Assess your progress to date according to Danielson's 4 domains. Discuss both gains and areas still in need of improvement for each domain. Be critically self-reflective!
As far as progress in Danielson's 4 domains at my field placement, the areas I have developed in most are Domain 1: Planning and Preparation and Domain 3: Instruction. In doing a lesson plan two weeks ago, I had to prepare and type up a lesson plan for my cooperating teacher and supervisor. I have made most gains in instruction because I am doing some sort of teaching each placement and I am learning how to be better at engaging students in lessons and communicating to the students clearly. Although I have experience in Planning and Preparation and Instruction, I realize that I can still make gains in those areas. Domain 2: Classroom Environment was touched on a bit during the big lesson plan I taught two weeks ago and during the small lessons I have done recently. Managing the materials and student behavior and creating an environment of respect is important to me when I am working with the students. Keeping the students on task and showing my respect towards them typically causes them to have respect towards me. There are other components of the domain I need more experience and improvement on. Professional Responsibilities, which is Domain 4, is what I have had least experience in. After I teach each day, I reflect on my teaching and what I could improve on, which is component 4a of the domain, but other than that, I have not had any contact with the students families or any professional responsibilities other than planning lessons. As the year goes on, hopefully I will make gains in all of the domains, but especially in classroom environment and professional responsibilities.
For the domains I would say like Cristen, I have developed in Domain 1 and 3 as well. I have been consistently working on these two domains, planning and preparation and instruction. Each week,I have taught small group lessons as well as been involved with the whole group. When I was observed a few weeks ago, I focused on small group instruction, therefore for my next observation, I will be teaching to the entire group. Teaching lessons, goes along with domain 1 planning and preparation because the lessons that I am instruction are thoughtfully planned by me with the help of my co-op weekly.
I have not personally worked on classroom management yet, however I have noticed some things about how and where the students are placed. Six students that need assistance and need to be reminded of what is going on in class and so forth sit right across the front of the room. Also, some are paired together to help eachother as well, they act as "buddies" for each other. Professional responsibilities is what I have had the least experience with thus far. I have reflected on my teaching and recieved feedback from my teacher after each lesson that I have taught. Also, I have been included in an IEP meeting for one student. That was very interesting, just to be a part of a real meeting and listen to all the different things that need to be discussed. Also, today was a partial in service day where the teachers had to attend an informational meeting about Autism. A woman came to speak to us from the IU 13. It was very informational and helpful because there are a lot of students at my school that are on the Autism Spectrum. As this year progresses, I hope to become more proficient in all 4 domains!
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation I feel that I have been able to gain more experience in this area and that I have been able to become more confident in myself as a teacher. Every week I work with the students during their literacy centers. I work with them at either the game center or the guided reading center. Each week I become more and more confident and I am able to adapt how I approach the lesson each time a new group of students arrives at my center. I have taught one formal lesson so far and it went very well. Every week I feel very prepared and confident about the lesson that I have planned. However, there are two things that I feel I need a lot of practice with: wait time and being a good teacher model. I try very hard to make sure that all of the students that I am working with at the time are fully grasping what I am teaching them. However, all of the students are so different and I have been finding it hard to do this without leaving the lowest students behind and moving on. I also need to become a better teacher model. Whenever I am doing a read aloud I feel that when I think aloud that it seems very forced and fake. I also think that I rush through think alouds and I assume that the children know what I am saying.
Domain 2: Classroom Environment I feel that I have been doing my best in this area. Since I am not student teaching I know that I have less authority in the classroom and I do not want to overstep my boundaries. However, I am aloud to have students "pull cards" (the teachers form of punishment/a reprimand) if I feel that a child's behavior merits one. I think that I will be able to grow in this area of Danielson's Domains once I am a student teacher and I have more authority in the classroom. I do think that the students are comfortable with me. They will come to me if they are upset about something and talk to me as they do their regular classroom teacher.
Domain 3: Instruction As I said in Domain 1, I feel that I have been planning and instructing lessons to the best of my ability. I am able to adapt my lessons if I see that the students are struggling or if I feel that what I am working on is too easy for the students. I am aware that in my daily life I can speak very quickly (so quickly that my family and closest friends cannot understand me sometimes), becasue of this I am always conscious of how fast I am speaking and I try very hard to monitor this and slow myself down if need be. I also try very hard to use other forms of praise rather than just the same old "good job."
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities I try to present myself in a very professional manner. This means that I am conscious of how I am dressed, how I carry myself, and the general "vibe" that I am giving to others. I make sure that I am always on time and that I am well prepared. However, as I am not a teacher with my own classroom I am not yet able to grow when it comes to communicating with families or keeping accurate records of students. I am not concerned about these areas because I know that I will have a lot of experience with them when I am student teaching and when I am teaching throughout my career.
I have made progress in planning and preparation. Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to look over some of my co-ops lesson plans to see how she organizes her materials and prepares for a lesson. When she wants me to teach either small or whole group instruction for math or reading, she gives me all of the materials in the morning so I have an opportunity to familiarize myself with the materials and prepare any examples that are needed. I still have a lot of room for improvement, but I am glad I have this experience to show me how to prepare a lesson.
When it comes to classroom environment, I still am not fully confident in how I will manage my classroom or set up everything in the room. During the classroom management course, we were taught various methods and told to pick one that we feel would be the most effective in our classroom and works with our teaching style. In small group instruction, I work with a group of students who display off task behaviors. I am getting better at finding ways to keep them on track, but I still feel that I could make significant improvements in this area with more experience being in front of the class.
When I am working with small groups, I feel very comfortable. I enjoy working with the students and encouraging them to answer their own questions. I feel that the group work usually runs smoothly and the task gets accomplished. I taught a mini lesson in math as well. I feel that it could have flowed a little better, so hopefully with more experience I will get a better idea of how to blend activities together.
To remain professional, I make sure I am always there on time and keep my co-op up to date with the assignments I need to complete. As others have mentioned, once we are teachers, our professional responsibilities will be much greater when it comes to working with families and the district. I feel comfortable with the tasks my co-op asks me to complete throughout the day, but I have not had the opportunity to observe or participate in some of the responsibilities of a teacher.
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation I have gotten a lot of opportunities that fall into this domain so far this semester. Aside from the weekly lesson preparations I have been able to help develop the monthly newsletter, give my input on lesson ideas, develop ideas for bulletin boards, and help manage student materials. Even though I have gotten a lot of experience up to this point, I am looking forward to growing in this area.
Domain 2: Classroom Environment This domain is the one I have had the least experience in this semester. I try my best to develop a good rapport with the students and earn their trust. I try to keep the students on task but do not want to push the limit as far as disciplining the students. I hope to get more experience in this domain in the upcoming sessions.
Domain 3: Instruction I have gotten a lot of opportunities to teach the past few weeks, mostly in small reading groups. I feel I have done a good job adapting my lessons and helping the students make connections with the material. I was observed this week which gave me some good insight on aspects of my teaching that I can work on. I would like to get into more full class teaching in the coming weeks. Each week I am looking to improve and modify my instruction in order to grow.
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities Much like Kristen said above, I try to represent myself and Elizabethtown College in a very professional manner every week in the classroom. I make sure I am prepared for the upcoming lessons, dress appropriately, and interact with peers in a professional manner. I have had the fortune of interacting with parents in a few conferences earlier in the year. Without having my own classroom it is difficult to get exposure to all the aspects of these domains. Saying that, I look to capitalize on all the opportunities that are given to me and hope to grow in all four of these domains.
Planning and Preparation- I am currently planning my first official lesson plan as I will be teaching a literacy lesson under observation on Thursday, March 25. I will be using a lesson plan format I used in the past because I feel most comfortable with it. Also, my teacher told me to use any format that I want. I have taught a few lessons to the entire class during this placement, but they have been on the spot instruction for which I had no time to prepare. I am planning for a few small formative assessment activities to judge how well the students understood my lesson, and I am attempting to make the experience as coherent and fluid as possible. I do not really know how much is too much to plan with young children, and wonder if they will be successful with the activities that I am planning.
The Classroom Environment- I am getting to know the children better and feel that the respect between us is growing. I understand the flow of the classroom and of a typical day, for the most part. I am still having some classroom management difficulties when I am in charge of a lesson. (Then again, so was my cooperating teacher on Thursday. I think the nice weather made the children excited and they had a difficult time focusing all day!) I hope it rains next week when I am teaching!!!
Instruction- I have taken part in mostly small group instruction and activities. However, I think my questioning skills are strong, and making my best attempt to engage the students in the learning process. When the children are focused on the lesson, we have quality discussions and they have good understanding of the material. I think the key to teaching first graders is being flexible and well prepared. They tire of things so quickly that over preparation is a must.
Professional Responsibilities- I have been diligent in keeping good notes on my experiences and writing anecdotal records on my student for my case study. I have participated in two parent conferences, and led one of them. My teacher requires me to keep a classroom journal in which we communicate back and forth weekly. It is a great tool for asking questions, asking for assistance and reflecting. It forces me to evaluate each week's visit. Additionally, I am always prompt, professionally dressed, cordial, and eager to learn and take part in all class activities.
