Student Teaching Weekly Log
Directions: Answer these questions each week and email them to your student teaching
supervisor by Sunday evening.
Name: Meghann Cooper
Week: 3
1. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did you have?
I spent my time helping to wrap up the Robot science unit, grading papers,
teaching math, and leading reading groups. I also sat in on meetings for PBIS and
technology support
2. What were your most satisfying experiences? What were your most challenging
experiences?
My most satisfying experience was working with a child who has major
behavioral problems and is very unmotivated when it comes to school. He says
that he is stupid and theres no point in being there, but one day after I taught a
new math lesson, he asked me if he could sit at my desk while he worked on his
math assignment. I was thrilled that he even wanted to do his assignment and said
that I of course would be happy to help, and he continued to work on that math for
an hour and a half. For him, and any kid for that matter, is an extremely long time
to do math problems, but he wanted to keep working until he finished all of it.
The next day he asked me for help as well.
My most challenging experience is still trying to get the kids to understand Im an
authority figure. Sometimes we can joke around, but they have a hard time
knowing when its time to goof around and when its time to get to work. We had
a talk at the end of the day on Friday so I hope this issue is on its way to being
resolved.
3. What are the plans for the upcoming week?
My plan for this week is to start bell-to-bell! Im so excited to start, but I asked
my mentor teacher to stay in the room for the week until Im more comfortable.
Im also doing my mock interview with the principal so its a very exciting week
for me! This next week I want to make sure that the authority figure problem is
on its way to being taken care of. After speaking with my mentor teacher, she
instructed me that I have to always remember that there is a fine line between how
you should communicate with students and how you shouldnt. She told me that I
dont have to yell and be mean to them, but I need to be firm and direct with
them. Of course theres a time and place to have fun, but that cant be the main
focus. The main focus is that Im there to teach them, and theyre there to learn.
Student Teaching Weekly Log
Directions: Answer these questions each week and email them to your student teaching
supervisor by Sunday evening.
Name: Meghann Cooper
Week: 5
1. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did you have?
My responsibilities this week were to teach science and math like usual. I also
now do reading, which I like and I came up with some cool things I want to try to
incorporate into our reading time like regular book talks and word of the day.
The book talks are going to be optional, but I think itll be fun for the students to
talk about a book they really like and it will hopefully encourage students to read
more and see how much enjoyment they can get out of reading. I wanted to do
word of the day because Ive noticed that Ive been saying a lot of words in my
everyday vocabulary that they dont know and I thought that it would be a fun
way to extend their vocabularies. When I proposed these ideas, they seemed super
excited about it so Im hoping the enthusiasm continues!
2. What were your most satisfying experiences? What were your most challenging
experiences?
My most satisfying experience was while teaching a math lesson on positive and
negative numbers. I was kind of reaching the point of where I was losing the
students and then I thought back to when I was learning about this subject, and
suggested they think of the concept in terms of money. Once I said that and gave
them a new problem, it was like a light switch went on for some of them and it
was really a rewarding experience. I felt like that was a very significant teacher
moment for me, especially because I havent had many of those thus far.
The most challenging experience this week was figuring out when sharing is too
much. Im naturally a very open person; Im not shy to talk about my friends or
family or anything. So I was talking about having my boyfriend (who works in
Finance) come in and teach the students a lesson on money or something that they
would find useful. They were just not being as mature as I thought they wouldve
been so I just cut the conversation short and switched to a new activity, which
worked.
3. What are the plans for the upcoming week?
The plans for this week are pretty similarteaching pretty much all day. I will
also start the word of the day tomorrow. The word of the day was my idea
and my way of incorporating some of myself into the classroom. Growing up, I
remember vocabulary lessons being a huge part of my academics. Even though it
was a pain at the time, I loved learning new and exciting words that I would be
able to integrate into my conversational vocabulary. Thats my hope for these
kidsto expand their word inventory. Ive noticed throughout my time at the
school that many kids dont have an extensive vocabulary (for whatever reason)
and I want to change that. I also want them to learn the skills that will help them
problem solve to figure out what a word means. This includes dictionary skills
and even figuring out the pieces of a word (prefixes and suffixes) to guess the
meaning.
Student Teaching Weekly Log
Directions: Answer these questions each week and email them to your student teaching
supervisor by Sunday evening.
Name: Meghann Cooper
Week: 6
1. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did you have?
This week I taught everything. Emily was in and out of the classroom a lot, so I
really took over. It was really cool to feel like the real teacher. I started teaching
earlier on, but this week for some reason really felt like my own time. I also had
the responsibility to deal with the sub and explain how our classroom works and
how we spend our days.
2. What were your most satisfying experiences? What were your most challenging
experiences?
This week I bonded with a girl in another 5th grade class. She made me a bracelet
and told me how she recently found out that her birth mother left her when she
was 3 months old. She brought in pictures to show Mrs. Scholl and me, and that
experience just really tugged at my heartstrings. It put in perspective how lucky I
am because some people have things a lot worse. It also solidified why Im going
to be a teacher. Teachers obviously teach math, science, reading, etc., but they
also are role models and confidants for students. They are there for kids to look up
to, to ask for advice, to confide in, and to rely on. I plan on letting that girl know
how much it meant to me for her to talk to me about such a personal piece of her
life.
Friday was a challenging day. The kids were just not following instructions and
just made me getting through my lessons really tough. Emily and I had multiple
conversations with them but nothing seemed to be working. Our last resort is
bringing in the principal, but I want to see if I can take care of the problem on my
own first. I think this particular experience will really test my classroom
management skills.
3. What are the plans for the upcoming week?
Plans for this week include the same routine as far as teaching, but were going to
come up with a new system on Monday for holding students accountable for their
behavior and getting in their assignments on time. My ideas for that system would
be a positive incentive, like candy or computer use during free time. My hope for
this system is that the students who are constantly doing what theyre supposed to
be doing will receive continuous rewarding, and it will motivate other students to
get their work in on time because they will see other students being rewarded
daily. I will let you know on Wednesday how that went.