Parent Teacher Conference Reflection

On the Thursday before Thanksgiving Break, Watson Elementary had a Parent Teacher Conference that I attended. At first, I was nervous, just like I am in any new situation, because I wasn't sure what to expect. I had heard "horror stories" from my friends in the Benedum Program about Parent Teacher Conferences gone wrong and didn't want anything like that to happen to me. I wasn't surprised when the first parent that showed up was very attentive, listening closely at everything Ms. Karr had to say, asking questions, and reflecting on their child's academics and behavior. Ms. Karr went over the student's scores on the Unit Tests, gave the parents their child's grades for the first half of the second nine weeks, discussed strengths, and encouraged an effort for improvement. Time seemed to fly by as I sat and, mostly, listened to the conferences, every now and then chiming in with a 'word of wisdom.' I was pleased to have been so welcomed by all the parents in attendence, they all seemed glad to meet me, and eager to help improve their student's grades. All in all, it was a great experience.

Last week of full time teaching!

This is the last day of my last week of full time teaching and as sad as I am that I won't get to spend as much time teaching the children, I am relieved that I will no longer have to deal with the stresses of classroom management. I will admit, if I have learned anything through this fulltime teaching experience, it's classroom management. I still don't have the control I'd like to have, but I have greatly improved since my first week. I realized, pretty slowly actually, that it takes a little bit of 'teacher firmness' or "turning on your crank box" as my mom (who teaches 2nd grade) calls it, in order to keep control. At first, I was a little too soft for this group of students and it was difficult to "crank up" my firmness, but as I did the behavior improved. I still am pretty soft with the students, but I think I have gotten better!

I have finished my action research and I am excited to begin the data analysis process. I was a little bit stressed out about it, until I met with Sharon (thanks for the lovely breakfast). She really helped me get started with the process and helped me see that the data I have is good enough and it does tell me something! It's hard to believe that there are only a few more weeks left of my student teaching semester. It seems like it was just a week ago I was e-mailing Ms. Karr about when I needed to report to Watson. I have really felt like I was a part of this school and I will be sad when this experience is over. However, I won't miss not having any walls! :-)

P.S. We got a new student today and I look forward to getting to know him.