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 structes of the discipline(s) and creates learning experiences that make the content meaningful to all students.

Going into my student teaching, I was more than a little nervous about it.  Friends outside of education thought I was crazy, but those friends in the field knew I had a right to be nervous.  First grade is a tough year because there are so many things that first graders are responsible for learning.  Since I was fortunate enough to start off the year before school even started, I was swept right off my feet and plunged head first into the curriculum and content.  Looking back, I would not have it any other way.  I was forced to learn to be prepared as far as content knowledge and changing the schedule of the day around to fit the needs of students.  I did not realize how much first grade students learn until I was put into a first grade class.  It never ceases to amaze me how much students can learn when they are given the right opportunities and a safe learning environment.  I really had to know the content inside and out to be able to give it a creative twist and present it in multiple ways.  I affirmed my love of teaching this year through knowing what I was doing and making it interesting this year.

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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.

Right away when I met my class of first grade students, I became aware of the large range of abilities.  I tried to become familiar with each individual’s strengths and weaknesses as well as their interests.  I used what I knew they each liked to motivate each one over the course of the year.  Even by the end of the first week, I had started to differentiate in my questioning, which led to differentiating in lessons as well.  I am very proud of the way I have been able to teach to the individuals in my class.  I also know the importance of being respectful of the struggling students and never making it seem to them like they are different from the rest of the class.  Along with realizing different skills and abilities, I learned that it was important to continuously complete data on every student so that I was grouping them and teaching them effectively.  For example, my mentor teacher would test students’ reading levels throughout the year and we usually had to rearrange the guided reading groups to fit the needs of the students.  I have really gotten to know and love all of my students and I am so glad I realized that I needed to know my students academically and for the person that they are. 

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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.

The classroom I am student teaching in is academically diverse as I am sure most classes are.  I have a few students who will learn no matter how I teach, most who need guidance, and some who need as much intervention as they can receive.  I am not only there to teach the students who are average, but I am a teacher and therefore I teach everyone no matter what level they are learning at.  That also goes for learning modalities.  I am a very visual learner, but it would not work if I just taught to those that were visual learners.  As I get more involved in my mentor’s classroom, I am getting better at adapting lessons so that they fit the needs of all learners.  Spelling is one area where there are many ways of varying the modality.  A favorite lesson of the students is writing spelling words in shaving cream on their desks.  During this lesson, we review the week’s spelling words and other words with the same rimes or word chunks on our anchor chart.  After we transition into seats at desks and pass out shaving cream, I give a word for them to write verbally.  They have the option of looking at the TV monitor, the word wall, or the anchor chart to help them which accommodates the visual learners.  Lessons like this one allow all students the chance to have experience with the spelling words in a variety of modalities.

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Planning for Instruction
The teacher understands instuctional planning and designs instruction based upon knowledge of the discipline, students, the community, and curriculum goals.

While student teaching this year, I quickly saw how important it was to have clear and well planned lesson plans.  I felt very comfortable in the classroom, but it was very important to me that I had everything thought out in the beginning, such as the questions I would ask throughout the lesson.  As I became more used to teaching and became more familiar with the skills and abilities of my students, I did not need to be as detailed as I was when I started out.  My personality was one who always needed everything planned out.  That was something that I noticed change over the course of the school year.  The first couple times a lesson did not go as I had planned, I was very unhappy with myself.  Then I realized that when that happens, good teacher take the opportunity to re-teach a lesson and use the experience to learn from.  I noticed that I had a wide ability range with certain math concepts that were required by the state standards, so I took each day one step at a time and made sure I was teaching to the students and not the curriculum.  I had to be prepared for teaching the standards in a way that my students would best understand it.  It was something that I really focused my attention to and I know I am a better teacher for it.

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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.

Even before the first day my students walked into the room, I had been trying to collect ideas for how to manage a classroom.  I had read books and attended all of my education classes, but when it came down to it, I was scared.  I knew how important classroom management was and I did not want to mess it up.  On the first day the students had school, we sat in a circle and introduced ourselves and made sure everyone was paying attention to each student.  We tried to make connections from student to student so they could see their similarities and create bonds.  One of the most impressive activities that we did was make a giant heart.  While we were still sitting in a circle, my mentor teacher explained that we all have a heart and feelings.  She told the students that when they say mean things to one another, they hurt their friends and even if they say they’re sorry, they leave a wrinkle on their heart.  Then she instructed each student to say one mean thing, which they could never do again in the classroom, and crinkle a bit of the paper heart.  When we had gone around the whole circle of students, we went around and as each student said they were sorry, she unrolled part of the heart until it was all flat again.  Every student signed the heart to promise that they would respect one another.  This is one excellent example of a way to start respect off strong in the classroom to create a good management plan.

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Instructional Delivery
The teacher understands and uses avariety of instructional stategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.