I feel I have been doing well in Domain 1, but there is still so much more to learn. Weekly, I help to teach math and small groups in reading. I have to plan and prep for each week to meet specific student’s needs. In the beginning it was scary, but now I am pretty comfortable going up to the front of the room just because or helping a student out with anything. One thing I need to work on is my questioning. After doing a teacher model, or explaining something, I usually assume by judging the student’s faces or reactions if they got it or not. I have to learn more techniques in questioning so I can better understand what the students didn’t understand and what to work on next. I think that now I am doing well in preparing myself for the day. On Thursday, I was thrown into a lesson that I had never seen the students work on. I had no idea what I was supposed to teach or what I was supposed to say. I stayed calm and worked through it. My teacher said it was really well done. I attribute this to the weeks of planning and prep that I realized it wasn’t such a big deal, and if I didn’t remain cool and collected, the student’s would have noticed.
I sometimes feel restricted in this area. Since this is not my classroom, I know that I don’t really have the authority to change things around or to do things my own way, but it is certainly frustrating sometimes. My teacher doesn’t want me to call students by random, she has a number system where she calls out their number instead. I think this is less impersonal, but again, it’s not my classroom. Once I am in my own classroom, I feel as though I will better understand this domain and be able to meet my student’s needs. I do believe that I am finally a figure in the classroom that the student’s can approach. In the beginning weeks, I am sure that the student’s saw me as just a person who was hanging out in the back of the classroom, but now I feel as though I have a role and belong. My student’s now approach me and tell me what I missed since last Thursday, and joke with me. It’s nice to have a great rapport with my students, it makes all of our lives easier that we all get along.
It’s sometimes hard to plan around basals or scripted lessons, but I am doing the best that I can. I try and use my time observing to better myself in front of the classroom. I can observe my students during the day, and touch on what it seems they don’t understand. With the scripted math program we have, I try and use my own wording so that the student’s can understand. I adapt the lesson so that they are more involved in the lesson by coming up and writing on the board, rather than watching me teach them from their seats. I love the times where I can have the students in small groups. I can understand them better and sitting at a small round table with them gives off a more comfortable feel. The students seem like they speak more and are comfortable talking to me. Sometimes they get excited and get off topic, but I gently push it back to instruction. As Kristen said, I definitely have to learn new ways of praise rather than “Awesome, great .. etc” I feel as though I overuse them, and they don’t hold much meaning anymore. Each week of instruction gets me ready for the full two weeks.
I feel as though even before coming into the classroom, my teacher made it known to the students that I was a teacher. It’s much easier that they look at me as another teacher in the classroom, rather than a college student. I feel as though I carry myself in a professional manner. I try and keep to myself during the lunch time student tear down, and do not allow myself to talk about the students in the class. I always try to be on time and ask if there is anything else that I can do. I have not communicated with any of the parents of my students, but I hope to grow in that area during student teaching, and I am sure when I have my own classroom that there will be plenty of time to practice.
I think I have the most experience in Instruction and Classroom Environment. Every week I instruct several small groups in reading or math skills and in guided reading lessons. I also often lead the whole class when we play a math game on the smartboard. As I became more familiar with the rules and routines I'm more comfortable with enforcing them. Miss Pagana is very clear with the students that I'm in charge along with her and students are very responsive when I discipline them.
I haven't done a lot of Planning and Preparation yet. I help Miss Pagana a little but I have a full math lesson coming up and I think there will be more opportunities for planning coming up soon. The past couple weeks I've done a little bit more in Professional Responsibilities. We took the kids to the pet store on a field trip on Thursday which showed me a different set of professional responsibilities. It was great getting that kind of experience. Again, I think I'll be getting more opportunities to improve professional responsibilities as I will with planning and preparation.
Over the last couple of weeks I feel like I have had a lot of experience in the four domains.
Planning and Preparation: I have worked with Mrs. Ober almost every week planning lessons that I could teach. We use special, recess, and lunch to go over the materials I need for the following week's lesson. I like that Mrs. Ober does not have me do lessons on the spot. I feel more confortable when I have time to plan the lesson and then implement it. She is very helpful with resources also, she is constantly allowing me to use flip charts for the smart board, check out books in the school library, and reccomend internet sites.
Classroom Enviornment: I feel like I am adjusting well to the classroom enviornment. The students are becoming more confortable asking me questions instead of Mrs. Ober and they show me respect for the most part. I think it is hardest to experience your "ideal" classroom while in the field. I find myself hesitant to stray from the scripted lessons in the curriculum or to discipline because I am a visitor in the classroom. I do not want to come across as disrespectful. It is helpful though to take notes on Mrs. Ober's classroom management and find my likes and dislikes with it so I can use that in my future classroom. I hope to see myself do better with classroom management skills, I think as I get more confortable I will get better.
Instruction: I have been experiencing whole group instruction as well as individual instruction. Each week Mrs. Ober has me take students one at a time and do the DIBELS testing and other phonics drills. This allows me to interact with the students one-on-one and get to know them better. I also get a lot of whole group instruction in the classroom. Mrs. Ober tries to have me do as much as she can, even if it is just a little thing like leading the morning stretches. I'm really thankful that I get so much instruction time because it gives me more and more practice. I feel like there is always room for improvement in this area. The more practice I get I realzie I get even more confident and comfortable in the classroom.
Professional Responsibilities: I feel like I am always acting professional in my field placement. I always make sure I am dressed appropriatly and act appropriatly. I constantly show respect to everyone in the school and I am friendly to anyone who I pass in the halls or meet during the day. At lunch I make sure I do not comment as the teachers gossip or complain. I also never discuss a child negatively to any of the teachers. It is helpful that Mrs. Ober is very professional because she serves as a good model for me to follow.
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation I have not had much opportunity to develop my skills in this area during my time in Mr. Keefer's classroom. I am currently planning my first actual lesson for this Thursday. I am planning a math lesson on adding mixed numbers. As I am working on my lesson, I definitely notice that I am really focusing on meeting the needs of my students. For example, I am thinking of different ways I can reach every type of learner in the classroom (auditory, visual, etc.) When I have planned lessons in the past, it was challenging because I wasn't creating them for an actual class. Although I am planning the lesson, it is based off of the basal so the students can stay on track with the math curriculum. This is sort of limiting because I can't use all of my ideas. Luckily, Mr. Keefer is giving me some freedom to let my teaching style shine through. I can't wait to teach my lesson on Thursday! I am looking forward to being able to assess my progress after teaching my lesson. I feel this will really help to boost my confidence even more.
Domain 2: The Classroom Environment Being in the classroom every week has really taught me how important interaction with the students truly is. I feel that I am doing really well in this domain. I made it my goal to really get to know the students so when I interact with them I can ask them personalized questions. I want them to know that I take an interest in their success. For example, one girl plays the flute. I play the flute also, so I try to talk with her about that often. It is nice to make connections with the students and it shows her that I care. The one area in this domain that I struggle with is responding to student misbehavior. I am hesitant in this area because I don't want to overstep any boundaries. I am a guest in the classroom, so I don't want to go against what Mr. Keefer may believe. I am working really hard to get over that fear so I can feel more confident. I will remind the students of what they should be doing and if they are doing something inappropriate I will ask them, "is that what you should be doing?"
**the blog told me I couldn't submit my entire entry.**
Domain 3: Instruction I am the least confident in this area. I feel that I have many areas of improvement. Asking high quality questions is challenging when you are on the spot and all of the students are staring at you. I have so many types of questions that I could ask, but sometimes it is really hard to come up with questions that will make students wonder and make connections. I think that this skill will come with experience. I have not had many opportunities to engage students in learning because I have just been going over their homework with them and administering their spelling tests. One area that I feel I have seen a lot of improvement in myself is providing constructive feedback. In the beginning, I found that I was saying "Good job" a lot, but I am focusing on telling them what exactly they did well.
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities When I get home from school every Thursday, I run through my day and think about what went well and what could have been better. I think about the specifics from the day. For example, when I was reading them the chapter, I should have asked the students deeper questions, which would have helped them to create questions. Currently, it is hard to keep track of student practice on assignments because I only go once a week. I was fortunate to be able to experience an Act-80 day. The students left early, but then the teachers had a grade level meeting with the principal. It was such a great experience because I had never really heard what goes on behind the scenes. For example, they had just received a new science curriculum to incorporate with FOSS. The teachers had to discuss how they would fit this in during the day. The principal also discussed that during the 2010-2011 school year, teachers will be moving to trimesters. This was a very challenging topic because they had to include rotating between science and social studies, grades, etc. It was really interesting because we learn so much about teaching, but you don't learn what happens with the curriculum and how it will all fit in. This was such a great experience!
Planning and Preparation: Mrs. Keefer is great with getting me involved with the class by allowing me to create and teach about one lesson a week. This allows me to create lesson plans to fit the needs of all of the students and through this I have learned more about my students (who to pay close attention to, who needs one-on-one attention, etc.) This also allows me to practice writing full lesson plans and discover my areas of need. One of those areas of need would be understanding the "level" of my students. I find myself reviewing information I thought they already knew, spend too much time on what they already know, use examples that are too advanced for them, etc. After discussing this with Mrs. Keefer, she assured me this "skill" comes with time.
The Classroom Envrionment- I feel that I have a great rapport with my co-op, the other third grade teachers and my students. I feel very comfortable with all of them and I can see the trust building between my students and I. I feel a big part in developing this rapport is due to the school's policy of eating lunch with the students, which allows me to see my students during the down time. My one area of need in this domain would definitely be responding to misbehavior. I am unclear of my boundaries when it comes to dealing with misbehavior (especially at Milton Hershey because they are very behavioristic) and I do not want to impose on what Mrs. Keefer has already established. To become more confident, I plan on talking with Mrs. Keefer and what she is and is not comfortable with me doing in the classroom.
