Weekly Reflections

Name: Mackenzie Perry

Reflections are due each Saturday evening
Weekly Reflection (10 points)
As teacher candidates it is important to reflect on your teaching, your interactions with students and other issues in education
you might identify. Throughout the 15 weeks of your field experience you will maintain a weekly reflection log that will include
thoughts about a variety of topics in education. These could include useful management strategies you or your mentor
teacher utilizes that you would like to try, a lesson that you really connected with, a failure or success in a lesson you taught,
notes about classroom procedures etc. Because this is a tool for you it should reflect things that you as a teacher candidate
find important and insightful.

Candidates will reflect on their experiences and submit a written reflection to the site facilitator each week for 10 weeks (1
point each) by the time designated by the site facilitator. This should include a description of the classroom activities, and
any questions or concerns that arise. Consider the question: How did I grow as a teacher?

The following format is suggested: date, explanation of what you observed, personal connection or reaction, and what you
gained from this observation.
Date:
Explanation of what you observed:
Personal connection or reaction:
What you gained from this observation:
August 26- General Reflection

Explanation of what you observed: This week I continued to observe how Ms. Lucas transitions between lessons, keeps her
students focus, and how she manages her current behaviors. Ms. Lucas smoothly transitions by having students clean up after the
previous task and then has the students meet back at the carpet. She starts her whole group lessons at the carpet and goes over the
assignment or centers before having them go back to their tables and working individually. Ms. Lucas does a variety of class calls to
get her student’s attention and I noticed that it helps bring the students back if they aren’t focus. She used the attention grabbers a lot
the first two weeks of school and now the students do great at doing the callbacks. She also uses these to help manage her behaviors.
When she’s teaching if she notices students not paying attention, she won’t directly call them out but she’ll try to go near them and look
at them while teaching or will say something briefly to grab their attention.

Personal connection or reaction: I have really liked watching how Ms. Lucas transitions between her lessons and subjects.
Something I struggled with last semester was transitioning and my lessons would have an awkward ending or start to them. She
incorporates the I do, We do. You do concept but adds her own personal touch to it. The students aren’t stuck at their desks the whole
time and get to experience the whole group and teacher portion at the carpet. Ms. Lucas also utilises partners at the carpet so they
have the chance to talk to different classmates apart from their table groups. Ms. Lucas’s attention grabbers have been fun to learn as
well. She uses four various ones and it does wonders with getting their attention. That was something I also struggled with during my
Practicum 1.

