Growth is the Goal...

This week has been very busy, as usual. The students had their first math test this week. In my CE’s classroom she gives a pretest and a posttest for each big topic. I was very proud of the students that showed major growth, not everyone got an 80% or higher but almost all students showed growth! This was so satisfying because I had worked hard with several students during their independent practice to explain and assist in anyway I could. A struggle I ran into this week was time management. Next week I plan to get a head start on my assignments so I’m prepared for the week. This week we had a meeting about our water cycle project and it was very successful. We all shared ideas and contributed to get this project off to a great start.

Over the next week I will be attending my first field trip so I hope to observe and help make this a memorable learning experience for my students. This is also exciting because it kicks off our first SS unit so I can observe how my CE integrates SS into the classroom. This week as part of my outside research I decided to do some research on our field trip destination, the Alston House or the House in the Horseshoe. It is the site of a battle in the revolutionary war. (http://www.nchistoricsites.org/horsesho/main.htm) 

My first tweet is about how every student deserves to feel the pride of achievement. For some students this will be easy but for others this will require hard work. Either way students should understand that growth is the goal and that they can be successful. It is important to remember that we are sometimes their only cheerleader so we need to support and encourage every student.

My next tweet is about how we are being role models in even the smallest ways. Students are so SO observant. If we expect students to take risks we must model that same behavior. Growth takes place when students step out of their box however, the same goes for teachers.

My last tweet is resource list of apps to use in the classroom. The apps are organized into different categories that describe their purpose. This is the perfect resource for integrating technology into the classroom successfully and supporting the today's learner.

The current event I researched this week was the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that rattled Mexico on tuesday. This is the second earthquake in a week however, this earthquake’s epicenter was on land. At least 225 people were killed and over 5 million remain without power. (https://www.dogonews.com/2017/9/20/powerful-7-dot-1-magnitude-earthquake-rocks-central-mexico) If you’re not familiar with DOGO news it is a wonderful website for kids to learn about current events.

My favorite aspects of this week’s text facilitation were the 5 tips about scaffolding because this can be very difficult to do successfully. Another aspect I really enjoyed was the common misconceptions in science. These misconceptions are very real for students and we should be planning and teaching to help address these issues to prevent gaps in student’s learning. This connects to standard 4B, teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students because teachers should be helping fill gaps not create them due to misconceptions.