Content Knowledge
Human Development and Learning
Diversity
Planning for Instruction
Learning Environment
Instructional Delivery
Communication
Assessment
Collaborative Relationships
Reflection and Professional Growth
Professional Conduct

 

 

 

 

Content Knowledge
The teacher understands the central concepts, methods of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines and creates learning experiences that make the  content meaningful to all students

When we are teaching our students it is imperative that we are giving the correct information.  What we teach is equally as important as how we teach it.  If the students are not getting the correct knowledge then they will not be able to apply that knowledge to other things.  In addition, it is important that this content is not presented in isolation.  Students need to be able to apply the information that they get in lessons to other domains in school and life.

 

While I was writing my interdisciplinary lesson on the rainforest I realized that there was a lot that I still needed to learn before I could write a number of lessons for my students.  I really took this as a learning opportunity and ran with it.  I found myself to be even more interested in the rainforest after I had done my research. 

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Human Development and Learning

The teacher understands how individuals grow, develop, and learn and provides learning opportunities that support the intellectual, social, and personal development of all students.

 

Every child is different in every sense.  They have different looks, personalities, abilities and learning styles.  It is extremely important that we take these differences and we create an environment that is suitable for all of them.  We are here to serve our students, and in order to do that effectively we need to find their strengths and work with them.  All students will succeed if we give them the proper tools. 

 

Reflection:  One of the times during the day that I have come to enjoy the most is literature lab.  The students are grouped by ability level.  This makes is really nice to plan level appropriate lessons for these groups.  All of the students learn the same material, but some are done in different ways.  I feel that the students feel very successful during literature lab, and in turn they enjoy their time there.

 

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Diversity

The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.

Many students learn in a variety of ways.  It is important that we present them with a variety of opportunities to fit their learning style.  I find that a great way to do this is to create stations.  This way students are given a variety of learning modes within a subject.

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Planning for Instruction

The teacher understands instructional planning and designs instruction based upon knowledge of the discipline, students, the community, and curriculum goals.

Throughout my time student teaching at Pekin I have planned an interdisciplinary unit. This unit took time, collaboration, and resources in order to be successful. Through this unit I have learned how important it is to align units with goals in order to make them a valuable experience for my students.

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Learning Environment

The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.

My classroom is an environment where students can feel at ease.  We use a plan that rewards with stickers, and provides negative consequences with clothes pins.  The students are aware, from the first day of school, that they are responsible for their actions.  They choose the positive and negative consequences that they receive. 

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Instructional Delivery

The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.

 

Throughout my time student teaching I was very conscience about my delivery of instruction.  My class, as a whole, did much better with hands on lessons.  I always kept in mind that some of my students needed special adaptations.  These two photos show two different hands on math lessons that we did.  Both lessons made it possible to give some students one on one instruction.

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Communication

The teacher uses knowledge of effective written, verbal,nonverbal, and visual communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.

 

It is true to say that students learn a lot from just observing modeled behavior of adults.  With this in mind, we must make sure that we are always modeling good behavior for students to learn from.  This carries over to our communication skills.  Communication is a learned behavior, and to learn to do it properly students must have good guidance.  I keep this in mind whenever I am communicating with or around my students.

 
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Assessment

The teacher understands various formal and informal assessment strategies and uses them to support the continuous development of all students.

It is proven that all students do not learn the same way.  This means that it is impossible to accurately assess all students by the same means.  In addition you must use appropriately planned assessment so that it is a true measure of the objectives.  In order to achieve both of these goals a variety of assessments are necessary.  This statement is also true across all subjects.  In order to get an accurate measure of student’s success we must do it in a number of ways.

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Collaborative Relationships

The teacher understands the role of the community in education and develops and maintains collaborative relationships with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the community to support student learning and well-being.

The foundation of a great school is a great educational team.  The atmosphere of the school is truly set by the staff that fills it.  The better the communication and relationships the better the team can serve the students that attend that school.  It is imperative that staff feel comfortable seeking out help, opinions, and support within their educational community.

 

During my student teaching experience I was fortunate to be a part of an excellent educational community.  They closely worked together as a team.  Since my building was a smaller one there was a smaller staff.  This was nice because everyone knew everyone well, and everyone worked closely together.  My classroom was lucky to have a literacy specialist that would come in and help our class all of the time.  When our school decided to do an all school project on extended response I teamed with Jennifer to come up with a plan for first grade.  The help that she gave was irreplaceable, and the relationship that she, my mentor, and I had is what supported all of it.

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Reflection and Professional Growth

The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates how choices and actions affect students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community and actively seeks opportunities to grow professionally.

Every experience that a teacher goes through is a learning experience.  The most important thing that we can take away from any situation is a lesson learned.  The best way to make sure that we are learning and absorbing these lessons is to reflect.  This reflection is such a valuable part of teaching, and a skill that we can use to improve our profession

 

During my student teaching experience I have been fortunate to been given the opportunity to formally reflect at many different times.  This formal reflection is one that has taught me to continually reflect throughout my teaching, and improve on everything I do.  When my mentor and I sit down to formally reflect on a lesson it reminds me of all of the different aspects of teaching that I should be keeping in mind while I plan, deliver, and assess lessons.

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Professional Conduct

The teacher understands education as a profession, maintains standards of professional conduct, and provides leadership to improve student learning and well-being.

I choose to do after school tutoring.  This experience was great because I was able to extend my support past my classroom.  I was able to work with different age students, and professionals that I normally would have not worked with.  I really enjoyed the experience because I did get to work with many different people in a new setting.

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