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 discipline(s) and creates learning experiences that make the content meaningful to all students.The lack of experience that I have is a weakness and a strength all in one. I am able to bring new ideas to the table, yet there are so many older ideas that have worked so well that I have had to learn. I loved being able to do integrated units because I think it brought the content more into reality for the students. For example, I taught a unit on vertebrates and invertebrates in accordance with the Illinois Learning Standards, but the unit was not all science related. I created lessons that involved writer’s workshop, reading, art, math, the computer lab, and social studies. When I was creating this unit, the first place I looked to guide my instruction was the facts check list, which follows the Illinois Learning Standards, given by the Pekin School District. After finding the specific information that needs to be taught, I had to go a look up some of the information on the internet or in teacher’s resource books to re-teach myself about the content. For this specific unit, I wanted to be sure I placed the correct animals under the correct classifications and I also had to look up specific information about each animal group. I had found a teacher made PowerPoint, which I ended up adapting for my use, which taught me much of the information I needed to teach my students. Children’s books are another great resource of information that I have used, especially non-fiction books. I have found a great deal of resources to create my lessons, as well as provide a wealth of knowledge to form the foundations of those lessons.
Below is a picture of the Perfect Pairs Tree that I made and hung up on the classroom wall. The students wrote homophones on two pears and taped them to our tree, which shows clear evidence of content.
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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.
I was very skeptical about my capabilities in a sixth grade classroom because it was unfamiliar territory, unfamiliar rules, and unfamiliar content. Determined though I was to do my best, I was still very unsure of myself when it came to teaching some subjects. I was not used to teaching to a book because in second grade, where my first placement was, we created the majority of our worksheets and lessons. The time came for me to do a week-long unit for writer’s workshop and my mentor helped me plan and gave me all the advice I needed, which I felt like I needed a lot. I never let the students know how nervous I was and I had worked very hard at creating something I would enjoy as much as them. The students were very used to the usual writing activities and what I had planned for the week was very different. My first activity was Snowy Synonyms, where the students created snowmen and were given a simple word like run and had to write synonyms on each part of the snowman. The activity was a huge success. The students who normally do not like to participate very often got more into the lesson than I had ever seen them before and they were asking to do more than I had required them to do. The only thing I would have changed about this lesson is I think I would have added on to it and made them write something using at least five of the synonyms in their writing piece. This lesson alone did not prove to me that I was capable of teaching at a higher grade level, but it definitely helped my confidence level.
Below is a picture of a synonym snowman created by a student.
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Diversity
The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.Differentiated instruction is something I feel I have struggled with during my student teaching, simply because this concept is learned best through experience. I knew walking into a classroom that I would be teaching to a wide variety of learners with different learning needs. My mentor has taught me how to adapt my lessons for high ability learners and low ability learners. Higher ability learners need to be challenged; otherwise the material they are learning will become dull. Students will lose interest and start to do poorly on their work. Lower ability learners need adaptations so they can succeed in their learning and feel good about what they have accomplished. For example, math is a subject where a few of my students have IEP’s and I try to make adaptations that are necessary for them each lesson. I may lower the number of problems that are to be completed or adapt the rubric because I know they will work at a slower pace and will not get to each criterion. For my higher ability learners, I will create “challenges” for them to complete once they have finished their activity. After a lesson on measurement in centimeters, I sent them on a challenge to find the measurements of certain objects in centimeters and inches. They were then able to help other students complete the challenge. I also try to organize centers that focus on different forms on instruction, but also vary in ability level. I try to use many teaching tools to differentiate my instruction in the classroom, but I know that by themselves, each tool is not the only tool.
Click here to see a week-long math unit that includes examples of differentiated assignments to match the varying learning abilities in my classroom.
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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 the course of the year, I have constantly been finding more and more resources and new ways to enhance my instruction. My most cherished resource is my mentor, but I have challenged myself not to rely on her and find my own resources and create my own ideas. I have found that many times it is my own ideas that I am most proud of and I revel in the success of my students in just a bit more. I created my vertebrates and invertebrates unit entirely on my own. At the time I really was not able to use my mentor as a resource because I was in a sixth grade classroom, so the resources I used I found on my own or I came up with the idea myself. I am getting ready to start this two week unit in my classroom and am more excited about doing it than any other unit I have taught this semester because it is truly mine. I have high expectations for the students and have created a rubric for the largest scale project I have had these students create. During this project the students are using computers to gain content knowledge, literature, worksheets that are teacher made and from teaching resource texts, and a facts check list that I created based off of the Illinois State Standards. The students will reflect upon themselves using the resources I provide them from the ones I have used myself.
