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Week 2 (3/27 - 3/30)

Overall this week was packed as it was the week before our school's spring break. This is a result of a break we take in February. Excitement was in the air and nearly every other aspect of the school this week as well as spirit week occurred as well. Students and myself could be seen dressing in pajamas, college wear, and summer clothes in preparation for a much-deserved break. While our AP Comp Sci Principle students were busy working on finishing their cybersecurity unit our AP JAVA students were busy starting and finishing a unit on recursion. Due to the break up of the schedule, our schedule was a mix of panicked rushing to finish content before spring break (which we have successfully done) and ensuring that our students remain relaxed and calm so as to create a supportive learning environment. 

This week I personally taught and recorded lessons on Recursive Searching as well as privately preparing for my PLT 7-12 Praxis exam, results as of today are yet to be reported back. Those lessons went pretty well as the curriculum and modular-based learning style helped students work at their own pace and catch up on anything they hadn't done yet... That and the dreaded email list to parents. My CT has a list of students who presently have a grade of less than 70% and as a result, students become aware and focused of their current progress and the consequence if they don't work on their homework. 

I think that the lessons went well as the sword of Damascus, an observation by the Principle, hung over the heads of the teacher and students which is yet to occur. I also think that students have done well this week at getting caught up on work before the end of break and those on the list are minimal. Students were given time indicators to help mitigate students' time management. That being said some things that can improve when we come back from break are students' awareness of the AP exam and its content because there are still some things that we need to do to help prepare our students, which is the ultimate goal from when we get back from break until the day of the exam. Code.org and CodeHS continue to be used by teachers and students as instructional methods while the teacher uses CANVAS linked to PowerSchool to help report grades. 

The students are warming up to my presence in the classroom as I have been taking an interest in the things they are interested in to connect content with what they are learning, for example, I used Spotify as an example for executing a function without knowing the code behind it when going over AP practice questions. 

My CT continues to express care for what they do and has been showing me multiple different tools to use and complications that may occur when using technology in the classroom like when a student who uses apple submits a page assignment on CANVAS. 

Overall I am excited and ready for a well-deserved break where I will enjoy a change to the usual pace and focus on some self-care. 

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

[Meditations Divine and Moral]” 
― Anne Bradstreet


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