Final Reflection

When I first applied to be a student teacher, my teaching philosophy was the following: All students should have an equal opportunity to learn to the best of their abilities in a student-centered, constructivist classroom environment.  After student teaching, I am happy to say that this is still my philosophy.  What I have learned is that this is easier said than done.  Giving every student an equal opportunity to learn can be quite difficult when you have 30 students in your classroom and each of them has different needs. Not to mention that this is only one of your 6 classes, resulting in a total of roughly 180 students, and they are all unique individuals who have different needs to thrive in your classroom.

One of the best ways that I have found to handle this is to give as many outlets to show learning as I possibly can.  Some students can show their learning well through a quiz, but others might need an essay, or a conversation.  Some students thrive during groupwork, others like to work on their own, and some prefer to listen to the teacher talk through class.  During my student teaching, I have given my English students many different outlets to show their learning because I know that just because one student doesn’t do well on a quiz doesn’t mean that they haven’t learned the material.  I think that this way of handling a classroom really helps each student have an equal opportunity to learn, without putting undue stress on the teacher.

I feel that two of my student teaching goals fall under the category of giving students an equal opportunity to learn: to exercise patience when dealing with students who do not listen well, and to be willing to deviate from the plan when students need specific help. Though these are both goals that I will continue to work towards throughout my teaching career, I feel that I have gained valuable perspective and experience with both during the last 3 months of my student teaching. As my relationships with my students have grown, so has my willingness to put myself in their shoes and understand where they are coming from.

The last goal I had for my student teaching was to plan and implement assessments that match the learning targets for any given lesson.  I feel like I have come far in this area, but still have some work to do.  When planning lessons, I often decide the assessments before I decide the learning targets, so they both match up, but I haven’t planned an assessment for the learning target. I could still use some work in this area, but I’m confident that as I plan more lessons, my skills will become better and better.

My cooperating teacher said something at the beginning of this semester that has stuck with me: yes, it is our job to teach students how to write an essay, take a test, analyze a novel, and so on, but all of these responsibilities are secondary.  It is our primary job to teach students how to be good people.  My educational experience over the last 4 years has shown me the same thing.  As teachers, we should take care of our students and help them grow as individuals.  Not much has changed about my teaching philosophy, but I wish to add two words to try and encompass that sentiment: All students should have an equal opportunity to learn and grow to the best of their abilities in a student-centered, constructivist classroom environment.

Video Critique 2

Video Critque

What are my strengths?

While I am reading to the class, I speak loudly and clearly so everyone can hear. I do the same when I am giving directions to students. A lot of the time I walk around the classroom to check on how students are doing while they are having group discussions or doing individual work. I am there to answer questions when they are asked. Students are quiet and respectful while I am talking, and if they aren't I wait for them to stop talking and don't just talk over them. While I am reading, students are following along in the book even when I am not watching them.

In what areas do I need to improve my instructional delivery?

For the first half of class, I am sitting down on a stool at the front of the classroom. This is fine while I am reading to the class, but I give them a few instructions without standing first, and I think it is easier to ignore the instructions of a teacher who is sitting than one who is standing. I start standing while giving instructions during the second half of class. Students were chatting while they were getting out their books; this causes the transition to move slowly and wastes instructional time. While I am reading to the class, I am often fidgeting with my feet or putting my hair behind my ears. Although most students are looking at their books and not at me, this could be distracting to them.

How will I improve my teaching effectiveness?

When everyone goes around the room and says a word about how they are feeling, I noticed that it is almost impossible to hear them at the back of the classroom. If I did this lesson or one like it again, I would have everyone stand in a circle facing each other to say those words, that way it would be easier to hear everyone speak.I should make sure that I am always standing while giving instructions, so that students know to pay attention. I will try to stop fidgeting while I am at the front of the classroom. I hope to find a way to improve transition time so it doesn't waste so much time in between activities.

Lesson Plan:

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 21 and Iceberg Activity

Learning Targets:

• Students can understand that multiple factors influence decisions.
• Students can recall important historical information that influences the plot of TKAM.
• Students can understand the reason that Tom Robinson was convicted.

10 minutes Journal: Oftentimes, there are many different factors leading up to one decision. Write about a time you made a particular choice that was greatly influenced by multiple factors. What were they? Would an outsider be able to tell all the reasons you made the choice you did? What factors could have led you to make a different choice? Example: When I graduated from high school, I chose to go to college in Missoula. This was influenced by multiple factors: the school I really wanted to go to I couldn’t afford without student loans, I got a scholarship if I stayed in Montana, I didn’t want to go to Bozeman because it was too close to my parents, UM has a good English program, one of my best friends was already in Missoula, part of me was afraid to move too far away from my family, etc.

Read: chapter 21 to class. (30 minutes)

Journal: After reading, students should take about 5 minutes to reflect in journals about their thoughts and feelings about the outcome of the trial. Then, circle 2-3 words in their reflection that capture their feelings about the outcome of the trial.Share: Go around the classroom and each student will share one word that sums up their feelings about the outcome of the trial.
Iceberg Activity:

Draw iceberg on board. In the tip, write the following questions: What happened? What choices were made in this situation? By whom? Who was affected? When did it happen? Where did it happen?