    I am a pretty animated person once I get past the initial shyness.  I have noticed that I base my enthusiasm off of other people’s reactions.  Once I got into my classroom, I immediately knew I could and should be enthusiastic.  I wanted to use my creativity to help my students experience new things and learn in a variety of ways.  From reading to them with lots of expression to showing them how excited I was when they shared great thoughts with the group, I always tried to be positive and smile.  Luckily this was not very hard for me to do.  I saw right away when I made a difference just by being enthusiastic.  It also pushed me create new ways to motivate my students and generally I did not have to fake being excited about teaching.  Their reactions and growth over the year made it such a worthwhile experience.

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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.

I find myself completely in awe of what my Professional Development School cohort can get accomplished when we work together.  We have the listserv to communicate via email between all of the interns, including the liaisons.  We use it for everything; from questions on homework, great websites we’ve found and reminders for meetings, to what we’re wearing to an educational speaker presentation.  I have done my share of communicating with my peers by presenting information on opportunities for professional development.  Since I was the Vice President for the Student Education Association at Illinois State for part of this year, I had a lot of helpful information.  Whenever I could, I sent out emails with conference and speaker dates, resume critique meetings, or chances to volunteer.

              One of the things my mentor teacher request of me is that I email her a short note about how the day went if she is absent.  This way she knows of any problems that may arise and she can think of what adjustments to make for the following day.  Our emails promote verbal communication and reflection the next day.  The written and verbal communication shared helps both of us accommodate and learn more.

              I also believe it is extremely important to communicate with parents/guardians of my students.  My mentor teacher sends home a weekly newsletter with the students.  It provides important dates and reminders, as well as what we have been up to in the classroom.  One of the parts I noticed was that she regularly includes her contact information.  This is very smart in my opinion because parents are then aware that their child’s teacher encourages communication.  I know I will be incorporating this in my future classroom.  In the meanwhile, I have tried to keep open communication with parents/guardians by sending home two letters letting them know who and I and why I am in the classroom.  I have also included my contact information in case they have any questions or comments.

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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.

With the growing need for data, I have been trying to use as many different assessment strategies as I can.  It has been a difficult part of being a teacher and I am so glad I received lots of guidance from my mentor teacher in this area.  I mostly used the strategies she had already set up for previous years, but I also made sure to conduct my own assessments and tried to include them into lessons as well.  Assessing is still an area that I would like to continue growing in and learning about.  With Response to Intervention becoming more and more prevalent, I realize that it is even more essential that it was in the past.  I have been fortunate enough to be in a school and classroom that are becoming familiar with the process of RTI, so I have seen how much work and data go into it.  I feel that I will not be as shocked when I have my own classroom when it comes time for me to record data because I will already know how time-consuming and exhausting it can be.  I also know I will not be caught with a lack of data since I know how important it is. 

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Collaborative Relationships

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

After this year, I have more than two huge filing cabinets and a brain bursting with ideas.  Of course, I cannot take credit for everything.  I have been gathering ideas, lessons, and materials from my peers in my cohort, my mentor teachers, conferences I attended, and the staff at both schools I student taught in.  I have also realized that my style of teaching is a mix of all of the teachers I have observed throughout the years.  One of the first things I did at Dirksen Primary this year was try to build a relationship with the staff.  Luckily, I had a mentor that had a good relationship with many of the other professionals in the building, so it was easier than I thought.  I feel that I am a very collaborative person and I know when to give credit when it is due, so most people I came across did not mind helping me ideas or materials.  I went in to school each day knowing that I was being watched, but also feeling confident because I knew that since I built those relationships early in the year, I would be supported by them whenever I needed them.  My year in student teaching has been successful and I contribute that to the support and ideas I was given by my mentor teacher and the rest of the staff at Dirksen.

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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.

By nature I am a very reflective person.  I base a lot of my questioning and teaching on the observations I make in my classroom.  It is so essential that teachers start with where their students are and help them grow from there.  If my students are not picking up a concept I am teaching, I will either take more time on it right away, or I will move on to a different subject and take it home to rethink of how I can re-teach that concepts.  I have received many compliments on my ability to reflect in the classroom.  Math is an area that is difficult to teach because parts of it come so naturally to some students and for others it is the complete opposite.  In this subject, I have had the opportunity to reflect as much as possible; both during lessons and after.  Most of the time I will teach the lesson I planned and try to get a feel for how the students are doing with the concept.  If I still have some strugglers, I will either keep them with me longer, or continue teaching them the next day.  Differentiated activities is another way to go about helping both ability groups.  I usually have differentiated workstations or worksheets once I can get everyone to an independent level.  Reflection really does make a big difference in the way I teach.

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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 that learning is a life-long process.  I am still learning new things every day and I make sure that my students understand this, too.  My students know that I have continued my learning by going to classes with my peers and also taking the initiative to attend conferences outside of my Illinois State requirements.  I know that it has been a great experience and advantage for me to attend so many professional growth opportunities. 

I also think that each class is a room full of individuals and I want to teach to all of them.  I will challenge them at their individual levels and I will also give them the tools they need to succeed in life.  Creating a positive classroom environment is also an important philosophy to have in education because students learn best in safe and positive environments.  After reading The First Day of School, by Harry Wong I was determined that my classroom would start the year off right with practicing procedures and creating an environment of respect.  It has made a huge impact on the year because my students are still wonderful to each other for the most part and it is a very friendly and welcoming environment. 

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