Below is a picture of a guest speaker I had come into my classroom. I did a unit on dental health month and one of my student’s fathers is a dentist and he agreed to come speak to the second grade classes.
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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.I knew before entering college that I wanted to become a teacher; I wanted to make a difference in children’s’ lives. I feel that having that attitude then, helped drive me through college to get where I am now. Being active, teaching children is always where I have wanted to be. It is important for any teacher to always have a positive outlook, especially when with children because they feed off of their teacher’s emotions. For example, when I am excited, prepared, and am ready to go so are my students. When it is the opposite and I am not interested in what is going on in the classroom, my students are not either. My attitude towards learning can determine my students’ attitudes towards learning. By displaying their work in the room shows them that I am proud of what they did, so they become proud of it, too. Having classroom jobs creates ownership of the classroom for the students, not just for me. If I communicate with parents about the positives, as well as the negatives, it allows the students to know that I do not always see the bad side of them. It is important to me to show my students that I care about what they are doing in the classroom and how they think they are doing, too. I want them to believe in themselves as much as I do.
Below is a picture of student work that is displayed in the hallway outside our classroom. I had the students create their own animals during our invertebrate and vertebrates unit.
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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.
Enthusiasm is a quality I possess, but it was not always easy for me to find when I was adapting to my new role as a teacher in front of my class. I was trying to deal with classroom management, instruction, and time management and never really thought much about how I was delivering the lessons every day. I reflected with my liaison and she told me to really take notice of how my mentor modeled her lessons to her students and how they reacted in return. I observed my mentor and my students and saw exactly what I needed and should have seen; the students were engaged and excited about the lesson because my mentor was excited to teach the lesson. I made this a goal for myself to be more active and enthusiastic in my delivery, especially when beginning the lessons. I also made a goal for myself to create more engaging lessons, especially in subject areas like spelling, where we repeat the same activities. One activity I did was spelling tic-tac-toe. I created a tic-tac-toe board on the carpet and the students became the playing pieces. If they spelled the word I gave them correctly, they were able to go onto the board for their team. If they missed it, the other team was given the opportunity to steal it. The students were engaged, excited, and stayed on task. They also remembered their words for that week’s test!
Click here to see a worksheet that I created for a lesson on the history of St. Patrick’s Day. The activity created student inquiry by forcing them to find the answers the questions themselves. They were sent on an informational scavenger hunt.
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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.Classroom newsletters are one of the best tools for communication between teachers and parents. I believe they are a great way of informing parents of what is going on in the classroom and letting them know pieces of information more than once. Verbally telling the students is one thing, but telling the parents is another. The problem is we as teachers do not see the parents every day, so we need to use nonverbal communication in order to keep them updated. When I returned to the classroom, I wanted to be sure the parents knew about it and I was not going to leave it just up to the students to inform them. When progress reports went home, I also sent home a letter notifying the parents of my return. I let them know how long I would be in the classroom with their children, my interests, some of my favorite books they could read with their children, my school background, and about an upcoming unit I had planned for our class. I wanted them to get to know me again and feel comfortable with who was teaching their children. I have learned from my mentor that not all parents read the newsletter. Soon I will begin taking over writing the weekly newsletter when I take over all subjects. I am looking forward to being able to communicate weekly with the parents because I want them to be involved in the classroom. Somehow I hope to learn how to get some of them more involved.
Click here to see a screen shot of an e-mail I sent out via the list serve to the other professional development school interns letting them know about a good teaching website to use.
