Greater Johnstown Elementary School

Fourth Grade

Monday, January 25th 2021

During my pre-student teaching I noticed that my fourth grade students were very low
level for both reading and mathematics. They were online for most of the winter break and just
recently came back to in person learning. During the morning work, the students played a game
where they stand up and go around the room stating their basic math facts. The first student
stated 1+1=2, and the next student in line stated 2+1=3 and so on. If a student got the equation
wrong they had to sit down and they were out of the game. I thought this was too low for them
to go over and the students should be going over more advanced math facts even though they
are still very low. I started to think that when the students were online they regressed in their
learning and are now at a level that was even lower than where they were during the fall
semester. In Danielson’s Framework for teaching in domain 1b it talks about demonstrating the
knowledge of the students, I believe this activity was to see where each student was at in their
basic math facts so the teacher could determine if the students could move on to the next level
or start from the very beginning.

Throughout the day the students were given small pre-tests to determine the level each
student was at in each subject, so the teacher could determine where to continue the students
learning now that they were back in person. Not only does this strategy apply to the first
domain, but it allows the teacher to reflect on their teaching and determine if they need to
change their teaching strategies for the benefit of the students. During the reading lesson each
student was pulled to read one-on-one with the teacher. During this time the students were
given a reading packet to work on, I was able to pull three students at a time and work with
them on different reading strategies in small groups. One of the students in particular has a
hard time focusing on the busy work given by the teacher, he needs to be sat down and walked
through the packet in order to stay focused on it. If we don’t work together he tends to start
laying on the floor or tipping his chair back and claiming the work is too hard. It seems this
student has developed learned helplessness and relies on the teacher to give them the answers
to different questions. I think if something was created for this student to get more interested in
the material he would start to answer the questions on his own without relying on a teacher. As
a future teacher I think it would be beneficial to look into the classroom environment and
instruction domains to develop a way for this student to start trying in the classroom.

After lunch we worked on a listening activity and had an open conversation about
different types of clothing and how to classify and categorize different items of clothing. During
our story the student read aloud around the room each reading two to three sentences. I
noticed that many of the students were struggling with different sight words such as “that” “this”
“they” and so on. All of the students are very low level readers and my accommodating teacher
is considering pulling their reading program even further down depending on their exam scores.
This is a great example of domain 3e, developing flexibility and responsiveness, the teacher is
adjusting her own lesson planning and is doing what she can to respond to the students needs
in the classroom.

Classroom Management

One thing I would do differently in the classroom would be under domain 2, the
classroom environment. The classroom is sometimes very chaotic, the students often sit on the
floor during lessons, interrupt the teacher, and walk around the classroom. I know being in
Johnstown for fourth grade can be difficult but something still needs to be put in place so that
students can become more engaged in the lesson instead of them not getting any
repercussions for misbehavior.

Parent Teacher Conferences

I was able to be a part of the parent teacher conferences during my first day of student
teaching. I logged on remotely and was able to talk on the phone with certain parents of the
students I have in class and students who are still remote. I noticed during the parent teacher
conferences the only parents that scheduled a time with the teacher were the ones whose child
does well in school and does their work online. However, the students who are struggling in the
classroom, their parents didn’t bother to call the teacher and talk about their grade. Most of the
parents as well would schedule a time to talk with the teacher and never showed up to their
appointment. This proves to me that you can tell whose parents are involved in their students'
learning are the students who are doing well in the classroom.

Tuesday, January 26th, 2021

*2 hour delay*

Due to the two hour delay we had today everything felt very rushed, the students were
scheduled to have lunch as soon as they came in which I feel messed up their entire day.
Having lunch right at the beginning of the day and no special or recess caused the students to
become unfocused very quickly. Looking back and Danielson's framework for teaching,
specifically domain 2c and 2d I feel it is important to have creative transitions and
non-instructional duties. I wouldn’t have them take up more than a few minutes of the day,
however, it is something that may help the students refocus on their learning and take a short
break during the transitions. Even something as simple as playing a short game of Simon says
can get the students excited about what is going on in the classroom and to end the transition
the teacher could say “Okay boys and girls, Simon says get out your workbooks, it's time for
math!” This is a great way for students to behave during a transition and encourages them to
start the new lesson without any misbehavior.

Wednesday, January 27th, 2021

 Today I completed most of my observations. The first teacher I observed was Mrs.
Dryzal, a first grade teacher. For my observation I was able to sit in on a reading lesson, and
gain an understanding of how to teach phonics. In today's lesson the students were mainly
focusing on the sound “ow” they also reviewed some of the other sounds they had previously
learned such as “oa” and “igh.” Not only were the students breaking down the sounds the word
makes but they were also stretching and reading the words, writing the letters and writing the
words. This teacher had a good sense of domain 3 in Danielson's framework for teaching. She
was able to communicate with the students by expressing what she needed them to do and the
students were able to respond to the teacher about the content they were learning. Most of the
students were also very engaged in the lesson and although the students weren’t able to
partner read they were able to adjust and read quietly to themselves and discuss what they read
as a class.

