P2 – Practice differentiated instruction

Teacher-candidates apply principles of differentiated instruction, including theories of language acquisition, stages of language, and academic language development, in the integration of subject matter across the content areas of reading, mathematical, scientific, and aesthetic reasoning.

As a teacher candidate it is so important to understand the research that lies behind differentiating a classroom lesson for the various kinds of learners that I have in my classroom.  Students from every walk of life and having any number of learning needs and not every lesson that I plan is going to work for all of them. It is up to me to plan lessons and activities are appropriate for everyone.

In my internship classroom I have a lot of students who need me to teach and do things differently in the way that they show they are making progress. In order to show my competency in this a area I have attached a copy of a lesson and assessment that I differentiated and gave my students.

goldilocks lesson

This assessment shows my proficiency in this area because I had to intentionally plan times for my students to show what they know in their own way. I also had to plan a way for all of my students to be able to understand the information that I presented to them.

In giving this lesson to my students I learned that it is more difficult to differentiate ahead of time then you think. There were times that I had to differentiate my lessons in the middle of a lesson; this is differentiating from the differentiation that I had already planned ahead of time.   I learned It is okay to have a plan but that it is also okay to stray from your plan if that is what the students need.

This lesson benefitted my students because the students that struggle to show what they know and the students who already know the material a way to represent their thinking. All of my students are talented and intelligent in their own way. It is my job to work as hard as I have to and be as flexible as I need to in order to get them to learn.

In the future I will continue to work as hard as I have to because my differentiations are not always going to work the first time. You can never be for positive that the changes you are making are going to be the right one. It is my job to continue to make changes that they need and continue to try things until you find something that works so all of the students in your class can learn.

H2 – Honor student access to content material.

Teacher-candidates use multiple instructional strategies, including the principles of second language acquisition, to address student academic language ability levels and cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Competent teachers are those that continue to try new strategies in order to get their students to learn. This is true of those teachers who are trying to teach a group of students who are developing their understanding of the English language.

In my class of kindergarteners all of my students are working on developing their English language skills. I do not have any students in my class who are English Language learners in the standard definition of the term, English is all of my students’ first language. This being said they are kindergarteners and every day they are learning to read and write. Every day they are learning new vocabulary and sentence structure.  As a teacher in a kindergarten class it is my job to provide my students with the tools that they need to succeed in learning to read and write the English language as my competency in this area I have included a copy of a word bank that I made for my students to help them compare and contrast the stories Goldilocks and the Three bears and Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs in writing.

goldilocks word bank

This piece of evidence is shows my competency in this area because I created this word bank for them to use in orders to show what they know in another context besides just oral language.  It is important for them to have practice writing down their thoughts but it is difficult and seems overwhelming for students who are not yet comfortable sounding out words longer than three or four letters. My creation of this word bank allows them to recognize that the word in print matches the picture so that they can copy it in their writing and work on sounding out other words.

In doing this I learned that there are plenty of ways to enhance my student’s language use that will benefit them in multiple areas of language use. I also learned how easy it is to get my students more comfortable with writing. Some students are at the point where they can write multiple sentences phonetically and there are other students that still need to copy down words in order to get their thoughts down on paper and that is okay.

My students were able to benefit from this word bank because it allowed students who normally are not able to write distinguishable words on their word to do so. They were able to tell me that the word under the picture said the name of the picture even though they could read it. This allowed them to take words that they did know how to write and combine the two. It make the work seem less challenging for the students  while actually increasing the difficulty so that they can submit work where they know they achieved the goal and wrote a sentence.

In the future I think I would like to plan the use of sentence frames along with the word bank so that students can receive more practice in using their words in a sentence.

P4 – Practice the integration of appropriate technology with instruction.

Teacher-candidates use technology that is effectively integrated to create technologically proficient learners

In our technology savvy society it is essential that teachers model the use of technology in their classroom to ensure that their students have exposure to the idea that technology is accessible to them in the classroom. It is a tool to be used often.

