Reflection and Self-Evaluation

Ariel Pratt

DM1-Diversity Dealing with a unit in heredity I was able to address why various races have historical, traditional, physical traits and how as different races have offspring together, you can get a mix of both. It brought up the quandary of whether or not humans could possibly blur all lines of distinct ethnicity. Also, this unit lent itself well to talk about families who have adopted relatives or siblings. They may not exhibit the inherited traits of their adoptive parents, but learned behaviors are just as important to how a family unit works together. I felt this approach to diversity worked well for the students because it helped them to reflect on themselves and the world around them. DM2- Effective Pedagogy About half of the lessons I taught were in a room that did not have a working TV, Elmo or Smartboard, which made it difficult to include technology. However, on these days, students had access to iPods and iPads to do research, look up words, use timers. I do, of course, prefer to have technological resources, but we still had fun learning without some of the typical electronic devices. The lessons in which I was able to use technology went smoothly as well. I was able to show a video, use the Elmo to explain worksheets, and use the smartboard to help manipulate notes or display genetic traits that the students werent familiar with, such as a widows peak or attached earlobes. I felt like I used the technology as a great support for the lessons without depending on them to teach the entire thing. DM3- Subject Matter My confidence in teaching science is fairly high. I get excited to teach science and I love learning and preparing for the lessons. I have always had a love of science and feel that my knowledge in the subject matter has made it easier for me to teach, answer questions, avoid misconceptions and thoroughly enjoy the science units this year, it has also been confirmed to me this semester that a masters in science education would be a very enjoyable career path. DM4- Environment In order to maintain classroom management upper hand, I set clear expectations with my students before any lesson. I try to be as explicit as possible, even anticipating some of the mishaps so that I can be as thorough as possible. I seat my students in a boy-girl style (the last grade level this will work in) and rearrange seating per lesson requirements or incidental need. The students are very accustomed by now to the behavioral token system in which they can gain or lose tokens depending on their choice of behavior. This system seems to work well because the students have to physically pay me the owed tokens in front of the class and so it serves as a visual reminder.

The tokens are so valuable to the students because we do a fifth grade auction every two months where students buy and sell things. Its a coveted part of being in the fifth grade. A physically safe environment happens when I provide students with guidelines and rules on how to use the science equipment and safety gear. I also have a zero tolerance policy for unsafe procedures or what may even appear to be negative contact with another student. If were in the science lab, the student is asked to be an observer only for the rest of the experiment. If it is an infraction involving physical inappropriateness between students, theyre asked to stop, separated, then stay in from recess to talk to me about it. Emotional safety, I think comes from consistency. I am consistent with my expectations, consequences, and enthusiasm for learning, energy to have fun, but also to hear what the student have to say, think, feel. Because I only work with half of the class at a time it has worked beautifully to all sit in one big circle for a Feast of Words, Talk Show etc. These are just names of discussion boards we have or presenting circles we engage in.

DM5-Reflection The data from this TWS helped me to see where my students were struggling because of some fine tuning that I needed to do my lesson or delivery. It also helped me to see that no matter how many times you try and get an idea or concept across, in a myriad of ways, some students still have a hard time comprehending what youre trying to teach. The data from this TWS has also reiterated that the more hands-on and activity based the learning is, the more the students learn and retain. Unfortunately, there were a few unexpected turns in my plans and the students had to wait a few days (over a weekend even) to take the post-test and most of them still improved their scores greatly! DM6-Teaching Disposition I feel like I have learned some very valuable lessons throughout my experience as a SEE student. I have gained more confidence in my teaching ability( to plan, prepare, align, deliver) and in myself as a teacher (teammate, facilitator, performer, motivator, problem solver) . I am comfortable using the other faculty around me as resources for help or clarification and so value the time that we can gather as team members to support one another. I learned so much from other teachers that I used in my lessons; I know it helped my students learn. I will be forever grateful. I feel so lucky to have been able to be in one classroom for an entire year and see my students start from day one and now be moving to another grade. It has given me strength to know that there are good days and bad for both my students and I, but we can get throughout it together. Caring and professional relationships will always impact children, hopefully, for the better. In my experience this past year, I had two students whose

mothers were also teachers just across the hall. At first, this intimidated me, but soon came to realize how nice and convenient it was to have their help. I got daily insight into why these children may be tired, why they were absent, what theyre struggling with academically or socially. Unbeknownst to the students, I used those tidbits of information to (from what I could tell) help them have a better day, week, learning experience. Other than one of my students who suffers from ODD, I believe that all of my students have respect for me, as I do for them, and we have a loving and caring understanding between us. You come to me with any question, comment or concern and I will do my best to help you in any way I can. This level of comfort with my students definitely impacts the students learning. I can reassure them, they wont go hungry and school today, I can give them a band aid, a minute to sit in the hall so friends dont see them cry, a moment of my time to hear the joke they made up and laugh. Its those little things that build relationships and I hope theyve added up well enough for my students to have happy memories of Mrs. Pratt in their classroom.