McConnell-Doidge Week 11

          Last Saturday, I attended a job fair at Homewood-Flossmoor High School where I had the opportunity to speak with administrators from the district that I student taught in who were attending the fair. From the school that I taught in the Principal came up to me, and recognized me and said what a good job he had heard I did, and that there are openings for PE and that I should apply. This flooded me with emotion after speaking with him, because it would be an absolute dream and honor if I could be afforded the opportunity to teach in the school I student taught at. I then decided to speak to another school in the same district and to my surprise they had too heard of me, which absolutely blew me away. I then spoke with the third school in the district and the administrator had recognized me from refereeing the powerlifting meet. Standard 8 - Collaborative Relationships – The competent teacher builds and maintains collaborative relationships to foster cognitive, linguistic, physical, and social and emotional development. This teacher works as a team member with professional colleagues, students, parents or guardians, and community members. I feel grateful that my time spent in my high school placement was impactful because that was my intention. The jobs for each school just posted yesterday, and I have been reading and re-reading all over my application materials and I want to ensure everything I need is all set before I send it off.
           As I enter into my last weekend of working on edTPA I still have what feels like quite the task weighing over my head. Even though all three tasks are done, just like my application I keep reading and re-reading everything and I am probably driving myself crazy in the process. And, I know after I submit I will not be able to sleep until I get my score back. However, we are at the home stretch here and just completing the edTPA is an accomplishment. 
           It will feel good to be on Spring Break, and just mentally decompress a little bit. Although I had a really great week in my elementary placement. Last week when they were just doing the pacer it felt like the longest week ever, because there wasn't much going on. This week I got to plan a cooperation/teambuilding learning segment which consisted of 2 lessons since I only see students twice a week. My first lesson was called "hula hoop bean bag toss" and consisted of students working together as a team boys/girls to clear their team's hula hoops because at the end of each round the team with the least amount of bean bags in their hula hoops won. In lesson 2, students played 'mastermind' which was a matching game that required a 'code keeper' and for students work as a team to crack the code. I teach 10 classes a day and start out each day with fifth-grade classes, then fourth, then third as the day progresses even though I am giving the same lesson it is never the same lesson. I make adjustments and modifications to accommodate each group of learners specific to their needs and skills based on grade level. Standard 2 - Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge – The competent teacher has in-depth understanding of content area knowledge that includes central concepts, methods of inquiry, structures of the disciplines, and content area literacy. The teacher creates meaningful learning experiences for each student based upon interactions among content area and pedagogical knowledge, and evidence-based practice. I enjoyed seeing how excited the students got for each activity in these grade levels, and made for a really great week!