Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Section Five
Section Five
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Section Five: Teacher Candidate Reflection Guidelines
Introduction
and knowledge that I have developed during my time at Medaille, College in the Master of
Elementary Education program. Being able to be reflective is an important quality that is part of
Education Accreditation Council, the Council for Accreditation for Educator Preparation, and the
preparation to becoming an educator. I will make these connections by highlighting the skills and
knowledge I have obtained through course work and experiences at Medaille College.
all of the assignments that I have done along the way and how they have given me a foundational
knowledge about teaching and best teaching practices. While accumulating my artifacts to
highlight in my portfolio, I realized how hard it was to just narrow down to eight. The artifacts
that I chose are ones that I felt showed my readiness to teach. Along with my assignments, I have
the classroom, behaviour management systems, supporting special needs students, special
education technology, and suicide assistance training. These certificates have provided me to be
a more well-rounded equipped educator and prepare me to better support students academically
and socially.
recognize the areas that I demonstrate the most experience and knowledge in (Claim
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2: Medaille College graduates meet the needs of diverse learners through
Assistant, I feel that I have been fortunate to be exposed to many best teaching practices that
support diverse learners, along with creating a safe space for students within an inclusive
learning environment (Claim 3: Medaille College graduates are caring educators). I look forward
Over my time at Medaille College, both in person and online, I am grateful to the
invaluable amount of material I learned from some extremely passionate educators themselves.
My experience in EDL 650 ‘Assessment and Evaluation of Literacy’ has opened my eyes to a
new appreciation for literacy, effective assessment and evaluation, and the importance of
intervention early on in school. I went into this program thinking I would prefer to teach at a
junior level, but I now find myself interested in primary. This class proves how valuable
assessments are to aiding a teacher in their lessons and delivery to ensure a considerable amount
of learning and growth in literacy is happening in the classroom (CAEP - Standard 1: Content
and Pedagogical Knowledge The provider ensures that candidates develop a deep understanding
of the critical concepts and principles of their disciplines and, by completion, are able to use
discipline specific practices flexibly to advance the learning of all students toward attainment of
assessments to complete with a student in order to evaluate their phonics, phonemic awareness,
spelling and reading comprehension skills. The overall experience allowed me to gain
preparing developmentally appropriate lessons that reflect curriculum standards. Along with this,
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I feel that I developed a greater understanding for how students may view assessments and that
providing them with a safe place where they feel comfortable, will ultimately ease them when
being assessed. This course provided me with numerous resources and assessments tools that I
Elementary Education, was EDU 571 ‘Technology for the Elementary Classroom’. This course
introduced me to various types of technology that can be used within the classroom. We were
shown various technology and applications that are used in engaging students and providing
formative assessments for students to optimize purposefully learning (Claim 2: Medaille College
graduates meet the needs of diverse learners through effective pedagogy and best teaching
practices). During this course, we developed a familiarity with the ISTE standards and how they
connect to the use of technology in the classroom. Using technology in the classroom can
significantly change the learning outcomes, I am grateful to have build upon my knowledge and
resources. Within this course, I created a Bitmoji lesson plan, a cyber safety presentation, and
was shown SmartBoard and how to access and create activities to add supplementary materials to
lesson plans (CAEP - Standard 1: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge The provider ensures that
candidates develop a deep understanding of the critical concepts and principles of their
disciplines and, by completion, are able to use discipline specific practices flexibly to advance
move forward in my education, I look forward to implementing what I have learned and
courses such as Literacy, Math, and Science provided myself and my colleagues with
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opportunities for meaningful skills and growth in these subject areas. These courses aided in a
deeper understanding in the creation of lesson plans, learning segments, and re-engagement plans
that are aligned with the Ontario and New York State curriculum standards (Claim
1: Medaille College graduates know the subject matter in their certification area(s)). These
courses and the presentations of lesson plans were invaluable experiences that offered
with confidence as I enter my teaching practicum where I will build upon the content knowledge
I have learned thus far. Along with this experience, I have been introduced to various
engagement strategy websites, books, texts, articles, and websites that reflect different subject
area materials. All of this allows me to feel equipped to plan, implement, and deliver math,
science, and literacy lessons and learning segments. While developing lesson plans and learning
segments, the focus on developing appropriate objectives was through the use of Bloom’s
Taxonomy. This is to provide all learners with the same opportunity to achieve the objective with
support all learners (Standard 4: Program Impact The provider demonstrates the impact of its
completers on P-12 student learning and development, classroom instruction, and schools, and
the satisfaction of its completers with the relevance and effectiveness of their preparation).
These courses also provided an in-depth overview of the use of formative and summative
assessments and how to use the findings as a reflection of my what the learners truly understand.
Ultimately allowing us as educators to reflect on our teaching. Overall, these courses provided
opportunities to familiarize ourselves with content across grades 1-6 and how different strategies
and differentiation changes between the grades. Ultimately, these courses have provided us with
an enormous amount of resources to carry forward as we move into our teaching careers.
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Readiness to Become a Teacher
As I reflect on the artifacts that are presented in my portfolio, I believe they provide
exemplars of my knowledge I have gained through my experiences that I have had working on
my Master of Elementary Education at Medaille College. All of the components of this portfolio
provide a true representation of who I am as an educator. The artifacts that were chosen,
work that best reflects my understanding of the importance of being an effective teacher. My best
teaching practices are portrayed through the quality and assortment of my artifacts.
modifications to all learners and to incorporate technology to assist in engagement and a further
understanding. These artifacts also display the integration and importance that being a culturally
responsive teacher is to me, along with providing inclusion within lessons and the classroom.
skills and gain confidence in my delivery. I gained a greater understanding of making sure to
scaffold during lessons and checking for understanding throughout. This program has provided
me with opportunities for observation, learning, and implementing best teaching practices, all of
supporting children, is only as great as it can be when a student feels safe and comfortable to
gain a rapport. Throughout my course work, it has been instilled that an educator’s relationships
with their students are truly important and have a significant impact on what the classroom
My philosophy of education has been deepened and remains student focused. I have gained a
better understanding of teaching strategies and best practices and how to implement them. I have
learned about many theorists and their theories and how they have impacted education and how I
will connect this to my personal beliefs and display in my classroom management and delivery.
Developing my own philosophy has also assisted me in my readiness to become a teacher. Along
with this, I recognize and welcome the role of also being a lifelong learner myself, to stay
committed to changing and developing my lessons as new strategies and curriculums are
introduced.
Lastly, my years of being an Educational Assistant have also provided me with a lot of
opportunity to build relationships and be part of classroom and school communities. These
experiences have provided me with flexibility and team building skills, which both are assets in
the education field. These contribute to my readiness to become a teacher, along with my
collaboration with a student services team and teacher – EA partnerships. Working as a team
displays the professionalism I intend to transfer over into becoming a teacher. As shown
Conclusion
learned philosophies and best teaching practices, along with the type of learner that I am. This
program was very intense as I balanced working at the same time, but knowing it was allowing
me to reach my goal of becoming a certified teacher made it all worthwhile. I provided a clear
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look at my concentration and devotion to developing my skillset and am looking forward to