Week 4 Reflection

Monday
Today was my first day teaching from my own lessons. The first class that my host teacher and I decided I should take over is third grade math. The lesson I taught was on place-value to the hundreds. The students impressed me greatly and I am looking forward to continue working with them on their future mathematic endeavors. Today I was also able to witness a student get the most satisfaction out of doing a math problem that I have ever seen. This student was in the fourth grade and just read an eight digit number. I have never seen a student smile so wide and have such a proud and accomplished look on his face. It was a great feeling and is one that I, and all educators alike, live to see.

Wednesday
Today was my third day of teaching third grade math. We started working on expanded form which has proven difficult. I enjoy the challenge because it is already helping me grow as a teacher. I also taught a small fourth grade reading book. We read leveled readers, which I found to be fascinating and a great way to differentiate instruction. Lastly, on our ride home, I discussed creating a behavior management plan for one of our students who has trouble staying on task. I am looking forward to implementing the plan to see if it succeeds.

Friday
Today I implemented a behavior intervention plan with one of my students. The student struggles to focus in the regular education classroom and is frequently told to pay attention when he is off-task. Therefore, I created a plan where he would get a piece of a car for every period of the day he was redirected a maximum of four times. If he finished his car he would receive 5 stickers on his sticker chart from me at the end of the day. The sticker chart is valuable because he can earn an ice cream when it is filled. The first day of implementation proved difficult as he only received one piece of his car and that piece was from me during the first period. I am hoping that next week this will work a little better and might possibly need to be made more lenient to show the student that it is an attainable goal.