Instruction- As I mentioned earlier, Mrs. Keefer is adamant about me getting involved in the classroom by teaching weekly lessons which has aided in my growth in this area. I feel very confident with communicating with my students and have experienced why flexibility is so important in the classroom. However, I feel that I need to develop more intriguing lessons for my students so that they are all engaged as well as varying my techniques. This leads to my need of developing interesting hooks in the lessons so that all students are actively involved.
Professional Responsibilities- After teaching any lesson, my co-op and I discuss what went well and what could be better for next time; I have done the same with my supervisor. These instances allow me to adapt or make changes in my future lessons to maximize my time with the students and make the lessons worthwhile. These discussions have also shown me the importance of reflecting on my day and what I teach. Other than that, I feel that I am always professional during my placement in the way that I dress, communicate with other teachers and students, and how I present myself. Additionally, attending the NSTA conference and presenting with other college students and Dr. Blouch has shown me a whole new side of professional development that I hope to participate in more.
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation For the past few weeks, I have had to plan and prepare lessons for each week that required creativity and knowledge of the subject. I did my own research on the topics and good lessons and activities to do, as well as had to take into consideration how the students would act and respond to my lesson. With this, I have had to make detailed lessons which cater to the needs and learning abilities of all of the students and figure out how to most affectively assess the students’ learning.
Domain 2: Classroom Environment My teacher has recently felt very strongly about me gaining the respect of and showing authority towards the students. She has made me write out discipline slips and write their names on the board when they misbehaved so they know that I am not just some student sitting in the back of the class that they can walk all over when she is not around. My teacher and I also maintain a very good relationship in which we constantly communicate and I receive feedback about my lessons and presence in the classroom.
Domain 3: Instruction I have been teaching both class and small group lessons, which have allowed me to become more proficient in my questioning and discussion techniques in which I must communicate clearly and accurately in order for the students to understand me. With this, I have learned how to engage the students in what I was teaching and provide them feedback on how they are doing. I’ve learned to understand that not everything always goes as planned, so being flexible and responsible is extremely important!!
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities As for my responsibilities outside of the classroom, I have learned that to being prepared for anything that can go wrong during my lessons. Planning lessons is really teaching me that a lot of work must go into the lesson plans and I must be ready for anything. After I teach my lessons, I reflect on them with my teacher. She gives me a premade reflection sheet that I fill out, and she fills out the same one. We then discuss what went well and what could have gone better, etc. Other than this, the only other aspects of this domain that I have been learning to do is growing as and acting more like a professional by gaining more responsibility being treated like a teacher by other teachers, students, and my co-op. I have not been able to be in contact with parents or anything of that sort, but I did get to participate in two inservices so far, which helped me see another aspect of teaching besides just in the classroom.
With all of these domains, I feel that have touched on many aspects, but there are still things that I have not been able to come in contact with and others which I have plenty of room to work on and grow as a future professional.
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation: Mrs. DuBosq has been great in getting me involved in the class from day one. Each week I work with students during their literacy centers. I have also had the chance to work at a center with them where they do "kid writing". I really enjoy watching them write and even seeing how they have progressed throughout the few weeks that I have been in the classroom. "Kid writing" is something that I would definitely like to carry over into my own classroom someday. I have planned one formal lesson and I feel that it went very well. The students were attentive and were engaged and having fun during the read aloud and the activity. The suggestions that I was given by both my co-op and my supervisor were to read slower at times and to allow a little more wait time for the students to elaborate on their answers before I give them they answer. I will be teaching another lesson plan for this week. I have found that while writing the lesson plans I have been writing them very scripted and direct. Although this takes a lot of time, I have found it to be beneficial because I am able to visualize my steps and imagine how the lesson will flow in my head.
Domain 2: Classroom Environment: I feel that I have established a relationship between my students and my co-op. My students trust me and look to me for help and guidence during lessons as well as respect me when I have to correct them or when I am in charge at certain times, such as taking them to and from specials. I try to use some of my co-op strategies for classroom management with my students to keep consistency as well as allow myself time to practice the different strategies. I have a good relationship with Mrs. DuBosq. From day 1 she established open communication lines. We communicate a lot through email and I recieve feedback on my lesson plans and my work throughout the day. She asks me what I think went well and what I feel I could work on which helps me to reflect on both my lessons and my strategies.
Domain 3: Instruction: I have spent a lot of time working with the students in small groups during their centers. Through the small groups I have been able to pick up small things about how the individual students think and learn. I have learned what kind of questions to ask them, how much scaffold support to provide them with, and how to provide feedback to them. Though I feel that I have made gains in this area, I feel taht there is still much room for improvment..especially in questioning skills
Domain 4:Professional Development: My conversations with both my co-op and my supervisor have been very helpful to me. I am learning the importance of reflection, being prepared for anything, and flexibilty. I have learned how much work and time goes into lesson planning, especially while I am just starting out with planning. There is a lot to consider to make sure that all students will benefit from the lesson. I have had the opportunity to be a part of parent teacher conferences. I found this to be a helpful experience. It showed me the importance of a positive attitude and how to phrase student's areas of difficulty to parents so that they are able to understand what is going to be done to help their child. Conferences are an area that really frighten me but I know that with more time and experience I will get comfortable with them!
Though I have made many gains in the different domains, I feel that I still have plenty of room for improvment and growth.
Planning and Preparation: This domain I am still in the process of improving. I know that for all my lessons even after I have been teaching for many years, I will be preparing for a lesson in a different way based on what students are in the classroom. As of right now, I feel like I am doing well for my first actual lessons. I do notice that I need to plan more so that I know exactly what I am doing and exactly what I expect my students to be able to do from the lesson. That is what I will be working to improve this week. Classroom Environment: I do not feel like I have a lot of control over the classroom environment since I did not create the rules, jobs, etc. I notice that the students do not have a problem coming up to me and asking for help on an assignment or to tell me somebody was not being nice to them. I know that they feel comfortable with me in the classroom. Instruction: I am beginning to feel more comfortable talking not only in front of the students but in front of the adult/s in the classroom. If I can do that, it allows me to do good lessons without worrying about who is watching me. I need to improve on explaining the instructions to the whole class, rather than over and over to individual students. Professional Responsibilities: I make sure that I dress professionally every Thursday. I make sure not to involve myself in the gossip that may happen between the staff. My co-op and I mainly discuss ideas for lessons or why she does things a certain way, so our discussion is usually based around school. I think that I do well in this domain. Of course I have not had any interaction with parents so I do not know how I will do when I interact with them.
For Planning and preparation, my teacher and I review the schedule for the day in the hour before school begins. We have a written schedule of the day's activities. I am in the process of planning a formal lesson plan for this week, and have planned several informal, small group lessons with my students. Each Thursday, my teacher and I sit down, and plan for the next week of what I will do in the classroom. I have had opportunities to work in the domain of Instruction within small groups. I have had the opportunity to lead small reading groups, and lead math instruction in the classroom. This week will be my first experience teaching a formal lesson to the entire class. I hope to engage the students, and hold their attention. In Classroom Environment,I would like to get more actively involved! I have made a bulletin board expressing all of the student's work on frogs. My teacher and I maintain a great relationship through communication. We regularly email. The students respect me as a teacher, and they will come to me as well as my teacher now. In professional responsibiities, I make sure I am dressed professionally every Thursday. I believe I perform well in this domain. I do not engage in the gossip between staff members. I have not had direct contact between parents, but have sent a letter home introducing myself to the parents.
Domain 1: I have made a lot of progress with planning and preparation. I've written lesson plans basically every week and while there is still room for improvement, I'm really grateful that my co-op gives me so many opportunities to practice writing and implementing lessons. It is really hard though when the students are more advanced than you though that the would be... like when I taught them about the compass rose, they had actually learned about it the previous day, so we ended up learning about not just N, S, E, and W, but NE, NW, SE, SW. That definitely requires flexibility (domain 3).
Domain 2 is hard to make great advances in just because we do not spend every day with the students, so you don't always know who has been having problems with their 'friends' and who isn't allowed to sit together during lessons because of distracting each other. My co-op actually let me move the students desks around at the end of February so that I could see how much thought goes into it. I had to keep a group of three girls separated because they are constantly bickering, some other students because of their work ethic while next to each other, and had to make sure that the students' whose minds always 'wander off' were at the front of the classroom where my co-op can easily redirect them towards the task at hand.
Domain 3: I've definitely learned a lot about instruction from my co-op. Whenever I teach a lesson she has some feedback, which of course, I love because I can grow from it.
Domain 4: Alongside instruction, I reflect on my lessons after they have been taught (what went well, what I could have done better). I have not communicated with families, though I will be sending out a letter within the next few weeks alongside the permission slip to allow me to use photos with their children for my portfolio (or not). I feel that I have high levels of professionalism, which is very easy since the staff is absolutely awesome. There isn't really any temptation of 'lunchtime gossip' or anything because they really don't gossip that much- they just talk about their families and stuff, and if they do start gossiping, I just turn and talk to Janelle.
I have seen personal improvement in domains 2 (classroom participation), 3 (instruction), and 4 (professional resonsibilites). Domain 1 (planning and preparation) is the area that I need the most work on, but have had the least opportunity to work on up to this point.
Classroom Participation: Mrs. LaPenta is extremely adament on me making it "my classroom" when I walk in. She has me participate with classroom activities, grading, and transitioning as much as possible. I have become much more comfortable with talking to the students as a teacher, and participating in the classroom regimin like it is my own. This week she is completely handing over the morning and afternoon routine, and all transitions to and from the room, over to me.