What you gained from this observation: From this observation I have gained new ways to transition my students to start different
lesson, transition them from the carpet to tables, and ways to wrap up my lesson. I’ve also learned new attention grabbers that I
haven't seen before.
September 2- General Reflection
Explanation of what you observed: This week I observed how my mentor praises students and how she corrects behaviors. When
working with the whole class my mentor tells the students to kiss their brains by kissing their hand and then tapping their head. She
utilizes this when they are all collectively answering and working together. For example, she asked everyone to whisper their answer
into their ‘microphones’ and after she praised their answers by telling them to ‘kiss their brains.’ The students have really enjoyed this
type of praise, and they get really excited when she instructs them to do this.
When correcting behaviors, Ms. Lucas is direct with the students. She uses both positive reinforcement and directly telling the student
to focus or fix what they are doing. Ms. Lucas utilizes positive reinforcement by saying, “Thank you ___ for sitting nicely.” or “Thank you
___ for raising your hand.” If a student needs redirection and the positive reinforcement isn’t working, Ms. Lucas directly tells the
student to make a better choice.
Personal connection or reaction: I really loved seeing how the students take the whole group praise. Telling the students to ‘kiss their
brains’ definitely helps them connect that they are participating and doing a great job. It also lets them know they are making great
choices. I also thought it was interesting that Ms. Lucas does her best to stick to positive reinforcement when correcting student
behaviors. Her students respond to it pretty well, and it isn’t often that she has to directly tell them to make a better choice.
What you gained from this observation: From this observation, I gained a new way to praise my students during whole group
lessons. It stands out and is a cute way to connect with the students while also praising them for working hard. I also gained some
more understanding of positive reinforcement. It was helpful to see how she does it as it can be done different ways. It also gives me
an idea on how I can work on managing students during my lessons.
September 16- Reflect on engagement strategies you’ve observed and utililzed
Explanation of what you observed: This week I had the opportunity to engage how my mentor engages her students. My
mentor is very enthusiastic with everything she does and she definitely radiate a positive energy to her students. Ms. Lucas
utilizes a lot of centers that continue to go over what her students are learning. This gives her the opportunity to go around to
each center and work with students individually. This also allows a more student centered environment and it’s been going
really well for them so far.
Personal connection or reaction: Seeing how my mentor has engaged her students whole group and individually, it’s allowed
me to see what I like/dislike about it. I think the centers is very beneficial, because being able to conference and observe
students in groups truly allows you to see how they are taking in the content. It also allows you to connect with the students
and build a better relationship with them.
What you gained from this observation: I gained how to engage my students outside of whole group and how a student
centered environment can be beneficial for engagement in content areas.
September 23- General Reflection
Explanation of what you observed: This week I observed my mentors reading centers. This was the first full week of rotating
centers. Ms. Lucas had taken the time to ensure students were capable of working in each center by introducing them one at
a time slowly. After this week she will begin pulling small groups while the rest of students are in centers.
Personal connection or reaction: I really liked how Ms. Lucas introduced each center. In previous courses we were taught to
do just the same, introduce slowly. I have seen other teachers throw their students in at once and it wasn’t a controlled
environment. It was very beneficial to see the process Ms. Lucas went through to get to this point with her students.
What you gained from this observation: I believe this will carry into my first year as I feel prepared to guide my students with
centers. Prior, I was unclear how to set expectations and build into rotating centers. After seeing how the process was done, I
feel more confident in doing so with my own students. I also loved the type of centers she does and would like to incorporate
them into my first year as well.
September 30- Reflect on classroom management strategies you’ve observed and utilized
Explanation of what you observed: This week I observed Ms. Lucas’ classroom management strategies. Ms. Lucas utilizes
attention grabbers, class expectations, and a bell. The attention grabbers are used when students are working individually
and she needs to capture their attention. The bell she has is used as well, and is used when students are in centers or group
work. She uses this to avoid having to speak above them and students are aware when they hear the bell they stop, clean up,
and come to the carpet. Ms. Lucas also worked on setting class expectations the first few weeks of school.
Personal connection or reaction: I really love the use of the bell with students. It can be overwhelming trying to speak over
them when they are working or being loud. Utilizing this tool lets students know what to do, while also saving your voice!
What you gained from this observation: I am truly seeing how effective it is to go over routines and procedures the first few
weeks of school. Now that we’re a month and a half in, students know expectations and are following them very well. I am
excited to implement this next year.
October 14- Reflect on assessments you’ve observed and utilized