For my second observation, I was able to observe the learning support teacher Mr.
Long. While I was there I was able to see a math lesson and a science review. The students
were divided into two different groups and each working with two different teachers. They were
practicing their math facts and everything was pretty fast paced which kept the students very
engaged in the lesson. After going over the lesson the two teachers brought the class back
together and they did a few different worksheets pertaining to triple digit addition, double digit
subtraction, and multiplication by fives. The classroom environment was very inviting and the
students were able to use their own learning techniques to get through the problems. Some
students were counting on their fingers while others were drawing different dots on the paper
and adding them. Both of the teachers supported whatever strategy that worked with the
student and their learning process. I think this is so important not just for learning support
classroom but general classes as well. Students should be shown multiple different learning
strategies and they should be able to choose which one works best for them.

Thursday, January 28th, 2021

The classroom Environment today was absolutely outstanding, from the start of the day
the students were on their best behavior, actively participating in the lesson, and going out of
their way to ask for help if they were struggling with a certain topic. At the beginning of the day
my cooperating teacher and I changed how we monitor behavior, if the entire class is doing
what they are supposed to, they get a point. However if Mrs. Harrington or I had to correct
them, then we get a point. If the class has more points they are rewarded with extra recess at
the end of the week, but if we have more points we do more homework. All of the students
really did impress Mrs. Harrington and I and it improved the Classroom Environment overall.
We still need to work on transitions, and I came up with the idea to do a “Simon Says” to see if
the students still listen to the directions.

I also had my third observation today in a third grade classroom, during this observation I
was able to participate in a Science lesson where they actually conducted an experiment.
During my observation I could tell the teacher spent a lot of time planning and preparing for the
lesson because the experiment was predicting if hot water would melt a piece of candy. There
were a lot of materials involved in the experiment and her instruction allowed for the students to
make predictions and then test those predictions to see if their hypothesis was correct. I really
enjoyed observing and participating in this lesson and ended up finding out she was using
mystery science to plan her experiments

Friday, January 29th, 2021

*Online*

Before starting our day with online class with the students, I was able to be a part of two
different virtual meetings. The first being an attendance meeting, where the staff met online and
discussed the students who have never met online or in person. These students were labeled
“concerned students” and the staff searched to either find a way to contact their families or see if
they possibly moved to a different school district. This was also a time where teachers were
able to get students off of the “concern” list and reenlist them into their enrollment sheet
because they started coming back to school after the shut down. The next meeting I was a part
of was to discuss a student's IEP. My cooperating teacher and I met with the school's guidance
counselor and other learning support teachers, however, the legal guardian of the student did
not attend the meeting therefore we were unable to continue. This experience was able to give
me a taste of Danielson's framework for teacher, Domain four, Professional Responsibilities. As
a teacher you have so many responsibilities to the students and it is your job they are getting
the proper education that suits them.

During our online lesson this week only three of the fourteen students logged on for the
live meeting. The school district just recently switched from Google Classroom to Schoology
and the kids are unsure of how to log on due to technical issues. It is not only the teachers
responsible but also the districts as a whole to be sure that the students are trained in how to do
online work as well as make it accessible to them. Unfortunately, if the student can not log on
this affects instruction which is Danielson's third domain of his framework for teaching. Starting
next week I feel it is important to find a solution in order to help these students learn online and
find a way for them to easily log on and do the work remotely.

Monday, February 1st, 2021

*Online*

Normally on Mondays we are in person, however, due to the snow the school district
decided to meet online with the students. There were two times students could log on which
was in the morning 9:30-11:30 and then in the afternoon from 12:30-2:30. During the morning
lesson only one student logged on right from the beginning and we began going over our
reading. For the online reading lesson we went over vocab words, reread stories, answered
comprehension questions and went over “ou” sounds. When we finished our reading lesson I
was able to continue with my spelling lesson. This was the first actual subject I taught during
my student teaching and due to being online I wasn’t able to do the activity I originally had
planned. Instead, I continued with the scripted curriculum and went along with my lesson and
completed that with the two students that logged on. After I finished my spelling lesson, we
continued with math where we went over different practice worksheets and the students were
able to ask questions if they had any.

During the afternoon session, another student logged. However, they were a part of a
different classroom, we allowed him to stay on and work with us because he didn't have the
proper account so we just went over the story again and practiced our math questions for the
second time. My cooperating teacher and I did a good job of planning our lessons and
preparing what we were going to do today for class. It was unexpected that we would be online
but we still brought the books, computers and the activities we were doing home because we
were prepared to be online and followed Danielson’s framework of education, domain 1:
Planning and preparation.

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2021

Today was the first day I could teach the entire class in the classroom. I was assigned
the subject of spelling, so I decided to introduce an activity that the students could do each
week to practice their spelling words. I wanted to establish a culture of learning, like Danielson’s
framework for teaching suggests and get these students in a routine to help them practice and
learn their spelling words in different ways. As the weeks go one the students will hopefully
continue this activity and we can start incorporating new activities each week. This falls under
domain 3: Instruction, I wanted to communicate that this is what we would be doing for spelling
each week. I also wanted to discuss different techniques the students could do to help them
practice different words. I think this activity really engages the students in learning and allows
me to monitor their progress so I can properly assess them.