Instruction: Though my first planned lesson is this week, I have been able to instruct small reading groups during flex reading, and a couple of different review exercises with small groups and the whole class, on several occasions. Last week I made great gains in my general confidence of instruction, and I am excited and reading to instruct my first full lesson this week. I know that if it is going to be successful I need to be completely prepared (thus needed to work on planning and preparation), and 100% confident in what I'm doing, even if I don't completely know what I'm doing in the moment.
Professional Responsibilities: Mrs. LaPenta's strict classroom management regimin has taught me a lot about professional responsibilities and classroom management in general. Each week I learn a little more about how I should act in different situations. I'm also learning a lot about connecting with students and knowing them as learners beyond the classroom as well.
Overall, I've gained a lot of confidence and experience in the last several weeks, and look forward to putting it in action for the remainder of the semester!
Domain 1 (Planning and Preparation): In Domain 1, I haven't had much practice planning in advance, but I've gained much experience in planning on the fly. I have yet to write a legitimate lesson plan, however, I've gotten incredibly better and more comfortable with picking up the basal, modifying it, and teaching it. For instance, this past Thursday I made an activity up in which the students physically walked on a number line to interact with positive and negative numbers. The students all found this very engaging, and helpful in visualizing the difference between positive and negative numbers. I've been also receiving feedback after each lesson on what things I need to keep in mind when teaching. In the next few weeks I will be writing extensive lesson plans and working on bringing what it totally my own into the classroom. Domain 2 (Classroom Environment) I have not had much of an opportunity in this field placement to work on fostering a classroom environment I find inviting, however over the past two summers when I worked for Project Forward Leap, I co-created totally immersing classroom environments with Melissa Bryson. Last summer, we decorated the room with physical artifacts from the old west to bring the theme into our classroom, and our students grabbed onto the program we used with enthusiasm and comprehension. I'm not sure how I will do on day one with my own class; but I do believe at that moment it will be when I'm fully understanding and modifying on a daily basis how to foster a classroom environment that actually works. Domain 3 (Instruction) Instruction is something I've gained a lot of experience in, but I have tremendous amounts of headway to continue making to become the best teacher I can be. What I find that keeps tripping me up is my lack of total and complete understanding of the concept at hand that I am to teach to my students, leaving me bumbling through how to do something I, myself, know little about. However, through my field placement thus far I'm quickly learning what resources to turn to to give me the knowledge I need to complete a lesson and give my students the total knowledge they deserve. Domain 4 (Professional Responsibilities) Due to my virus a few weeks ago, I missed out on an exciting in-service experience. I do get to see a grade level meeting almost every week, though. I've had many opportunities at my aunt's school (Pittsburgh Minadeo Elementary School...she's the principal) to sit in on PTA meetings, department meetings and experience her searching for resources and things to help her staff with professional development. I've also experienced many responsibilities of being a teaching this past summer with PFL. I'm gaining access as to what is best practice, how to find out what is best practice, how to grade tests quickly and efficiently and do my job. I don't think I'll fully understand until the classroom is totally mine, but I'm making my way there.
Overall, I've improved in all of the categories since the beginning of placement, but I have such a far way to go, still.
Thus far, in terms of Danielson's 4 domains, I feel that I am making the most progress in Domain 1 and Domain 3. I am making less progression so far in Domain 2 and Domain 4.
I feel that I have made the most progression in Domain 1 and Domain 3. Domain 1, of course is Planning and Preparation, while Domain 3 is Instruction. I feel that these two domains go hand-in-hand. Since any lesson you teach in class involves planning and preparation, I have been making significant progression within this domain. Just about every week (minus the first two weeks), I have had to do a read aloud, a scripted calendar lesson, and a scripted math lesson. For a read aloud, I have to prepare for it because it is good to practice read before the read aloud to make sure the actual read aloud is fluent. Also, it is good to prepare some questions to ask the students to activate their minds and keep them engaged in the read aloud. As for the scripted lessons in math, even though they are scripted, I need to make sure that all of the materials I need are prepared. Along with this, I need to come up with alternative assessments, modifications for the lessons, and be prepared for the use of different forms of scaffolding for certain students. Though the lessons are scripted, it is important not to go fully by the script; you need to adapt the lesson to make it appropriate for your class. This coming week, I will be doing all the same types of lessons, and I will be adding a shared reading lesson. For this, I need much planning and preparation. While we are reading as a class, I need to make sure that I ask appropriate questions. Also, since we will be working on comprehension skills, I need to make sure that I am a good modeling showing the students how to use the comprehension skills that we are working on. I need to guide them to use the comprehension skills. This all involves a ton of planning and preparation. Along with this, during instruction, I need to make sure that I am engaging the students and make sure that I have the undivided attention of EVERY student. This is a skill that still needs much work, but I am definitely making improvements. It is extremely difficult to see what is going on at all times when you are so focused on the lesson that you are teaching. I acknowledge that this takes much time and practice.
I feel that I have made less significant progression thus far in Domain 2 and Domain 4. Domain 2, of course, is Classroom Environment, while Domain 4 is Professional Responsibilities. Though I have made some small progress in Domain 2, I still feel that I need to find my philosophy for the classroom environment. Obviously, as a teacher, I would love to have a class full of people who all respect one another and behave all of the time would be AWESOME. However, this is simply not realistic. Despite this, however, there are ways to make this goal as realistic as possible. I need to figure out ways to teach students respect and teach them to respect people inside and outside of the classroom. To do this, I need to be the model. The thing that is tough for me, however, is still dealing with misbehavior and the best ways to go about dealing with misbehavior. It is still really tough where to draw the line between wanting to be their freinds so that they like you, and being a teacher and adult and demanding respect and respectful behavior. Mrs. Moritz uses the Love and Logic philosophy in her classroom, and I think that this is a great system. It treats every student and situation differently, and I think it is good for her classroom environment. As for the physical environment, I am getting some experience working with materials, and hanging up materials in the room and out in the hallway. These are simple parts of the classroom environment. Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities is the area I have made the least progression in, quite naturally. Just like Cristen, after any lesson I give, I reflect on my teaching and what I could have improved on, with great tips from Mrs. Moritz. However, I haven't really had any chances yet to improve in any other of the fields in this domain. Other than lesson planning, I have not had any other professional responsibilities. Professional Responsibilities, which is Domain 4, is what I have had least experience in. After I teach each day, I reflect on my teaching and what I could improve on, which is component 4a of the domain, but other than that, I have not had any contact with the students families or any professional responsibilities other than planning lessons.
In a nutshell, these are my feelings about my progress in Danielson's 4 Domains. As the year progresses, I hope that I can make improvements in each of these domains. The best opportunity to improve in Domain 2 and Domain 4, I feel, will most likely be during my two full weeks.
1. Planning and Preperation: There are certainly aspects of this domain that I have made progress in this semester and definitely aspects that I could improve upon. I have learned my students really well. I've taken the time to get to know them and can plan ahead for what they will respond to and how they will react to different activities. I also make sure that I know the content that is being taught and allow myself to explore further when it's needed. However, my lesson planning could use some help. I find myself very motivated to plan and prepare when I start the lesson plan and as I get toward the closure and assessment I fizzle out in my drive. I need to start planning further in advance so I can take a break and come back so I can maintain the drive and really put a lot of thought into all of the lesson. Sometimes that closure and assessment are the most important part. They tell you whether the students learned what you want them to. I definitely need to be sure I find accurate assessment.
2. Classroom Environment This is a domain that I feel I come to naturally. I love getting to know the students and I rarely let the little infractions go. The students and I have built a good rapport. They seem to like me and enjoy when I teach. They also want to know more about me and what interests me (science, math, social studies, and reading of course). I seem to have a good relationship with them and that makes the lessons run smoother and gives me the opportunity to provide extra support for the teacher. I also make sure that the classroom environment is a respectful one. I try to stay on top of talking out of turn, sitting inappropriately in one's chair, and other smaller issues to prevent bigger issues from occurring. I always remind the students of our rules before I start teaching or before we are moving to a new location. I would say that sometimes I can be a stickler for the little things but it doesn't seem to affect the students' respect for me.
3. Instruction I have definitely seen myself grow in this domain though I definitely have plenty left to do. My first lesson of the semester I was a nervous wreck. Since then my teacher has commented on how much smoother my lessons have gone. She said my questioning has become more easy and I seem more comfortable answering questions that I was unprepared for. I also really enjoy making my own graphic organizers and assessments. However, I do still get caught off guard by student questioning and my lessons always have room for improvement. I feel I'm learning but I still need to let my planning not hold me too tight. Sometimes lessons just aren't working and you need to try something else. It's hard for me to stray from my plan. I also rely on outside resources and feedback from my co-op to gauge my lessons and I'd like to learn to be more self-reflective.
4. Professional Responsibilities I don't feel that I've gotten a lot of opportunity to work with parents and other staff. I have attended faculty meetings and data report meetings, but I have been a quiet observer during those. I do feel that in my interactions with other teachers throughout the day (in the resource room, at lunch, etc.) I maintain a level of professionalism that reflects well on the college and myself. I do take the time to reflect on my teaching and lessons though, as I said before, I gain a lot of my reassurance or critical eye from observers like my supervisor and co-op. I do strive every day to feel more like a teacher and interact with the students in that way. It's hard because they think of me as an adult and sometimes I don't even feel that way. But I am growing in that area and hope to continue.
