Frankie Faidley:

Week: 10/26-10/30 (Week 2 second placement)

Student Teaching Weekly Log
1. I continued to observe my mentor teacher run her everyday classroom schedule. This
week I specifically paid close attention to transitions and large group time. I knew what
was typically done during large group time, but I wanted to take more specific notes of
exactly what my mentor teacher said to transition to the different segments of large group
time. While observing I also got to watch my teacher collect data for Specially Designed
Instruction. Just like last week I helped students with their letter rings and their
morning routine. I also helped run a students behavioral plan while his associate had to
step out of the classroom.
One new responsibility that I had was leading small groups. I led one small group for the
morning class and one small group for the afternoon class. I really enjoyed leading small
groups and have spent a lot of time planning engaging small group lessons for my bell to
bell teaching. Along with my lessons being engaging I also specifically looked for
lessons that targeted objectives that the students needed to work on.
2.

I had a lot of satisfying experiences this week. The one that stands out the most to me
involved a students progress with his specially designed instruction (SDI). The week
before I spent a couple days working one on one with this student for his academic IEP
goals. On Tuesday my mentor teacher collected his data revolving his SDI and she found
out that he increased by 3 points on his goals. Even though it wasnt just my help that
caused this increase it was a positive experience to see how SDI can help students reach
their goal. This also let me know that the practice he was receiving for his IEP goals was
in fact beneficial to him.
I had some challenging experiences but nothing that caused me to feel overwhelmed or
stressed out. I would honestly say the most challenging experience I faced was sitting in
on a meeting. The meeting involved the principal and AEA workers. The meeting itself
addressed students with IEPs or students who needed different IEP goals. The
challenging part for me was that there was so much information to take in. Also another
challenging part was everyone had their own idea of what was the best way to help
resolve a situation. This led to some tension and it just showed me that there is a lot of
support but its a long process to find the best solution for each student.

3. The plans for the upcoming week will be similar. I will continue to teach small group
lessons during the morning and afternoon classes. One new component that I will be
adding is story time. Reading is one of my favorite areas to teach so I am looking
forward to taking over story time. Along with leading story time and small group lessons
I will continue to observe my mentor teacher. This week I will continue to focus on how
my mentor teacher runs her everyday schedule. I know I want to continue to focus on
how my mentor teacher works with each student and their Specially Designed
Instruction. Lastly I will continue to jump in and help with whatever I can.

Frankie Faidley
Week: 11/2-11/6 (Week 3 second placement)
Student Teaching Weekly Log
1. I spent my time this week in a variety of different ways. I continued to teach small
groups like I did the prior week but this week I added story time as well. Story time is a
fifteen minute block at the beginning of the AM and PM session. During story time I
read a book and ask questions that correlate with the story and students ages. For
example when I ask questions to the three year olds I ask questions along the lines of,
Who, what, where. These questions are usually stated in print or pictures on the page
that I just read to the kids. However with the four year olds I ask them questions that
require a higher level of thinking. These questions could look like, How would you feel
if that was you? What do you think is going to happen next? Why do you think that is
going to happen? What do you notice about this page? Besides teaching story and
small group I helped out with students one on one work towards their IEP goals. I also
continued to float around the classroom and help students with whatever I could assist
them with.
2. My most satisfying experiences this week involved how well my small groups went.
Along with my small groups going well I also thought story time went well. I felt
I did really well because I was able to keep my students attention during both activities.
I had a few students that started to lose my attention and I would then remind the group
of our expectations for small groups or for large groups on the carpet. This strategy of
reminding students how to sit or by showing a picture card seemed to work pretty well. I
also received positive feedback from my mentor teacher that on several of my lessons
there wasnt anything that she would have done differently. That was a nice confidence
boost for me and I felt proud of my teaching ability during those activities.
My most challenging experience involved working with a student who has a one on one
associate. I was going through every students binder to see if they had learned any new
letters or numbers or shapes. When I started working this student he refused to do any
work. Just to get him to come to the work table with me was a struggle. I eventually got
him to complete some of his work and then I just realized that he will have to be a student
that I come back to and finish his work at another time. My mentor also let me know that
I could use his behavioral chart next time and have him work for a reward if he completes
his work with me.
3. The plans for the upcoming week will be slightly different. Along with teaching small
group and reading block I will add music and project time on Monday and Tuesday. On
Thursday and Friday I will start my bell to bell! I look forward to this upcoming week!