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021

*2 hour delay*

Due to the two hour delay our schedule was switched around which affected instruction,
Domain 3 of Danielson's framework for teaching. Today I was scheduled to teach one of my
spelling lessons and I was not able to get to everything due to the condensed schedule and the
subject getting moved to the very end of the day. The students were already wound up because
it was the end of the day, so it was hard to get them focused on a lesson. Instead I adapted my
instruction to engage the students in their learning. Instead of doing a long, scripted lesson I
allowed the students to review their sight words by playing sparkle. The students seem to really
enjoy this game and refocus when I instruct the students to stand up and they immediately know
what we are doing. I thought this was a good thing to do at the end of the day right before the
students left to go home.

Thursday, February, 4th, 2021

 Throughout the entire week, my cooperating teacher and I have been struggling with an
online student who couldn’t figure out how to use schoology. The students were constantly
calling the teacher and the parents were even emailing and calling at least three times a day.
Unfortunately, it was hard for my cooperating teacher to respond because she is still teaching
the majority of the day. This falls under Danielson's framework for teaching, domain 4:
professional responsibilities. My cooperating teacher was able to find time in both of their busy
schedules to communicate with the students' family about the child and what he needs to do
inorder to succeed. This is so important in this day and age, many students are online and they
can't be subjected to failure just because they are scared to come to school. They all deserve
an equal opportunity and teachers should do all they can to make the students learning more
accessible to them.

Friday, February 5th, 2021

*Online*

Being online every Friday allows the teachers to meet every friday virtually to speak
about the attendance of the students. This falls under domain 4b: professional responsibilities,
and maintaining accurate records. At Greater Johnstown specifically, it is hard for teachers and
administration to keep track of all the students and where they have been since the start of the
pandemic. Many students are strictly online, some students moved to a different school and
others just have no means of communication. Having this meeting every week and really
benefit the organization of the school and and easily keep track of where the students are and
what their plans for the rest of the year are.

Monday, February 8th, 2021

For today’s spelling lesson, I introduced a new set of spelling words that include “wh”
sounds. Knowing my students reading level, I figured this was something that they would
struggle with. Looking back at Danielson’s framework for teaching I focused on the instruction
domain of teaching and really focusing on making the “wh” sounds for the student. After the
spelling pretest I went over the “wh” sounds again and wrote all of the spelling words we had on
this week's list that had “wh” sounds. I thought this would be very beneficial for the students
because it would allow them to recognize those few words so when the test came around they
would hear the word and automatically write “wh.”

Overall, the students spelling pretest score overall improved around the entire class. I
also thought these words were more difficult for these students because I include words like
“where” “when” “what” and “of.” All of these words should have been common sight words that
these students mastered in first grade. However, my class is so far behind that they still can’t
recognize nor spell these common words.

Tuesday, February 9th, 2021

 Today I taught my first math lesson, again everything in the curriculum is scripted so it
makes things difficult when you are trying to be creative with lessons and really engage them in
learning. When I began the lesson I started off with a simple review of greater than, less than,
and equal to. I had an equation on the board which stated “9 _ 8 + 1” I walked the student
through the problem and showed them that the first step was to add 8+1. All the students got
this part of the questions correct, but when I asked them if 9 was equal to 9 all the students said
no. I was sort of taken back because I figured this was a pretty easy problem for a fourth grade
classroom, but I figured maybe they don’t know that terminology. So I simplified it again, I asked
the students “Let’s look at this problem again. Is 9 the same as 9?” And again the student's
response was “no.” At this point I did not know how to simplify this problem even more, I had
the answer up on the board along with visuals and they still were not understanding. I even
explained all of the greater than, less than, and equal to sign and it just seemed like this review
was going right over their heads. Finally, I was able to get them to realize that 9 and 9 were the
same number and that they were equal to each other. When doing this lesson, I kept thinking
about Danielson’s Framework for teaching specifically domain 3: Instruction.

During my lesson, I kept thinking about domain 3 of Danielson’s framework for teaching.
Under the instruction domain 3a Danielson talks about communicating with students, I had a
high expectation for these students and that they knew the material I was presenting, yet the
students were so lost and I didn’t know how to simplify it for them. I needed to adjust my lesson
and become more flexible in my instruction and allow the students to learn and understand
material in a way that fits their needs. After this lesson, I definitely went back and reviewed the
rest of my week's lesson plans and made small adjustments that I would implement if I saw all
my students struggling like I did today.

