Leah M.

Michajluk
Student Teaching Journal: 1/12/16 5/3/16
Week 1
This is my first official week of student teaching at Lower Allen Elementary School. Im
hoping for the opportunity to do some introduction/ice breaker activities sometime in the next
few days so I can get to know the students as well as share some information about me. The
schedule changes each day which means Im going to have to keep a printed schedule close by at
all times.
The classroom is comprised of 19 students ranging in their academic abilities. Mrs. Failla
has the students arranged in color groups for seating but has alternate arrangements for academic
activities. For example, students are arranged a certain way when they engage in math groups
and are arranged a different way for their reading groups during Daily 5. I think this shows that
the teacher has considered students strengths and areas of need when designing her instruction.
Im learning a great deal about attention grabbers because the cooperating teacher uses them
frequently whenever she needs the students to stop what they are doing and focus on her
directions.
Mrs. Failla showed me a website I have never used before but found it to be a great
resource that I will be exploring for future lessons. The site has two parts: BrainPop.com and
BrainPopJr.com. BrainPop is geared for grades 3 8 but still has some relevant content to what
this particular class of second graders is learning about. BrainPopJr is specifically designed for
grades K-3. Both offer videos, quizzes, note taking apps, supplementary activities, and much
more. The animated characters (Annie and Moby) add humor to the lessons and the students look
forward to seeing what kind of mischief the cartoons might encounter.

Week 2
I experienced teaching my first lesson this week, which was pretty exciting. For part of
the lesson, I designed an animated PowerPoint slideshow of spelling tips and tricks. I instructed
the students on how they can learn their spelling words using association. The slideshow also had
sound effects as a way to support word association (the students thought this was hilarious). I
feel it was a successful strategy because all of the students spelling test scores improved from
the previous test. I will definitely be using this in the future, as it was both effective and
engaging!
I realized the importance of movement breaks and how they can aid in overall classroom
management. My cooperating teacher was very good at knowing when the students needed a
movement break. She introduced me to www.gonoodle.com as a terrific resource for music and
videos that offer kids quick little movement breaks. It was definitely an Ah Ha! moment to see
the difference in the students ability to concentrate and self-regulate once they had a chance to
dance out their energy.
A tech related idea that I also liked was during a discussion about what it means to
research. To avoid the potential dangers of online content the teacher posted approved links
directly on her class website. The students then access Mrs. Faillas website to find the approved
links which takes them to various science related websites. The teacher made sure to demonstrate
how to use the web links by modeling how to navigate a site and select important information. I
thought this was a terrific approach to getting students comfortable with online research without
having to worry about the validity and safety of certain websites.

Week 3
This week we had a really bad snowstorm so we only ended up having two days of
school. It is amazing how difficult it is to get the students to focus now that there is a significant
change in schedule! For the two days we were in school, we spent a great deal of instructional
time re-teaching concepts from the previous week because the kids seemed to forget everything
once the snow started falling...

Week 4
Its hard to believe it has been a month since I started my student teaching experience!
This week was a very busy onelesson planning, room arrangement, assemblies, and the 100th
day of school (just to name a few). In preparation for the upcoming story, Annies Gifts, I am
preparing my first language arts unit. I have to plan for standards based content in phonics,
spelling, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar. In order to follow the districtapproved curriculum, I also have to use the language arts manual that corresponds with the
students textbooks (Storytown). It is a little overwhelming trying to take all the components and
figuring out how to fit them all together. I used half a pack of sticky notes trying to sort it all out
but I think I have a solid unit for next week.
A helpful teaching idea that I know I will use is Before, While, After for reading
comprehension. This strategy is organized to enhance comprehension and support critical
thinking skills:
1. Before You Read
a. Ask students: Think about what you already know (can use KWL chart
or have students write on dry erase boards).
b. Set a purpose by asking students: Why did the author write this? or
Why is it important/useful to read this?
2. While You Read
a. Use story structure: characters, setting, plot, theme, conflict
b. Map, chart, or web the information
c. Monitor reading and use strategies to correct mistakes
d. Ask students: Why did the character do that?, What did he/she mean
when she said _______
3. After You Read
a. Ask students to summarize parts or the entire story.
b. Ask: How does this connect to your life?
Week 5