Explanation of what you observed: This week I had the opportunity to observe parent teacher conferences and ESGI testing.
Tuesday I was able to sit in all of the parent conferences and observe how Ms. Lucas communicated to parents (and students
if they attended) on how their child was doing so far. She presented their writing portfolio, ESGI scores, and provided
resources parents can use to help their child at home. I also had the opportunity to ESGI test students. This is an assessment
that Kinder utilizes at Doral. It assesses students summatively on the standards they’re currently working on. Ex: identifying
upper and lower case letters, letter sounds, first sound recognition, producing rhymes.
Personal connection or reaction: I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to observe the conferences. I haven't seen a lot of
parent/teacher communication and this definitely gave me an insight on how communication should be made. It was
interesting to see the different types of parent involvement. She had a lot of parents how up, but some showed up to just be
there and didn’t have much to say. Other parents showed up and were engaged with what the teacher had to say, and took the
time to ask questions about how their child was doing.
What you gained from this observation: Overall, I was excited to have the opportunity to sit in conferences. I definitely feel
better about parent/teacher communication. It was also fun getting to assess the students, since it’s done individually I got to
see personally how much the students have grown so far.
October 21- General Reflection
Explanation of what you observed: This week I observed math. My third lesson was math and afterwards I wanted to observe
more of the terminology my mentor uses. I got stuck on using taller and shorter rather than shorter and longer. When putting
my lesson plan together it was confusing with so much vocabulary. After watching how she teaches her lessons, she has a
lot of flow. I know this comes as you teach more, but it was really nice to see more of how she flows through her lessons. I
also observed how she would call on students during math. With students who were lower, she would call on them and if they
didn’t have an answer she would encourage them by guiding them through the question.
Personal connection or reaction: After doing my Lemov presentation, I did pay close attention to discussion during math. I’ve
seen a lot of it during writing, but I wanted to see how it went during math as well. She kept the students pretty engaged and
they had a high discussion and engagement ratio. She utilized turn and talk a lot during the lesson.
What you gained from this observation: I gained some clearer understanding of math and the verbiage used in the lessons. It
definitely helped seeing how she inserted vocabulary and how she explained it to students. I also gained how to lead a great
number talk with my students.
October 28- General Reflection
Explanation of what you observed: This week I had the opportunity to sub for Miss Lucas Tues/Wed. I didn’t see her this week
due to her being gone at a training so I wasn’t able to observe. Instead I took the time to grow on what my goals were. i
continued to practice on enforcing my expectations and procedures. I grew in my confidence of leading the classroom and
continued to grow on using my attention grabbers and having students try again if the first time they didn’t get it.
Personal connection or reaction: I really enjoyed getting to be with the students by myself. I’ve been working on connecting
with students and having them perceive me as a teacher. These two days definitely showed change as I feel like I’m starting
to gain my students trust and respect.
What you gained from this observation: After reflecting from the two days, I learned what works/ doesn’t work for me. I’ve
started to take note of what attention getters work for myself and my students. I’ve also started to understand the flow of the
schedule and how I should be transitioning my students.
November 11- General Reflection
Explanation of what you observed: I continued to observe Ms. Lucas’s presence in the classroom and how she
communicates with her students. Ms. Lucas does an amazing job at getting on her students level and making sure their
concerns are seen and heard. Even if something may seem small to us, she allows the student to express how they are
feeling and then resolves the issue or concern.
Personal connection or reaction: I really have enjoyed getting to know Ms. Lucas and how she handles issues in the
classroom. She takes a different approach to her behavior management by letting the students be heard and encouraging
students to speak to one another.
What you gained from this observation: I’ve seen a lot of different behavior management ideas from dojo to clip charts. It’s
been interesting to see how Ms. Lucas manages behaviors without those. She does a great job at it and I continue to learn
more from her each day. I’m really looking forward to student teaching with her.
November 18- Overall general reflection of your Practicum II experience
Explanation of what you observed: This entire semester has been filled with so much learning! I’ve had such a great
experience in Ms. Lucas’ classroom. I’ve learned a lot in regards of managing the classroom and planning out my lessons.
One thing I’ve loved learning is how she sets her class up for success. The first few weeks of school consisted of a lot of
repetition of procedures and routines. Now that it’s November, her students do amazing at going into centers, participation,
and working hard. They are still working on when it’s appropriate to speak to their friends, but overall what Ms. Lucas did had
a great impact on what they're doing currently.
Personal connection or reaction: Again, I’ve had a great experience this semester. I’m excited to start student teaching and
finishing up the school year. I definitely got very lucky with who I was placed with. Ms. Lucas has so much knowledge and I
am learning so much from her everyday.