Wednesday, February 10th, 2021

My second math lesson ran much more smoothly than yesterday’s lesson. I was able to
get through the whole lesson and add an additional activity for the students. I reflected a lot on
our classroom environment and all of the students were engaged in the lesson and seemed
interested in the fraction activities I put together for them. Overall, I was very relieved that my
students responded better to the lesson than the previous one. I also think I am developing my
own classroom management skills and I have come up with a new way to motivate the students
to be engaged in the lessons. The students are now viewing me as another teacher in the
classroom rather than an observer who is there to simply talk with the students.

Thursday, February 11th, 2021

Today we had the class Valentines day party and unfortunately due to covid my
cooperating teacher decided it would not be a good idea if the students brought in their own
valentines to hand out to the class. So she sent out a professional letter to the parents
explaining the situation and informing them even though their students were not allowed to bring
in treats for the class, however she would still bring in treats for them as well as different
activities and a movie to watch. I think this was a great example of domain 4 of Danielson's
framework for teaching, my teacher went out of her way to explain to the parents what exactly
was going on in her classroom and why. This is a great way to still keep the parents engaged in
what is happening in their student classroom.

Friday, February 12th, 2021

Today was an inservice day for the students so there was no school. However, all of the
teachers were booked with meetings about attendance, the district, and virtual learning. During
the meeting I discovered that the district was planning to get rid of cyber school and have the
general teachers not only teach in the classroom but also online. This would save the district a
bunch of money, however, it would put a lot of stress on the general teachers and I believe
doing this would cause them to start to neglect their in person students so they can work with
the virtual learners. If school districts begin to do this, I believe that there should be a strictly
virtual teacher who is responsible for teaching online and then all of the general teachers would
be responsible for teaching in person. My in person students are already struggling so much
and can not afford to share the general teachers attention with students who are online. This
system is not benefiting the teacher, the online students nor the inperson students and it is time
for the district to find a solution.

Monday, February 15th, 2021

Starting this week I was able to teach my new science unit on Force and Motion. I have
been planning this two week lesson and set up my lessons, accommodations, materials, time
frame, and a parent letter. By doing this I was able to develop domain 1 of Charlotte
Danielson’s framework of teaching, Planning and Preparation. Throughout my placement so far
I have been planning each lesson and incorporating new instructional material that follows the
scripted curriculum. For this science unit specifically I was able to take full control of the unit
and make it my own. After teaching the first lesson, I found the students need a lot of
reinforcement in order to retain the material. Following the response of the class helps me
develop both domain 3 and 4, the classroom environment and instruction.

Tuesday, February 16th, 2021

Throughout the day I was able to teach spelling, math and continue my science lesson.
Spelling and Math are both scripted so it is difficult to find the time to incorporate my own
materials in the lesson. However, with the science unit I have been making it my own and
incorporating fun and engaging activities for the students. For the lesson today we were able to
focus on the push or pull motions. The students were able to practice the difference between
push and pull and the different movement outcome. They were able to understand that inorder
to put an object in motion they must either push or pull that object. Overall, the classroom
environment was very positive. Each student was able to give examples of a specific motion
and they all seem quite engaged in the lesson and activities we were doing.
Wednesday, February 17th, 2021

Today for our science lesson, I wanted to expand more on the push and pull movements.
I put up a Venn Diagram on the board and the students each got to pick and movement, for
example “throwing a ball.” The students then had to put that movement on the board and
determine whether that movement was push, pull, or both. I enjoy doing review activities like
this with this particular class because they need a lot of review in order to retain the information.
This was also a great way to keep the class involved as they checked each other's work.

Thursday, February 18th, 2021

During today's science lesson, I created an interactive learning center for the students.
This was hard because the student had to maintain social distancing, however, I was able to
create a vocabulary review, and push and pull activity, and a movement activity. For the
movement activity, I took a group of students and we were able to predict how objects moved
and how we were able to get them to move. I thought this lesson was fun for the class because
I was able to work with small groups while other students remain on task with their other
activities. The classroom environment was respectful and all of the students maintained good
behavior as we went through the lesson.

Friday, February 19th, 2021

Today for our online lesson none of the students logged on the zoom meeting so there
was no instruction to give. Instead my cooperating teacher and I uploaded the activities the
students had to complete for the day. For science, I uploaded my review videos and a
vocabulary review. We were prepared and planned for the kids to not attend and had lessons
lined up for them to do on their own.

Monday, February 22nd, 2021

Starting this week I was able to start teaching ELA. These lessons are scripted so I only
had to follow along with the curriculum book. For the ELA lesson today we went over
descriptions, opposites, calendar work, analogies and worked through our ELA workbook. Most
of the lesson is discussions so the classroom management was positive and I was able to keep
all of the students engaged and responding throughout the lesson. I noticed some of the
students were not responding to the questions, so I would continue to ask the question until all
of the students responded unanimously. Overall, I believe the ELA lesson went well and I was
able to work on the classroom environment.

