Mathematics Teaching Degree WGU -in progress!

[teacher2]

So in short -it didn't happen. I was not able to secure a school placement in time for the November 10th deadline. I was negotiating placement with several schools who sent me to the school district who then required WGU to email them with the placement information. The Field placement office emailed the district with the information but stated my placement was for September 2019! I unfortunately did not know about this mistake till yesterday evening (one day after the deadline). I emailed the field placement office who apologized for the mistake but stated I missed the deadline so I must wait till the next cohort to do student teaching. The next cohort is August 2018.

I feel disappointed and slightly discouraged but I want to use the next 7 months wisely. I am looking at my options. My student mentor suggested that during this time I could switch to the 5-12 program which would require 5 additional math classes, another Praxis test, and a few other courses. My student mentor will be sending me the info but apparently it is not the same as the one on their website. She said it is an older one which aligns closer to my current program.

Honestly, I had considered a BA in History at TESU at one point but I am not sure if they accept WGU courses. I really want to find something that will enable me to graduate soon! I will post another thread to discuss options but for now this degree is on pause.

[Tennesseegirl87]

So in short -it didn't happen. I was not able to secure a school placement in time for the November 10th deadline. I was negotiating placement with several schools who sent me to the school district who then required WGU to email them with the placement information. The Field placement office emailed the district with the information  but stated my placement was for September 2019! I unfortunately did not know about this mistake till yesterday evening  (one day after the deadline).  I emailed the field placement office who apologized for the mistake but stated I missed the deadline so I must wait till the next cohort to do student teaching.  The next cohort is August 2018.

I feel disappointed and slightly discouraged but I want to use the next 7 months wisely.  I am looking at my options. My student mentor suggested that during this time I could switch to the 5-12 program which would require 5 additional math classes, another Praxis test, and a few other courses. My student mentor will be sending me the info but apparently it is not the same as the one on their website. She said it is an older one which aligns closer to my current program.

Honestly, I had considered a BA in History at TESU at one point but I am not sure if they accept WGU courses. I really want to find something that will enable me to graduate soon! I will post another thread to discuss options but for now this degree is on pause.

All of your information was so thorough. I felt like I was there with you every step! I'm sorry the cut off time didn't work out for you. August 2018 seems like its so far away from when you posted this!! I can't make up my own mind right now with my path but I say go for the 5-12 program, look at all you have accomplished thus far. You could easily complete that in no time! In the mean time I'm going to be lurking on all of your threads and absorbing every bit of information you post!! Thanks so much, I also noticed in one of your threads you mentioned TN, I am in TN as well. Tipton County is where I would like to teach. I was also home schooled! But, it was way back in the day when there were no internet tools, only pamphlets you took home, completed, then went to a site to test! HAHA Good luck again and thank you so much for all of the information.

[RANSOMSOUL]

Teacher2 thank you for the time and heart put into this thread. It will be very helpful for those that come across it and I hope in ways it has helped you with some of the tougher moments in this journey.

Best to you moving forward - we all look forward to following and celebrating you on the way to meeting your goals!

[teacher2]

Thank you for the encouragement Tennesseegirl87 and RANSOUMSOUL! My goodness Tennesseegirl87! You are a world away! I am in the Middle TN section above Cookeville. I hope that this thread will help people in their searches and add to the informative data of this forum!

To follow up on my decision on the 5-12 option, I decided not to go with that because I really enjoy working with middle and elementary students. I like the high school subjects but.... Anyways, I have taken this period of time to pick up extra work, and take a number of FEMA's emergency management courses pertaining to school safety as well as First Aid and CPR certs. I know these won't count toward a degree with WGU or TESU but I figured in the times we live in, as a teacher, it would be a good idea to have these safety and prevention skills under my belt.

Today (February 1) the August 2018 cohort window opened for applications and I submitted mine. Because I withdrew from WGU (and will be re-enrolling around July 2018), I had to manually apply to this cohort. In the next couple of days, a placement specialist will call me to discuss placement options and then began the process again. I am looking forward to getting back on track to this degree again!

[teacher2]

Great News! Got my school placement at Prescott South Middle School! I am still not sure if it will begin the last week of July or first week of August. I am supposed to hear more specific details in an email in the next couple weeks. After the ordeal of last fall I am so relieved! In February, the field placement specialist said finding a placement could take up to a week before school starts, but she would try to get one before that. I was very apprehensive and slightly worried when she had said that (I am one of those people who calculates all the possibilities!).

