Brittany Gremore

4/6/17

Reflections

Unit Plan Reflection

While attending Bluefield State, I had to create several Unit Plans for different

classes. It was important that we were given these assignments, because for student

teaching, we had to create and teach one. The Unit Plan assignments helped prepare us

for student teaching. The Unit Plan I uploaded was based on Language Arts. I was given

a teacher text book, and I had to create the whole Unit Plan by using the teachers book.

The theme I had was Communication. There were several activities and the story was

based on ideas of Communication.

When doing choosing a unit plan, I choose to do Elementary K-6. The topic I

choose is communication. It is designed for a second grade classroom. Students will learn

and become familiar with different types of communication. There are a variety of

instructions included in the unit plan. Students will be working in partners, whole group,

small groups, and individually. Students will learn through discussion, visuals, videos,

and demonstrations. Students will do several activities to learn about different types of

communication. Some examples include making a telephone, watching learning videos

on communication, reading stories, writing letters, Venn Diagrams, bubble maps,

pictures, and etc. Students will become familiar with the different types of

communication skills by completing these activities. After completing the activities, I

anticipate that the students will be able to list different types of communication, give

examples, and write letters. Students will be able to understand there is several effective

ways to communication with someone.

When doing this Unit Plan, the main subject was Language Arts, but I also

included some Science and Social Studies lesson plans to go along. Unit Plans are a great

way to integrate different subjects together. The students can learn and benefit from the

topic while learning and participating in different subject material.

I introduced and discussed several different ways humans can communicate with

each other. I incorporated several different activities that explained and taught students

how we can communicate with each other. The students even make a telegraph as a

Science experiment in this Unit Plan. The students learned the history of communication

and how it has changed over the years.

I learned when creating Unit Plan, the teachers book is just a guideline. If there is

a certain theme, you can pull other material out to go along with it to make it more

interesting for the students. I think all teachers should incorporate Unit Plans into their

reading classrooms. Unit Plans can be fun, interesting, and engaging for the students.

For my second placement, I created a Unit Plan for Earth Day. I read several

different books relating to Earth Day, complete several activities relating to Earth Day,

created several different Earth Day Crafts, and made grass heads. The students were

really involved in this Unit. The students seemed to be more engaged in the Unit Plan
than they are normally with the weekly stories.

Overall, Unit Plans can be very effective in a classroom. When creating a Unit

Plan, the teacher has to come up with the main topic or idea. The teacher takes that idea

and creates the instruction needed to teach that topic or idea. The students are able to

become more involved and in depth with the idea. I enjoyed creating the Unit Plan based

on communication. This is one of my favorite Unit Plans I have created so far.

Communication is important, and this lesson plan taught students there are more than one

way to communicate with someone one.

 Reflection- Praxis

When attending Bluefield State, I was required to create several unit plans. This

was a great way to prepare us for our future classrooms. When I started student teaching,

I had to create a unit plan and teach it myself. I was thankful I had already practiced

creating them while being in school, because I knew exactly how to do it. The unit plan I

uploaded in my portfolio is based on reading. My theme is Better Together. I created this

Unit Plan for one of my classes I took in college. I used a teachers edition book to create

the unit plan. I followed the direction in the book and my ideas to create the unit plan.

Overall, I think the Unit Plan was a great lesson plan to use in school.

In order to graduate, I had to take and pass several praxis tests. These tests were

extremely hard; however, I finally did it. When getting into the education program at

Bluefield State, you are required to pass Praxis 1. I took praxis 1, and I passed the entire

test my first try expect for writing. The second time I took writing, I passed it. Praxis 1
had three parts which included Math, Reading, and Writing. The Math and Reading parts

were multiple choice questions where you have to choose the best answer. The writing

part is where you have to read a scenario or story and write about it.

When we came back for this school year, we were told that Praxis 2, PLT, and

Teach Reading tests had to be passed before we could start student teaching. After

hearing that news, I signed up to take these test immediately. I passed PLT and Teach

Reading on my first try. These tests were made up of multiple choice questions, and

Teach Reading also had a part where you had to read different scenarios and write about

them. Praxis 2 has four parts which include Math, Reading, Science, and Social Studies.

The test is made up of multiple choice questions. On praxis 2, I had difficulty with the

Science and Social Studies. I bought the online tests to help practice and study, so I could

be prepared. I studied online resources as well and watched several YouTube videos. I

finally passed the entire test on praxis 2, and I could not have to been happier.

Overall, I thought Praxis 2 was the hardest test education majors are required to

take. This was the hardest test for me, because there were so many random questions on

there. It was material that I have not looked over since I was in Elementary school, and

some of the material I had never been introduced to when I was in school. When taking

this test, I think it is important to study and review different material you learned in

elementary school. This way you can come into the test fully prepared.