For the science lesson today, we continued talking about Force and Motion. During this
week the student will be making their own catapults and testing them to see how far they can
launch the eraser. I think this lesson was very engaging and fun for the students because it was
much different than what they are used to. Having this lesson done in the classroom can be
difficult and I really needed to focus on the classroom behavior.
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021

For my science lesson today I had the students continue building their catapults. Today I
really had to focus on domain 2 of Danielson's framework for teaching. The students were
engaged in the lesson, however, they started launching their catapults without my instruction. I
was able to develop a classroom management plan for the class and told them that if I see one
get launched they can no longer test it. This enforced the students to stop launching their
catapults and work through the packet if they were done making them. The goal for instruction
was to be able to test all of the students catapults and record whose shot the furthest and start
making improvements on the catapults.

Wednesday, February 24th, 2021

Today is the last day we are going to be working on the catapults. The students were
able to follow through the packet and create a catapult, test it, and then see how they can make
improvements. On the third day the students did very well and there was a very positive
classroom environment, the students were engaged and having fun with the project while still
working hard. At this point in the project the students were having competitions to see who
could launch their catapult the farthest. Some of the students had theirs set up to launch the
object straight in the air so I made adjustments to my instruction and showed the students that
even though it didn’t go a long distance there was still enough force to shoot the object high in
the air. After testing all the catapults for the second time the students were able to take it home.

Thursday, February 25th, 2021

Today was the science unit test on force and motion, at the beginning of the class we did
a review of the test and went over all of the answers before passing it out. Once I reviewed with
the students, I passed out the test. I asked the students to follow along with me as I read the
test questions and multiple choice answers to them. Some of the students worked ahead but I
want to be sure to read the questions aloud due to the amount of IEP students in the class as
well as learning support students. When I got the test scores back I was pleasantly surprised to
see how well the students actually did on the test. After the test, I had the students turn them
into the basket and had them graded for the next day. Overall, I really enjoyed this two week
unit and felt the students really learned a lot about force and motion. I was planning for the
entire lesson, kept the classroom orderly, gave good instruction, and provided feedback with the
students' families.

Friday, February 26th, 2021

Today was another online day, I wasn’t able to interact with the students as much
because I haven't been able to teach reading. The two students that did log on were really
struggling with logging on to the scholastic website so my teacher took the majority of the
instruction to guide them through the process. Once we actually started lessons, it was about
time to log off. Starting next week I should be picking up reading so I will start being more
involved in the online lessons rather than observing. I feel my cooperating teacher and I should
take some instructional time in person to review how to log onto the schoology that way we can
have good instruction on Friday.

Monday, March 1st, 2021

Unfortunately, over the weekend I found out that my cooperating teacher would not be
coming into the class for the entire week and part of next week. This news allowed me to
develop all four domains of danielson's framework for teaching in a variety of ways. I had to
take time to plan and prepare for the week, because not only would it be my first time teaching
the full day but, I would also be teaching without a teacher there. The classroom environment
was mostly behavioral management, and responding to misbehaviors. I was able to engage
most of the students in their instruction, and for the most part everyone was on task, however,
there were a select few of students who tried to distract the rest of the class throughout the
lesson. And finally, some of the professional responsibilities I adopted throughout the including
meeting with the principal of the school about the situation we were placed in, collaborating with
my teacher through teleworking, and finally maintaining certain records such as attendance, late
arrivals and doctors excuses.

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021

Unlike yesterday, today I had a substitute teacher come into the classroom to help if I
needed. I felt I was doing well, and my teacher was able to telework from home but the school
needed a physical body in the classroom. At this point in my student teaching I have been
teaching the majority of the day, and all day yesterday without another teacher present. She
was a reading specialist at the school, so I was happy to get an outsider's feedback on my
teaching. I wanted to reflect on my teaching and get valuable input, which I could have then
grow and develop professionally.

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021

Mrs. Harrigton is still out and unfortunately, there was no substitute teacher to fill in for
her. I wasn’t able to teach on my own with Mrs. Harrington teleworking, so I had to split my
class and send them to the other fourth grade teachers with their school work. I was able to sit
and observe one of the fourth grade teachers and compare their class to my class. I think this
was a very interesting experience because I was able to see how a different teacher ran their
class as well as see how some of the other students in the building behaved in the class and
their different academic levels.

I was also able to meet with the principal of Greater Johnstown Elementary, and discuss
how the rest of the week will play out without my cooperating teacher there. He wanted to be
sure I got my hours in as well as still teach in the classroom. This entire morning has focused
on Charlotte Danielson’s framework for teaching in domain 4: Professional Responsibilities. I
was also able to collaborate with another general teacher and teach small lessons as well as
help my students who were in that spilt classroom with their school work. Although I wish I was
teaching in the classroom, it was a good experience to be able to sit in on another class and
have different meetings with the faculty about how the rest of the week will play out.

Thursday, March 4th, 2021

Today we were split once again, so I was able to apply danielson's framework for
teaching to my observations of another room today. I ended up in the same room as yesterday
and was able to observe how this teacher ran her classroom again. Today this class’s special
was library so I was able to collaborate with the library teacher about a lesson we could possibly
do next with my original class. This follows Charlotte Danielson’s framework for teaching 1d.
Demonstrating Knowing of Resources. I was able to collaborate and use the librarian as a
resource to future instruct my students. I was also able to demonstrate planning and
preparation by going down a week earlier and setting up a time to plan the lesson as well as
teach the lesson.

