Week 11 Old Quarry

Week 11


The last week before spring break is a tough one to teach. I was able to instruct a little bit at the end of the week as well as take attendance. My cooperating had been giving me more freedom with the class but it can be difficult because I am trying to hold students to expectations but other staff members do the opposite. It seems to be difficult to keep everything in working order when you have different expectations or certain teachers give breaks. I find it hard to enforce rules or expectations. The students like to play the teachers just as a child would do to their parents to get what they want. It has been a daily occurrence, students did not like my answer they go to another teacher or vice versa. It puts someone in an awkward position. I have been in many meeting and heard little things here and there about how the students do not care about punishment. Or they get to do whatever they want, this is hard to hear because this is a moral battle for me. I have found that I give respect to the students and they should give respect back. (2A) I was starting to see it at the end of the 2nd week. They started acknowledging me or asking me questions about what to do about certain situations, instead of going to their lead teacher. I see some progress but it will be difficult to come back after having a full week off for spring break. My cooperating teacher has given me so many tools to teach 6-8th graders, I have found that I come to him for many questions daily. He also showed me how their grading system works and how to input grades. (2I)) During our lunches and breaks he fills me in about past students and situations to give me some insight on the staff and student of that district. It is great information to keep in the back of my head. I am making great connections with the rest of the staff. (8H) Today I spoke with the health teacher and her and I spoke for a good half hour about school, classroom management, resumes, teaching jobs, and many more topics. 


I have been at this school and has seen more detentions written up for the smallest things it can be difficult to wrap my head around it. I am a big believer in setting an expectation and holding students to that expectation. (4K) I have spoken with my cooperating teacher about this topic and him and I are on the same page of you build a good report with the students and they will behave the way you want them to. (4B) But if you do the smallest thing to aggravate them or they do not agree with it, just leave it be. I have seen things escalate because of power struggles not only in a school setting but in life. I have learned also that showing sometimes when you are incorrect you need to apologize for the situation, this tactic has worked out well for me and my cooperating teacher believe in this tactic as well. I have learned many different approaches to help students in need but I didn't realize that I would be diving back into my social work background to help students out. I used some social work tactics in high school but I see my self using more and more tools in middle school.



This upcoming week is our Spring break. I hope to learn that decompression is a very useful tool for becoming a good teacher. I have also been looking forward to concentrating on my self and my health. You always hear that you need to take care of your self before caring for others, I am feeling the side effects of just helping others. I look forward to the rest this upcoming week and I hope to return to PE bright eyed and bushy tailed. (1F)

Week 10 Old Quarry Middle School

Week 10 

Old Quarry middle school

The start of week ten I was at my new placement, Old Quarry middle school in Lemont, IL. I have some prior knowledge to the school since my cousins went to the school and I competed against Old Quarry when I was in middle school. This week was mostly filled with observations of my cooperating teacher ad the other pe staff. I was informed that 5 of the 6 classes are cotaught classes and my third hour is an adaptive pe class that a outside teacher come in two times a week and introduces new skills to the students. (1A) I know in the adaptive class we will be doing golf on Monday. The skills that the students learn are essential for basic movement. (1J)There are a wide range of special need students in the adaptive pe class from high functioning autistic to 3 students in wheal chairs that have no use or very limited use of their legs. Two of those three students have cognitive delays and stand up wheel chairs to assist with simple walking. I followed the lead of my cooperating teacher and assisted with getting materials ready for the day and clean up at the end of the day. (2J) I did interact with the students, which they have a lot of questions. I even played some games of pickle ball with the students that did have partners. This week I was taking in the surroundings and getting my bearings on the middle school atmosphere since I was coming from a high school setting. I am happy I was put in a great school with a great staff. During the week there are days that we have meetings with counselors and other staff that are in the arts. This is to go over expectations, upcoming events, important information regarding students that we well need to be aware of, and questions about special days. We did discuss what the day will look like for the 8th grade students that are going on a field trip to see the new Captain Marvel movie. (3B) They came to a decision of going 2/x30 min classes instead of a full period for first hour and 15 min for 2nd hour. For Pe purposes this would be a night mare but we may let the students hang out in the gym and have a little free day. (8F)

The things I have learned this week are the procedures for sustain students that need to change in the main office and then get escorted down due to bad behavior in the locker room. Yon need to allow the class to change and enter the gym, then walkie talkie the front office to send the student down. During class you have to keep a close eye on the student for physical altercations. (4F) Once the class is over you walkie talkie the office again to let them know that the student is on their way back. This is for all students safety and had been working for weeks. I learned that my patience had built up since if came from high school and i am able to wait a little longer for the 8th graders to settle down in the morning. I do enjoy how my day is later out with 8th great the first two periods then 2 seventh and finally 2 sixth grade to end my day. I have learned that there is a big maturity difference between 6th and 8th grade. It can be difficult how you instruct form each age group but all the same skills can be applied. 

