ER9 District, Easton, CT
Samuel Staples Elementary School
Student Teaching:
4th grade Classroom
9/1/21--11/19/21
Mentor: Carey MacArthur
Internship:
11/22/21-- 6/21/22
Substitute (Pre K-5)
Full-teacher, Para-professional, lunch/recess duty, music teacher, special education teacher, Building Adaptive Social-Emotional Success (BASES) teacher
2 weeks in 1st grade classroom
1.5 weeks in 5th grade classroom
1 week as 4/5 special education teacher
During my student teaching takeover, I started to create interactive white-board/post-it responses for students to complete when they finished their morning work. The students loved them and could not wait to see what the next day's prompt would be. Throughout the day, when we had some free time, we would look at the responses and share. This helped create a fun classroom atmosphere.
Language Arts: Teachers College Reading & Writing Workshop Models
Summarizing Fiction Stories (Story Map, Graphic Organizers, paragraph)
Sentence Structure (Run-on Sentences)
Dialogue (Quotation Marks)
Figurative Speech (Simile, Metaphor, Adjectives, Adverbs, Idioms)
Adjective Word Art Activity
How to write Leads & Endings for Narrative Stories
Stop and Jot
Character Traits
When to change to a New Paragraph
Noticing Important Details about Characters
Finding Meaning in Repeated Details
Writing: Orienting Readers with Setting
Fall Writing Activity
Math: enVisions Curriculum
Generalize Place Value (round whole numbers)
Fluently Add and Subtract Multi-digit Whole Numbers (partial sums, standard algorithm, compensation, count up, count down, etc.)
Social Studies:
Cardinal & Intermediate Directions
Types of Maps
Second Step Social-Emotional Lessons
Attended Meet the Teacher Night and prepared and presented an introduction of myself and what the class had covered so far in all subjects for parents/guardians
Attended and took part in parent-teacher conferences in November, 2021
Sent "happy notes" home to all of my students and their families
Put motivational post-its on students desks
Set up and corresponded with a parent to speak to the class for Veterans Day
Developed caring relationships with students
Participated in professional development days and biweekly faculty meetings
Attended Peer-Practice meetings
Volunteered for recess duty as much as possible when substituting
Assisted with the Kindness Club and school Senate meetings
Arrived early daily to prepare and learn about classroom routines/expectations
When substituting, I was sure to provide teachers with detailed reports of the day. I left some fun notes behind too!
Once I started interning, I wanted to make the classrooms welcoming and fun as a substitute. I decided to create fun slides to introduce myself, and all important info for the day/morning work. I also include "today is national..." each day as a fun conversation starter. I love introducing the national days- they encourage conversation and getting to know one another. These slides have helped make students more comfortable when they walk in.
Some presentations/worksheets I made...
"Vanessa is very punctual, arriving well before the contracted teacher arrival time. She often gives herself a full hour before the students arrive to plan for her teaching, collaborate with me, help organize the classroom, and mentally prepare herself for the day. She often arrives before I do! She also stays after the close of the day, so we can follow up on the day, plan and set up for the next day, and leave feeling ready and organized for the day."
- Carey MacArthur, Cooperating Teacher
From teachers I substituted for:
From a teacher who has a child at the school:
View some of my lesson plans by clicking HERE!
