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.
In order for a teacher to be able to teach his/her students, the teacher must display accurate and extensive knowledge of the particular grade level’s development, as well as course content knowledge. Teachers must understand the content knowledge so they are not teaching incorrect information. Also, the teacher must understand the state and district standards for his or her grade level and then determine where to begin teaching each area. Each time a teacher moves to a different grade level or a different district, they must take the time to learn the content. This will be an area I will focus on when I find out the district and grade level I will be teaching next year. If I am not knowledgeable about the content for the grade I am teaching, I do not feel I could teach it competently. Deciding where to start a unit was one of the biggest challenges I faced during student teaching. I was able to look at the standards to help me decide what to focus on, but then I struggled with the level to begin teaching. I have been working on understanding each concept in multiple ways, so that I am able to teach information in a variety of ways.
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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.
Throughout student teaching, I have observed differences in strengths, ability levels, and learning styles in my students, so I have had to plan for a diverse group of learners. Differentiating my instruction was one of the greatest challenges I faced during student teaching. Some of my students would finish activities quickly, while other students struggled to complete an activity. To help with this issue, I provided different assignments for the lower ability level students, so that they were able to complete the assignments and feel successful. Some students just needed oral directions, other students needed to be given visual directions, and a few needed some additional time. To make accommodations for these students, I learned to model the activity or explain it while using an overhead to display the assignment. If they were supposed to complete a worksheet, we did the first couple questions together, so that the students understood what to do. When I noticed a variety of interests and learning styles, I began implementing stations into the classroom more frequently, which allowed me to respond to the different learning styles. During math stations, I always included a station with manipulatives for the tactile learner, computers or a worksheet for the visual learner, and an oral activity such as subtraction math facts with a partner for the auditory learner. Also, I feel that it is important for the students to work in groups or pairs to develop social skills and collaboration.
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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.
In every classroom, there are a wide range of skills and knowledge. A teacher must identify and evaluate individual needs and provide appropriate accommodations during the planning stage. While
designing a unit, I consciously plan activities that meet the needs of all of the students in my classroom. Then, I must implement the appropriate accommodations while teaching.
I consistently planned activities for my students based on individual student's skills and knowledge. When I planned guided reading groups, I broke down students into four groups based on their reading level. When picking guided reading books, I looked specifically at the vocabulary and reading level of the book to find a book that was just right for each group of students. Then, I planned activities that were at the correct level for each group. For example, I found a biography book for each reading group and had the students write why the person in the biography was important. The lowest group had to list two or three reasons why the person was important, while the highest group had to write at least six sentences in paragraph form. Both groups worked on a similar skill in a way that best met their abilities. When students were not at the guided reading station with me, they were working on the computers, seatwork, or silent reading. Eventually, I realized that the lowest group struggled to complete the seatwork given to the rest of the students, so I planned a separate worksheet for these students to complete successfully. All of the students were working on the same skill, but in a way that allowed them to demonstrate their knowledge successfully.
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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.
I begin planning lessons by looking at the standards. Then, I focus on creating objectives for each lesson. Based off of the standards and objectives, I think about how I want to assess my students. Finally, I focus on the teaching methods. I use a variety of teaching methods such as individual instruction, small-group instruction, and whole class instruction. When planning for lessons, I think about each of my student's interests, learning styles, ability levels, and strengths and plan my lessons accordingly. I concentrate on creating lessons that meet the needs of every student. I think about ways to engage my students through hands-on activities.
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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.
Since I was able to begin my student teaching experience at the beginning of the school year, I saw the importance of having a classroom management plan in place before the year even begins. On the first day of school, the students should participate in creating classroom rules to have some ownership. Maximum learning cannot take place with behavior distractions and students should be aware of the consequences of inappropriate behavior. A teacher's response to misbehavior should be preventative, consistent, sensitive to individual needs, and respectful of the student's dignity. As a future classroom teacher, I face the challenge of creating a classroom management plan that provides a positive environment for student learning.
In order to develop a sense of respect and rapport among the students, I believe it is important to create activities that have the students working in groups. Working in groups helps students develop social skills and teaches them how to work well with others. In a group setting, students are responsible for understanding what is being taught and encouraged to teach other members of their group. When a student gets the opportunity to teach others, they remember more of the lesson.
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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.
Effective teachers must use a wide variety of resources including technology, to design, implement, and assess learning activities. Students learn in different ways, so a teacher should encourage students to learn in various ways. Therefore, the teacher must seek out a variety of resources that can be integrated into the classroom to enhance student learning. Teachers must also keep up with technology and its integrated use in the classroom.
Incorporating technology into the classroom was a struggle for me at the beginning of the year. I found it difficult to come up with activities involving technology. As the semester progressed, it gradually became easier. Eventually, I had the students working at math or reading stations at least once a week. One of the stations is generally some type of educational computer program. During reading stations, the students work on a program called "essential skills 2" and the mathematics program changes with the topic we are covering. I have also been incorporating more PowerPoint presentations into the classroom such as using a PowerPoint presentation to review our National Reading Vocabulary words. When we began our unit on butterflies, the students created their own PowerPoint presentations about a particular butterfly.
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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.