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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.Gaining experience in assessment strategies was a personal goal of mine during my student teaching. It is different to learn about it in a classroom than to actually use it in a classroom with your own students. With the help of my mentor, liaison, and some research, I have learned quite a bit on how to utilize assessment strategies successfully. Both informally and formally, I have created authentic assessments, learned how to use school standardized testing assessments, used formative and summative assessments, and have used assessments based on student choice. I enjoy using assessments that allow the students to choose what activities they are going to complete. For example, I recently used a “Speller’s Choice” worksheet and adapted it to add my own ideas. The students had to choose three activities to complete, one from each point level. The students were much more excited about completing this spelling assignment, rather than just creating flashcards or filling in a worksheet I created. I do not believe in always giving students the choice on what their assessment is, but allowing them to have that option every once in a while is good for their independence and creativity.
Click here to see a PowerPoint review that I created and used the day before my students took the vertebrates and invertebrates science test.
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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.I feel that I have strengths in acquiring positive, working relationships with my mentor, other teachers, staff members, and my professional development school liaisons. Reflection has been the foundation of my student teaching experience thus far, and I feel that my mentor and I have good conversations that effectively contribute to my teaching. I have learned how to adapt and accept constructive criticism. Even though it is not always easy to hear, I want her to tell me when she thinks I could do something better or differently because I know she is thinking in my best interest. I have even developed good rapport with a substitute and she has been able to give me feedback that has helped me become a better teacher in the classroom. One experience I have had this year that I am not sure many other interns have had is where I have had many substitute teachers in the classroom with me. This was a challenge for me, but also one of my biggest learning experiences. This substitute in particular helped me to realize that I say “you guys” too often to the students. I have really tried to catch myself doing it and have tried to train myself to say “second graders” instead. I have seen this substitute since then in my classroom and she says she feels as though I have grown; I seem more comfortable in the classroom and with the students. It is one thing to reflect with your mentor, but to have a substitute who is also willing to reflect with you is a wonderful experience. I have been able to get more than one perspective on my teaching and I have learned that their experience will set me up to succeed.
Below is a picture of me and other staff members eating lunch together. This happens on a regular basis and is a good time to discuss daily events or collaborate over content areas.
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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.The Illinois Reading Conference in Springfield, Illinois, is a very prestigious and well-known conference. I was able to attend workshops with various speakers and visit booths with a plethora of teaching resources. I attended a workshop about guided reading, which was completely full. I learned quite a bit about the process of getting a guided reading program started in your school and classroom, testing students’ reading abilities, and the actual instruction and different centers being used during guided reading. I enjoyed this workshop the most because I have been exposed to guided reading in my classroom during student teaching all year and I was excited to learn about how other schools implemented it. I think in my own classroom, I will take a bit from both formats into my guided reading instruction. Being a pre-service teacher, I also had the wonderful opportunity of presenting a lesson plan with my peers. It was a new experience for all of us because, professionally we have had experiences at our schools where we are student teaching, but this was of first professional, public presentation. In addition to presenting myself, I was able to gain other resources from my peers where were presenting from my PDS site and other PDS sites from Illinois State University. It was a wonderful way to add to my growing content file folders I have created throughout my student teaching.
Below is a picture of the team I worked with in presenting a lesson plan at the Illinois Reading Conference in Springfield, Illinois.
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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.Developing my teaching philosophy has been something I have found hard to actually put down in writing. Without the student teaching experience and reading books, such as First Days of School, by Harry Wong, my philosophy would have no credibility at all. What has taught me the most about myself as a teacher, and has helped me to develop my philosophy and my teaching strategies are the teachers I work with and my students. Reflecting back on my lessons with and without my mentor are the best things I have done for myself this year. I have really taken into account the observations and evaluations she has done on my lessons. The PDS has created a program between the mentors and interns where constructive criticism is viewed as a positive guide towards becoming a better teacher. One evaluation my mentor did on a science lesson where I had just begun a new unit; she always makes sure she tells me the positives about my lessons and some improvements to think about. For example, with this lesson she suggested that since the students already know so much about animals, maybe I could have asked them what they wanted to learn about instead of just telling them. I thought this was a great idea and had not really thought about it for this unit because I had already planned out two weeks lessons. This helped me in adding to my philosophy of allowing the students to somewhat guide my instruction by giving them more choice, but at the same time still teaching to all learning standards.
Click here to see a focused observation reflection that I completed during my first phase of the PDS program. I reflected on the first days of school and what is essential to those days in the classroom.
