James Madison University

Student Teacher: Kaylie Etheridge

Department of Kinesiology
Elementary Physical Education Student Teaching Passport Project
Google Document: please share with williaja@jmu.edu

Event

Date

Reflections/Summary

Faculty
meeting

3/3/1
6 and
4/7/1
6

Because I started student teaching early, I was able to

attend two faculty meetings. The faculty meetings
always take place on the first Thursday of every month
after school. At the faculty meetings, departments
switch off providing food and drinks for the faculty
members while Principle Povlish presents relevant
meeting information. Relevant topics include
celebrations, upcoming school-wide events,
fundraisers, department news/learning ideas, redistricting for the county, etc. My favorite part about
the first faculty meeting was that I was introduced
personally by the principle. Considering I had only been
there for two days, having that welcome made me feel
very comfortable and happy to be a part of Ashby Lee
Elementary for the upcoming weeks. My favorite part
about the second faculty meeting was that the specials
department was in charge of the snack for the week.
We of course picked ice cream sundaes which were a
huge hit

School Board
Meeting
IEP meeting

NA

Parentteacher

NA

3/22/
16

Like the child study meeting, a group of qualified

individuals met to discuss a 4th grade boys IEP. After
discussion on the students strengths, weaknesses,
most recent evaluation results, disability diagnoses,
current assistance/services, and additional concerns
(low state test scores, impulsivity, parental notes,
etc.), goals and accommodations were made. The
students goals include staying attentive for a longer
period of time, communicating 90% of the time, and
following verbal multistep instructions. The students
accommodations include extended school over the
summer, frequent checks for understanding, visual
checklist for multistep tasks, and sitting near teacher.
The students testing accommodations include the use
of a calculator, 15 questions max at a time, reading test
questions allowed or through the use of an audio
version, one-on-one testing, and frequent breaks.

meeting
Grade level or
program
meeting

3/9/1
6 and
many
other
s

I have been able to attend many program meetings

considering they take place almost every Wednesday
after school. In the past eight weeks, we have
discussed committee reports, team concerns, student
strategies, nominations for team, employee, and
teacher of the year, ice cream sundae ingredient
distributions for the faculty meeting, wish lists for next
year, and other specials-related news/events. Although
I cant contribute a lot to these meetings, its been
interesting to see how they are run

Enrichment
program

4/1/1
6

At ALES, the enrichment program is referred to as GATE

(Gifted and Talented Education.) Just like the K-2
classroom observation, I wanted to observe students
that I didnt have in PE to broaden my horizons and
meet others students in the school. I had the
opportunity to observe and interact with 4th grade
students working on an assignment involving a mystery
book called The Eleventh Hour. After reading the
Eleventh Hour, the students have to go through page
by page and discover the clue, ultimately trying to
solve the mystery of what character ate the feast! Now
this assignment has taken many days. The clues are
challenging, so students only get through one page of
the book each day. Chrissy and I were so intrigued by
the book that we actually tried to solve the clue of the
day along with the students! Id be interested to see if
the students solved the final mystery yet

After school
activity or
club

3/31/
16

Due to funding, ALES does not have a lot of after school

activities or clubs for students to join. Luckily the
technology teacher, Kim Staton, is generous enough to
give up her own time and money to host two clubs (no
wonder she was nominated for Teacher of the Year )
I had the honor of attending one of her Robotics club
meetings with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. In the
beginning, we got to watch videos on Dash Robots, a
robot band created by elementary students! After
gaining some insight, ALES students got to create their
own Dash Robots. Using aluminum foil, Gatorade cups,
laptops, playdough, and spoons, the students had to
work together to make the robot band jam out
together! Some students worked on the xylophone,
others worked on the microphone, and others worked
on the Makey Makey kits (like drums and guitars.) I can
honestly say the kids knew what they were doing more
than me, but I still enjoyed myself.

In-service or
professional
development
day/county
TEAM time

3/4/1
6 and
4/11/
16

Because I started student teaching early, I was able to

attend two professional development days. The first
one I spent at W.W. Robinson, another elementary
school in Shenandoah County. I found this to be a
unique experience because I was able to meet all of the
elementary school P.E. teachers in the county, share
lesson plans/activity ideas with one another, and
discuss how each teacher is using literacy in their P.E.
classes. I took a college class on Physical Education
and Literacy at JMU, so it was cool to apply what I
learned in the class and provide it to physical
educators in the real world. In the afternoon, Kendra
gave a presentation on Ashby Lees Cinco de Mayo
festival. I suggested having a cake walk with desserts
from different countries and inviting JMU dancers to
come and perform at the event I ended the day coplanning a jump rope unit with Kendra. We agreed we
would co-teach for two weeks with jump rope before I
started my own lessons and teaching. The second
professional day I spent the entire time organizing the
equipment closet with Karla. It was a long day, but boy
does it look nice!