What you gained from this observation: I’ve gained a lot of knowledge from lesson planning, what routines & procedures
should look like, and behavior management. Ms. Lucas runs a tight ship with her students and it shows how effective her
learning environment is.
Weekly Reflections
Student Teaching
Name: Mackenzie Perry
January 6- General Reflection
Explanation of what you observed: This week I got to sit through a PD day as well as introduce myself back to the classroom.
At the PD day we sat through data meetings and AI meetings. It was really interesting to see my students data and the growth
they made. I also got to learn how the teachers collaborate with specialist for the arts integration projects.
It was a lot of fun to see my students again as I hadn’t been back during my break. I taught a few lessons throughout the
week and it definitely helped ease myself back into the classroom. I also observed how Ms. Lucas re taught expectations to
our students.
Personal connection or reaction: It was great to see how Ms. Lucas re taught her procedures and expectations to the
students. The students did great with reminders and I took note of how she did things throughout the week.
What you gained from this observation: Sitting in on the data meetings was interesting and I learned a lot on how to sort my
students into small groups and the different tiers of intervention. Later in the week we also met for MAP scores and I helped
Ms. Lucas sort students into small groups.
January 13- General Reflection
This week I taught reading on both Monday and Tuesday. On Friday we decided that would be the first subject I take over next
week. I think the lessons on those days went well content wise. Monday students were a bit crazy behavior wise due to the
weather, but I kept reviewing expectations with them and it definitely helped. I am excited to start taking over reading and Ms.
Lucas provided plenty of resources for me to look at this weekend. We also decided on a new routine of incorporating arts
integration into reading daily and I’m excited to try it out next week as well. This week was filled with a lot of co teaching and
I’m continuing to learn more from Ms. Lucas everyday! I’m really excited to start taking over the classroom and I know I have
a ton of support as well.
January 27th
This week I’ve started taking over the full morning. Overall, I think I’m becoming
more confident as a teacher. My mentor and I are continuing to drill procedures
together so when I take over fully the kids understand that I’m just as much a
teacher as Ms. Lucas. I’m starting to get into the groove of things and as I
continue to take over I get more comfortable with what I am teaching content wise.
February 3
This week I continued to take over the morning. I started getting a feel of the
routines with the students. I’m continuing to get comfortable with teaching the
content and overall I feel like my experience is going great. I have an awesome
mentor and I continue to learn something new everyday! I look forward to adding
math next!
Feb 10th
This week was strange! We had half our class out due to a bug going around. I got
to sub for my mentor Monday and Tuesday. This week I was supposed to take
over math, but because we had so many students out we just had a review week.
It was fun being able to sub for my class and I got to know the students who were
there alot better. Students who had shown up this week were ones that are often
quiet in class and it was fun to see them speak up more and share more. After all
students returned Friday it was our normal schedule.
Feb 17th
This week I finally got to add math! I’ve taken over 90% of the day now, it’s just
writing left. Overall, I felt good about math. I had taken the teacher’s manual book
home with me over the weekend to make sure I had an understanding. It definitely
helped and made me feel confident with what I was doing. I did my second CAL
this week as well, last week was crazy with my mentor being out it got put to the
side. On Friday I led the whole day and it went really well. I would say it’s my best
day so far! Ms. Lucas said she noticed I’ve become more confident with my
classroom management and it’s starting to show with the students behaviors as
well. The students and I had a really great day Friday. I’m excited to add writing
next week and get closer to my full take over!
March 2nd
I was excited to fully take over this week! I’ve gotten very comfortable with the
routines and overall it was a great first week. Miss Lucas and I have a good
rhythm going. I’m also seeing a lot of improvement with my behavior students. The
smiley chart has been doing an impressive job with my one student and we’ve
also have developed a great relationship at this point. I’m excited to continue to
grow.
March 9th
This week was a little crazy with reading week and it being a short week. I’m
continuing to take over the classroom and learning new strategies from my
mentor. On Friday I got to attend the Doral conference. It was a lot of fun and the
sessions I attended focused heavily on arts integration. I took away a ton of new
strategies for the classroom and hope to incorporate them in my last three weeks
of full take over.
March 30th
It’s been 4 weeks into my take over and overall it has gone really well! My mentor
has been very supportive and steps in when needed for behaviors and content. I
have gained a lot of confidence in math and science. I also think my behavior
management has improved as well. I had to re teach procedures and routines
after break and it allowed me to throw in some strategies I wanted to implement as
well.
April 13th
This week I have slowly handed back the classroom to my mentor. It felt like a
smooth transition by friday. Next week I get to observe the other kinder
classrooms and all of first grade. I’m excited to see a bit of first grade and gain
some insight since that may be the grade I end up teaching! I’ve had a really great
experience and I can’t wait to finish up my last week.