As far as progress in Danielson's 4 domains at my field placement, the areas I have developed in most are Domain 1: Planning and Preparation and Domain 3: Instruction. In doing a lesson plan two weeks ago, I had to prepare and type up a lesson plan for my cooperating teacher and supervisor. I have made most gains in instruction because I am doing some sort of teaching each placement and I am learning how to be better at engaging students in lessons and communicating to the students clearly. Although I have experience in Planning and Preparation and Instruction, I realize that I can still make gains in those areas.
ReplyDeleteDomain 2: Classroom Environment was touched on a bit during the big lesson plan I taught two weeks ago and during the small lessons I have done recently. Managing the materials and student behavior and creating an environment of respect is important to me when I am working with the students. Keeping the students on task and showing my respect towards them typically causes them to have respect towards me. There are other components of the domain I need more experience and improvement on.
Professional Responsibilities, which is Domain 4, is what I have had least experience in. After I teach each day, I reflect on my teaching and what I could improve on, which is component 4a of the domain, but other than that, I have not had any contact with the students families or any professional responsibilities other than planning lessons. As the year goes on, hopefully I will make gains in all of the domains, but especially in classroom environment and professional responsibilities.
For the domains I would say like Cristen, I have developed in Domain 1 and 3 as well. I have been consistently working on these two domains, planning and preparation and instruction. Each week,I have taught small group lessons as well as been involved with the whole group. When I was observed a few weeks ago, I focused on small group instruction, therefore for my next observation, I will be teaching to the entire group. Teaching lessons, goes along with domain 1 planning and preparation because the lessons that I am instruction are thoughtfully planned by me with the help of my co-op weekly.
ReplyDeleteI have not personally worked on classroom management yet, however I have noticed some things about how and where the students are placed. Six students that need assistance and need to be reminded of what is going on in class and so forth sit right across the front of the room. Also, some are paired together to help eachother as well, they act as "buddies" for each other.
Professional responsibilities is what I have had the least experience with thus far. I have reflected on my teaching and recieved feedback from my teacher after each lesson that I have taught. Also, I have been included in an IEP meeting for one student. That was very interesting, just to be a part of a real meeting and listen to all the different things that need to be discussed. Also, today was a partial in service day where the teachers had to attend an informational meeting about Autism. A woman came to speak to us from the IU 13. It was very informational and helpful because there are a lot of students at my school that are on the Autism Spectrum. As this year progresses, I hope to become more proficient in all 4 domains!
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation
ReplyDeleteI feel that I have been able to gain more experience in this area and that I have been able to become more confident in myself as a teacher. Every week I work with the students during their literacy centers. I work with them at either the game center or the guided reading center. Each week I become more and more confident and I am able to adapt how I approach the lesson each time a new group of students arrives at my center. I have taught one formal lesson so far and it went very well. Every week I feel very prepared and confident about the lesson that I have planned. However, there are two things that I feel I need a lot of practice with: wait time and being a good teacher model. I try very hard to make sure that all of the students that I am working with at the time are fully grasping what I am teaching them. However, all of the students are so different and I have been finding it hard to do this without leaving the lowest students behind and moving on. I also need to become a better teacher model. Whenever I am doing a read aloud I feel that when I think aloud that it seems very forced and fake. I also think that I rush through think alouds and I assume that the children know what I am saying.
Domain 2: Classroom Environment
I feel that I have been doing my best in this area. Since I am not student teaching I know that I have less authority in the classroom and I do not want to overstep my boundaries. However, I am aloud to have students "pull cards" (the teachers form of punishment/a reprimand) if I feel that a child's behavior merits one. I think that I will be able to grow in this area of Danielson's Domains once I am a student teacher and I have more authority in the classroom. I do think that the students are comfortable with me. They will come to me if they are upset about something and talk to me as they do their regular classroom teacher.
Domain 3: Instruction
As I said in Domain 1, I feel that I have been planning and instructing lessons to the best of my ability. I am able to adapt my lessons if I see that the students are struggling or if I feel that what I am working on is too easy for the students. I am aware that in my daily life I can speak very quickly (so quickly that my family and closest friends cannot understand me sometimes), becasue of this I am always conscious of how fast I am speaking and I try very hard to monitor this and slow myself down if need be. I also try very hard to use other forms of praise rather than just the same old "good job."
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities
I try to present myself in a very professional manner. This means that I am conscious of how I am dressed, how I carry myself, and the general "vibe" that I am giving to others. I make sure that I am always on time and that I am well prepared. However, as I am not a teacher with my own classroom I am not yet able to grow when it comes to communicating with families or keeping accurate records of students. I am not concerned about these areas because I know that I will have a lot of experience with them when I am student teaching and when I am teaching throughout my career.
I have made progress in planning and preparation. Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to look over some of my co-ops lesson plans to see how she organizes her materials and prepares for a lesson. When she wants me to teach either small or whole group instruction for math or reading, she gives me all of the materials in the morning so I have an opportunity to familiarize myself with the materials and prepare any examples that are needed. I still have a lot of room for improvement, but I am glad I have this experience to show me how to prepare a lesson.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to classroom environment, I still am not fully confident in how I will manage my classroom or set up everything in the room. During the classroom management course, we were taught various methods and told to pick one that we feel would be the most effective in our classroom and works with our teaching style. In small group instruction, I work with a group of students who display off task behaviors. I am getting better at finding ways to keep them on track, but I still feel that I could make significant improvements in this area with more experience being in front of the class.
When I am working with small groups, I feel very comfortable. I enjoy working with the students and encouraging them to answer their own questions. I feel that the group work usually runs smoothly and the task gets accomplished. I taught a mini lesson in math as well. I feel that it could have flowed a little better, so hopefully with more experience I will get a better idea of how to blend activities together.
To remain professional, I make sure I am always there on time and keep my co-op up to date with the assignments I need to complete. As others have mentioned, once we are teachers, our professional responsibilities will be much greater when it comes to working with families and the district. I feel comfortable with the tasks my co-op asks me to complete throughout the day, but I have not had the opportunity to observe or participate in some of the responsibilities of a teacher.
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation
ReplyDeleteI have gotten a lot of opportunities that fall into this domain so far this semester. Aside from the weekly lesson preparations I have been able to help develop the monthly newsletter, give my input on lesson ideas, develop ideas for bulletin boards, and help manage student materials. Even though I have gotten a lot of experience up to this point, I am looking forward to growing in this area.
Domain 2: Classroom Environment
This domain is the one I have had the least experience in this semester. I try my best to develop a good rapport with the students and earn their trust. I try to keep the students on task but do not want to push the limit as far as disciplining the students. I hope to get more experience in this domain in the upcoming sessions.
Domain 3: Instruction
I have gotten a lot of opportunities to teach the past few weeks, mostly in small reading groups. I feel I have done a good job adapting my lessons and helping the students make connections with the material. I was observed this week which gave me some good insight on aspects of my teaching that I can work on. I would like to get into more full class teaching in the coming weeks. Each week I am looking to improve and modify my instruction in order to grow.
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities
Much like Kristen said above, I try to represent myself and Elizabethtown College in a very professional manner every week in the classroom. I make sure I am prepared for the upcoming lessons, dress appropriately, and interact with peers in a professional manner. I have had the fortune of interacting with parents in a few conferences earlier in the year. Without having my own classroom it is difficult to get exposure to all the aspects of these domains. Saying that, I look to capitalize on all the opportunities that are given to me and hope to grow in all four of these domains.
Planning and Preparation- I am currently planning my first official lesson plan as I will be teaching a literacy lesson under observation on Thursday, March 25. I will be using a lesson plan format I used in the past because I feel most comfortable with it. Also, my teacher told me to use any format that I want. I have taught a few lessons to the entire class during this placement, but they have been on the spot instruction for which I had no time to prepare. I am planning for a few small formative assessment activities to judge how well the students understood my lesson, and I am attempting to make the experience as coherent and fluid as possible. I do not really know how much is too much to plan with young children, and wonder if they will be successful with the activities that I am planning.
ReplyDeleteThe Classroom Environment- I am getting to know the children better and feel that the respect between us is growing. I understand the flow of the classroom and of a typical day, for the most part. I am still having some classroom management difficulties when I am in charge of a lesson. (Then again, so was my cooperating teacher on Thursday. I think the nice weather made the children excited and they had a difficult time focusing all day!) I hope it rains next week when I am teaching!!!
Instruction- I have taken part in mostly small group instruction and activities. However, I think my questioning skills are strong, and making my best attempt to engage the students in the learning process. When the children are focused on the lesson, we have quality discussions and they have good understanding of the material. I think the key to teaching first graders is being flexible and well prepared. They tire of things so quickly that over preparation is a must.
Professional Responsibilities- I have been diligent in keeping good notes on my experiences and writing anecdotal records on my student for my case study. I have participated in two parent conferences, and led one of them. My teacher requires me to keep a classroom journal in which we communicate back and forth weekly. It is a great tool for asking questions, asking for assistance and reflecting. It forces me to evaluate each week's visit. Additionally, I am always prompt, professionally dressed, cordial, and eager to learn and take part in all class activities.