Friday, March 5th, 2021

Today was an act 80 day so the students did not have to log online for virtual learning.
Instead all of the teachers were able to come in and complete online training and work ahead on
lesson plans, or upload their videos to online students. During the morning all of the teachers
did a new training through learning support that the school district was planning on
implementing in their classrooms. After the training we then did a PSSA administrator training
where we watched videos and answered different questions about how to administer the PSSA
test. Overall, most of the day followed Danielson’s framework for teacher domain 4:
Professional Responsibilities. We were all able to grow and adapt a new teaching skill that we
would implement in our teaching to help benefit the students' academics and behavior.

After completing all of the training videos, I was able to work ahead and get my lessons
done for the following week. I was able to plan and prepare my instruction or the students and
think about the different outcomes I may face when teaching these students.

Monday, March 8th, 2021

Today I was able to have a substitute teacher in for Mrs. Harrigton so I had the
opportunity to teach the class fully on my own. Today, I really had to focus on Domain 2 of
Danielson’s Framework for teaching, classroom management, because our regular teacher
wasn’t in and the students have been out of the classroom for the past few days. Throughout
the day I noticed I was focusing on managing classroom procedures and managing student
behavior. The students were excited to be back in the classroom which caused them to
misbehave during class. Luckly, I was able to collaborate well with this substitute teacher and
we set high expectations for them right at the beginning of the day. As the day went on if the
students started to get off track the sub and I would work together to reel them back into the
lesson to get their work completed.

Tuesday, March 9th, 2021

Today was Mrs. Harrigntons first day back from beginning out of the classroom. When
the students started to come in they were excited to see her again. Starting this week I was
able to start teaching full days. I started the day off with reading, then spelling. After recess and
lunch I taught ELA. After ELA it was time for the students special, and when they got back we
finished the day with math and science. Because I started teaching full days, I was extremely
prepared for each week and got everything I needed the Friday before. My instruction started to
become seamless as the students were finally accepting me as their teacher instead of an
observer.

Wednesday, Marth 10th, 2021

During my instruction today, I followed along with the schools curriculum. During reading
we started to get more advanced and move to a textbook that allowed students to develop a
higher level of thinking. I was excited to start the new book because it allowed for more
engaging activities and the students seemed interested in the story and conversations we were
having. For science I started a new unit on Electricity and Magnetism, the students were
excited because they were able to observe the other lessons from other classes while my
cooperating teacher was out. This forced me to think outside the box and create activities for
the students that they haven't seen before. My students are also respecting me as a teacher
and my authority and the classroom behaviors have gotten much better than my first couple of
lessons. I have really been able to see my personal development and growth throughout this
experience.

Thursday, March 11th, 2021

Today for the science unit we did an experiment on static electricity. The students were
super engaged throughout the lesson and I made their learning experience personal to them. I
first went around the room with a balloon and showed how the balloon was able to make their
hair stand up using static electricity. Because I started off with this small experiment I was able
to keep the students engaged throughout the entire lesson. I really enjoy teaching science
specifically in this class because it allows me to have a full range of what I want to do for each
lesson and I believe that I am getting the best teaching experience from this specific subject.

Friday, March 12th, 2021

Today was our remote learning day, unfortunately none of the students logged on so my
cooperating teacher and I took the day to prepare and plan for the lesson next week. We were
able to print all of the activities and change the bulletin boards around for the next unit.
Monday, March 15th, 2021

Today starts my last week at Greater Johnstown Elementary, I am extremely sad that it
will be my final week at this school district. From my experience thus far I have felt a deep
connection with each of my students and became quite collaborative with my cooperating
teacher. We are constantly bouncing ideas off of each other about lessons, technology in the
classroom, and classroom management. She has really helped me grow as a teacher during
these past eight weeks and has allowed me to collaborate with other fourth grade teachers and
the library teacher.

Each teacher I met at Greater Johnstown has fully supported my growth and I truly felt at
home in this district. Coming into this placement I felt a bit uneasy but these teachers have
made me feel so comfortable and I truly believe that this district has helped me be the best
teacher I could possibly be.

Tuesday, March 16th, 2021

During this week my teacher has given me the full range of the classroom. I teach every
lesson of the day, take the students to lunch, recess, and specials, guide their morning work,
grade papers and upload grades to powerschool. She even directs students to me when they
ask questions and has allowed me to make her classroom my own. During lessons today I felt
right at home when teaching the class, and I know what motivates my students throughout each
individual lesson. I follow the curriculum, while incorporating my own idea and activity to
engage the students even more. Over the course of these eight weeks I have grown in each of
Danielson’s framework of teaching domains and I am sad to leave my students and move onto
my next placement.

