Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Reflective Statement
1. Fully state the standard in bold text. Then write a paragraph explaining your knowledge and
understanding of the standard—put the standard into your own words.
This standard is about how I, as a teacher, will consider individual student and group interactions
in personal development and learning, and self-motivation. This standard explains how it is
important that I take into consideration diverse learning needs, social interactions between
students, ability levels, and second language needs when organizing my classroom environment.
I will create an environment that is structured, organized, socially friendly, and motivating. It is
crucial that I understand how important it is to consider all students and their best interests while
arranging the physical space, organizing the time schedules, as well as while gathering the
classroom materials.
Ptasienski 2
2. Explain how the artifact you chose demonstrates your understanding and application of the
standard.
The artifact that I chose for this standard is a second grade classroom design that I formatted
using Smart Board Notebook software. As I set it up, I created a rationale as to why I added
things or placed them where I did. I placed the desks in groups rather than in rows. This will
learning. Rather than sitting in desks facing the teacher, being in groups, the students are able to
work together, discuss, share ideas, and take more control of their learning. I also included plan
a carpet area with a reading chair so that the students have an area where they can relax and
enjoy reading. There is a big chair for the teacher to sit and read to the students aloud, which can
be beneficial to ELLs and to students that are having a hard time recognizing and comfortably
reading books on their own. The reading chair can be incentive to good behavior as they can
work up to being able to spend their reading time in the teacher reading chair. Lastly, I included
a moon-shaped table because I expect to have reading groups with my students. Being able to sit
in the center chair will give me the opportunity to monitor the reading of all of my students. I
can also have other students lead the reading groups while sitting in the middle. I think that
having one of these tables in the classroom could also give students the option to work in groups
on assignments without having to be at their desks. This could be a place as well, where students
who struggle to focus could sit when he or she needs to focus on independent work. I could hold
conferences with students about their progress, etc there since it is a place where I can get down
to their eye level, and discuss how they are doing with them in an unintimidating way. While
designing the classroom, I took into consideration the individual needs of the students, and
3. A If the artifact has been used in your practice, reflect on how your teaching will change in
the future to further meet the standard.
B If the artifact has not been used in your practice, i.e., a class assignment, reflect upon how
your teaching will be impacted by the assignment.
This artifact has not been used in my practice, but my teaching will definitely be impacted as a
result. Knowing the rationale behind the design of a classroom is a valuable skill to have as a
teacher. This will help with preventative management, encouraging group learning, setting up
reading successfully for ELLs and slower readers, and it will also help me to understand the
importance of creating an environment that both the teacher and the student feels comfortable in.
This activity will help me in the future design of my own classroom, which will help to provide
4. Conclude with a paragraph discussing how you are more prepared to Teach and Learn in a
Diverse Society as a result of satisfactorily meeting the standard.
This artifact helped me to be more prepared to teach and learn in a diverse society because it
helps me to know how to provide for the needs of diverse learners such as ELL students, students
that have trouble reading, students with behavioral disabilities, and students who may struggle to
interact in an appropriate way with peers in class. This activity helps me to design an
environment that will be conducive to the learning of students with a variety of needs. It helped
me to learn the importance of classroom design, and how influential it can be on the success of