Content Knowledge
Human Development and Learning
Diversity
Planning for Instruction
Learning Environment
Instructional Delivery
Communication
Assessment
Collaborative Relationships
Reflection and Professional Growth
Professional Conduct
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.
I believe it is important to understand the content and purpose of a lesson before you teach it. Teachers need to teach for a purpose, which is related to the standards for that grade level. In my sixth grade classroom, I always tell my students that they need to know certain things because they will have them from now untill high school and even college. Some students do not want to take the time to learn new things, but if the teacher shows them how much new information they can learn, it may spark an interest to that child and he will be willing to participate. While preparing for a lesson, teachers need to consider the questions that a student might ask during the lesson. Having the knowledge for each lesson is vital to keep student’s interest throughout the lesson.
Below is a picture of two of my third graders making an informational poster on Venus during on solar system unit.
[Back to top]
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.
Throughout student teaching I have learned that not all students learn in the same way. Using the constructivist approach, I try to accommodate multiple ways of learning material either visually, audible, or spatially. Students sometimes struggle in certain subjects because the teacher is only accommodating half of the class by just lecturing the material. I have learned that when students have a chance to learn something hands-on or visually see the problem, they have a better chance of understanding the concept being taught. In my Math lessons, I try to provide multiple examples of how to solve a problem.
Below is a picture of my students experiencing the distance of the solar system hands-on.
[Back to top]
Diversity
The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.
I have realized how important it is that not all my students are at the same academic ability level and that I take this into account when planning my lessons. Students develop at varying paces for which they need to be praised and acknowledged for their efforts according to their individual abilities. In Spelling, my third grade class was divided into three groups based on their academic ability. This helps us as educators to insure that all students are learning to their fullest potential within their given range.
Below is a picture of myself working with a sixth grade boy, adapting his math lesson to fit his needs.
[Back to top]
Planning for Instruction
The teacher understands instructional planning and designs instruction based upon knowledge of the discipline, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
I have learned to plan lessons that are meaningful but also interesting for the students. Some lessons that I have taught have not gone as planned. Even when this occurs, teachers need to have something else up their sleeve to make the lesson meaningful where the students can take something from it. Students will react to a lesson if it interests them and it is at their academic learning level. As educators, we have to teach the students certain curriculum, which can be boring at times, but we if appeal it to students in ways that capture their attention then students will love to learn and will have fun doing it.
Below is a picture of my students showing off their rockets. They got a chance to make these rockets as a closure to our solar system unit. These rockets did not fly like they were supposed to, so I had the students complete this activity without the rocket on top and they loved it just as much.
[Back to top]
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.
As a teacher one of the most important things to establish within your classroom is a classroom management plan. If rules are not set within the class then there is no management and therefore the class will take over. From day one, rules, consequences and rewards should be gone over with your class. I have had the ability to work with my mentor in establishing and adapting her classroom management plan when I began taking over full time. It was not easy at first because we did not agree on some things, but once the class was mine she allowed me to discipline and award the children to find out what ways worked and what did not. This allowed me freedom to make mistakes and then reflect on those mistakes to make a better management plan.
Below is a picture of the classroom management plan I adapted from my mentor and a picture of the award system for follwing the management plan.
[Back to top]
Instructional Delivery
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
In today’s day and age, students are becoming more and more familiar with the advances in technology. I believe that it is vital that students are familiar with technology and that they have the opportunity to use it in the classroom. When teaching, I try to use technology to offer my students a different view on things. I will either show them a short clip from an educational program or a power point with pictures about the topic they are learning about. I also allow my students to use the computers to type up papers or present reports so they can become familiar with common computer programs. In my sixth grade science class, I showed my students multiple ways of how the moon revolves around the Earth with objects, people, and a Power Point. They were most fascinated by the Power Point of the different pictures of the moon, but I was reaching out to all my students when I was showing them different ways to represent this occurrence.
Below is a picture of two of my students working on their Power Point on Uranus.
[Back to top]
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.
I believe communication is vital in the classroom environment. I try to incorporate different ways of communication with my students’ everyday. When I want to get my students attention, I clap a pattern and have them repeat it. If they repeat it correctly, I know they are listening and are ready to hear what I have to say. I also try to change my voice when I am trying to get something across to my students. Since my students are not used to hearing this voice, they pay closer attention. Another way I communicate with my students is by non-verbal communication. I never knew how powerful it could be, but it works. When I see my students are doing something right I will throw them a smile or a wink to say good job. When I see my students are misbehaving or not doing what they are supposed to, I will throw them a glance and they stop.
Below is a picture of myself communicating with my students.
[Back to top]
Assessment
The teacher understands various formal and informal assessment strategies and uses them to support the continuous development of all students.
I think it is essential to use multiple assessment strategies in the classroom. From the beginning, I have been using different techniques to assess my students. In my third grade classroom, I played a review game with my students before a test to see what material needed to reviewed again. In sixth grade, my students have homework almost every night and when we are half way through a chapter, I do a follow up to see how well the students really know the material. It is important to have both formative and summative assessments in the classroom because some students may do well on one type but not on the other. Students should be assessed on a daily basis to see if they understood the lesson or if it needs to be taught again, especially in Mathematics.
Below are pictures of owl pellets my students dissected. They were assessed not only on their final product but also on their participation in class during this activity.
[Back to top]
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.
I believe it is very important to have a working relationship with all the staff members in your building. Each of the members of the staff serve a purpose that can help you along your way. I have gotten close with multiple members of the staff at my school and they have shared with me numerous ideas to use in my future classroom. A few of the teachers I work with have let me borrow some of their lesson plans to adapt into my classroom, which has worked out wonderfully. It’s not enough just to get to know the teachers in your building, it is also important to know the administration of a school. The administration can be very useful and informative on the different things going on throughout the school.
Below is a picture of a myself and the Assistant Principal during a grade level meeting.
[Back to top]
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
I have been told the importance of reflection from the first day of my internship. I was never one to reflect on anything, but after being told to do so day after day, I started to get used to it. At the end of every day, my mentor would always reflect with me on that day’s lessons. I learned a lot of new techniques and got great ideas to use in my future lessons from reflecting with my mentor. I’ve found that you really cannot learn how you have done at something unless you sit back and reflect on the entire picture. It’s important to know if the students took anything from the lesson, if they enjoyed it, or if they participated in it. For example, my sixth grade mentor sat me down and asked me how I thought my Science lesson went that day. I thought I did fine but she told to be more prepared, to read ahead and to think of what questions they might come up with. After reflecting on this with her, I took her advice and the next Science lesson went amazing and the students were all engaged and willing to participate because I was confident in the content area and was prepared for their questions.
Below is a picture of my students working on a Science experiment. Afterwards, I had each student reflect on the experiment and what would they do differently if they were the teacher.
[Back to top]
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 attended the Illinois Reading Conference in Springfield, Illinois. There, I attended multiple speakers ranging anywhere in topic from how to introduce new vocabulary words to how to teach children to write poetry. It was a great way to learn about new ideas from fellow educators. Not only did I learn new content skills from these speakers, but I also presented a lesson to my fellow peers. I believe it is very important to continue on with professional development and I plan on attending more of these conferences in the future.
Below is a picture of myself presenting at the Illinios Reading Conference.
