Law” to discuss children’s safety on a variety of levels. Since this was the first lesson, they mostly discussed making good choices and making sure a responsible adult is available. At one point the 4th graders were asked how many are home alone for extended periods of time and how many 4th graders are left in charge of younger siblings. The results were overwhelming to me…. So many students raised their hands! And while I understand the question might be subjective, meaning some of the kids might have raised their hand because their parent has maybe gone next door to a neighbor really quickly or even out to the garage therefore this child had been home alone briefly, I couldn’t help but wonder just how many of these nine and ten year olds actually have been left home alone. It is a little concerning to me and makes me wonder what other concerns I will encounter during my career as a teacher. 

This week was Spirit Week as well as a shortened week for the students. All of the days were Dr. Seuss themed in honor of his birthday this week. Monday we wore green, Tuesday was crazy hat day, Wednesday was crazy socks day, and Thursday was pajama day. I think Tuesday and Thursday were my favorite days, mostly because I had the opportunity to rock an awesome hat on Tuesday and on Thursday I was able to work in my jammies, complete with comfy slippers. In honor of Dr. Seuss, here’s one of my favorite of his quotes:

Spirit Week felt well timed for me. I have begun giving back classes to my cooperating teacher and as of next week, I will only be teaching math. I plan to observe other classrooms during my free times to not only see how other teachers manage their classrooms but also to see what other grade levels are like. I think I know what grade levels I would prefer to teach, but I do also want to not only keep my options open but also make sure I am well-rounded. Knowing that my time here is coming to an end is bittersweet. I am excited to move on to my next steps and to ultimately find a full time job. I feel like it has been a challenging journey to this point and I definitely have my eyes on the finish line. But, I do like my host school and I love the kids. I am sad that I won’t see them to the end of their school year. They keep asking me so many questions about why I won’t be here after March 17th and if I will be back next year. I would love to stop by at the end of their school year to see them again. And maybe by then I will have some answers as to where I will be working next school year. 

Three Day Weekend… Finally! 

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Monday was President’s Day, so there was no school. I have been so busy lately, I didn’t even notice until last week. I happened to look at the school’s schedule and there it was, that color-coded day to indicate there was no school. And that made my morning! I was definitely ready for a three day weekend!

We submitted edTPA just about two weeks ago, and that was an exhausting process. And now we are in the purgatory known as waiting. Our scores should be available by March 9th, but I am hopeful it will be sooner. So hopeful, in fact, that I have already begun checking the website each morning, which is probably contributing to my restless sleep the last few days. I just really, really believe I will not receive a passing score. I felt so rushed during the process that I have convinced myself I either forgot to upload a file or maybe didn’t answer a question sufficiently. What I did wrong is irrelevant, I just have this lurking feeling that I will not pass. As much as I try to chalk it up to jitters, I just can’t. I have accepted the thought that I may have to resubmit part or all of the edTPA and I am ok with that. I just want to know, ya know? And hopefully, I am wrong. Hopefully, there will be passing score and y’all can say “we knew it!”. I really think it’s the unknown that is playing with my head. I guess time will tell.

Aside from edTPA drama, student teaching is going well. I have found my niche in the classroom and I have become much more comfortable. And I really do love the kids! Every morning in the hall, I greet them as they are chattering with each other and scurrying to their lockers. I feel very Tami Taylor a la Friday Night Lights and it’s wonderful. Of course, I’d be lying if I didn’t say there were struggles. I can’t seem to get through to them with comparing fractions and it’s bothering me. Is it me? Maybe because math isn’t my strong point, they can sense it? Should I be doing something different? How can we move on? I worry that we are spending too much time on this and I want to move on to adding fractions. But, that’s tricky; too soon and everyone will be lost but if I wait too long, I’m going to lose the interest of the ones that do get it. Decisions, decisions. I am glad math will be the last class I give back to my cooperating teacher because I’m hoping to see this fraction dilemma through. 

On to breaking news, I have a job! It’s a temporary, substitute job… But it’s a job, aka income. Yay! Immediately after student teaching I will fill in for a leave of absence through the end of the school year. It is as a Reading Specialist for a middle school at a different school. I’m glad to be gainfully employed for two months but I’m also looking forward to the additional experience at a middle school. Can’t hurt the resume, right? I’m also on the lookout for a summer job. Oh, and also one for next school year. So, if anyone has any leads, you know where to find me.