Frankie Faidley
Week: 11/9-11/13 (Week 4 2nd placement)
Student Teaching Weekly Log
1. This week was similar to the past few weeks but I added song and study time on Monday
and Tuesday. Along with adding song and study I started bell to bell teaching on
Thursday. Since I was bell to bell one thing that was new for me was that I was in charge
of any changes that I thought needed to take place in the centers. This means that I was
in charge of changing the discovery area, discovery table, dramatic play, blocks and
games and toys area. Since our study focused around buildings I decided to incorporate a
variety of building materials into several of the areas. For example I added Legos to the
discovery table that had sand in it. I also added play dough to the discovery area with
letter cut outs. In games and toys I added Log builders, and Bristle builders. Lastly in
the block area I took out the foam blocks that I noticed the students werent playing with
and added cardboard blocks that the students seem to really enjoy. Besides working with
the students on their everyday routines and activities I also continued to work with the
students on their Specially Designed Instruction (SDI). SDI is students one on one work
geared towards working on their IEP goals.
2.

I had a lot of satisfying experiences this past week. One satisfying experience involved
taking the students on a short walk around the school for our building study. I thought
the four year olds got a lot out of the walk based on their observations and what they
shared about the building when we got back to the classroom. Another satisfying
experience occurred when I read a book to the class that had no words. I thought reading
the book was going to be really challenging since it had no words but it turned out to be
one of the best read alouds I have done so far. The students were so involved in the book
and kept making predictions based on the pictures that were on the page. I also made
sure to include them by doing several things. One thing involved having them name the
main characters. They all really seemed to get a kick out of this.
I had a few challenging experiences last week but I was able to learn something
from each. The most challenging experience that I can recall from last week involves
working with a student on their SDI time for data day. My mentor teacher was taking the
data and there if I had questions but I was the teacher that was working one on one with
the student for the data collection. On data day you dont want to prompt the student at
first because you want to see if they know the answer. I had trouble with wait time. I
wasnt quite sure when I should start prompting or when I should jump in and help the
student. I thought it was stressful in a sense but my mentor teacher assured me I did a
great job and just gave me tips on when to step in and how long the wait time should be.

3.

The upcoming week will be similar to Thursday and Friday of last week as I will
continue to be bell to bell all week. I am looking forward to being bell to bell again this
week. One thing that will be different is that I will be in charge of keeping data for
students SDI time. I have helped students practice in preparation for data day or wrote
data down while the teacher worked with the student on data day, but I have never
worked with a student on data day by myself. Taking data and working with the students

during the SDI time is something that I am excited and nervous about. I think it will be a
wonderful experience though for a future job so I am looking forward to the opportunity
to work with students during their SDI time especially on data days.
Frankie Faidley
Week: 11/16/15 11/20/15 (Week 5 2nd placement)
Student Teaching Weekly Log
1. I was bell to bell this week so I spent my full week lead teaching. A part of lead teaching
consists of working with the students on their IEP goals during their Specially Designed
Instruction (SDI). Since I was lead teaching I was in charge of leading every activity and
working with all students who have IEP goals during their SDI time.
2. I had a lot of satisfying experiences this past week. One thing that I was glad to see was
the success of my small group lessons. For small group I had created or found lessons
online that matched the students curriculum. Along with matching the curriculum I also
chose lessons that directly met objectives that students needed to work on. All lessons
included new activities that the students hadnt done before in the classroom so it was
exciting for me to see the lessons be a success. There were some lessons that I wish I
could have altered in some ways but overall I was very happy with the outcomes.
My most challenging experience this past week was during a read aloud. I had one
student who just didnt want to stay on his pockets. The student was so eager to share or
answer a question that he would slowly raise up to the point where he was on knees
waving his hand around madly. I showed visually prompts and had verbal reminders of
what our jobs are when we are on the carpet. Every time that he would fix the problem
he would then revert to blurting out or sitting on his knees blocking other students view
of the story. The next day during story time I did several things to help the student stay
on track. I first had all students share something if they wanted too. I then reminded
them that sharing time is over and now its time for story time. I reminded them that
during story time when I ask a question, if students want to answer they are to raise their
hands and cover their words. Covering their words means to not blurt out. Lastly I
showed a picture of a visual reminder of a student raising their hand. Fortunately all the
reminders and prompts I had in place before the read aloud helped the student out a lot.
He was able to sit on his pockets and keep his hands in his laps a lot better than the day
before.
3. The plans for next week include me finishing my bell to bell on Tuesday. This will be
nice because Waukee doesnt have school Wednesday-Friday for Thanksgiving break.
This means my lead teaching will be all wrapped up before the holiday. A part of being
the lead teacher during bell to bell means taking data once a week during SDI time.
Since this is a short week, Waukee as a district does not require the teachers to take data.
My mentor teacher informed me of this on Wednesday. She let me know that I will still
be working with students on their IEP goals but not collecting data after working on
them. The only new thing for the upcoming week is that there is an assembly on
Tuesday. I spoke to my mentor teacher and we adjusted the schedule to accommodate the

new schedule change. Lastly I am excited to be wrapping up my student teaching at

Waukee because this means I am one step closer to graduating. However I am also
extremely sad that in three weeks I will have to say goodbye to all the wonderful students
and staff I have encountered while student teaching at Maple Grove elementary.