This week was a little frustrating from a planning standpoint. It seems as if I spent a lot of
time preparing for lessons but the schedule had to be moved around to accommodate for other
things. I was supposed to begin the language arts unit on Wednesday but we had a 2-hour delay
and my cooperating teacher was out sick. With the delay and the substitute, the students had a
difficult time focusing on instruction. Ive had to make a lot of changes to the lesson plans for the
week and half of what I originally planned wont be used because of time constraints.
Weve also had a LOT of student conflict this week. There is a trio of students that are
constantly getting into little fights with each other. The one child is almost a year older than the
other two butdevelopmentally speakinghe is probably more comparable to a Kindergartener.
Evidently, he doesnt come to school that often and the school is in the process of documenting
the situation to build a case for truancy. Its amazing how much one student can impact an entire
class. There is a large amount of time spent on trying to catch this particular student up on work
he has missed but most of the time he doesnt put any effort into the work. Ive been in this
classroom long enough to see the direct correlation between attendance and academic growth. I
never realized there were parents that dont see the value in education. I assumed that everyone
understands how elementary education sets the foundation for the rest of a childs life.
On the bright side, I did discover that National Geographic has a site for kids
(http://kids.nationalgeographic.com ) and I have been using the site to incorporate fun facts
into our day. The students get really excited to hear facts about animals and they love the
slideshow feature of the website. I think this is a great web resource for social studies as well.
Im going to see if they have any information about landforms because that is what I will be
covering for my practicum unit assignment.
Week 6

We ended up having a snow day on Tuesday and a substitute teacher on Wednesday. The
students were much better this time, perhaps because they know I am holding them accountable
for any unusual behavior. The principal has asked that we document any problems in a notebook
when there are issues in the classroom that stem from the three students I mentioned in an earlier
journal entry. I had to write down six different incidences that occurred this week alone.
One new strategy I tried and found helpful was writing down the schedule on the dry
erase board at the front of the room when we had the substitute teacher. The students said they
liked knowing what was coming up next and I personally feel that transitions were a little
smoother. I felt like a piece of my own classroom management clicked into place! Unfortunately,
my cooperating teacher did not like the idea. She said she tried it before and it doesnt work. I
will refrain from using this strategy again while student teaching but I may try it in my own
classroom one day.
This week I used the website Scholastic.com, which offered terrific resources for
teaching about nonfiction texts. I displayed their pdf about the Leaning Tower of Pisa to identify
the title, introduction, heads, captions, and diagrams. They particularly enjoyed reading about the
rejected ideas for fixing the tower, such as freezing the ground, slicing off the top, and stuffing
rice and beans under the low side! If there is time next week, maybe I will be able to incorporate
the Leaning Tower of Pisa into another lesson. Also, since our language arts unit focuses on the
story Ah, Music! I was able to bring in several instruments to display around the language arts
board. This made a huge difference in the students level of interest! I also introduced and
modeled a reading strategy called Crazy Professor. The students were really engaged and even
my cooperating teacher gave a nod of approval!
Week 7

I started teaching math this week. This math unit focuses on money so I initially was
going to use play money but my cooperating teacher suggested having the students bring in their
own change for a more realistic interaction with the coins. I utilized YouTube to intro the math
lesson by playing Show Me the Money coin song video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVpcZ5obmsM (the kids LOVED the song and were singing
it all day long). I was really surprised at the amount of students that didnt already know the
names of coins. After visually assessing the students comfortability with the concept I knew I
had to engage the struggling learners in small group instruction. During independent practice, I
gave the option to have a small group join me in the front of the room. As I suspected, the
students who had very little understanding of coins quickly came to the front. I was able to work
with them using a dry erase board and a bag of coins. Overall, I feel they started to better grasp
the names and values of coins and how they can be used to solve word problems.
The one student who is frequently absent was mentally checked out for most of the week.
He did a lot of putting his head on his desk and refusing to do anything. If a teacher sits with him
and walks him through every single step of the problem, he can get about half of his work
complete. Its almost painful to sit with him thoughwhen I asked him what 5 + 1 is, he replied
twenty. He already has modified assignments but even so, its evident that he doesnt want to
be in school.
On a positive note, the class earned a pajama party so there was a lot of excitement on
Friday. I brought it donuts and orange juice for the students to snack on during morning
instruction. The students were very appreciative and cooperative during the lessons so I think it
was a success
Week 8

