Weekly

Log 3.4
Haley Janssen
Willard Elementary

Lessons
I was pleased with how my lessons went this week. We had our normal Wednesday
short day, but also had Friday short day for an assembly and buddy-room time. With
progress monitoring all day on Thursday, the week absolutely flew! I cant believe
its already time to write up my weekly log again. And what is even more shocking; I
only have four days left at Willard! Im feeling a little sentimental about this and not
quite ready to leave.
My favorite lesson that I taught this week was with improper fractions in 4th grade.
We used mini Hershey bars to create the improper fractions, then changed those
fractions to mixed numbers! The students were really engaged (knowing that they
would get to eat the chocolate at the end if they did well) and I felt like they
accomplished a lot with their learning process in fractions. I am impressed with how
quickly they are catching on to mixed numbers and improper fractions. Next week
we will focus on adding and subtracting mixed numbers!
Speaking of next week, I am planning to teach 4th grade reading and 4th grade math. I
was not going to teach anything, but my mentor teacher has 7 IEPs open right now
and just a whole lot on her plate, and I really love teaching these kids so I offered to
continue those two groups.

Behavior
Behaviors were pretty good this week for the most part! We had to room clear for a
student on Tuesday and Wednesday, but she had great days on Thursday and
Friday. Her guardian does not want her to leave our classroom all day, however we
have seen that what is best for her is to have some transitions for a change of
scenery. She willingly went to specials today (first time in weeks) and has gone to
recess the last few days. We implemented a new token system with her to give her
positive reinforcements more frequently and it seems to be working well. Hopefully
she will continue to do well into next week!

Last Week
Besides teaching a few lessons, I have a few classrooms I am planning to observe! Ill
be excited to see a few other parts of the building. I plan to write a little note to each
of my students to give them on Thursday, as well as bring some kind of treat. I really
will miss all of them lots!

Weekly Log 3.11

Haley Janssen-Student Teacher
Willard Elementary


Lessons
I thought my lessons went well this week! I ended up teaching 4th grade reading and
4th grade math. In reading we talked all about explicit information vs. inferences. To
do this, we did some fun activities using pictures. One day, I had three pictures
pulled up on the ipad that were really fun and interesting pictures. The students had
to decipher what we know is happening vs. what we think is happing in the picture.
The students absolutely loved it and it was a good point for me to check their
understanding! To do a little assessment, I had a page of a few pictures and the
students had to write about things they see as well as things they think. It was
interesting to see how their brains deciphered between the two. They would often
write something in the see column that they then, when explaining to the group,
would realize was more of their inference. In math we continued to work on mixed
numbers and making them MAD! (Multiply, add, denominator)

Behavior
Behaviors were all around pretty good this week. I had the chance to sort of swap
positions with my mentor and start working with some of the behavior kids in the
building that she had been spending so much time with. I helped out with one 5th
grader and two 3rd graders multiple times a day, between pulling them out of class
or just going to class with them to monitor their behavior. It was a really good
experience!

Observation
I chose to do my external observation in a second grade classroom. My mentor
teacher had recommended me to this teacher because she thought she would be a
really good fit. I was so blown away my her classroom management. I completed my
observation paperwork and wrote a lot about her management techniques. I also
did an unofficial observation in a classroom where we have the third graders that
are having some behavior difficulties. That was completely opposite; I could not
believe the lack of control and respect for the teacher that I saw in that classroom. It
was really interesting to see.

Saying Goodbye!
Saying goodbye was definitely difficult! I wrote each of my students a note and gave
them all suckers. We all celebrated with cookies as well. It was a little easier since
their minds were on spring break, I dont know if some of them really realized it was
my last day! I feel very, very lucky to have been placed at Willard.

Weekly Log 4.22

Haley Janssen
St. Anthonys

Academics
I am feeling confident about how my lessons went this week. I had a really good
learning experience on Thursday, when I began the morning with a collaborative
learning activity based in science. It didnt go as well as it probably could have,
though the students did some really good work and though about things within
force and motion that I hadnt even thought of. As I was reflecting on the lesson over
lunch, I decided that the reason that it didnt go as well as I wanted was probably
because of the way I explained the directions. I decided to experiment a little and
have them do the same collaborative concept that afternoon, just with a different
activity. I explained it in a different, more thorough manner. The change was almost
unbelievable. The students worked so well together and I brought in the same group
concept to my lessons on Friday!
Full-time teaching definitely had its challenges, and additional challenges because of
the Spanish, but I think it was a successful first week. I might have over-prepared
because of the language, as I wanted to make sure I didnt get caught in a single
situation where I was at a loss for words.

Behaviors
I think behaviors have been the best theyve been since I started at St. Anthonys this
week. On Friday, the library specials teacher called down and told us that our
students were completely out of line and at risk for losing their library time for next
week. My mentor teacher started to head down there, but I asked if I could go
instead. I thought it would be a good way to again, earn all the respect I can get with
this chatty group of students. I went down there and talked to the whole class about
respect and how much of a privilege it is to have some of these resources, like the
library. When I came back to pick them up later, the library teacher told me she
didnt have a single problem with them after that! It made me feel good to have been
able to express those things to them, especially in Spanish.

Looking forward
I am nearly all planned for next week, my final week of teaching. I feel like I finally
have the hang of things at St. Anthonys and have built some good connections with
my students. I am excited to see how those can grow in my last two weeks. My last
week I plan to do a few observations, one in the kindergarten Spanish room and
another in a fifth grade English room. I am excited to get into another part of the
building and see how some other teachers run their classrooms!