I feel I have been doing well in Domain 1, but there is still so much more to learn. Weekly, I help to teach math and small groups in reading. I have to plan and prep for each week to meet specific student’s needs. In the beginning it was scary, but now I am pretty comfortable going up to the front of the room just because or helping a student out with anything. One thing I need to work on is my questioning. After doing a teacher model, or explaining something, I usually assume by judging the student’s faces or reactions if they got it or not. I have to learn more techniques in questioning so I can better understand what the students didn’t understand and what to work on next. I think that now I am doing well in preparing myself for the day. On Thursday, I was thrown into a lesson that I had never seen the students work on. I had no idea what I was supposed to teach or what I was supposed to say. I stayed calm and worked through it. My teacher said it was really well done. I attribute this to the weeks of planning and prep that I realized it wasn’t such a big deal, and if I didn’t remain cool and collected, the student’s would have noticed.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes feel restricted in this area. Since this is not my classroom, I know that I don’t really have the authority to change things around or to do things my own way, but it is certainly frustrating sometimes. My teacher doesn’t want me to call students by random, she has a number system where she calls out their number instead. I think this is less impersonal, but again, it’s not my classroom. Once I am in my own classroom, I feel as though I will better understand this domain and be able to meet my student’s needs. I do believe that I am finally a figure in the classroom that the student’s can approach. In the beginning weeks, I am sure that the student’s saw me as just a person who was hanging out in the back of the classroom, but now I feel as though I have a role and belong. My student’s now approach me and tell me what I missed since last Thursday, and joke with me. It’s nice to have a great rapport with my students, it makes all of our lives easier that we all get along.
It’s sometimes hard to plan around basals or scripted lessons, but I am doing the best that I can. I try and use my time observing to better myself in front of the classroom. I can observe my students during the day, and touch on what it seems they don’t understand. With the scripted math program we have, I try and use my own wording so that the student’s can understand. I adapt the lesson so that they are more involved in the lesson by coming up and writing on the board, rather than watching me teach them from their seats. I love the times where I can have the students in small groups. I can understand them better and sitting at a small round table with them gives off a more comfortable feel. The students seem like they speak more and are comfortable talking to me. Sometimes they get excited and get off topic, but I gently push it back to instruction. As Kristen said, I definitely have to learn new ways of praise rather than “Awesome, great .. etc” I feel as though I overuse them, and they don’t hold much meaning anymore. Each week of instruction gets me ready for the full two weeks.
I feel as though even before coming into the classroom, my teacher made it known to the students that I was a teacher. It’s much easier that they look at me as another teacher in the classroom, rather than a college student. I feel as though I carry myself in a professional manner. I try and keep to myself during the lunch time student tear down, and do not allow myself to talk about the students in the class. I always try to be on time and ask if there is anything else that I can do. I have not communicated with any of the parents of my students, but I hope to grow in that area during student teaching, and I am sure when I have my own classroom that there will be plenty of time to practice.
I think I have the most experience in Instruction and Classroom Environment. Every week I instruct several small groups in reading or math skills and in guided reading lessons. I also often lead the whole class when we play a math game on the smartboard. As I became more familiar with the rules and routines I'm more comfortable with enforcing them. Miss Pagana is very clear with the students that I'm in charge along with her and students are very responsive when I discipline them.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done a lot of Planning and Preparation yet. I help Miss Pagana a little but I have a full math lesson coming up and I think there will be more opportunities for planning coming up soon. The past couple weeks I've done a little bit more in Professional Responsibilities. We took the kids to the pet store on a field trip on Thursday which showed me a different set of professional responsibilities. It was great getting that kind of experience. Again, I think I'll be getting more opportunities to improve professional responsibilities as I will with planning and preparation.
Over the last couple of weeks I feel like I have had a lot of experience in the four domains.
ReplyDeletePlanning and Preparation: I have worked with Mrs. Ober almost every week planning lessons that I could teach. We use special, recess, and lunch to go over the materials I need for the following week's lesson. I like that Mrs. Ober does not have me do lessons on the spot. I feel more confortable when I have time to plan the lesson and then implement it. She is very helpful with resources also, she is constantly allowing me to use flip charts for the smart board, check out books in the school library, and reccomend internet sites.
Classroom Enviornment: I feel like I am adjusting well to the classroom enviornment. The students are becoming more confortable asking me questions instead of Mrs. Ober and they show me respect for the most part. I think it is hardest to experience your "ideal" classroom while in the field. I find myself hesitant to stray from the scripted lessons in the curriculum or to discipline because I am a visitor in the classroom. I do not want to come across as disrespectful. It is helpful though to take notes on Mrs. Ober's classroom management and find my likes and dislikes with it so I can use that in my future classroom. I hope to see myself do better with classroom management skills, I think as I get more confortable I will get better.
Instruction: I have been experiencing whole group instruction as well as individual instruction. Each week Mrs. Ober has me take students one at a time and do the DIBELS testing and other phonics drills. This allows me to interact with the students one-on-one and get to know them better. I also get a lot of whole group instruction in the classroom. Mrs. Ober tries to have me do as much as she can, even if it is just a little thing like leading the morning stretches. I'm really thankful that I get so much instruction time because it gives me more and more practice. I feel like there is always room for improvement in this area. The more practice I get I realzie I get even more confident and comfortable in the classroom.
Professional Responsibilities: I feel like I am always acting professional in my field placement. I always make sure I am dressed appropriatly and act appropriatly. I constantly show respect to everyone in the school and I am friendly to anyone who I pass in the halls or meet during the day. At lunch I make sure I do not comment as the teachers gossip or complain. I also never discuss a child negatively to any of the teachers. It is helpful that Mrs. Ober is very professional because she serves as a good model for me to follow.
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation
ReplyDeleteI have not had much opportunity to develop my skills in this area during my time in Mr. Keefer's classroom. I am currently planning my first actual lesson for this Thursday. I am planning a math lesson on adding mixed numbers. As I am working on my lesson, I definitely notice that I am really focusing on meeting the needs of my students. For example, I am thinking of different ways I can reach every type of learner in the classroom (auditory, visual, etc.) When I have planned lessons in the past, it was challenging because I wasn't creating them for an actual class. Although I am planning the lesson, it is based off of the basal so the students can stay on track with the math curriculum. This is sort of limiting because I can't use all of my ideas. Luckily, Mr. Keefer is giving me some freedom to let my teaching style shine through. I can't wait to teach my lesson on Thursday! I am looking forward to being able to assess my progress after teaching my lesson. I feel this will really help to boost my confidence even more.
Domain 2: The Classroom Environment
Being in the classroom every week has really taught me how important interaction with the students truly is. I feel that I am doing really well in this domain. I made it my goal to really get to know the students so when I interact with them I can ask them personalized questions. I want them to know that I take an interest in their success. For example, one girl plays the flute. I play the flute also, so I try to talk with her about that often. It is nice to make connections with the students and it shows her that I care. The one area in this domain that I struggle with is responding to student misbehavior. I am hesitant in this area because I don't want to overstep any boundaries. I am a guest in the classroom, so I don't want to go against what Mr. Keefer may believe. I am working really hard to get over that fear so I can feel more confident. I will remind the students of what they should be doing and if they are doing something inappropriate I will ask them, "is that what you should be doing?"
**the blog told me I couldn't submit my entire entry.**
Domain 3: Instruction
ReplyDeleteI am the least confident in this area. I feel that I have many areas of improvement. Asking high quality questions is challenging when you are on the spot and all of the students are staring at you. I have so many types of questions that I could ask, but sometimes it is really hard to come up with questions that will make students wonder and make connections. I think that this skill will come with experience. I have not had many opportunities to engage students in learning because I have just been going over their homework with them and administering their spelling tests. One area that I feel I have seen a lot of improvement in myself is providing constructive feedback. In the beginning, I found that I was saying "Good job" a lot, but I am focusing on telling them what exactly they did well.
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities
When I get home from school every Thursday, I run through my day and think about what went well and what could have been better. I think about the specifics from the day. For example, when I was reading them the chapter, I should have asked the students deeper questions, which would have helped them to create questions. Currently, it is hard to keep track of student practice on assignments because I only go once a week. I was fortunate to be able to experience an Act-80 day. The students left early, but then the teachers had a grade level meeting with the principal. It was such a great experience because I had never really heard what goes on behind the scenes. For example, they had just received a new science curriculum to incorporate with FOSS. The teachers had to discuss how they would fit this in during the day. The principal also discussed that during the 2010-2011 school year, teachers will be moving to trimesters. This was a very challenging topic because they had to include rotating between science and social studies, grades, etc. It was really interesting because we learn so much about teaching, but you don't learn what happens with the curriculum and how it will all fit in. This was such a great experience!
Planning and Preparation: Mrs. Keefer is great with getting me involved with the class by allowing me to create and teach about one lesson a week. This allows me to create lesson plans to fit the needs of all of the students and through this I have learned more about my students (who to pay close attention to, who needs one-on-one attention, etc.) This also allows me to practice writing full lesson plans and discover my areas of need. One of those areas of need would be understanding the "level" of my students. I find myself reviewing information I thought they already knew, spend too much time on what they already know, use examples that are too advanced for them, etc. After discussing this with Mrs. Keefer, she assured me this "skill" comes with time.
ReplyDeleteThe Classroom Envrionment- I feel that I have a great rapport with my co-op, the other third grade teachers and my students. I feel very comfortable with all of them and I can see the trust building between my students and I. I feel a big part in developing this rapport is due to the school's policy of eating lunch with the students, which allows me to see my students during the down time. My one area of need in this domain would definitely be responding to misbehavior. I am unclear of my boundaries when it comes to dealing with misbehavior (especially at Milton Hershey because they are very behavioristic) and I do not want to impose on what Mrs. Keefer has already established. To become more confident, I plan on talking with Mrs. Keefer and what she is and is not comfortable with me doing in the classroom.
