Sarah Sheerin

Week 2

1. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did
you have?
I did more observing this week and also participated a bit more in each class.
My accounting and marketing classes took exams on Tuesday, and I was able
to help grade those as well as administer make-up exams for students who
were absent. I also got the chance to see the start of a new chapter in
accounting and how that cooperating teacher approaches the chapter/topic
and how he relates it to the students previous knowledge. In marketing class,
I was a bit more useful, I helped co-teach an activity on the Super Bowl
commercials, and we introduced a project on the 2016 Olympics, so I was
able to help prepare for those and help students a bit more. Again, economics
was pretty slow, as they were on the computers for the majority of the time,
but we did take a break on Wednesday so they could do a car buying and
car insurance activity which helped me to get to know the students better.
2. What were your most satisfying experiences? What were your most
challenging experiences?
One really awesome thing I saw was when one of the students stood up to
talk to his classmates about driving safely in the winter weather. I was really
cool to see him, on his own, advocate for safe driving. I think the hardest part
about this week was, again, making sure I stayed involved in the classroom
activities while still observing my mentor teachers. I tried my best to stay
involved in what was going on in the class while still observing their methods.
One not really challenging experience, but more nerve-wracking, was when I
was co-teaching the Super Bowl commercial activity, I was asking the
students questions and one of the associate principals walked in during our
discussion. I kept my cool, but it made me pretty nervous because he was
doing his pop-in evaluations.
3. What are the plans for the upcoming week?
My plans for next week are to continue observing, while being an aid to help
with student questions. I also plan to teach a lesson on budgeting to my
economics classes on Tuesday, so I am excited for that because it gives me
more to do and I feel like I can get to know those students better. We are
finishing up the personal finance unit as well towards the end of the week, so
it will be nice to see my teacher doing more than just managing students
productivity.

Sarah Sheerin
Week 8

1. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did
you have?
Accounting- we finished up chapter 14, the students tested over it.
Marketing- we had two more work days and then started presentations.
Econ- finished up the micro unit, including one of their biggest exams, and
started the next two chapters on money and banking and stocks and bonds.
2. What were your most satisfying experiences? What were your most
challenging experiences?
Again, I feel like I have a good relationship with the students and they are
comfortable with me and trusting of me and know that I am in charge and
know what Im talking about. My most challenging experience this week was
dealing with interruptions during class, because during second hour we had a
fire drill, which cut into their presentation time, and then the entire school
had a career day on Friday, which took out a lot of presentation time for my
marketing class. Another big challenge was that my accounting students
performed really poorly on half of their exam on Thursday, and it is very
confusing for me because I dont know if its something that I have done
wrong or if it is mostly the students issue because they werent paying
attention or doing their homework. I am sure it is a combination of the two,
but it is still hard to deal with. I am going to do some re-learning with them
and offer some time during class for them to retake the exam, b/c it is Ankeny
CSD policy to allow students to retake exams.
3. What are the plans for the upcoming week?
This next week, in accounting we will do some relearning, then start on
chapter 15 (financial statements). In marketing we will finish up presentations
and start the next chapter on consumer behavior. Econ, we will continue and
finish money & banking and stocks & bonds.

Sarah Sheerin
Week 9

1 How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did
you have?
Accounting- We started the final chapter of the year, financial statements,
and a retest was offered for students who did poorly on the objective test
from the week before.
Marketing- We finished up presentations and started on the next chapter,
talking about final consumers
Econ- We finished learning about money and banking and then learned about
stocks and bonds.
2 What were your most satisfying experiences? What were your most
challenging experiences?
One of the most challenging experiences this week was the fact that on
Monday (and continuing into Tuesday and rest of the week), every single
class that I have multiple classes of, was at a different spot in the material.
This was because there was a career day and then multiple fire alarms went
off, which threw me off my game a bit. I also had some trouble explaining the
reversing entries and their purpose during my accounting classes on Friday, I
was struggling to explain it to the students and then some students were
discussing/arguing with me about them and I found myself stuck and unable
to move forward. I then discussed with that cooperating teacher for ideas on
how to better explain the concept on Monday, which I will do, and then he
gave me some advice on how to handle that type of situation when it
happens again (rather than engaging in the argument, acknowledge the
students ideas and then ask them to stay after class with me to discuss).
A rewarding experience was when a student, in the middle of a class
discussion in econ, raised his hand and told me that its really hard to teach
seniors during the spring semester and I think you are doing a really good
job. This made me feel better because he said it on his own, with no prompts
and it shows me how observant and aware they are, and it showed me that
he thinks Im doing a good job, which helped my confidence as well.
3 What are the plans for the upcoming week?
This coming week, accounting we will finish this last chapter, including
testing on it, and then on Friday start their large final project that will take
them the remainder of the semester to complete. In marketing, we will
continue to learn about consumers and probably take a test on the material.
Then in econ, we will watch a movie (Mad Money), which is about the Federal
Reserve, and it incorporates concepts from money and banking and will lead
into the next couple chapters on macroeconomics.

Sarah Sheerin
Week 12

1. How did you spend your time this week? What responsibilities did
you have?
Accounting- The students continued to work on their projects.
Marketing- We learned more about the different types of promotion and the
students started a project for a local business, creating some promotional
pieces for the owner.
Econ- We finished up chapter 13, on macroeconomics, learning about inflation
and poverty, then did some reviewing for their test.
2. What were your most satisfying experiences? What were your most
challenging experiences?
One of the best moments and worst moments of student teaching so far
happened this weekOn Thursday I tried doing a jeopardy review game with
my students to help prepare them for their test on Friday. Well, the students
got really into the game and very competitive, and it turned out to be one of
the most stressful days of the semester. I thought the game was going to be
a lot of fun and a great review for them but it just did not work out that way.
It was mostly one class that sort of ruined the fun of it for me, so I definitely
learned a lot from it and I was able to improve in each of the other two. So
after that stressful day, I had intended to upload the PowerPoint that had the
review on it, and in talked to my CT about doing that, there was some
miscommunication and it did not end up getting put on his website for the
students to use to study. So Friday, I really had to role with the punches and
improvise because they were supposed to take their test and many of them
felt unprepared, so I gave them the class period to study and I told them I
expected them to study (read the book, look at notes, the PowerPoints, etc.).
So, it ended up working out perfectly because I think they feel more prepared
for the test and will do better when we take it on Monday. So Thursday was
one of the toughest days so far and then, one of the greatest moments was
on Friday. A student came up to me before class just to tell me how much she
appreciates me. It was so nice to hear that and I thought it was so sweet of
her to do so. It really reaffirmed to me why I am a teacher and that even
though Ill have tough days like I did on Thursday, there are a lot of great
moments that will more than make up for them.
3. What are the plans for the upcoming week?
Next week, accounting will continue working on their semester project. In
marketing, we will learn about selling, in order to prepare them for their final
projects. Economics, we will test on Monday and then continue to learn about
macroeconomics. I will start phasing out, so my CT in econ is going to do the
planning and take over teaching one class, and I will teach based on his
lessons for the other two classes. And my CT for business will teach one or

two lessons this week for selling. As for accounting, its mostly just classroom
management and answering questions, so not a lot of planning for that class.