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 students.I believe it is important that teachers show their students not only that they are excited about the material being taught but also that they understand the information they are teaching. Units allow teachers to have more time to go into more detail about the topic that is studied, and they give students the opportunity to make connections to other subjects. During my student teaching, I have taught two units, one on the continents and another on the oceans. I am proud of my unit on the continents because it allowed me to make connections within and across the disciplines. Math, reading, writing, art, music, social studies and science were all included in the unit. My students were able to read about the continents and different countries, make brochures on a country of their choice, and create globes. The lessons also included map skills, and incorporated math because the students were able to learn how to count in different languages. I was able to create stations for Reader’s Workshop where students were able to make French fry facts on a country, look through an atlas, play a map game, have guided reading groups on a book about a country, and have books about the countries available for students to read and take an accelerated reader quiz on. During this unit, I was able to show my students the knowledge I possess on the different continents and countries within them and I was able to expose them to a wealth of knowledge with all the resources I had. I was pleased with how much information my students obtained during this unit and how much they seemed to enjoy it. My unit on the continents showed me how beneficial it is to make connections across the different subjects.
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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.Thinking back to when I was in elementary education, certain lessons stand out because of the way they were presented and their creativity. I remember these lessons because of the impact they had on me. I want to have that same effect on my students and there is one lesson that I did during one of my methods course that I feel students will remember when they are older because the room was visually appealing and the information was presented in an exciting matter. My group and I decided to teach a lesson on the Oregon Trail. We created a life size wagon, had a campfire, and a clothesline to show the students what life was like during that time. All the visuals were engaging and we knew this because of the expressions the kids and our peers had as they walked into the classroom. I will remember this lesson because of the creativity and hard work we put into it to make it memorable. I really feel like the children left with a wealth of information about the Oregon Trail and they had fun while being there. I want to continue to create lessons like this where the students are engaged and excited to be learning. Another lesson I feel my students will remember in the future is a lesson I did about pollution. We had been learning about ocean animals and I wanted my students to understand how pollution harms our animals. For this lesson, I gave each student a feather and asked him or her to dip it in a cup of water. The students let their feathers dry and they noticed they had not changed. Then I put oil in each of their water cups and asked them to dip their feathers in there again. The feathers were dramatically different when put into the oil and the students were amazed at how much oil harmed their bird’s feather. This lesson was very engaging and I feel the students walked away knowing the harmful affects of pollution. I think both of these lessons left an impact on my students. I believe lessons like these are ones worth teaching because they will stand out years after they have been taught.
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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.All students learn differently. Some students are auditory learners while others are visual. To accommodate to these different learning styles it is important to have lessons that are beneficial to all students and that keep them engaged. Two-digit subtraction with regrouping has been a hard concept for my class to grasp. There are a few students in my class who understood this concept right away and there were others who still continue to struggle with it. To motivate and keep the students attentive when teaching this concept, my mentor and I decided to have the students pretend to be bankers. The students were given base ten blocks and a mat to keep their money on. This lesson kept the students who already understood this concept engaged because they were able to pretend to be bankers and they got to help their classmates. Students who are visual learners had the privilege of seeing why you must regroup because they needed to trade a base ten block for ten ones. Auditory learners benefited from this lesson because they got to hear their classmates and the teachers explain how to solve the problem aloud to the class. Kinesthetic learners were able to use their hands, and play with the manipulatives to help them understand the concept of regrouping. This activity was beneficial to different types of learning styles, and it kept the students attentive because they were pretending to be bankers. As a teacher it is important to have lessons like this where all students are engaged and accommodations are made for their learning styles.
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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 believe it is essential that teachers use state goals and objectives to educate children with a purpose. When I plan lessons, I always align the lessons with the state standards and goals. The school that I am student teaching at uses the I Can Do It’s and these align with the Illinois Learning Standards. The students have the I Can Do It’s on their desks so they know exactly what they are required to learn in math and language arts in second grade. I use the I Can Do It’s when I plan my lessons so that I can ensure my students know the information they will need to be successful in higher-grade levels. In addition, I always try to make my lessons creative and interesting so that my students remain engaged throughout the lesson. Currently my students are doing a report on their favorite ocean animal. The purpose of this lesson is to have the students write to inform their audience about their ocean animal. The students are doing an excellent job and they are enjoying the activity. When I was introducing the lesson and explaining the project to the students I referred to their I Can Do It’s and told them I am checking to see that they can write to inform. I told them that that is what I am looking for when I go to grade their reports. I think it is important that children understand why they are learning concepts and doing activities that they may or may not enjoy. I always make sure that my students understanding the purpose of the lessons I plan. Furthermore, in order for my lessons to be successful I must make sure that I am well prepared and have all of my materials ready. I have done an excellent job staying organized to ensure my lessons run smoothly.