I hope to learn a little more about the grading system that Old Quarry has, it seems to be very similar to the grading and attendance system that Reavis has. (3E) I have been peaking at the attendance sheet and grade book to see how my cooperating teacher takes attendance and it seems like a system that could be difficult for me to learn but I am willing to give it a try to see if I want to implement that style into my own teachings. I am looking forward to an all staff meeting on Wednesday to meet all the teachers and get familiar with the school. Also I have reached out to the swim coach and asked if I could help assist the team for the end of the year meet. I haven’t heard anything back but I will reach out again next week. 

Week 9 Mitchell, Landon

Week 9

My final week at Reavis High school was a rollercoaster ride. I started off the week with two days of no school. Monday was a holiday and Tuesday was parent teacher conferences. I learned a lot about my students by interacting with them and their parents. The students are either the same or complete opposite in class. (1L )Sometimes your questions are answered by meeting the parent. Having parent teacher conferences was a great experience for me because I got to converse and explain to parents the steps that we take at Reavis in the PE department. Sometimes students will go home and describe a situation completely different from how we feel or what is the actual truth. I did have a conversation with my cooperating teachers before hand about different types of parents that will come in to conferences. They described the parent that is in full support of their child and everything is the teachers fault, or the complete opposite, everything is the students fault and the teacher is completely right. These are two extremes but most of my meeting, if not all were very good. I explained what grade “Johnny” had in class and how he received that grade. Explained how they are attitude wise, which for the most part all my students are good kids, and how they can improve their grade. I watched other teachers as they sat at their tables talking with students and parents to see what worked and what did not work. My cooperating teachers informed me that I did a great job during the conferences. I was really nice to watch my cooperating teachers engage with their students because they gave me great examples going forward. (6N) The rest of the week went by quickly and the students were sad that I was leaving for my next placement. I did receive a nice card from one of my classes that all the students signed. My cooperating teachers gave me a gift as I was walking out and they gave me words of wisdom and encouragement the entire day. I truely enjoyed my time at Reavis and I hope I get the opportunity to visit and potentially work there.

Things I learned this week were to inform students of things to come. I was taken off guard for my strength class because we went over CPR and AED this week. I informed them that day that we are not changing and moving to a different classroom. (3B)They were happy they didn’t have to dress but it made a change in their routine. Many of the studnets understood and helped me with the tasks that needed to be accomplished. Also my sports class will be starting a new unit on Monday and they will be in the pool. I had to remind them, which I did all week, that they will need their swim suits or notes if they plan on swimming or not swimming.


I hope to learn about new teaching techniques moving to my next placement at Old Quarry Middle School in Lemont. (4C) I have seen the school and know of the reputation as a highly acedmic and athletic school in the area. My cooperating teacher will only be one teacher this placement and I hope to get his insight on how to teach middle adolescences. (4K) This will be a change from high school to middle school but I am excited for the challenge as it could be an age group that I enjoy teaching.

Week 8

Week 8

Week 8 was a full week of school minus the half day today (Friday). I was only there for the last 4 days, seeing as though I was at trinity on Monday for our writing session. The writing session was a good day to talk with other student teachers and get their insight on their placements and how they go about everyday tasks. I know I was asking some student for advice on either edtpa topics or even planning lessons for future classes. The information that I sought out was very helpful for my planning as well as instructing. Other than Monday the week was a normal week for me at Reavis High School. I am teaching badminton to freshmen first hour and I had my last observation during that class period on Thursday. I was given great feedback on my instruction and was also paid a compliment on how I instructed and how my lesson plans improved from the last observation. Todd has really helped me become a better teacher throughout the semester with his feedback and remarks of different tactics of instruction. (8G) My cooperating teachers helped me with the setup of the e-learning day that is coming up on Monday. The students are participating in an e-learning day so they do not have to make up school days at the end of the school year. I can see the benefits of this instruction but I also see some complications with how they will administer the activities. We did have a meeting going over some of the questions that were brought up over time regarding the e-learning. The students need to check in online with a google form submission by 11am Monday but the students have until Tuesday by 3pm to complete the assignments. (5I) (5N)

I learned how to email the social workers and school psychologists about specific students. I was sent an email regarding one of my students from the school psychologist and social worker. They wanted to get information on a specific student in my class for updating their file. There were only a few questions I had to answer regarding attitude and behavior in the class room and whether or not I would suggest anything new for my classroom to help their intervention (9N). This was nice to be on the other side of this email, since in my social work internship I would see emails from the teachers of specific students that would be in favor of intervention or renewal or revisiting of certain interventions with the emphasis of removing students from certain activities or classrooms. My personal belief is that many of the students can be worked with its may sometimes be the way the teacher is confronting a student or how the teacher is instructing a student but the student doesn’t understand and frustrations increase. This type of classroom environment does not help the student nor teacher. I have full confidence in responding to any emails going forward about similar situations to help any student in need.

This next week we have parent teacher conferences. I am looking forward to meeting some parents and a little nervous about certain situations. But I know all the rules and regulations for PE at Reavis to help me with any questions or concerns that arise. I am very interested in seeing other teachers interact with parents. This can help me learn how to communicate as well as how not to communicate with a parent. I spoke with my cooperating teachers and they suggested that I should dress business casual but I will be wearing a shirt and tie to possibly impress administration and parents. (8P)