Tws 8 Dorn

Dorn 1
8. Reflection, Self-Evaluation, & Professional Development (LO 1.2 & 1.3)

(APS 2, 3, 10)
TWS Standard
The teacher analyzes the relationship between his or her instruction and student
learning in order to improve teaching practice. The teacher uses on-going analysis of
student learning to make instructional decisions. The teacher identifies area of need
for personal professional growth.
Task
Reflect on your performance as a teacher and link your performance to student learning
results. Evaluate your performance and identify future actions for improved practice and
professional growth.
Section 1: Whole Class:
A. Throughout this unit on economics I made many instructional decisions that
impacted the whole class in a positive way. All of the lessons were in different
subject areas, which made it better for the students because they were able to tie
everything together at the end of the unit. I did many different things with the
whole class that I believe expanded to each type of learner I have in the
classroom. During our science experiment we used eyedroppers and made
predictions, which appealed too all the students but specifically my kinesthetic
learners. During this unit I did a read aloud and watched BrainPop videos. While
observing the first couple of weeks in this class I noticed they responded well to
these videos, which is why I chose to show them. The read aloud and videos were
to reach my auditory learners. During this unit I also made many charts are did
math lessons on the board or out of their books, which appealed to my visual
learners.
B. I decided to do the Hop and Think activity because while observing I noticed my
class like to be active and engaged and I thought this was a great way to allow
them to be both of those but still learn. This was get for all of my students. One
modification I would have like to have made was change some of the cards to
make it more of things they may have known and been able to do quicker. During
the writing prompted I noticed some students were not provided accurate
examples of goods they would need. I stopped their writing process and instructed
them to create a web on the page beside where they were writing. I explained to
them that if they did this each time they write their ideas would be organized and
it would be easier to write. This helped the ones who were struggling because they
were able to think before they just started writing their rough draft. Throughout
this unit I modified and adjusted quite a few times but it was essential in making
certain that each student was gaining the same knowledge from each lesson.
C. Other questions to consider:
Dorn 2
How did you engage or motivate the students successfully?

During the last two weeks of this unit I created our own classroom economy
which meant they receive income fore things they did right but also received fines for
things they did not do right. At the end of the week we had a classroom market where
they got to spend the money they earned and buy things from my market. This motivated
the students to do the right things throughout the weeks because the more money they
earned the more stuff they could purchase.
What instructional mode(s) was employed?
There were many different instructional modes that were employed during this
unit but I would say that mainly lecture. Even though each lesson did something different
I still did a lecture at the beginning to assess their prior knowledge.
How effectively did you use instructional aids?
In lessons 1-3 of my unit I used the Promethean board to teach the lesson or to
teach a part of the lesson. In the fourth lesson students used materials from the schools
Foss kits.
Were the students actively or passively involved?
During the whole unit of study my class was actively involved. There was not
a time in any of the lessons that I taught for the students to sit idle and not be doing
something pertaining to that days lesson.
Did you present the information in a clear and logical manner? How so?
I believe I present all the information in a logical manner. During our money
lesson some of the students were having trouble remembering the value of the coins so
we talked about a different way to do it and it made more sense to the ones who were
confused. During the unit I took a lot of thumbs up surveys to ensure it was clear to
everyone.
How effective were the materials and resources you selected for the lesson?
The materials and resources I selected were effective to the students during
the lessons. They were able to use them and understood how to use them.
Were you able to or could you (in the future) relate the lesson content to the lives of the
students?
Yes. This whole unit was something they should remember for the rest of their
lives because economics is something the world would not exist without and the students
understand that.
Describe any discipline or classroom management techniques using during the lesson.
Were these techniques effective or would you employ a different technique the next time?
The whole concept of creating our own classroom economy was a great
classroom management technique because all I had to do was give one student some
money for being quiet and everyone else got quiet because they wanted money too. Also
Dorn 3
during the Hop and Think game instead of telling them to switch stations I clapped one
time and they knew that meant switch. This was a good way to manage the noise level in
the room because if he got too loud they could not hear my clap. Many time during the
lessons I would have to ask the students to get their marshmallow, which means close
their mouths full of air.
Reflect of you interaction with the students. Would you describe you treatment of the
students as fair, respectful, and ethical? How so?
I think my interaction with the students was great. During each lesson I tried
very hard to walk around the room and monitor students working and see the needs of the
students not understanding. I think my treatment towards the students was fair and
respectful. To my lower students it may have seemed like they did not have to do as much
work on their own as everyone else, which is something I know I need to work on. I need
to work on making sure that every student does the same thing and challenge the higher
ones more.
Section 2: Three Individual Students reflective discussion should include:
A. Identify and describe the student that was most successful. Provide two possible
reasons for this success. Consider your objectives, instruction, and during
assessment along with student characteristics and other contextual factors under
your control.
a. The student who was most successful over the course of this unit was my
above average student. This student is always willing to learn and on task.
Another reason I think this child was most successful was because the
assessments and activities appealed to her his learning style.
B. Identify and describe the student that was least successful. Provide two possible
reasons for this lack of success. Consider your objectives, instruction, and during
assessment along with student characteristics and other contextual factors under
your control.
a. The student who was least successful during this lesson was my below
average student. This student has a hard time staying focused. This child
also needs constant guidance in everything because she is not reading on
grade level, which means that her writing is not on grade level either. Also
her math skills are not on grade level either. She does not know her basic
addition and subtraction facts, which play a crucial role in everything we
do in 2nd grade math.
C. Identify and describe the student that was about average in performance. Provide
two possible reasons for this success. Consider your objectives, instruction, and
during assessment along with student characteristics and other contextual factors
under your control.
a. Based on the data collected throughout this unit collectively I did not have
an average performing student. But, during some lesson my average
student performed and someone out performed my high achieving student.
Dorn 4
I think that some of the activities did not appeal to her learning style
which, is something I wish I would have done differently because this
student has come a long way since I have been in the classroom and I
think if I would have appealed more activities to her he would have
excelled.
Section 3: Reflection on Possibilities for Professional Development
Identify two professional development goals that emerged from your insights and
experiences with the TWS. Identify two specific steps you will take to improve your
performance in the areas you identified.
1. Professional development goals:
a. Challenging the above average students
b. Assessments of learning
2. Two specific steps to reach these goals:
a. If I can get to know each one of my student better, I know that I will be
able to challenge my higher learners. Sometimes I tend to set expectations
for the whole class which is fine because it ensures that everyone can do
the basics but I plan to research different things to do with the higher
leveled students to make sure they are getting the extra push they need.
b. I have a difficult time measuring the students progress from preassessment to post assessment because I do not know good ways to preassess the students and take data. To achieve this goal I will make sure I
think about my assessment before hand and plan them out. I need to think
about if it will show me what they know and will the assessment give me
enough information to assess them and compare to the post assessments.
While planning I will need to ensure that my pre-assessment and my post
assessment are similar and ask the same types of questions.

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Dorn 1

8. Reflection, Self-Evaluation, & Professional Development (LO 1.2 & 1.3)

How did you engage or motivate the students successfully?

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