Throughout student teaching, I have learned to use a variety of communication tools. Communicating regularly with parents is important for a teacher. I met with many of the second grade parents before school began in the fall. At the beginning of student teaching second semester, I sent out a letter to the parents reintroducing myself and providing contact information. I felt it was important to make myself available to the parents if they had any questions or concerns. I think teachers should also send emails or make phone calls to keep parents updated on their child's performance.
Using written, verbal, and nonverbal communication is important when communicating with second graders. Nonverbal and verbal communication is important when enforcing the classroom rules. Walking right near a student and standing next to him/her can to eliminate behavior issues. I also think several forms of communication should be used to reinforce positive behavior. I frequently wrote notes or communicated verbally with students to assess their learning and give them feedback. Even writing a simple phrase such as "awesome job" on the top of their paper makes many students smile.
I verbally communicated with other teachers, team leaders, principals, and custodians to improve my teaching and the collaboration in the building. Building relationships with other staff members helped me plan lessons, improve lessons, and locate materials and resources.
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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.
Teachers should assess their students in a variety of ways using an assortment of materials. There should be pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments. All of these assessments should include both formal and informal assessments. To meet the needs of every student, assessments need to be more than just tests. Students should be able to choose from a variety of assessments that will allow each student to best show his/her understanding. All of these assessments then need to be reflected on and used to guide future instruction. As a general classroom instructor, I must always be assessing my students to determine how they are doing and to find out exactly where they are struggling. I also must show significant evidence of learning by all of my students. To show evidence of a student’s progress or understanding, a teacher should accumulate a student portfolio to present to the students, parents, or administrators and display student work around the classroom and hallway. In my own classroom I plan to have a “Quality Corner,” where I will display graphs to show my students' progress.
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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 have always been successful at communicating and collaborating with others. I state my opinion, but I also stay open-minded about others suggestions. My mentor, Mrs. Clark, and I got along from the very beginning and we have worked well over the past several months. I welcomed her feedback, both positive and negative. Listening to other’s feedback helps me determine areas where I need to improve and change. Mrs. Clark and I reflected on lessons, student behavior, and discussed my teaching plans. By collaborating with Mrs. Clark and other staff members, I have been able to improve lessons before implementing them in the classroom and have gained a better understanding of the content. As Mrs. Clark and I were reviewing my math plans for a particular week, she noticed that I had chosen a worksheet that would be too difficult for the students to complete. Through collaboration, we found a worksheet that better suited the second graders.
I have taken the initiative to develop positive professional relationships throughout student teaching. Building these relationships has made it easier to find resources and get help. For example, I borrowed several literacy activities and literacy magazines from another second grade teacher. I have also attended various professional meetings with Mrs. Clark, such as grade-level meetings and school improvement meetings. During one particular grade-level meeting we worked on improving weekly math quizzes. We all shared our ideas until we decided on what was best for the students.
I have also realized that it is important to keep parents informed by sending home weekly newsletters. My student teaching experience has also helped me realized how important it is to keep parents informed about their child's behavior on a regular basis. For certain students that were not telling their parents when they were getting in trouble, we began sending home a chart, which mentioned how many green strips were pulled and listed the homework assignments. Then, the students' parents signed the chart and sent it back to school each day. This helped keep the children's parents informed about how their children were doing in school.
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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.
This is a screen shot of one of my refelctions from student teaching!
Flexibility is a key characteristic of an effective educator. Ever since my first lesson that I taught at Metcalf Lab School during my junior year at Illinois State, I have evaluated my lessons at the end of the day. After each evaluation, I wrote notes to myself and immediately went back to the written lesson and handouts to correct them for the next time. My mentor teacher has been working closely with me to provide feedback about my lesson plans before I present them and then again after I teach the lesson. I have found it very helpful to get feedback from multiple sources both before and after my lesson. Sometimes, I need another perspective to improve my knowledge of the ability level of the class. I used to overestimate my student's knowledge in a particular area, and it is helpful to have someone point it out before I begin the lesson. When something does not go as well as I expected in the classroom, I find it very helpful to reflect on it with a mentor teacher or supervisor.
Professional Conduct
The teacher understands education as a profession, maintains standards of professional conduct, and provides leadership to improve student learning and well-being.
Any effective educator should be willing to participate in personal and professional growth activities in order to enhance their knowledge. The world is constantly changing and teachers need to keep up with the changes in order to best meet the needs of their students. The information gained from professional development activities should then be applied to the classroom or other aspects of the school. Throughout student teaching, I have already participated in various professional development activities. As a classroom instructor, I need to continue to attend professional activities to benefit my future classroom and school.
I have attended several professional development activities throughout this past year. In January, I attended a presentation by Harry Wong at Illinois State University. I learned a great deal of useful information that can be applied to my classroom. For example, Harry Wong mentioned the importance of establishing procedures and routines from the very first day of school. He also discussed the importance of having "bell work" for the students to do when they walk into the classroom and listing objectives on the board, so that students know what to expect for the day. These are great ideas I plan to incorporate into my classroom. I presented some of the information from the Harry Wong presentation to the other staff members at Willow Primary School in Pekin at one of the School Improvement Planning sessions. I also attended the Illinois Reading Council Conference in Springfield, IL where I learned a lot of information that I plan to use in my own classroom.