Wednesday, March 17th, 2021

For today’s lessons, we continued through the school's curriculum and I was able to do
fun reviews for our science unit to teach for the students as they would be taking tomorrow. We
talked about the Hoover Dam and I was able to take them on a virtual field trip to see how the
Hoover Dam worked and created electricity for the neighboring towns and cities. I was
pleasantly surprised to see how well the students responded to the lesson and how engaged
they were in the activity. I feel as though I develop my classroom environment and
management skill so that I can create a fun and interactive learning environment. The students
did well during the review and based upon instruction I feel they are well prepared for the
upcoming unit test.

Thursday, March 18th, 2021

Today was my last day with the students as they are virtual on Fridays. At the end of the
day we had a small going away party and I brought in a small treat bag for the students. I
wanted to thank them for the amazing experience and told them I would be coming to visit
during the days off at my next placement. The students even made thank you cards for me and
drew pictures of some of the moments I taught their lessons. A lot of them really enjoyed the
mental math game we would play at the end of each day and I was able to personally thank
each student for making my experience unforgettable. One student in particular cried and
informed me that I have been the only teacher to believe in him and provide a positive learning
experience in his life. At that moment I knew I chose the right career and I truly felt I made a
positive impact on a young student's life. This experience has truly been life changing and my
eyes have been open to what a teacher should mean in a young student’s life. I am confident in
my teaching and believe I have developed a lot through this experience and through Danielson's
framework of teaching.

Friday, March 19th, 2021

Today was my last day at Greater Johnstown Elementary. I am truly sad to be parting
with my teacher as she has been a huge influence on my teaching growth. She and the other
fourth grade teachers have made me feel at home in this district and I could not thank them
enough. I was really able to develop my professional responsibility with these teachers and
they have been so informative with their knowledge of planning and preparing, the classroom
environment and instruction. I was able to know each teacher personally as they each
welcomed me into their classroom and offered different materials and resources that I could use
in my own lesson. The fourth grade teachers at Greater Johnstown work together as a team to
ensure that there is a positive learning environment and instruction for their students. I am so
thankful for my experience and truly gained so much knowledge from student teaching at this
school district.

Richland Elementary School

Second Grade

Monday, March 22nd, 2021

Today was my first day back at Richland Elementary School, unfortunately my

cooperating teacher was unable to be there and there was a substitute teacher with me for the
entire day. Although my teacher was unable to be there today, I was able to keep in contact
with her and go over the plans for the day. This allowed me to grow professionally and
collaborate effectively with the substitute teacher and the students in the classroom. Although it
has been a while since I have been with this group of students, I was still able to familiarize
myself with the class and manage their classroom behavior when they were misbehaving with
the sub. Overall, it was a great first day back and I was able to effectively collaborate with the
sub and work well with the students.

Just from my first day back I could tell that Richland and Johnstown Elementary School
were two completely different environments. I didn’t need for correct misbehavior nearly as
much and the students were working effectively throughout the entire day, even with a sub
there. Just from this first day I knew I would get a completely different experience than my first
placement.

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021

Mrs. Rifilato was back in the classroom today, and she allowed me to jump right into
teaching. Throughout the day I was able to give the spelling test, the vocabulary test, assist the
low readers with their reading test, and do guided reading. This really allowed me to develop
domain 3 of Danielson’s framework for teaching; I was able to communicate with the students,
engage students in learning, and assist the teacher in learning. I was happy my cooperating
teacher entrusted me to do so much during her first day back and knew I would learn so much
from this experience. Later in the day I was able to observe a cursive lesson, this surprised me
because I know a lot of schools don’t teach cursive anymore due to the increase of technology.
I was happy to see my cooperating teacher still thought it was important to teach handwriting.
Finally, at the end of the day my cooperating teacher and I did a short Easter lesson with the
student where they were able to paint paper eggs using watercolor paint. I felt this was a nice
lesson to do at the end of the day because it allowed the students to stay organized with their
school work and once they were finished with all of their lessons, the students were able to end
the day with a fun easter activity.

I was also able to complete one of my observations for the week, I got to sit in on the
students special lesson art. I was surprised to see how well the students participated in the art
lesson and how informative it was for the students. During art the students did not just sit and
color a picture, but they were able to learn about texture and how you can apply it to a piece of
art. The teacher explained that you can feel texture, however, in art pieces it is important to see
the texture rather than feeling it. I thought the lesson was very interesting and I was happy to
see that the specials incorporated important material for the students to learn.

Wednesday, March 24th, 2021

As the students started coming in this morning they each brought in an item home that
reflected one of the shapes we went over during the previous math lesson. I thought this was a
great idea for math, it allowed the students to think about the items they have at home and
related it to what they learned in school. There were many different objects that were brought in
and it allowed the students to think about everyday objects and what shapes they are.