In my placement classroom we do not have common technology items used in most classrooms like smart boards and Ipads or other tablets.  I have to make use of the technology that I have at hand.  As evidence of my proficiency with using technology  in the classroom I have provided a power point on ocean animals that I used as an end of unit wrap and introduction to an end of unit writing assignment.

animals in the ocean

This power point is evidence of my expanding proficiency in this area because it is one of the first piece of technology that I have created for use in my classroom. I created it because I could not find any books that I felt were comprehensive enough to review all of the ocean animals that my students had been learning about. So I created this power point to read along with my students and use almost as an ebook.

I learned that when you open your mind up and use the technology resources that you have at hand you can create a resource to use in your classroom to tailor your students learning to exactly what you want them to learn and what you want them to see.  I believe this could also be used as an excellent strategy for differentiating your lessons. If the materials are not there you can just create them.

My students benefitted from this power point because it was their first time having a power point for their use in the classroom. The more exposer that my students get to different technologies the better off they will be. They need to know that technology is a part of our society and that we can use technology to help us learn.

In the future I would like to continue to use technology such as Power Point and Prezi to make presentations to provide the exact information that I would like my students to obtain in the lesson that I am teaching

H4 – Honor family/community involvement in the learning process.

Teacher-candidates inform, involve, and collaborate with families/neighborhoods, and communities in each student’s educational process, including using information about student cultural identity, achievement and performance.

In order to support the whole child teacher-candidates must be able to communicate and work alongside families and the community in a respectful and professional manner.  The learning process for children requires a team of individuals who are dedicated to the wellbeing and education of the child. Those individuals are the parents and the teachers who above all should work as a team for the child but also members in the community who come to help with the learning and development of the students.

This week my class went on a field trip to the Seattle Aquarium as we have just finished our unit on animals and are about to move into our science unit on the ocean. As evidence of my growing competency in this area I have provided pictures of my students experiencing Seattle and the Seattle Aquarium.

Watching the ducks on the water front

pretending to be starfish eating some mussels

Touching animals as part of our class

Checking out the Sea Otters

These pieces of evidence show my competency in this area because in the planning for and attending this event there were many times that communication with parents and members of the Seattle Aquarium staff was extremely important. There were four kindergarten classes that went on the field trip each with 14-18 students and almost 20 parents. Communication and collaboration was so important because we wanted the students to not only have a great time and learn a lot but they also were expected to behave the same way they would at school if not better.  In the days before the field trip there were countless emails, phone calls and notes exchanged between parents and the teachers in order to coordinate for the grand adventure.

I learned that the more chaperones that you can have the better. There were a few parents who had their hands full, while our kids behaved very well they are still five years old and taking four children in a group is difficult any ways. I want to make sure that parents continue to volunteer at the school so making the experience equally pleasant for them is important.

This impacted students learning because when parents and teachers can communicate and collaborate effectively the students will benefit. All of my students who could go got to go. They all learned a lot about sea creatures and because they were respectful and polite to staff they got to learn even more about them.  This field trip was so good for my students who some have never even been to Seattle before and it could have not happened without the parent volunteers

The next time that I go on a field trip of this size I would like to make sure that I have enough chaperones so that I do not have to take my own group of students. This way I can take the time to focus on the needs of the individual groups and can be useful to all of the parents if they need me.

P3 – Practice standards-based assessment.

Teacher-candidates use standards-based assessment that is systematically analyzed using multiple formative, summative, and self-assessment strategies to monitor and improve instruction.

It is important that teacher-candidates learn to properly use assessment to assess their students understanding of the learning target for the lesson. Teachers must be able to give assessments that allow multiple ways for students to show how much they know at the end of a unit or lesson.

In my internship placement classroom we were just finishing up our section on snails which is part of the Animals two by two. To wrap up our unit on snails which was all about the parts of land and water snails ad how they use those body parts we first had the students observe the snails and talk about what body parts are the same and are different. Than as a whole class we reviewed the parts of a snail. I used this as a formative assessment because I was able to gauge how well my students understood snail parts and their functions at that time. Finally as my summative assessments the students were asked to draw and label as best as they could a picture of a land snail and/or a water snail and write a fact sentence about them. As evidence of my competency in this area I have included the whole class drawing that we made and some samples of students drawing and writing about their snails.

