4a: Reflecting on Teaching
Reflecting on teaching has always been important to me and my career. I view it as an opportunity to constantly be challenging myself to look back on my lessons and make sure they are meeting my students' needs. When they are not, I am careful to make the necessary changes in order to best teach my students.
This past school year I have been very lucky when it comes to being able to reflect on my teaching, in that I had several people willing to come in and observe how I teach. My clinical coach, Amy, was able to observe me on multiple occasions and across many subjects. Amy H., a Math Curriculum coach, came in as part of our new teacher training to observe me in both math and language arts. Finally, my principal, Chad, was able to come in several times as well and provide me with feedback on my teaching.
All these different people gave me great insight on my teaching strategies and what I do in front of the classroom. Hearing from so many different backgrounds of people also provided me with great resources and ideas that I normally wouldn't have gone looking for myself.
In the future, I hope to continue to be observed, especially by my principals, but also by other coaches and curriculum specialists as I strive to create a fun, nurturing environment in my classroom where the maximum amount of learning can take place.
Reflecting on teaching has always been important to me and my career. I view it as an opportunity to constantly be challenging myself to look back on my lessons and make sure they are meeting my students' needs. When they are not, I am careful to make the necessary changes in order to best teach my students.
This past school year I have been very lucky when it comes to being able to reflect on my teaching, in that I had several people willing to come in and observe how I teach. My clinical coach, Amy, was able to observe me on multiple occasions and across many subjects. Amy H., a Math Curriculum coach, came in as part of our new teacher training to observe me in both math and language arts. Finally, my principal, Chad, was able to come in several times as well and provide me with feedback on my teaching.
All these different people gave me great insight on my teaching strategies and what I do in front of the classroom. Hearing from so many different backgrounds of people also provided me with great resources and ideas that I normally wouldn't have gone looking for myself.
In the future, I hope to continue to be observed, especially by my principals, but also by other coaches and curriculum specialists as I strive to create a fun, nurturing environment in my classroom where the maximum amount of learning can take place.
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| Artifact 1: Math Observation by Clinical Coach, Amy Adams. April 2014 |
4b: Maintaining Accurate Records
Maintaining accurate records as a teacher is imperative to the continued success as a teacher and the continued success of my students. Being able to look back across a quarter or semester of information and see where my students have struggled or excelled has greatly improved my ability to adjust my instruction so that my students are able to excel.
One of the several ways I kept accurate records was through my homework check system. In order to save me the frustration of going through mounds of paperwork looking for one student's assignment that was accidentally turned into the wrong basket, I have students hold up their work at the start of each lesson and I quickly go around to check for accuracy and completion. I then have the students turn it in to me to give it a closer look and give them a grade. This double-check of their work has allowed me to quickly get back to students who are not getting work done, and keep them caught up in their school work. The checklist I use for this system is pictured in the artifact below.
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| Artifact 2: Checklist for Quarter 4. April 2014 |
Another way I keep track is by having a list at the start of each quarter of what I will need to collect as examples of student work for report cards. This allows me to remind students which projects are very important for their grades (although I always tell them all are important) and what I need to keep neatly filed for the end of the quarter when doing report cards.
In the future, I hope to continue evolving my practices in keeping accurate records, and to always be searching for new ways to help keep my classroom and student work organized and checked.
4c: Communicating with Families
Communicating with families as a teacher is essential in any teaching position. Educating children is a very important job and keeping your students' families up to date on what's going on in the classroom is very important, especially to parents.
One of the main forms of communication I use with parents is email. I have found email to be an extremely useful resource as I am able to keep a close record of what is said in conversations, and can refer back to it at any time. I send my newsletters and any other reminders through email as it is my classroom's main form of communication with my families. At the start of the year, I had one family that did not have access to a computer, and I adjusted my form of communication with them to be letters sent home with the student to ensure that his family was getting the same information as the rest of my class.
Two other ways I communicate with parents is through an app called Class Dojo, which I have referenced in other domains. This is a great way for parents to quickly see how their student is doing with behavior in my class on a day-to-day basis. The second way is through an app called Remind101. This is a web app that texts family short and brief messages to use as reminders. I have not used this app strongly this year as many of my families did not sign up when I sent the information home, but I plan in the future to use it much more heavily.
