Characteristics

"We believe the novice teacher should be an effective communicator. "

To me, Characteristic2, means a teacher is an effective communicator amongst students, colleagues, parents and the community. Communication takes on the role of a variety of forms. A teacher needs to be aware of and be effective communicating across various outlets, body language, technology, conversations, instruction, and discussion. It is imperative the teacher is an effective communicator with all entities involved in the school to make the school run as effectively and successfully as possible.

For this characteristic, I could use a couple different artifacts. First, my inquiry this semester is focused on questioning techniques. Depending on the outcome of my inquiry, I may be able to use my final paper that shows the effects questioning techniques can have on students understanding and engagements. I could also use the parent communication project for Educ 401. I developed this website, for a pre-k classroom, and I plan on using it next semester during my student teaching. This website may be the best artifact to use for this characteristic as it shows my communication to parents through the use of technology. You can visit the website by clicking here.

"We believe the novice teacher should have in-depth knowledge of content. "

To me, Characteristic 6, means demonstrating an in-depth knowledge of content through the institutional strategies, classroom management, lesson plans, and conversations. Having an in-depth knowledge is critical  in the planning and delivery of the content material to the students, in order to allow them to grown and learn in the most effective manner.


For this characteristic there are a few artifacts that I could use to illustrate my knowledge of content. I have a literacy unit, art unit, and science learning cycle that would demonstrate my understanding of content and scope and sequence. I also have some pre-k lessons that I developed my tutor year that may also be appropriate to use because pre-k is my specialization. My plan and my goal is for this characteristic to use a unit that I will be developing my intern year. Next year, I am in a pre-k class, so using an unit that shows scope and sequence, and my knowledge of content and pre-k strategies and design may be the most meaningful and most effective to use to illustrate this characteristic.

Practicum Plan Reflection

My learning goals for this semester included:
1. multiple video taping of lessons and analysis
2. continued use of SmartBoard
3. Continued practice of detailed lessons
4. Continued practice of differentiation

So far, I feel I have hit most strongly on using the SmartBoard and creating detailed lessons. I have found myself using the SmartBoard on almost a daily basis and I have had more time and opportunity to sit down and play with the SmartBoard to discover everything it can do! I want to continue this usage and really incorporate more of its interactive features during my 2-week teaching period. I have also been creating detailed lessons. This is another aspect that I will continue to work on throughout the reminder of the time.

I have not video-taped multiple lessons for analysis yet. I was originally planning to video tape all lessons, but I  now realize realistically for my purposes, video taping during the 2 week period from my own lesson plans will be the most beneficial. During this 2 week period, my goal is to obtain videos that are reflective of my educational philoshopy and videos that will provide me data towards inquiry of how questioning levels can affect understanding and engagement.

I also have not been as successful differentiating lessons as I was last semester. I think the road block for this, is because most of the lessons I've been teaching have been whole group oral discussions. I am hoping that during my two week period, I can modify and adjust the lessons to be more easily differentiated, as there are a few students, both lower and higher,  who would greatly benefit from differentiation.

As I look over my calendar of the practicum plan, I am pleased to see I am up-to-date and have been able to complete all assignments on task and I am staying ahead by planning in advance and working on projects as time allows. I believe my pre-planning has really helped me to stay organized and to be successful this semester!

I am looking forward to my two-week teaching time from my own plans and I am working to develop these lesson plans in a manner that will allow me to accomplish all of my learning goals!