These assessment examples are evidence of my growing competency in this area because I planned them out with the help of my mentor teacher and then I administered them with little difficulty. The whole class discussion gave students  a chance to evaluate their own misconceptions about snails and they were able to write things that were true about snails, as well as label their picture once they had to do it on their own.

What I learned while planning and administering these assessments is that formative assessments are a great opportunity to make in the moment changes to your teaching. If the students are not getting it, it is always okay to go back and reteach in a different way to make sure that every student got what they were supposed to out of the lessons.

My students benefited from these assessments because first I gave them an opportunity to put all their thoughts into words and in one place at the front of the board. This made it possible for them to put their thoughts down on paper. Sometimes in kindergarten writing assignments don’t go as planned because some students are still struggling with their letter sounds. The way that I laid out the assessment allowed all of the students to write something about snails and the students that could write more did.

Next time I would like the students to do some self-reflection and self assessment about how well they think they did on their assessment as well as understanding the lesson.

O2. – Offer appropriate challenge in the content area.

Teacher-candidates plan and/or adapt curricula that are standards driven so students develop understanding and problem-solving expertise in the content area(s) using reading, written and oral communication, and technology.

Teacher candidates need to have the ability to design lessons that are not only fitted to what the students need to learn but are made to benefited to teach how the students need to learn as well. There are times that we must be able to tailor the given curriculum to fit what we think our students will benefit from because what we are given is just not working. A classroom is not a one size fits all environment so one curriculum straight out of the book might leave some things to be desired.

As evidence of my ability to plan and adapt lessons I have attached a math lesson that I planned and taught in my internship class this last week. This was the first math lesson that I taught in my class and I felt like the students gained a lot from it.

math showcase lesson

This lesson is a good example of my competency in this area because I took a lesson out of the required curriculum that we use in my classroom and I modified it to ensure that my students were getting the most out of the lesson. I wanted the students to have a good understanding of composing and decomposing numbers so that they can continue to gain a deeper understanding of addition. The biggest change that I made was changing the lesson from a more teacher directed lesson. My students were able to build and take apart the number 7 on their own, where as if I would have read it right out of the curriculum.

After teaching this lesson I think the biggest thing that I learned is that it is okay to try new things. Sometimes they might not work and sometimes they will go even better than expected. This time things happened to go really great. The students had some good discussion about the parts in the number 7 and I felt that for the most part they had a solid grasp on the concept. The most important thing was that I was willing to change the things because I know my students and what they need.

This affected my student learning because I tried to tailor the lesson to their needs mathematically. There are students in my class who were already decomposing ten or more and there are students who are still composing numbers to five so I made sure to give them the opportunity to work at their level while still practicing the targeted skill.

I cannot wait to start planning and teaching more math lessons so that I can hone my skills at modify lessons to make sure my students are learning what they need to be learning in the way that they learn best.

E1 – Exemplify professionally-informed, growth-centered practice.

Teacher-candidates develop reflective, collaborative, professional growth-centered practices through regularly evaluating the effects of his/her teaching through feedback and reflection.

In order to become the best teachers that we can be, teacher-candidates need to constantly be trying to improve the way that we teach. Teachers who take the time to reflect on their teaching they are opening up the door for improvements to make the learning that happens in the classroom that much better for the students.

One way that teachers can evaluate their teaching is by looking at data from assessments and evaluating the growth that their students are making. At my internship placement I took the day off from student teaching to go to a grade level response to intervention (RTI) meeting. All four of the kindergarten teachers from my school were present as well as the vice principle and some district administrators. As evidence of my developing competency in evaluating and reflecting on my teaching I have attached a copy of the notes that I took while at this RTI meeting.