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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 mentor has taught me classroom procedures and routines that I can use when I have my own classroom. Everyday the students follow the same routine in the morning when they first arrive at school. The students come into the classroom, make their lunch choice, put their coats and backpacks away, fill in their planners, and then begin their morning work. Once the students memorized this routine they no longer come up to my mentor or me and asked what they should do next. This makes the mornings run very easily. Another thing that keeps students from asking, “What are we doing next?” is having a schedule on the board. The students can refer to it everyday, and I have found that the schedule is helpful to me as well because I can look at it for a quick reminder to see what activity we are doing next. Classroom management involves having a discipline plan if a student is misbehaving and it is essential that teachers are consistent with this plan. If a student misbehaves in my mentor’s classroom they get a warning. If the behavior continues they pull a tag. Each student has three tags, a green, yellow, and red. I have found these tags to be extremely helpful in classroom management. Students know the consequences of pulling a tag, and usually when they hear that they have a warning they change their behavior. If a student is good they are allowed to go put a marble in the jar, and once the jar is filled they can have a pizza party. I have sent students to the marble jar before and it works well for motivating students to get on task and be ready for the next activity. Transitioning runs more smoothly when I say, “I am looking for a student to go to the marble jar.” If I say this I see students sitting quietly at their desks with their hands folded looking at me so that I know they are ready to go on. I have found these management plans are great and work well in my mentor’s classroom. I plan to use them in my future classroom and make any adaptations I see necessary.
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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 this semester, I have seen how important it is to talk with expression and model enthusiasm for learning. In the beginning of my student teaching semester, I did not use a range of voices and pitches to get my students excited about the material I was teaching because I did not want to seem silly. My university supervisor and mentor both noticed this and told me it is ok to have fun and use silly voices when I teach. After this, I began speaking with more enthusiasm and I was amazed at how much more engaged my students were in my lessons. My students were eager to participate which let me know they were actively involved in my lessons. When I am excited about the lesson, my students are too, and they are having fun while learning important information. An attention getter grabs the student’s attention at the beginning of a lesson and it is imperative because it gets the students engaged from the start. The beginning of my lessons is where I try to capture my students attention and get them excited for the lesson I am about to teach. To introduce area I had the students sit around the edge of the class carpet. I asked the students, “Can we figure out the perimeter of this carpet?” We found the perimeter and then introduced area. I asked the students, “How many students do you think it would take to fill this carpet?” The students filled the carpet and we counted how many students it took. This approach worked very well and it kept my kinesthetic and visual learners engaged. My students really enjoyed this activity and it made them excited to learn more about area.
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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.When I started student teaching I sent a letter home to my student’s parents and guardians informing them that I would be in their child’s classroom. I told the parents and guardians a little bit about myself and what I would be doing for the rest of this school year. This written communication allowed parents and guardians to get to know me a little better. In addition, they were informed that I would be working with their child under the direct supervision of my mentor. I also provided my contact information so that if parents need to get a hold of me to discuss any concerns or questions, they know where they can get a hold of me. Before I sent this letter home with the students my mentor looked over it. My mentor and I communicate everyday and she provided feedback on things I could add to my letter. She suggested that I mention that I am graduating in May so that parents know that I am close to earning my degree. My mentor and I communicate and reflect on my teaching all the time. After school we discuss things like my weaknesses and strengths. Furthermore, we discuss what I have learned and things I must work on to become a better teacher. Communicating with my mentor allows me to grow as a professional because I am acknowledging and reflecting on areas I need improvement and areas I am excelling in. I have attached a Fish Food For Thought which is a template that encourages me to think about areas I need growth. In this template I discussed how I need to work on being consistent with classroom management. As stated before communication is essential and I believe as a student teacher it is important that I communicate with parents by writing them letters, and reflecting with my mentor so that I can acknowledge areas of weakness and how I can improve them so that I can be the best teacher possible.