Currently, I am doing my research on the edTPA and demonstration teaching. With WGU, even if your state does not require the edTPA, or any sort of Teacher Performance Assessment, they will require you to take it if they think your state might be changing its laws to require it in the next few years. Also, still studying for the Praxis 5203.

Here are a few WGU edTPA websites that help clarify requirements in DT and the edTPA.

EdTPA support site
https://sites.google.com/a/wgu.edu/edtpa-support-site/

WGU DT Call recordings and info
https://sites.google.com/a/wgu.edu/tpa-s...site/edtpa

[teacher2]

Took the Praxis 5203 Teaching Reading to Elementary Students today!  Will be finding out here in a few weeks whether or not I passed. I will admit I sat down to this test fighting off a cold and very sleep deprived so I had very little hope of passing it in the first ten minutes of testing! I pulled together, thank God, and was able to get through the test.
 
 Before reading further, I purchased the ETS practice test and I still have 49 days left and  7 more tries on it.
 
Here is the link: https://practice.ets.org/iptmgr/welcome.do
Here is the serial number: PR5203cgeAINI4mhTj
 
So here's the scoop. In the state of TN in order to get a middle school math license you have to pass the Praxis 5203. It is 2.5 hours long and has 90 multiple choice questions and 3 constructed response. I used every minute of this test. Prior to the test, I searched the internet looking for reviews, pass/fail, all the usual indicators of what to expect walking into this test, but there is pretty much nothing to report. This test had very very,  very, VERY, little information out there and next to non-existent data points.
 
For this test I purchased the Cliff Notes Praxis 5203, but after taking the test I am glad I did not rely solely on it! It is good for giving you direction in your study (that's about it), but the practice tests where very good. I would say that the essay portion on them resembled the actual test better than the ETS practice test I bought.
 
I will post my score once it comes in but here is what I was scoring on my practice tests:
 
CLIFF NOTES PRACTICE TEST 1 & 2          MASSACHUSSETS PRACTICE TEST
81,83, 87, 92                                                        81,86
 
ETS PRACTICE TEST
73,88,92,
 
I will list the resources I used to study, but I must say that I did not feel overly confident in the test (maybe due to physical factors???) Here are a few areas that I would recommend having down for the test as they appeared quite frequently.

Please note this is not an exhaustive list!
 
5 Components of Reading
Phonemic Awareness- What it is, How to assess it, Why does it predict future reading success?
Phonological Awareness
Promoting Oral Language Development
Promoting Listening Skills
Strategies for activating Background Knowledge
Methods to increase Vocabulary
Teaching kids how to research in writing and reading
Emergent Reader
 
Know what the following are, Strategies to Teach them, and Informal and Formal ways to assess them:
 
Meta-cognition
Structural Analysis
Word Analysis Skills-Decoding, Chunking, Analogy...
Fluency
Reading Comprehension Skills -Pre-reading, Post-reading,
Writing in support of reading
 
Know the following activities and how to use them:
List-Group-Label, Directed-Thinking and Reading Activity, Semantic Maps, Concept-Maps, Story Maps, Word Sorts, Jigsaw, Question and Answer Relationship, Choral Reading, Shared Reading, Readers Theater, Word Maps, Book Walk, and Word Walls
 
Know the following assessments:
Informal Reading Inventory, Running Record, Woodstock Reading Assessment
 
 
Helpful Resources for Praxis 5203
 
www.readingrockets.org -best website on my list!
 
 https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/ap...search.pdf -This one I would recommend as a guide to helping you study as it very easy to follow and to the point!
 
https://lincs.ed.gov/readingprofiles/MC_...g_Rate.htm -While this website is geared towards teaching adult readers, it does a good job explaining the big 5 concepts of reading. However, do note that there are some difference (e.g vocab development not as necessary in teaching adults but highly important for kids who typically start school with roughly 5,000 words or less). I found it to be well organized and one of the more informative resources of all I have listed.
 
http://www.mtel.nesinc.com/content/Docs/...E_TEST.pdf

https://www.scribd.com/doc/23630513/Read...ICA-Essays -while this is a completely different test, I used it for practice on writing the essays.
 
