Wk+5+Sept+27-+Oct+1


 * 5th Week of Internship 3 IEP Meetings in One Week!**


 * Monday, Sept. 27, 2010**

IEP Meeting first thing at 8am. Parents are both present. I sat in of course. But left to pick up my Kindergartners while my supervising teacher stayed to finish the meeting.

So glad to report that my **Kindergartners did so well** for the 2nd day in walking in straight line nicely (evenly spaced) and not running. I'm so proud of them. I made sure that I **set expectations and provide lots of prompting** reminding them of their clips staying on the good side (purple, blue, or green). I have to set expectations for almost every move we make including opening the right door (IN vs. OUT), walking to their desks slowly and not running. After the lesson, cleaning up, standing up, pushing their chairs in, and lining up to the door in a straight line quietly. Of course, I give lots of reinforcement! (colorful Trix and Tally Marks visible on their table).

Thankfully, I can say that I've **completely taken** over the daily routine of teaching Ms. Wright's classes (all 8 classes K thru 5th) including administering and recording their assessments.


 * Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010 2nd Formal Evaluation**

I suppose no one would know exactly why some days, all your students are good and cooperate and why on other days, only some of them are up to learning. Of course it can be a **combination of internal and external factors**. No matter what, it's still the teachers job to motivate them to learn. I've been trying different strategies with my Kindergartners and so far I've been finding out what works and what doesnt and I suppose that goes as well with the rest of the grades I teach.


 * Planning** and having clear and **detailed lesson plans** really aid to your week's success. Today, I also started tracking and recording my students' grades. When it comes to their weekly tests, I've started to implement additional **accommodations** other than giving them unlimited time and reading questions to them when asked.

My clinical coordinator came to evaluate me this afternoon in my Reading Mastery 3rd grade class. I must've been either really nervous or just rushed from my daily schedule of running around the school picking up and dropping kids off, but I was sweating while I was teaching and one students noted and said it out loud which kinda made the situation funny. Ofcourse, being evaluated by your coordinator is always nerve-wracking because you know they're watching your every move and word while taking down every detail! Still, I was happy and pretty satisfied with the way it went.


 * Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010**

Often I wonder, **if our interventions are working**. I'm learning to find out if they're effective or not by using Progress Monitoring.


 * Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010**

I wonder if people see my good points too (in teaching) or do they only see the areas I still need to improve upon?

Today, I realized that high expectations should not have to mean 'unrealistic' expectations.

In the meantime, to reinforce and use visuals for when we walk in line or transition (pretty big part of my students' day), I made these Social Stories, laminated them and put them in a metal ring for portability.


 * Friday, Oct. 1st, 2010**

As I drove on my way home tonight, I thought to myself, I don't think anyone would believe that by the time I left my internship with all the planning and preparation for next week, it was already eight o'clock p.m.