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Dhagat 1

Sandeep Dhagat
Professor Suk
EDUC 230-01 Education Field Experience
Fall 2017
Rationale Statement-Standard #8

Standard Eight: Instructional Strategies


The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop
deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in
meaningful ways. (NJ Professional Standards for Teachers, 2014, p. 10).

Artifact: Final Reflection


Date of Completion: December 9th, 2017 (Fall 2017)
Course Completed in: EDUC-230 Education Field Experience

Rationale Statement:
This artifact is a final reflection of my field placement experience in a 6th grade mathematics and
science classroom in Bound Brook. The purpose of the reflection is to evaluate whether the placement
experience solidified my professional aspirations using specific examples from my observation journals. I
discussed my perceptions of my ability to act as a professional teacher, and evaluated how culturally
prepared I was in teaching to diverse student bodies. Since I focused on my ability to implement theory-
or research-based approaches to problematic concerns or issues in the classroom, this artifact reflects
how I understand the cognitive processes associated with various kinds of learning (e.g., critical and
creative thinking, problem framing and problem solving, invention, memorization and recall) and how
these processes can be stimulated. (NJ Professional Standards for Teachers 8.ii.1, 2014, p. 11). Realizing
that some students saw their poor ability in math as a fixed or innate quality, I tried to show them
effective problem-solving strategies to increase their performance confidence and encourage them to
see ability as a changeable quality. In addition, in my observation reports I consider how consistent use
of problem-solving strategies can be stimulated by changes in the classroom.
The main thought running in my mind as I wrote my reflection was how both my field
experience course and my educational psychology course greatly increased my appreciation of teaching
as a complex function. When you consider the volume of educational research material along with the
numerous variables that constrain and enhance those research results, it becomes an arduous task to
find solutions to daily problems you encounter in the classroom. In addition, the field experience course
evidenced the current issues of diverse student populations, low-SES school districts, and resource
scarcity. These issues add potential apprehension when deciding to pursue a teaching profession,
especially because I would rather teach in a school that had all three of those factors than one that had
none of those factors. I also appreciate how this placement represented a different form of diversity
from my Foundations of Education placement at a Catholic parochial school. While this placement
included lessons about SES and racial diversity, the parochial school placement helped me better
understand ethnic, religious, and school-type diversity. From both placements, the most valuable
experience I took away was how diversity has many forms and how those different forms can impact
student learning and classroom management.
Dhagat 2

I would use this artifact as a portfolio example of how I am emulating the good qualities of a
reflective teacher in that I attempt to evaluate myself against the standards of the teaching profession.
The process of looking over my observation journal notes and then my experiences in the class helped me
to better understand my own progress towards my teaching aspiration. Also, I would use this artifact to
encourage myself in the future to continuously seek new opportunities to learn about different cultures.
Since I identified a knowledge gap in my cultural understanding of diverse student bodies, I would like to
use my reflection to motivate me to gain a deep (rather than superficial understanding) of the cultural
attributes that may affect classroom learning or student behavior.

Reference

Professional Development in New Jersey. (2014, August 4). Retrieved from New Jersey State Department
of Education:
http://www.state.nj.us/education/profdev/profstand/teacherstandardscrosswalk.pdf

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