Student Teaching Overall Reflection
After creating, writing, reflecting and compiling all of my artifacts for my student teaching folio, I realized the importance of portraying my best exemplars demonstrated in each of the INTASC standards and my teaching practice. Organizing my education assignments for my students was a great experience for me to reflect on my teaching, learning and leading in and out of the classroom. The student teaching folio displays my growth across the spectrum of my pre-teaching courses, teaching assisting and student teaching placement. As I compiled my artifacts, I had gathered and created many valuable materials with educational opportunities for coursework and this helped my student teaching placement at Jenison Jr. High. I found it difficult to decide which exemplar best demonstrated each INTASC standard since I had more work complied during my student teaching. I had multiple lesson plans, assignments, and assessments which matched each of the INTASC standards. Also, I realized how much I have grown as a teacher. I was able to take on all the responsibilities of a teacher and took pride with helping the students reach their full potential in my math classroom. I learned how to receive criticism to help improve my planning and instruction with the focus of engaging students and promote a higher level of learning. I was able to seek assistance from my cooperating teacher, other teachers at the school, and often discussed with other colleagues on how I could improve my teaching practice.
For the “Teaching folder,” I found exemplars which demonstrated my instruction. I looked for exemplars that showed instructional variety and encourage learning environments. I found I integrated various instructional approaches in my lessons help target the students learning styles and welcome them to the learning environment. The students were more engaged in the lessons when they were actively moving. They were given many opportunities to share their thoughts and observations about what they have been exploring throughout the lesson. Also, I learned the importance of creating the learning environment in order to encourage students to take ownership of the learning by making the lessons engaging.
For “Leading,” I realized quickly of how important it is to do a backward design of your unit to match your final summative assessment. I created the pre-test for the unit on properties of fractions and made sure the learning targets matched what the students would be assessed on. This helped me plan various activities and lessons in which would help the students to demonstrate their learning for each learning target. Also, I integrated various formative assessments and questioning to check the students understanding of the content in order to engage the students. I made sure each lesson connected with the previous knowledge and content and invited the students to continue to practice their content. This helped me align the common core standards and displayed my ability to vary my methods of instruction during differentiation instruction. Also, I learned the importance of having strong parent/teacher relationship. I had a strong rapport with the students’ parents who expressed concerns of their child’s education and provided them with resources to help their child in my classroom. I was detailed on the class expectations and responsibilities for their child with their assignments, however, I listened to the parents’ concerns and worked with them to provide their child the best education.
In “Learning,” I looked for exemplars that reflected on my understanding of the learning process and reflective practice. For the Understanding Student Development INTASC standard, I created an assessment in which it matched the learning targets and materials for the unit. The assessments engaged the students in various situations and allowed them to reflect their understanding of properties of fractions and rationales. I understood exactly how the students are evaluated which allowed me to backward design the unit so I could match their assessments with each learning targets from the various activities and notes for my units. This allowed me to decide what activities to do, and how to create other diagnostic and formative assessments before assessing the students on the summative assessment. Also, I learned the importance of self-reflecting and collaboration with my colleagues. I posted daily tweets about how my lessons went as well as talked with other colleagues on how I could improve my teaching practice and gather resources for planning future lessons. This allowed me to connect with other educators and discuss how I could improve my lessons to make them more engaging and meaningful for the students.
For the “In a Democratic Society,” I attended the Fire Up Conference and a Board of Education meeting which was very beneficial for me to be as future educator. I learned that I should attend more professional developments and conferences to learn about different teaching strategies and how to implement them in the classroom. Within the next year, I plan on attending the EdCampOAISD 2015 and the 2015 MCAUL conference to learn from other colleagues on how they run their classroom and implement other teaching/instructional strategies. This will help me improve and grow as an educator. The school board meeting allowed me to see how the community can represent the school district and make decisions for the education of their students to promote learning in the 21st century.