This was a week where I feel that a lot of things clicked into place as far as instruction
and classroom management. There is a level of mutual respect between the students and I.
Theyve gotten a better idea of how I teach versus how Mrs. Failla teaches and they realize that
they dont have to choose one style over the other. Theyve said that they like how I ask for their
opinion on how a lesson is going and they like that I listen to their suggestions. For example,
they seem to really struggle with filling out the trifold organizer that accompanies each language
arts unit. I could see the look on their faces when I brought it up last week so we had a brief
discussion about what it is that they dont like about it. This week when it came time to fill out
the organizer, I used a different visual instead. I used the questions from the trifold and created a
peanut shaped graphic organizer for the students to complete. Its amazing how much just a
simple change in graphics improved their outlook on the process! They are literally answering
the same questions only I rearranged them and added graphics. They were much more eager to
participate in question and answer as well as the actual writing portion of the lesson. Im
definitely going to start brainstorming foldable organizers for the next unit since this went so
well.
I discovered a handy website called studyladder.com and was able to use it in my lesson
on ee and ea vowel pairings. The website has interactive activities that allow students to
unscramble and rearrange letters to show the proper usage of ee and ea. The students
thoroughly enjoyed the challenge as well as getting to use the touch screen on the Polyvision
board. They were actually disappointed when we got to the end of the activity! I think I will be
incorporating this into a future language arts lesson then next time we are covering vowel
pairings.
Week 9

Following the practicum class discussion about Gardners Multiple Intelligences, I

thought it would be interesting to give the questionnaire to the second graders Im student
teaching. I was surprised to see so many that were music smart. I think this is really helpful
information for me as an educator because I can take this into consideration when planning
lessons that are truly student-centered. For language arts I found a terrific song about the five
elements to a short story, which led me to discovering a website chock full of educational music!
The website is called Flocabulary.com and features songs and videos for grades K-12, covering
multiple subject areas. Im guessing the students enjoyed the five elements rap because two of
them actually started doing the worm on the classroom floor!
A new strategy I tried this week was to take the students back to the basics of paper and
pencil (technically marker). After listening to the Flocabulary song throughout the week and
reading our featured unit story A Chair For My Mother I pulled out a very large piece of white
paper and the whole class worked together to make a chart. The activity required them to recall
and apply the five elements of a short story, which most of them did by singing the song. They
labeled the headings of each category (plot, character, conflict, setting, theme) and took turns
passing the marker to a friend to fill in the chart according to our featured story. The students
were very proud of the chart and asked if we could hang it on the language arts board for the
remainder of the unit. I was glad to see them take ownership of what they did and also that they
were proud of their hard work. It was genuine engagement in the content! I feel it was simple but
effective and it shows that you dont always have to use technology to teach.