RTI NOTES February 20

This piece of evidence shows my developing competency because it demonstrates my ability to participate in reflective and evaluative practices in a group. Although the data is from the time that my mentor teacher was teaching the students; I still need to be aware of what is working with my class and what is not. In a couple of weeks the learning of these students will be in my hands so it was very appropriate for me to have a say in what we discussed today and to be a part of the plans that we are making to better improve our teaching.

What I learned from the meeting today is that there is so much that goes into being a teacher beyond making plans and teaching lessons. Good teachers need to constantly reevaluate their teaching and changing the way that they do things. It is important not to get set in your ways because every year you are going to have a different class of students with severely different needs.

Attending this meeting and reflecting on the way that I am going to teach kindergarten effects my students learning very directly.  My students benefit from my reflective practices because if something is not working in my instructional practices, we can fix it and make sure that all students are getting what they need. I want all of my students to make growth and reach grade level expectations.

The next time I attend a meeting like this one than I will be ready to make more plans for change and do more evaluation of my own teaching and not just focus on what I think my students need. I will be getting to the point where I am in charge of the learning that happens and I am responsible for the growth that they are or are not making.

O1. – Offer an organized curriculum aligned to standards and outcomes.

Teacher-candidates align instruction to the learning standards and outcomes so all students know the learning targets and their progress toward meeting them.

It is important for teacher-candidates to make learning targets very clear for their students. If you expect a student to get something particular out of a lesson than they should know exactly what it is they are supposed to be learning. Teacher-candidates must also make certain that they are planning their lessons to clearly teach whatever learning target that they are trying to get the students to learn. All activities that are planned should all connect to the learning target.

As evidence of my growing competency in the area I have attached a lesson plan for a lesson that I taught my kindergarten internship classroom this week.  I taught a lesson about characters using the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. It was the first formal experience that the students had with character and acknowledging details about that character.

Chrysanthemum lesson

This piece of evidence shows my competency in this area because I tried to make it very clear to the students what I wanted them to accomplish out of the lesson. I told my students that we would be learning about characters in the story and had them repeat after me. Then I explained to them what to look for when I was reading the story. I told my students that they needed to listen for the characters in the story so that they could tell me more about who the character was.

After doing this activity with my students I learned that it is important to make instructions very clear for my student so that they could accomplish the learning target. I was sure to constantly check in with them to make sure that they understood what I was saying and asking. If you do not check in with your students than there could be major gaps in their understanding of the lesson and hurt their understanding of the learning standard.

This lesson affected my students learning because this was the first time that they were formally hearing about characters, what they are, and why they are important. Especially in kindergarten it is important that students have a good grasp on what they are trying to achieve in any given lesson.  This lesson was very important because understanding characters is a skill that they will need for their whole academic life. At the end of the lesson students were able to tell me something that they liked about our main character Chrysanthemum.

The next time that I teach this lesson or a similar one I would like to add in more self-assessments that align with the learning target. I want my students to be able to tell me whether or not they think they met the learning target.

H5 – Honor student potential for roles in the greater society.

Teacher-candidates prepare students to be responsible citizens for an environmentally sustainable, globally interconnected, and diverse society.

As a teacher-candidate I am not only responsible for teaching my students how to read, write, add and subtract but I am also responsible for teaching them how to be good people and good citizens.  Children ages 5-18 spend almost as much time with their teachers as they do their families, this puts responsibility for how the students act in the hands of the teacher. In kindergarten the students learn how to share, how to listen when others are talking, how to work constructively and treat others with respect.

In my internship classroom I have been teaching a language arts lesson every week. This week our letter was T but I struggled to find a meaningful book that had something to do with a turtle or a tiger. Luckily we also have snails in our classroom for our science unit so I found a book with snails in it. I came upon the book “Snail Started It” by Katja Reider, a story about a snail that says unkind things to his friend and then the unkindness spreads because of hurt feelings. We had been having a lot of unkind words being said in my class so I thought it would be a good way to talk about having empathy for others.  To show evidence of my growing competency in the area of preparing my students to be good people I have attached my lesson plan for the lesson that I taught with this particular story.

snail started it lesson

This particular piece of evidence shows my competency in this area because I we were able to have some really good discussions and do a meaningful activity about how it feels when someone says unkind things to one another even if they were just trying to be funny. I introduced the concept of why words can hurt by reading the book to my students; whenever an animal in the story said something unkind I asked the students if it was okay to call someone that and how they would feel if someone said that to them. Then when we had finished reading the story I talked with them about things that we could say to our friends instead of saying unkind things. All of the students and I proceeded to get in a circle and hold hands. Every student was expected to say something kind to their neighbor. When everyone was finished we discussed how everyone feels better when we say kind words.