Today I was able to learn how to enter grades and take attendance on power school.
This was important to learn because I was able to maintain and keep accurate records of the
students and their grades while my cooperating teacher was gone for the day. I knew she would
be absent tomorrow, so this prepared me for how to keep track of the students and their grades.
Throughout the day I was also able to teach the new vocabulary to the students, introduce the
high frequency words, and the new spelling words. I am really able to learn a lot when I co
teach with my cooperating teacher and I am able to quickly pick up on the classroom
environment when I just get into the lessons.
 Throughout the day I was also able to complete my last two observations, I was able to
observe the learning support teacher from 9:30-11 and the reading specialist teacher from
2:40-3:15. Both of these observations were very informative and I was able to observe how
other teachers run their classrooms and interact with the students.

Thursday, March 25th, 2021

My cooperating teacher was out again today and we had a substitute teacher in the
classroom again. Earlier in the week, my teacher and I were able to talk about me substituting
for her if she is ever out again. I explained that once I take over the majority of the day for her I
would be able to sub, as long as I was contracted through the school. Fortunately, there are
other student teachers in the building and they are able to take over for their teachers and
substitute while they are out. I thought this would be a great opportunity and I would be taking
on a lot of professional responsibilities if my teacher was ever out again and I would be able to
sub for her instead of getting someone new in the classroom.

Friday, March 26th, 2021

Today was an inservice day so the students had a long weekend. The teachers took this
day to go over their CPR training. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to the accuatual meeting
because I wasn’t able to complete the online courses. Instead my cooperating teacher put
together a list of things for me to do around the room to prepare for Mondays class. This
included taking down students' projects to add to their portfolios, putting up the students work,
grading the students work and projects, and even entering grades. After my cooperating
teacher came back from her training, we went over to another classroom and had a meeting
with the rest of the second grade teachers about what lessons need to be completed for the
next two weeks. All of the teachers collaborate with each other to plan for the upcoming
lessons that way they are all on the same track with their students. I think it is important for the
teachers to meet and collaborate on different lessons that way each teacher is prepared for their
upcoming lessons and have planned it out with the rest of the teachers.

Monday, March 29th, 2021

Today was the first day I was able to teach. The first lesson I taught was spelling, we did
a short review of our words to prepare for the test tomorrow and the students drew a picture of
the word and wrote a sentence including the spelling word. I thought this was a great review for
the students and they seemed engaged throughout the lesson. Unfortunately, there wasn’t
enough time for the trasketball ball game so I decided to move it to tomorrow to review for the
test. This allows me to develop Danielson’s framework for teaching, domain 1: planning and
preparation. For my future lessons I will now know the students won’t have enough time to
complete both activities in one lesson, so I will have to plan them on two different days. I was
also able to teach a small group for guiding reading, this helps me develop my classroom
management skills. Working with small groups and gaining control of half of the class prepares
me for when I take over the full classroom. I am also able to develop my instruction because I
am learning questions and discussion techniques when going over the guided reading books.
Finally, we did another Easter activity as a class and made easter bunny baskets that we would
put candy in for the students. This was a great way to show the class environment and how
they behave during a fun activity that is off schedule. The students did well throughout the
activity which proves that I am able to go outside of the curriculum and create something fun
and unique with this group of students.

Tuesday, March 30th, 2021

Today during the spelling lesson I was prepared to give the spelling test to the students,
however, my cooperating teacher wanted to give the students an extra day to practice the words
so I quickly came up with an alternative to do with them instead. I decided I was going to read a
story which had a lot of words that followed our focus sound for this week. After reading the
story I played a short music video clip that followed the “ar” sounding words. The students
seemed to enjoy this activity and the class was very engaged in the lesson and all seemed to be
following along. This lesson followed Danielson's framework for teaching domain 2 and 3,
classroom environment and instruction.

Wednesday, March 31st, 2021

Today was a test day for the students. I started the day by giving the spelling test to the
students and then their vocabulary test and finally their reading test. The class was on task
during the morning due to the fact that all of the students expect the test days to be on
Wednesday’s. My cooperating teacher and I managed the classroom procedures so the test
day went very smoothly. After all of the testing, I was able to log into power school and upload
all of the test grades from reading and spelling. Being able to login into powerschool really
develops my professional responsibility when loading grades to the grade book. I have picked
up from my teacher that she uploads grades almost immediately after the students have taken
the test. I have found it makes maintaining records much easier when they are done right away.
This falls under Domain 4b of Danielson’s Framework from teaching.

Thursday, April 1st, 2021

Today was the last day of class before Easter break. Everything my cooperating teacher
did today was based around Easter. We incorporated counting, measuring and noticing
patterns in different easter eggs. We read many Easter children's books and talked about the
different literacy components that were in each book such as characters, setting, and plot of the
story. Finally, after special my cooperating teacher and I hid Easter baskets around the
cafeteria for the students to find, the classroom environment was so fun today. Although the
students were excited to have a long weekend and celebrate the Easter holiday, they were still
on task throughout their lessons and engaged in the materials. My cooperating teacher and I
have also been planning and preparing for this “party” all week long and we were ready for the
different activities we would be doing throughout the day.
Friday, April 2nd, 2021

No School

Monday, April 5th, 2021

No School

Tuesday, April 6th, 2021

No School