Instruction- As I mentioned earlier, Mrs. Keefer is adamant about me getting involved in the classroom by teaching weekly lessons which has aided in my growth in this area. I feel very confident with communicating with my students and have experienced why flexibility is so important in the classroom. However, I feel that I need to develop more intriguing lessons for my students so that they are all engaged as well as varying my techniques. This leads to my need of developing interesting hooks in the lessons so that all students are actively involved.
Professional Responsibilities- After teaching any lesson, my co-op and I discuss what went well and what could be better for next time; I have done the same with my supervisor. These instances allow me to adapt or make changes in my future lessons to maximize my time with the students and make the lessons worthwhile. These discussions have also shown me the importance of reflecting on my day and what I teach. Other than that, I feel that I am always professional during my placement in the way that I dress, communicate with other teachers and students, and how I present myself. Additionally, attending the NSTA conference and presenting with other college students and Dr. Blouch has shown me a whole new side of professional development that I hope to participate in more.
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation
ReplyDeleteFor the past few weeks, I have had to plan and prepare lessons for each week that required creativity and knowledge of the subject. I did my own research on the topics and good lessons and activities to do, as well as had to take into consideration how the students would act and respond to my lesson. With this, I have had to make detailed lessons which cater to the needs and learning abilities of all of the students and figure out how to most affectively assess the students’ learning.
Domain 2: Classroom Environment
My teacher has recently felt very strongly about me gaining the respect of and showing authority towards the students. She has made me write out discipline slips and write their names on the board when they misbehaved so they know that I am not just some student sitting in the back of the class that they can walk all over when she is not around. My teacher and I also maintain a very good relationship in which we constantly communicate and I receive feedback about my lessons and presence in the classroom.
Domain 3: Instruction
I have been teaching both class and small group lessons, which have allowed me to become more proficient in my questioning and discussion techniques in which I must communicate clearly and accurately in order for the students to understand me. With this, I have learned how to engage the students in what I was teaching and provide them feedback on how they are doing. I’ve learned to understand that not everything always goes as planned, so being flexible and responsible is extremely important!!
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities
As for my responsibilities outside of the classroom, I have learned that to being prepared for anything that can go wrong during my lessons. Planning lessons is really teaching me that a lot of work must go into the lesson plans and I must be ready for anything. After I teach my lessons, I reflect on them with my teacher. She gives me a premade reflection sheet that I fill out, and she fills out the same one. We then discuss what went well and what could have gone better, etc. Other than this, the only other aspects of this domain that I have been learning to do is growing as and acting more like a professional by gaining more responsibility being treated like a teacher by other teachers, students, and my co-op. I have not been able to be in contact with parents or anything of that sort, but I did get to participate in two inservices so far, which helped me see another aspect of teaching besides just in the classroom.
With all of these domains, I feel that have touched on many aspects, but there are still things that I have not been able to come in contact with and others which I have plenty of room to work on and grow as a future professional.
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation: Mrs. DuBosq has been great in getting me involved in the class from day one. Each week I work with students during their literacy centers. I have also had the chance to work at a center with them where they do "kid writing". I really enjoy watching them write and even seeing how they have progressed throughout the few weeks that I have been in the classroom. "Kid writing" is something that I would definitely like to carry over into my own classroom someday. I have planned one formal lesson and I feel that it went very well. The students were attentive and were engaged and having fun during the read aloud and the activity. The suggestions that I was given by both my co-op and my supervisor were to read slower at times and to allow a little more wait time for the students to elaborate on their answers before I give them they answer. I will be teaching another lesson plan for this week. I have found that while writing the lesson plans I have been writing them very scripted and direct. Although this takes a lot of time, I have found it to be beneficial because I am able to visualize my steps and imagine how the lesson will flow in my head.
ReplyDeleteDomain 2: Classroom Environment: I feel that I have established a relationship between my students and my co-op. My students trust me and look to me for help and guidence during lessons as well as respect me when I have to correct them or when I am in charge at certain times, such as taking them to and from specials. I try to use some of my co-op strategies for classroom management with my students to keep consistency as well as allow myself time to practice the different strategies. I have a good relationship with Mrs. DuBosq. From day 1 she established open communication lines. We communicate a lot through email and I recieve feedback on my lesson plans and my work throughout the day. She asks me what I think went well and what I feel I could work on which helps me to reflect on both my lessons and my strategies.
Domain 3: Instruction: I have spent a lot of time working with the students in small groups during their centers. Through the small groups I have been able to pick up small things about how the individual students think and learn. I have learned what kind of questions to ask them, how much scaffold support to provide them with, and how to provide feedback to them. Though I feel that I have made gains in this area, I feel taht there is still much room for improvment..especially in questioning skills
Domain 4:Professional Development: My conversations with both my co-op and my supervisor have been very helpful to me. I am learning the importance of reflection, being prepared for anything, and flexibilty. I have learned how much work and time goes into lesson planning, especially while I am just starting out with planning. There is a lot to consider to make sure that all students will benefit from the lesson. I have had the opportunity to be a part of parent teacher conferences. I found this to be a helpful experience. It showed me the importance of a positive attitude and how to phrase student's areas of difficulty to parents so that they are able to understand what is going to be done to help their child. Conferences are an area that really frighten me but I know that with more time and experience I will get comfortable with them!
Though I have made many gains in the different domains, I feel that I still have plenty of room for improvment and growth.
Planning and Preparation: This domain I am still in the process of improving. I know that for all my lessons even after I have been teaching for many years, I will be preparing for a lesson in a different way based on what students are in the classroom. As of right now, I feel like I am doing well for my first actual lessons. I do notice that I need to plan more so that I know exactly what I am doing and exactly what I expect my students to be able to do from the lesson. That is what I will be working to improve this week.
ReplyDeleteClassroom Environment: I do not feel like I have a lot of control over the classroom environment since I did not create the rules, jobs, etc. I notice that the students do not have a problem coming up to me and asking for help on an assignment or to tell me somebody was not being nice to them. I know that they feel comfortable with me in the classroom.
Instruction: I am beginning to feel more comfortable talking not only in front of the students but in front of the adult/s in the classroom. If I can do that, it allows me to do good lessons without worrying about who is watching me. I need to improve on explaining the instructions to the whole class, rather than over and over to individual students.
Professional Responsibilities: I make sure that I dress professionally every Thursday. I make sure not to involve myself in the gossip that may happen between the staff. My co-op and I mainly discuss ideas for lessons or why she does things a certain way, so our discussion is usually based around school. I think that I do well in this domain. Of course I have not had any interaction with parents so I do not know how I will do when I interact with them.
For Planning and preparation, my teacher and I review the schedule for the day in the hour before school begins. We have a written schedule of the day's activities. I am in the process of planning a formal lesson plan for this week, and have planned several informal, small group lessons with my students. Each Thursday, my teacher and I sit down, and plan for the next week of what I will do in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI have had opportunities to work in the domain of Instruction within small groups. I have had the opportunity to lead small reading groups, and lead math instruction in the classroom. This week will be my first experience teaching a formal lesson to the entire class. I hope to engage the students, and hold their attention.
In Classroom Environment,I would like to get more actively involved! I have made a bulletin board expressing all of the student's work on frogs. My teacher and I maintain a great relationship through communication. We regularly email. The students respect me as a teacher, and they will come to me as well as my teacher now.
In professional responsibiities, I make sure I am dressed professionally every Thursday. I believe I perform well in this domain. I do not engage in the gossip between staff members. I have not had direct contact between parents, but have sent a letter home introducing myself to the parents.
Domain 1:
ReplyDeleteI have made a lot of progress with planning and preparation. I've written lesson plans basically every week and while there is still room for improvement, I'm really grateful that my co-op gives me so many opportunities to practice writing and implementing lessons. It is really hard though when the students are more advanced than you though that the would be... like when I taught them about the compass rose, they had actually learned about it the previous day, so we ended up learning about not just N, S, E, and W, but NE, NW, SE, SW. That definitely requires flexibility (domain 3).
Domain 2 is hard to make great advances in just because we do not spend every day with the students, so you don't always know who has been having problems with their 'friends' and who isn't allowed to sit together during lessons because of distracting each other. My co-op actually let me move the students desks around at the end of February so that I could see how much thought goes into it. I had to keep a group of three girls separated because they are constantly bickering, some other students because of their work ethic while next to each other, and had to make sure that the students' whose minds always 'wander off' were at the front of the classroom where my co-op can easily redirect them towards the task at hand.
Domain 3: I've definitely learned a lot about instruction from my co-op. Whenever I teach a lesson she has some feedback, which of course, I love because I can grow from it.
Domain 4: Alongside instruction, I reflect on my lessons after they have been taught (what went well, what I could have done better). I have not communicated with families, though I will be sending out a letter within the next few weeks alongside the permission slip to allow me to use photos with their children for my portfolio (or not). I feel that I have high levels of professionalism, which is very easy since the staff is absolutely awesome. There isn't really any temptation of 'lunchtime gossip' or anything because they really don't gossip that much- they just talk about their families and stuff, and if they do start gossiping, I just turn and talk to Janelle.
I have seen personal improvement in domains 2 (classroom participation), 3 (instruction), and 4 (professional resonsibilites). Domain 1 (planning and preparation) is the area that I need the most work on, but have had the least opportunity to work on up to this point.
ReplyDeleteClassroom Participation: Mrs. LaPenta is extremely adament on me making it "my classroom" when I walk in. She has me participate with classroom activities, grading, and transitioning as much as possible. I have become much more comfortable with talking to the students as a teacher, and participating in the classroom regimin like it is my own. This week she is completely handing over the morning and afternoon routine, and all transitions to and from the room, over to me.