While teaching this lesson I got a lesson of my own. There are times when you plan a meaningful heartfelt lesson like this and students do not give the responses that you want. All of my students were able to tell their friends something that they liked about one another, except one. This student told their neighbor that they were not their friend. I solved this by telling the student he said something very unkind, I had this student apologize and sit out. Then I told their neighbor something that I liked about him and we continued with the rest of the circle. When the activity was over I sat down with the student privately and we talked about why they had to sit out and practiced what they will say next time instead.

I feel as though my students benefited from this because of the experience that they were able to have. Learning experiences need to be personal for kindergarten students. You cannot just tell them that calling people names and teasing is mean, they need to understand how it feels to someone else when they are being teased.  In this activity they got to understand why teasing hurts and the mess that it causes. They also got to practice an alternative to teasing and discuss why that makes people feel good.

In the future I plan on teaching more lessons like this on the social aspects of their lives. A healthy happy classroom happens when students are respectful to one another and to the teacher. If I want to promote the best learning environment for my students I need to provide opportunities for them to learn about kindness, respect, and problem solving.

H1 – Honor student diversity and development.

Teacher-candidates plan and/or adapt learner centered curricula that engage students in a variety of culturally responsive, developmentally, and age appropriate strategies.

When planning instruction teacher-candidates must make certain that they are thinking of their students individual lives and how the experience that they have had thus far will shape their understanding of concepts in the classroom. When planning a lesson it is imperative that teacher-candidates reflect of their student’s backgrounds before diving into something new.

I have been teaching one English Language Arts lesson a week in my internship classroom and I try to choose a book that has to do with what our letter is for the week. This week our letter was “P” and the chant that goes along with it is “P says [puh] police man in the park [puh puh puh].” In our curriculum we are currently in the being healthy and safe unit so I really wanted to do a lesson about police officers and how they help keep us safe.  As evidence of my growing competency in this area I have attached my lesson about police officers and some work that my students completed in the lesson.

Police officer lesson plan

I believe that this evidence shows my competency in this area because when I first set out to plan it I had to think long and hard about how to approach the subject in the most positive light. I was aware that some of my students may have not had positive experiences with the police previously in their lives but I really wanted to solidify how much police officers do to help us and the community. Of course in our discussion my students brought up that police arrest people and that they have guns but I quickly acknowledge that while they do that we are talking about how they help our community. I wanted to make it clear to my students that police officers do so much more than just arrest people. I chose a book that was developmentally appropriate and put the police in a positive light. All in all my students really enjoyed it and they all seemed to have no problem talking about police officers in a positive manner.

While writing this lesson I actually struggled a lot because I was unsure of how to prepare for some of the questions I thought I might receive. I looked to my mentor teacher for guidance and we discussed that while these questions may come up we just want to turn in back around to something more positive. I also learned that the other students can be helpful in helping change misconceptions. I had students in my class that were helpful in telling their classmates about the good things that police officers do and I feel as though that is very helpful for students with bad experiences to see.

This lesson affected my students learning because I tried to make the whole discussion very positive for all of the students. My real hope for this lesson was that my students would see how good and helpful police officers are and could hopefully carry on those feelings if they ever did need help for a police officer. My students enjoyed themselves, they were able to remember facts from the story, and they were able to tell me about the picture they drew. Not only did they gain a some life lessons but they got to practice using their literacy skills.

In the future I would really like to do a whole unit on community helpers and expand on a lot of the discussion that my students were able to have.