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Steenland ElementarySteenland Elementary was my first field experience. I was still a Macomb Community College student and working towards admission into Oakland University. I could not have asked for a more welcoming Cooperating Teacher. I spent 72 hours in a Kindergarten classroom. I was able to work with students in small groups and did some individual assessments with students. I decorated the classroom door for 'March is Reading Month'. My experience at Steenland reassured me that I was in the right field as I looked forward to each visit.
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Madison Elementary
For my first official field under the guidance of Oakland University, I was sent back to Kindergarten, this time at Madison Elementary. Madison Elementary was my first time working in a year-round school. A calendar in which I have grown in favor of. During this field placement, I worked with students in small groups during Math and Language Arts centers. I also worked one on one with an English Language Learner student. I helped supervise a field trip to Westview Orchards.
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Starr Detroit Academy
My next field placement was in a 5th-grade classroom at Starr Detroit Academy. Starr was a charter school located in Harper Woods. During this field placement, I took the role of an observer, as I was working with a CT that was relatively new to the field. I worked closely with two students that had autism spectrum disorder and that were academically far behind the rest of their peers. This experience was eye-opening in the unique struggles that charter schools face. During my time at Starr, the staff and students had learned of its unfortunate closing.
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Wyandot Middle SchoolFor my third field placement through Oakland, I was placed in a 7th-grade math class. It was during this time that I felt I stepped out of my comfort zone and into the world of teaching. I worked with students in small groups during centers, occasionally we would play math-based games. I led a whole group game of Skunk for three periods, as well as team building exercises. Towards the end of my field, I would review homework answers with the students and introduce the day's schedule.
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Mentor Feedback - "Kayla has always arrived on time or early, she has stayed during prep to help with lesson preparations, classroom paperwork, and to discuss the workings of the classroom. Kayla went above & beyond attending parent teacher conferences to gain further experience than what is expected in the day to day classroom routine. Kayla has shown flexibility in her teaching when we had vision screening on the first day she was teaching the class; there were many interruptions over the announcements with students leaving the rooming & others returning in the middle of the lesson - Kayla did an exceptional job catching students up with the rest of the class each time they returned. When Kayla taught the same activity to multiple classes she took my feedback & suggestions & easily implemented them into her lesson with the next class."
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Holden Elementary
My final field placement and student teaching internship was in a 2nd-grade class at Holden Elementary. In the winter of 2017, I would visit the classroom once a week for a full day. Most of my time was spent observing my mentor teacher and learning her teaching style. During this time I also worked with a case study student assessing the various aspects of literacy development. I had the opportunity to sit in on multiple IEP meetings, some in which a translator was needed to communicate with the families. Once I became comfortable with the routine of the classroom, I began reviewing morning work with the students.
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I began my student teaching internship the following fall semester. The first few weeks were spent phasing into full control of the classroom, as I was getting to know my students and establishing routines. During my placement, I taught an entire unit on Earth's landforms and bodies of water using a Cereal City Science kit. For literacy, I taught whole group writing lesson and used Jan Richardson’s methods for small guided reading groups. I worked with some students in the neighboring 2nd-grade class using Words Their Way for introducing spelling words. Holden has a large population of students that are English Language Learners, therefore learning different ways to differentiate lessons was essential to meeting the needs of the students.
For classroom management, I implemented brag tags that focused on positive reinforcement. Students could earn tags that were academic, behavior, and effort based. I was mindful to create rewards that were achievable for the entire class, so no student would feel left out. I also had brag tags that were focused on developing a growth mindset. In my classroom when students would get stuck on a problem or realize that they were wrong, they would use the phrase “I forgot”. I created tags that rewarded a student for not giving up mid-way through a problem and reinforced that being wrong is part of the learning process. I see myself continuing to use this system as long as it fits the needs of my students.
I collaborated as a part of a two-teacher team to create lesson plans and review the PLC process. I attended numerous building and district level professional development meetings that I found extremely beneficial to my future career. Specifically how to choose power standards for a subject area and being mindful that your assessments are providing the proper data for those standards. I also attended a PTPO meeting as well as hosted a trunk for Trunk or Treat.
During the end of my internship at Holden, I had to be hospitalized with sepsis as a result of undiagnosed strep throat. I was very fortunate to have a supportive mentor teacher, principal, and university supervisor. This did hinder my ability to become more involved in events. I was able to attend some parent-teacher conferences, but not all. For those in which I could not attend I left detailed notes for my mentor teacher. It was reassuring to hear that she agreed with the feedback that I had for my students.
For classroom management, I implemented brag tags that focused on positive reinforcement. Students could earn tags that were academic, behavior, and effort based. I was mindful to create rewards that were achievable for the entire class, so no student would feel left out. I also had brag tags that were focused on developing a growth mindset. In my classroom when students would get stuck on a problem or realize that they were wrong, they would use the phrase “I forgot”. I created tags that rewarded a student for not giving up mid-way through a problem and reinforced that being wrong is part of the learning process. I see myself continuing to use this system as long as it fits the needs of my students.
I collaborated as a part of a two-teacher team to create lesson plans and review the PLC process. I attended numerous building and district level professional development meetings that I found extremely beneficial to my future career. Specifically how to choose power standards for a subject area and being mindful that your assessments are providing the proper data for those standards. I also attended a PTPO meeting as well as hosted a trunk for Trunk or Treat.
During the end of my internship at Holden, I had to be hospitalized with sepsis as a result of undiagnosed strep throat. I was very fortunate to have a supportive mentor teacher, principal, and university supervisor. This did hinder my ability to become more involved in events. I was able to attend some parent-teacher conferences, but not all. For those in which I could not attend I left detailed notes for my mentor teacher. It was reassuring to hear that she agreed with the feedback that I had for my students.