https://www.youtube.com/user/chrisboosalis- This fellow had easy to follow movies that help break down the reading process
 
https://quizlet.com/257094101/praxis-5203-flash-cards/
https://www.education.com/reference/arti...g-reading/
https://www.understood.org/en/learning-a...w-it-works
https://learningattheprimarypond.com/blo...g-records/
 

[teacher2]

Got my Praxis scores this morning!  I passed my Praxis 5203 with a 195! I can hardly believe it! I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this could only be by God's grace! Physically, I was fighting off a cold, had barely slept, and had pain in my right lung. (The day before I was making soap with my sister. The soap making puts off ammonia fumes and....I did not have proper ventilation. The pain went away after a few days, but I learned my lesson! Always have a window open and the fans on!) The funny thing is I expected I would score the lowest on the writing portion but on my score report I got 18 out of 18 on it! Definitely God! Glad to have my last Praxis completed!

I have attached a picture of my score report to give an idea on the grading of this test. On this test, there are three constructed essays which count for 6 points a piece for a total of 18. I do not think every selected response question counts for one point, but  I tallied the total possible points (excluding the essay questions) as 78. Excluding the essays, I got a total raw score of 67 The total selected response questions are 90. In typical exams, there are questions that are not counted toward your score, but if each SR question counted as one point then there would be a total of 22 not counted? That sounds very high. Will probably do some research and ask around.

[acamp]

My degree plan was opened tonight and I have been pleasantly surprised! WGU uses Thinkwell videos for their Calculus 1 like SL does. I am glad I did not go with SL and attempt to finish this in a month! Also they use vitalsource bookshelf like SL does. Still exploring!

Edit: Just learned that the Probability and Statistics 1 course is through Acrobatiq.

Hello!
Is THINKWELL free to use or do you need a paid subscription via wgu or SL? Thanks =)

[teacher2]

So after nearly two months of silence I am updating my thread!

Just a little info about my school placement,  We have 3 classes that are 95 minute blocks and a Tier 2 RTI class everyday. In all, we have a total of  92 kids. I am now entering my fourth week of student teaching and this is what my course load looks like for this Term.

•  Supervised Demonstration Teaching in Mathematics, Observations 1 and 2
• Supervised Demonstration Teaching in Mathematics, Observation 3 and Midterm
•  Supervised Demonstration Teaching in Mathematics, Observations 4 and 5
•  Supervised Demonstration Teaching in Mathematics, Observation 6 and Final
•  Professional Portfolio
•  Teacher Work Sample in Mathematics -edTPA
•  Cohort Seminar

For the Supervised Demonstration Teaching classes (12 CUS in all) , I am observed and evaluated by both my host teacher and a Clinical Supervisor. These observations are typically conducted while I am teaching a lesson. I am not required to submit anything other my lesson plans to the Clinical Supervisor or do course work -only pass the observation. But here is the catch:

"Though you may receive a passing grade on one or more of the segments, failure to receive a passing grade on all segments will result in a grade of Not Passed for ALL observation assessments. The 12 CUs for the observation and evaluation assessments may not be partially passed or partially failed. Should a single assessment receive a grade of Not Passed, all assessments previously “passed” will have the grade(s) converted to Not Passed."

But some good news is I passed my first Supervised Demonstration Teaching Observation with 3's and 4's on a 0-4 rubric. So I just have to pass my next one in order to pass the "Supervised Demonstration Teaching in Mathematics, Observations 1 and 2" course


I am currently working on my Professional Portfolio which has changed from the version of last year. I had worked on it over my term break but since then it has changed a little so am making tweaks to my work. Also getting my edTPA together but will post more on that later.

Another change that has happened in this term is with the Cohort Seminar course. In the Spring 2018 cohort, they required weekly reflection journals about particular concepts (Engagement Strategies, Culture and Diversity in the classroom and so forth). Also students participated in cohort calls every week.

When I re-enrolled this past July, they still had those loaded in my Taskstream account. So being the pro-active student that I am, I worked ahead and completed 6 weeks of journals and submitted them. Come to find out, they were changing the system and no longer require the weekly journals. Instead they have a Getting to know you journal and a Ethics Journal and a EdTPA Video Practice Journal. LOL I was very disappointed after working so hard to get so far ahead =). But the good news is I just submitted and passed my Ethics Journal this morning! Glad to have that done!

[eriehiker]

Congratulations on the great progress!  I am just about to start my 20th year of teaching my current district.  If you need anything, let me know.