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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.All students assess differently. Some are good test takers while others may not be as successful when taking test. There are many factors that teachers must consider when giving their students an assessment. For example, some students may need more time. Some students may be better at answering multiple-choice questions while others would rather write a report on what they have learned. To accommodate to the different learning styles and student strengths, I incorporate a variety of assessment strategies. My students have math tests that they take weekly where they write in their answers. However, it would not be fair for me to only take these scores as a grade to assess whether or not they understand the math concepts I have been teaching them. To assess my students’ understanding of the material I teach in math, I have class assignments that I can use to help me see the concepts my students truly understand and the concepts they still need more practice with. In addition, I used timed tests to assess whether or not my students know their addition and subtraction facts. To evaluate my students reading levels, I use a variety of resources. I give my students comprehension written tests, comprehension multiple-choice tests and fluency tests. In addition, I use standardized tests to help me see what their reading level is. Using multiple assessment tools allows me to see where my students are in terms of their development, and it helps me to realize what I need to re teach or keep practicing with my students. It also shows me my students’ areas of strength.
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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.
Being a student teacher has shown me the importance of communication and collaboration with other people. Everyday my mentor and I discuss lessons and any issues or concerns we have about our students. We work together to plan activities and we share ideas about lessons. She provides me with excellent resources to improve my teaching skills. If I have a question or concern she answers it to the best of her ability, and she always gives me feedback on ways to make my lessons more effective. An example of where we have worked together to make a lesson more effective is when I was planning a math lesson on two digit subtraction with regrouping. I was trying to come up with a fun activity that allowed the students to work with manipulatives. My mentor suggested that I have the students pretend to be bankers, and use base ten blocks to practice regrouping. This worked great because the students were able to visually see why they needed to borrow, and I learned a new strategy to teach this concept. My mentor is not the only person I collaborate with. I work with my peers so that I can become a better teacher and learn new things. My peers and I have debriefing periods where we discuss teaching issues. During one debriefing we shared substitute folders ideas, letters we wrote to our student’s parents, class management ideas, and fun activities we have done with our students. One of my peers was talking about how she was having a problem with her students opening their desks while she taught. I suggested that if it continued she should turn their desks around because I found that to be effective in my classroom. She told me she would try it. This is an example of how we learn from each other and share ideas on how to become better teachers.
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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.
I have learned the importance of reflection throughout this year because I see how it helps improve my teaching abilities. My university supervisor and mentor observe me teach once a week and they give me a follow up assessment. This assessment includes areas of strength and areas where I can improve. I have been able to use their comments to help improve my teaching. For example, in the beginning of the semester my university supervisor commented on how she did not think I was talking with enough expression and enthusiasm. After discussing this with her, and reflecting on my teaching, I knew it was something I needed to work on because I wanted to ensure that my students stayed actively engaged during my lessons. The very next day I went to school with the intention to have fun while educating my students and talk with enthusiasm to get my students more excited about the material I was teaching. Ever since that day, my tone of voice has changed and my students are more interested in my lessons. This experience taught me the importance of feedback and personal reflection because it helped improve my teaching. Throughout my career, I will be observed and I will continue to use the feedback to grow as a professional. Furthermore, it is essential that I reflect on my own teaching and use my own feedback. I reflect daily with my mentor but I also reflect on my own and think of ways I could improve my lessons. I think about what I can do differently and I consider what went well. For example, I did a lesson on making oobleck and it was very messy and did not go as I had planned. The next time I teach this lesson I will make the oobleck myself in order to focus more on the properties of the oobleck.
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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 believe it is important that each classroom come up with its own mission statement and philosophy about education. My students, mentor, and I worked together to think of a class mission statement that we could hang on our wall to remind us of why we are in school and what we hope to accomplish. Our class mission statement is as follows: to work hard and learn new things to be a better person for now and the future. This mission statement reminds our class that we should always try our best and work hard to accomplish tasks. It also encourages us to be good people who care about our education and respect those around us. To go along with our mission statement, the school that I am student teaching at has four core values that my class follows. The core values are literacy, humanity, unity, and informed practice. At the beginning of my student teaching semester, I had the students work in groups and I gave each group one of the core values. I asked them to think about what they thought they meant. After allowing them time to work together, we had a class discussion and shared our ideas. Next, we defined what each of these words meant and the students drew pictures to illustrate the meanings. We now have the core values hanging up in our classroom to remind us to read, treat everyone with respect and kindness, work together, and think before we act. I believe these core values, just like our class mission statement, are very important because they remind my students of the significance of school and being good people. I think it is essential that students have a desire to be in school and become good citizens and the core values of C.B. Smith and our class mission statement strengthen this. As a future educator, I believe in the core values at C.B. Smith, and I will stress them in my own classroom.