Explain that an iceberg is bigger below the surface of the water. Say that the facts about the trial outcome that they write in this section are things that the public can see.

Handout iceberg diagram and ask students to list everything they know about the facts of the trial outcome in the "tip" area of the iceberg. They should answer the questions written on the board. (5 minutes).

At tables, students should share what they have written in the tip of the iceberg.

Now explain that what is below the surface of the water can be much more influential that what is on the tip. These are things that the public cannot "see" that influenced the outcome of the trial.

Write the following questions below the surface of the water: "What factors influenced the particular choices made by the individuals and groups involved in this event?"

Ask students to think about what caused the outcome. Factors might include events from the past (i.e. the great depression, jim crow laws, segregation) or aspects of human behavior (fear, obedience to authority, conformity, opportunism). Students should work on these alone for 5 minutes, then work together with their tables for an additional 5 minutes.

Ask for some answers to write on the board.

Assessment: Exit Ticket: How does the information in the iceberg help you better understand why Tom Robinson was convicted?

Assessed Samples of Student Work

For my pre-assessment tool, I decided to give my sophomore English students a timed writing sample before I instructed them on timed writing. For this sample, I asked students to answer the question “Should our high school transition to wall-to-wall career academies?”. I gave them a brief explanation of what wall-to-wall career academies were, as well as showing them a short video. Then I provided them with a rubric for their writing sample, the prompt, and 20 minutes to write an essay.

Rubric for Timed Essays

The following is a sample of one of my student’s writing for this pre-assessment. I will refer to this student as Student A from now on.

Student A Pre-Assessment Writing Sample

 When I graded these pre-assessments, I looked for the following skills:
• Ability to develop a thesis that makes a claim
 • Consistent argument throughout writing
 • Two or more reasons that student made the claim they did
• Evidence (logic and reasoning) to support their reasons
• A conclusion that wraps up the paper and restates the claim
• Logical organization and the use of paragraphs and transition sentences
• Correct grammar and sentence structure

Looking at Student A’s writing sample, I determined that they made a claim, “a wall to wall academy is not a good idea for the students.” This claim answered the question in the prompt and took a side on the argument, but it was not a developed “thesis” that gave the reader a glimpse into what the paper would be talking about. Student A had a consistent argument throughout the writing that all focused around the fact that career academies would not be good for the students. They gave three reasons why they thought that career academies should not be put into place at the school, and included logic and reasoning based on these reasons. The conclusion was not well-developed, simply stating: “these 3 reasons are why I don’t think [our school] should have wall to wall academys.” Even though this conclusion restated the claim, it was vague and did not leave a strong impression on the reader (it is possible that the student ran out of time to finish the conclusion). The organization of this paper was mostly logical, but the first reason was in the same paragraph as the introduction instead of starting a new paragraph, and transition sentences were only in some places. Student A had many grammar mistakes, including misspellings and not capitalizing the first word of each sentence, but their sentence structure was well done. This student earned a 3 out of 4 on the rubric for their timed response. I determined that Student A’s areas of need were: writing a thesis, writing a conclusion, organization and transition sentences, and grammar.

 After reviewing all of the students’ essays, I chose to teach them something called the ABCD Method of Attacking a Prompt, a strategy for timed writing. This strategy provided simple ways to decipher what a prompt was asking of you, brainstorm possible answers, make an outline for your response, and then proofread what you have written.

ABCD Timed Writing Strategies

Below are the Standards for this lesson.

College and Career Readiness Standards for Writing:

• W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. 
• W.9-10.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 
• W.9-10.10: Write routinely over extended time frames or shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. 

For the post-assessment, I slightly altered the same prompt, asking students to: Consider the advantages and disadvantages of switching to career academies, then make a claim about whether or not [our school] would benefit from having wall-to-wall academies. Support your claim with logic and reasoning.

Because students were given the same amount of time, but now had more tools to work through their pre-writing process, most students were not able to completely finish their writing in the time allotted. The following is Student A’s post-assessment writing sample.

Student A's Post-Assessment Timed Writing

Student A's Post-Assessment Brainstorming

Reflection: 
I believe that the lesson I taught between assessments was very helpful for students to organize their thinking and improve their timed writing strategies. I wish that I had given students more time to work through their post-assessment writing, and I will be going back with them to give them more time to finish their responses. I think that giving them a timed writing sample without teaching them first was a good idea, as I was able to measure what skills they came into the classroom with and determine what they needed to know. Because of this, I will be able to make small groups for working on specific goals so that not everyone has to learn all of the same things if some students have already mastered the skill. Going forward, I would like to spend more time teaching thesis strategies to my students, as well as teaching them the skills to take the strategies they have learned for writing timed essays and adapt those for essays that require outside research and revision.