K-2 classroom
observation

3/31/
16

Many faculty members told me Susan Tusing was a

phenomenal teacher, so I actively decided to go and
observe her 1st grade class. The minute I walked in, I
couldnt believe how on task the students were. Mrs.
Tusing had them split up into three groups: one group
was doing a guided reading session with her, another
group was taking a spelling test with the assistant, and
another group was working on individual work at their
desks. The individual work consisted of writing on one
of the two journal prompts (Best school lunch or
Sometimes I wonder about), reading two books, and
then going to the Now What activity box. I think the
activity box is a great idea because it offers fun games
and learning activities for students to do when they
have completed their work. No student is ever just
sitting there doing nothing. Overall, I was very
impressed with the classroom management and wellbehaved students. I enjoyed hearing their journal
entries too

3-5 classroom
observation

3/24/
16

For my 3-5 observation, I decided to observe Mrs.

Tates 4th grade class. When I entered, the students
were attentively working on their 14-page picture
books. The assignment was to make a picture book
about you and a life event, including one written
paragraph and a picture on each page. After this

morning assignment, Mrs. Tate reviewed fractions

through the use of a pizza fraction fun kit (great visual
I must say.) Each student was given a dry erase marker
and a white board to personally answer each fraction
question. I really enjoyed this observation because
each student was actively engaged, and there were
many learning styles being addressed in the short
thirty minutes I was there. The classroom was also very
well decorated and had Pandora music playing in the
background. The calm and collected environment made
it a very comfortable and enjoyable place to learn

Volunteer at
an event
Volunteer to
work with a
student

NA

Assist with a
performance
Counseling
Office/Guidan
ce Lesson

NA

3/11/
16
and
many
other
s

3/16/
16

Out of all passport projects and experiences during

student teaching, volunteering with students has been
my favorite thing. Many students at ALES are heavierset, have severe anxiety, and/or have low self-esteem.
In order to motivate these students, I have been
running the track with them in the mornings one-onone or in small groups to complete their mile run
fitness test. Encouraging them along the way and
running by their side has been beyond rewarding. Not
only that, but getting those hugs and seeing their faces
light after telling them they beat their time seriously
makes me tear up. I have had four students
significantly beat their time, one by 3 minutes and
another by 4 full minutes! These students and I have
created a bond like no other. Student teaching is
tedious, tiring, and frustrating at times, but knowing I
am making a difference in these kids lives have made
this 8-week experience completely worth it.

Today I visited Mrs. Moomaws 2nd grade class to

observe a guidance lesson on goals. The guidance
counselor began the lesson by explaining what a goal
was as well as the difference between short term and
long term goals. She proceeded to read the story about
the tortoise and the hare. She described the tortoise as
focused and the hare as messy, and then asked the
students if their work was more like that of the tortoise
or the hare. To end the lesson, she gave a list of good
characteristics and bad characteristics towards
achieving goals. From observation alone, the students
were engaged and seemed to learn a lot from the
experience.

Child Study
Meeting

3/29/
16

Until I began my elementary student teaching

experience, I never knew what a child study meant.
Kendra informed me it was a meeting discussing a
students eligibility for an IEP. I decided to sit in on one
of these meetings, and I am so glad I did because I
learned a great deal. The meeting was about a 5th
grade girl at Ashby Lee Elementary School. The people
in the meeting talked about the students current
concerns (academic, social, behavioral, and
psychological), current assistance/services,
strengths/weaknesses, etc. There were three possible
options that could occur after the meeting: 1) the
students child study process could end 2) the
homeroom teacher could be given strategies to use
with the student, and the child study group would meet
back together again in the fall or 3) an evaluation
request could be made for a suspected disability. After
in-depth discussion, the child study group decided
option 3 was most appropriate. Her suspected
disabilities entail an emotional/behavioral disorder, a
learning disability, and an OHI. I am interested to hear
back about the students evaluation results.