Week 10

The daily schedule consistently changes and it seems as if the blocks of time for each
subject area are somewhat unrealistic. It doesnt account for transitions or factor in
individualized instruction. This week my goal was to come up with something that might
improve the efficiency of our schedule. After assessing the possibilities I decided that the time
allotted for the spelling test was probably based on the fact that two separate tests are being
givenone for the regular spelling list and another for the challenge list. While one group is
testing, the other sits and reads to self. With the approval of my cooperating teacher, I decided to
try giving both tests at the same time. I split the students up based on which test they were taking
and put one group on the left side of the room and the other group on the right side. I know my
co-op was skeptical because she said shes tried it before but I feel it was a success. The test
went much faster and the students paid closer attention because it was
paced more evenly. I took a vote from the students afterwards and they all agreed it was
much smoother and wanted to know if I would do it the same way next time. Yes, it requires the
teacher to be a little more attentive but I had both lists on my clipboard and simply alternated
between groups as I gave each word. As an added bonus, it freed up 15 minutes that I was able to
allocate for instruction.
As promised, I came up with an alternate foldable to replace the traditional trifold. This
time I made a clamshell foldable but still included all the same questions that come on the
standard trifold. We worked through each question together and when they had written all of
their responses, I showed them how to fold it up according to the lines on the foldable. The end
result was something that resembled a diamond-shaped clam that opens and closes. The students
unanimously agreed that it was much easier than the trifold they normally complete. I didnt
have the heart to tell them it was the exact same questions!

Week 11
Wow. This week was a whirlwind! I got to experience high-level organization at its very
best. Every year the second grade students have a swim week where they are transported to Red
Land High School for swim instruction. This, of course, impacts the schedule of the entire school
day so instruction time is completely restructured for those days. It was a worthwhile experience
to be a part of the process and actually travel with the students back and forth. I gained a great
deal of insight into the amount of planning and organization that goes into taking the students off
site. I think it also shows how important it is for teachers to be supportive of each other and to
communicate effectively. In the example of swim week, its imperative that the participating
teachers are all on the same page.
Reflecting on my instruction, I feel I had a few successes in both math and language arts.
Our current math unit focuses on place value and 3 digit numbers up to 1,000. Each day we
began the lesson with a little friendly competition playing Fruit Splat on the Polyvision board.
Using a website I discovered during planning
(http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/placevalue/FS_place_value.ht
m) students were able to squish different fruits based on place values. They really got into it and
even started keeping a running record of scores (which we used for a greater than/less than
discussion)! The partner activity I set up required the students to roll 3 dice and fill out a
worksheet according to the instructions (write the 3 digit number, draw models, and write it in
expanded form). The students were all engaged and enjoyed being able to work with a buddy.
After reviewing the worksheets, I was excited to see how well they mastered the concept. Im
still trying to improve the pacing of my instruction and gauge when to move on even if there are
a few students that arent completely getting it. I find myself getting behind on instruction

because of a few students and I know its not fair to the rest of the class so I consulted my
cooperating teacher. She advised that the students who do not finish their work stay in from
recess to receive additional instruction. Im going to continue to monitor my pacing and assess
areas of improvement for instruction.

Week 12
We had a shorter week due to Easter break but swimming wrapped up on Wednesday.
There were certainly improvements in swimming skill as well as gained knowledge of water
safety. I also taught my first writing lesson this week! We focused on opinion writing and what it
means to support an opinion with reason. I found a great childrens book titled I Wanna
Iguanait was perfect for showing how opinions can be swayed if there is enough solid
evidence (plus the kids loved the illustrations and overly dramatic reasoning of the main
character trying to convince his mom to let him have an iguana). I presented information
comparing dogs and cats as well as printed several articles for both so that the students could
browse the information while conducting their pre-writing session. If I ever teach this again, I
think I would like to try small groups and possibly a debate style discussion prior to writing. I
think it would be beneficial for students to hear the differing opinions and practice delivering
supportive reasoning.
On a sad note, one of our students had her last day on Friday. She is one of those kids that
gets along with everyone in the class and is generally very caring to her peers. We made sure to
put together a little going away celebration with snacks and gifts and assured her that she can
visit anytime she wants. Ironically we will be getting a new student on Monday so we will still
maintain the same amount of students. Ive been informed that our new student is on the Autism
spectrum so the cooperating teacher spent about 15 minutes having a discussion with the class
about Autism and what we might possibly encounter. Luckily, we have a student who has a
brother with Autism so she has offered to be the new students buddy.

