Weekly Blog #4

This week has been a waiting week for me, which has been somewhat frustrating missing out on all of that classroom time that I could be getting. I was hoping that I would be placed by now, but apparently it is proving just as difficult to replace me, as it was to originally find a placement. I have been taking the time this week to review my previous lessons and observations that I was able to complete before losing my placement. This week was also the meeting that I had with my instructor for ED 341 where we went over my first TPA lesson plan that I had previously submitted. It was a very good meeting because of the clarity that I gained on the amount of detail that will be required of me from here on out in future lesson plans. I didn’t realize just how specific the grading criteria would be once we submit our final Pearson TPA. I was receiving A’s on my last lesson plans and so I thought that I was meeting all of the criteria, so it was a very constructive meeting. I just finished my second lesson plan for the class with the new criteria that I was given and everything is definitely much clearer for the reader to completely understand all of the learning objectives and various teaching strategies. It took at least an extra hour to complete the lesson plan in the new format, but I think that now I have done it once, the future plans will flow much easier and not take nearly as long. I was also able to meet with the placement advisor this last week to talk about my placement. It seems that I might actually get at the school that I was hoping to get into as long as the teacher is willing to take on a student teacher candidate. I am really looking forward to my new placement and am very excited to start teaching my lessons that I have been preparing. That would also be my highlight for the week if I in fact get placed there because I have two nephews that attend the same school!