Instruction: Though my first planned lesson is this week, I have been able to instruct small reading groups during flex reading, and a couple of different review exercises with small groups and the whole class, on several occasions. Last week I made great gains in my general confidence of instruction, and I am excited and reading to instruct my first full lesson this week. I know that if it is going to be successful I need to be completely prepared (thus needed to work on planning and preparation), and 100% confident in what I'm doing, even if I don't completely know what I'm doing in the moment.
Professional Responsibilities: Mrs. LaPenta's strict classroom management regimin has taught me a lot about professional responsibilities and classroom management in general. Each week I learn a little more about how I should act in different situations. I'm also learning a lot about connecting with students and knowing them as learners beyond the classroom as well.
Overall, I've gained a lot of confidence and experience in the last several weeks, and look forward to putting it in action for the remainder of the semester!
Domain 1 (Planning and Preparation): In Domain 1, I haven't had much practice planning in advance, but I've gained much experience in planning on the fly. I have yet to write a legitimate lesson plan, however, I've gotten incredibly better and more comfortable with picking up the basal, modifying it, and teaching it. For instance, this past Thursday I made an activity up in which the students physically walked on a number line to interact with positive and negative numbers. The students all found this very engaging, and helpful in visualizing the difference between positive and negative numbers. I've been also receiving feedback after each lesson on what things I need to keep in mind when teaching. In the next few weeks I will be writing extensive lesson plans and working on bringing what it totally my own into the classroom.
ReplyDeleteDomain 2 (Classroom Environment)
I have not had much of an opportunity in this field placement to work on fostering a classroom environment I find inviting, however over the past two summers when I worked for Project Forward Leap, I co-created totally immersing classroom environments with Melissa Bryson. Last summer, we decorated the room with physical artifacts from the old west to bring the theme into our classroom, and our students grabbed onto the program we used with enthusiasm and comprehension. I'm not sure how I will do on day one with my own class; but I do believe at that moment it will be when I'm fully understanding and modifying on a daily basis how to foster a classroom environment that actually works.
Domain 3 (Instruction)
Instruction is something I've gained a lot of experience in, but I have tremendous amounts of headway to continue making to become the best teacher I can be. What I find that keeps tripping me up is my lack of total and complete understanding of the concept at hand that I am to teach to my students, leaving me bumbling through how to do something I, myself, know little about.
However, through my field placement thus far I'm quickly learning what resources to turn to to give me the knowledge I need to complete a lesson and give my students the total knowledge they deserve.
Domain 4 (Professional Responsibilities)
Due to my virus a few weeks ago, I missed out on an exciting in-service experience. I do get to see a grade level meeting almost every week, though. I've had many opportunities at my aunt's school (Pittsburgh Minadeo Elementary School...she's the principal) to sit in on PTA meetings, department meetings and experience her searching for resources and things to help her staff with professional development. I've also experienced many responsibilities of being a teaching this past summer with PFL. I'm gaining access as to what is best practice, how to find out what is best practice, how to grade tests quickly and efficiently and do my job. I don't think I'll fully understand until the classroom is totally mine, but I'm making my way there.
Overall, I've improved in all of the categories since the beginning of placement, but I have such a far way to go, still.
Thus far, in terms of Danielson's 4 domains, I feel that I am making the most progress in Domain 1 and Domain 3. I am making less progression so far in Domain 2 and Domain 4.
ReplyDeleteI feel that I have made the most progression in Domain 1 and Domain 3. Domain 1, of course is Planning and Preparation, while Domain 3 is Instruction. I feel that these two domains go hand-in-hand. Since any lesson you teach in class involves planning and preparation, I have been making significant progression within this domain. Just about every week (minus the first two weeks), I have had to do a read aloud, a scripted calendar lesson, and a scripted math lesson. For a read aloud, I have to prepare for it because it is good to practice read before the read aloud to make sure the actual read aloud is fluent. Also, it is good to prepare some questions to ask the students to activate their minds and keep them engaged in the read aloud. As for the scripted lessons in math, even though they are scripted, I need to make sure that all of the materials I need are prepared. Along with this, I need to come up with alternative assessments, modifications for the lessons, and be prepared for the use of different forms of scaffolding for certain students. Though the lessons are scripted, it is important not to go fully by the script; you need to adapt the lesson to make it appropriate for your class. This coming week, I will be doing all the same types of lessons, and I will be adding a shared reading lesson. For this, I need much planning and preparation. While we are reading as a class, I need to make sure that I ask appropriate questions. Also, since we will be working on comprehension skills, I need to make sure that I am a good modeling showing the students how to use the comprehension skills that we are working on. I need to guide them to use the comprehension skills. This all involves a ton of planning and preparation. Along with this, during instruction, I need to make sure that I am engaging the students and make sure that I have the undivided attention of EVERY student. This is a skill that still needs much work, but I am definitely making improvements. It is extremely difficult to see what is going on at all times when you are so focused on the lesson that you are teaching. I acknowledge that this takes much time and practice.
I feel that I have made less significant progression thus far in Domain 2 and Domain 4. Domain 2, of course, is Classroom Environment, while Domain 4 is Professional Responsibilities. Though I have made some small progress in Domain 2, I still feel that I need to find my philosophy for the classroom environment. Obviously, as a teacher, I would love to have a class full of people who all respect one another and behave all of the time would be AWESOME. However, this is simply not realistic. Despite this, however, there are ways to make this goal as realistic as possible. I need to figure out ways to teach students respect and teach them to respect people inside and outside of the classroom. To do this, I need to be the model. The thing that is tough for me, however, is still dealing with misbehavior and the best ways to go about dealing with misbehavior. It is still really tough where to draw the line between wanting to be their freinds so that they like you, and being a teacher and adult and demanding respect and respectful behavior. Mrs. Moritz uses the Love and Logic philosophy in her classroom, and I think that this is a great system. It treats every student and situation differently, and I think it is good for her classroom environment. As for the physical environment, I am getting some experience working with materials, and hanging up materials in the room and out in the hallway. These are simple parts of the classroom environment.
ReplyDeleteDomain 4: Professional Responsibilities is the area I have made the least progression in, quite naturally. Just like Cristen, after any lesson I give, I reflect on my teaching and what I could have improved on, with great tips from Mrs. Moritz. However, I haven't really had any chances yet to improve in any other of the fields in this domain. Other than lesson planning, I have not had any other professional responsibilities.
Professional Responsibilities, which is Domain 4, is what I have had least experience in. After I teach each day, I reflect on my teaching and what I could improve on, which is component 4a of the domain, but other than that, I have not had any contact with the students families or any professional responsibilities other than planning lessons.
In a nutshell, these are my feelings about my progress in Danielson's 4 Domains. As the year progresses, I hope that I can make improvements in each of these domains. The best opportunity to improve in Domain 2 and Domain 4, I feel, will most likely be during my two full weeks.
Danielson's Four Domains:
ReplyDelete1. Planning and Preperation:
There are certainly aspects of this domain that I have made progress in this semester and definitely aspects that I could improve upon. I have learned my students really well. I've taken the time to get to know them and can plan ahead for what they will respond to and how they will react to different activities. I also make sure that I know the content that is being taught and allow myself to explore further when it's needed. However, my lesson planning could use some help. I find myself very motivated to plan and prepare when I start the lesson plan and as I get toward the closure and assessment I fizzle out in my drive. I need to start planning further in advance so I can take a break and come back so I can maintain the drive and really put a lot of thought into all of the lesson. Sometimes that closure and assessment are the most important part. They tell you whether the students learned what you want them to. I definitely need to be sure I find accurate assessment.
2. Classroom Environment
This is a domain that I feel I come to naturally. I love getting to know the students and I rarely let the little infractions go. The students and I have built a good rapport. They seem to like me and enjoy when I teach. They also want to know more about me and what interests me (science, math, social studies, and reading of course). I seem to have a good relationship with them and that makes the lessons run smoother and gives me the opportunity to provide extra support for the teacher. I also make sure that the classroom environment is a respectful one. I try to stay on top of talking out of turn, sitting inappropriately in one's chair, and other smaller issues to prevent bigger issues from occurring. I always remind the students of our rules before I start teaching or before we are moving to a new location. I would say that sometimes I can be a stickler for the little things but it doesn't seem to affect the students' respect for me.
3. Instruction
I have definitely seen myself grow in this domain though I definitely have plenty left to do. My first lesson of the semester I was a nervous wreck. Since then my teacher has commented on how much smoother my lessons have gone. She said my questioning has become more easy and I seem more comfortable answering questions that I was unprepared for. I also really enjoy making my own graphic organizers and assessments. However, I do still get caught off guard by student questioning and my lessons always have room for improvement. I feel I'm learning but I still need to let my planning not hold me too tight. Sometimes lessons just aren't working and you need to try something else. It's hard for me to stray from my plan. I also rely on outside resources and feedback from my co-op to gauge my lessons and I'd like to learn to be more self-reflective.
4. Professional Responsibilities
I don't feel that I've gotten a lot of opportunity to work with parents and other staff. I have attended faculty meetings and data report meetings, but I have been a quiet observer during those. I do feel that in my interactions with other teachers throughout the day (in the resource room, at lunch, etc.) I maintain a level of professionalism that reflects well on the college and myself. I do take the time to reflect on my teaching and lessons though, as I said before, I gain a lot of my reassurance or critical eye from observers like my supervisor and co-op. I do strive every day to feel more like a teacher and interact with the students in that way. It's hard because they think of me as an adult and sometimes I don't even feel that way. But I am growing in that area and hope to continue.