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| Artifact 3: Sample Newsletter sent as an email at the end of March. March 2014 |
4d: Contributing to the School and District
Over the course of this year, I have had the opportunity to work with several different educators and professionals. Many of whom have been a great resource for me to go to and get more information from. The beautiful part of these relationships is that they were definitely one-sided at first, with others giving me all the resources and information at the beginning. Over the course of the school year however, these relationships changed to two-sided where my colleagues were coming to me for help and advice. I believe this speaks numbers to the district where I am employed in that people working here are not too proud to accept help from novice teachers.
Another way I have been able to contribute to my school especially is through attending and being a part of the PBIS committee at my school. In this committee, the team brainstormed and implemented ideas for behavior rewards and prizes or assemblies which would help the school overall in improving behavior and helping form all the students into a cohesive team. In this team, I helped out by carrying out ideas, leading sub-committees in implementing ideas, and contributed to discussions.
In the future, I hope to be part of more committees, especially ones like PBIS, in order to help my school and make a fun place to be!
4e: Growing and Developing Professionally
Being a second year teacher, with the first year being in preschool, I have been on a constant cycle of growing and developing as a professional. I have learned so much in the past two years, it's amazing I'm able to remember most of it at all! Most of my growing and developing as a professional is not quantifiable. I have been able to grow professionally from conversations, emails, material passing hands, and on-the-job learning. I can't imagine a better way to learn.
Another way I have been able to grow as a professional is through enrolling in a large number of workshops and symposiums where I was able to learn from other professionals, sometimes in much different fields from me, and adjust my instruction to take on a more whole-world view.
The artifact below is evidence of my enrollment in a wide range of different course which have helped to further my education as a teacher and which have given me a much better perspective as an educator. In the future, I hope to continue taking a wide array of workshops to further my abilities as a teacher and professional.
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| Artifact 4: PDExpress list of workshops completed and enrolled. Apr. 2014 |
4f: Showing Professionalism
Showing professionalism is a teacher's paramount concern, after educating students. At all times, teachers must show a composure and respect that is unlike any other profession. I was raised to grant everyone respect and empathy as a rule, and that has definitely transferred into my career as a teacher. I realize that no matter where I am, I should be displaying the same types of behaviors I expect and respect in others. Things such as punctuality, listening, respectfulness, responsibility, and concern for others safety.
This past year, I believe I have fulfilled all these things by showing up to meetings on time, listening to my students and colleagues in meetings and in the classroom, completing tasks asked of me in a timely manner, and completing them to the point where I am proud of my work, and showing concern over matters of personal feelings and safety.
As a teacher, and unlike most other jobs, we are constantly in the public's eye. When we are out in public, teachers are constantly under the microscope. We have the potential to be seen by students, parents of students, parents of students in the school we work at, colleagues, principals, administrators, etc. Teachers must remember to show composure and professionalism at all times when in public and to accept responsibility for actions.
In the future, I believe I will continue to do an excellent job at showing professionalism and only get better at it as time passes.
Showing professionalism is a teacher's paramount concern, after educating students. At all times, teachers must show a composure and respect that is unlike any other profession. I was raised to grant everyone respect and empathy as a rule, and that has definitely transferred into my career as a teacher. I realize that no matter where I am, I should be displaying the same types of behaviors I expect and respect in others. Things such as punctuality, listening, respectfulness, responsibility, and concern for others safety.
This past year, I believe I have fulfilled all these things by showing up to meetings on time, listening to my students and colleagues in meetings and in the classroom, completing tasks asked of me in a timely manner, and completing them to the point where I am proud of my work, and showing concern over matters of personal feelings and safety.
As a teacher, and unlike most other jobs, we are constantly in the public's eye. When we are out in public, teachers are constantly under the microscope. We have the potential to be seen by students, parents of students, parents of students in the school we work at, colleagues, principals, administrators, etc. Teachers must remember to show composure and professionalism at all times when in public and to accept responsibility for actions.
In the future, I believe I will continue to do an excellent job at showing professionalism and only get better at it as time passes.
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