Overall, my teaching experience has been very rewarding and helpful as I continue my teaching journey. The folio has given me an opportunity to reflect on my educational accomplishments during my teaching assisting and student teaching semesters. I have learned how to organize and format my folio to showcase my educational accomplishments. My student teaching folio will demonstrate my understanding of education to future employers and other educators. This experience has given me an opportunity to self-reflect on my understanding of teaching practice and philosophy as well as show how I can challenge myself to become a better math teacher in and out of the class environment. As I continue to work towards my professional in education, I will continue to grow as teacher and individual. I will challenge myself with new experience and opportunities in order to enhance my education, especially helping out in my schools community and attending professional development/conferences to enhance my understanding of the teaching profession and learning new strategies to create the learning environment in my classroom which welcomes every student to learn.
For the “Teaching folder,” I found exemplars which demonstrated my instruction. I looked for exemplars that showed instructional variety and encourage learning environments. I found I integrated various instructional approaches in my lessons help target the students learning styles and welcome them to the learning environment. The students were more engaged in the lessons when they were actively moving. They were given many opportunities to share their thoughts and observations about what they have been exploring throughout the lesson. Also, I learned the importance of creating the learning environment in order to encourage students to take ownership of the learning by making the lessons engaging.
For “Leading,” I realized quickly of how important it is to do a backward design of your unit to match your final summative assessment. I created the pre-test for the unit on properties of fractions and made sure the learning targets matched what the students would be assessed on. This helped me plan various activities and lessons in which would help the students to demonstrate their learning for each learning target. Also, I integrated various formative assessments and questioning to check the students understanding of the content in order to engage the students. I made sure each lesson connected with the previous knowledge and content and invited the students to continue to practice their content. This helped me align the common core standards and displayed my ability to vary my methods of instruction during differentiation instruction. Also, I learned the importance of having strong parent/teacher relationship. I had a strong rapport with the students’ parents who expressed concerns of their child’s education and provided them with resources to help their child in my classroom. I was detailed on the class expectations and responsibilities for their child with their assignments, however, I listened to the parents’ concerns and worked with them to provide their child the best education.
In “Learning,” I looked for exemplars that reflected on my understanding of the learning process and reflective practice. For the Understanding Student Development INTASC standard, I created an assessment in which it matched the learning targets and materials for the unit. The assessments engaged the students in various situations and allowed them to reflect their understanding of properties of fractions and rationales. I understood exactly how the students are evaluated which allowed me to backward design the unit so I could match their assessments with each learning targets from the various activities and notes for my units. This allowed me to decide what activities to do, and how to create other diagnostic and formative assessments before assessing the students on the summative assessment. Also, I learned the importance of self-reflecting and collaboration with my colleagues. I posted daily tweets about how my lessons went as well as talked with other colleagues on how I could improve my teaching practice and gather resources for planning future lessons. This allowed me to connect with other educators and discuss how I could improve my lessons to make them more engaging and meaningful for the students.
For the “In a Democratic Society,” I attended the Fire Up Conference and a Board of Education meeting which was very beneficial for me to be as future educator. I learned that I should attend more professional developments and conferences to learn about different teaching strategies and how to implement them in the classroom. Within the next year, I plan on attending the EdCampOAISD 2015 and the 2015 MCAUL conference to learn from other colleagues on how they run their classroom and implement other teaching/instructional strategies. This will help me improve and grow as an educator. The school board meeting allowed me to see how the community can represent the school district and make decisions for the education of their students to promote learning in the 21st century.
Overall, my teaching experience has been very rewarding and helpful as I continue my teaching journey. The folio has given me an opportunity to reflect on my educational accomplishments during my teaching assisting and student teaching semesters. I have learned how to organize and format my folio to showcase my educational accomplishments. My student teaching folio will demonstrate my understanding of education to future employers and other educators. This experience has given me an opportunity to self-reflect on my understanding of teaching practice and philosophy as well as show how I can challenge myself to become a better math teacher in and out of the class environment. As I continue to work towards my professional in education, I will continue to grow as teacher and individual. I will challenge myself with new experience and opportunities in order to enhance my education, especially helping out in my schools community and attending professional development/conferences to enhance my understanding of the teaching profession and learning new strategies to create the learning environment in my classroom which welcomes every student to learn.