Week 13
This was one of those weeks where Im just happy I made it through the week. It took a
lot of time and energy to orient our new student. It was very evident on the first day that he does
not like to write. When we had a writing activity he would growl and throw things around. Were
doing our best to be patient and supportive as he adjusts to the new environment and daily
schedule. Each morning I would talk to him about the schedule for the day and try to prepare him
for any transitions that will take place. He tended to chatter nonstop and I could tell it was really
beginning to wear on the other students. At one point when he was with the guidance counselor I
took a moment to thank the other students and praise them for their appropriate behavior and
patience. After a few students expressed their envy over the new student getting breaks we had a
discussion about the difference between fair and equal, which seemed to ease their concerns.
I love how well the current language arts unit is coming along. The featured story is a
nonfiction text titled The Bee and teaches facts about honeybees. I was able to locate comb
honey and sticks of real bees wax for one of the lessons this week. As we sat in a circle passing
around the bees wax, you could see how excited the students were to be learning about the topic.
They were commenting on how it smelled and felt and how it must have taken a lot of work to
make. The best part was after they had passed around the comb honey container and I made the
announcement that I would be cutting pieces of the comb so they could taste the honey. You
would have thought they had just won the lottery! I was so proud of the students as they
discussed connections between our featured story and the items I brought in. They were very
excited to see the text come to life! There were many great websites I found that added to the
lessons but my favorites were www.nationalgeographic.com and www.honey.com (created by the
National Honey Board).

Week 14
This week I finally began teaching my unit on landforms! This was also the week that we
had to spend an afternoon making 3,000 sandwiches and an entire day for a field trip to Messiah
College to assist with the Special Olympics. Im going to spend my weekend reviewing my unit
because it is evident that teaching a lesson at 2:45 in the afternoon is very different than teaching
a lesson at 10:00 am. I realized this week that the attention span of students is very low at the end
of the day. My prepared lesson for day one took the entire week to complete (technically, it took
3 days when you factor in that I didnt teach during the Special Olympic days).
One of the most exciting parts for the students was when I displayed a real-time satellite
image of the earth. I found a really cool website that allows free access to interactive satellite
images. I can definitely see how I could incorporate this into other lessons so I will be
bookmarking the site for future use (via http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgibin/uncgi/Earth/action?opt=-p ). By accessing the link, students could click anywhere on
the globe and zoom in or out on regions. The students were able to make a concrete distinction
between certain regions of the earth. It also demonstrated the concept of time zones and how
when its daytime for us, its nighttime for those living on the other side of the planet. There was
a lot of chatter and discussion among the students about this as they were lining up for dismissal.
A strategy I tried for my landforms lessons throughout the week was reviewing the
previous days content and having a brief discussion with students about what they learned. I
would display the information they provided on the dry erase board or on the Polyvision board. I
feel it helped students focus their thinking and allowed me to pick up my instruction where I left
off.

Week 15
I feel like we are making a little more progress with the challenges of our new student.
Weve implemented a behavior chart that provides the student with feedback on his behavior for
each part of the day. The chart must be signed by a parent and returned to school each day but it
allows him to earn class dollars, which he can use to purchase something from the prize box at
the end of the week. This week definitely seems to be smoother than last week as far as
transitions and involvement in writing activities. He does seem very comfortable around me and
tends to gravitate to me for help or if hes having a bad day. For the most part, I am able to deescalate his aggressive behavior but I am also trying to teach him coping skills to use when I am
not in the classroom. I do feel Im in an awkward situation with the cooperating teacher because
she has expressed jealousy over the fact that the new student hugs me or seeks me out as his first
choice. The student has been asked to refrain from seeking my assistance and to check first with
the cooperating teacher.
Instead of the typical dry erase board activity, I tried an active approach to irregular verbs
to kick off the lesson. I would say a verb such as swim, dig, run, sleep and then
ask the students to show me what it looks like to act out those verbs. They
were excellent at pantomiming the action words and didnt get too crazy.
Afterwards, I had them move to the front of the room with their dry erase
boards and we discussed changes that occur when we are speaking in the
past tense. I wrote the present tense form of the verb on my dry erase board
and the students wrote the past tense form of the same verb. Im glad I tried
the lesson this way because I feel the movement helped them get some
energy out but still kept them focused on the content.