Hi, all!
I hope your first week of student teaching is going well. I look forward to hearing your stories and watching you grow as a teacher throughout this semester!
As you know, you'll be spending a lot of time this semester working on your e-portfolio. I'd like you to start thinking now about possibilities for artifacts for the 4 domains (Planning and Preparation, The Classroom Environment, Instruction, Professional Responsibilities). For this blog post, please do the following:
-For each domain, briefly discuss an artifact you already have that you could use.
-Comment on the domain you feel the least prepared for, and what you plan to do throughout student teaching to change this.
-Offer any advice to your peers when you see where they might be struggling.
Take care, enjoy the first week, and I'll see you on the 10th!
Professor Bellew
1. For the first domain Planning and Preparation, I already have the kidwatching project as an artifact I can use. The point of the first domain is to exemplify how you, as the teacher, design instruction. The project was all about figuring out how a particular child learns and what s/he needs to help them learn to the best of their abilities.
ReplyDelete2. The Classroom Environment is the second domain and one artifact I already have that I can use is the artifact about classroom rules, because those set the expectations from day one. It's important that you, the parents/guardians and the students are all on the same page from the very beginning.
3. An artifact that I have and can use for the third domain of Instruction is my co-teaching probability lesson plan. It demonstrates my ability to teach with another teacher in a creative way.
4. Artifacts that I can use for the domain of Professional Responsibilities are my certificates of completing professional conferences to demonstrate my ability as an educator to also continue my education, which will best help out all of my students in the future.
I feel that the third domain is my weakest because I am just getting started teaching an actual class. These are no longer demos and I will learn just as much from my third grade students as they will learn from me. I plan on learning from lesson plans from my cooperating teacher, past student teachers, and lesson plans that I have created and tried. It's a lot to go through, but the more sources you have, the more you have to learn from!
Classroom rules is a great one to include! Establishing rules on the firt day of school really sets the tone of your classroom community and I have seen that come true in the classroom this year.
DeleteI am glad that you choose a different domain other than 4. I definitely feel like a lot of the lesson plans that you will create this fall throughout student teaching will be great artifacts for Domain 3. Being thorough and concise throughout your lesson plan will make for the best artifacts.
Delete1.For the planning and preparation domain, domain 1, I plan on including my kid- watching project that was completed during my methods block placement. This artifact shows how I was able to determine what best met an individual student’s needs in reading and writing and what I was going to do in order to help her succeed. This fits into this domain because it shows how as a teacher I was able to plan and prepare an action for a student. Planning and preparation is a component to teaching that is very essential. Teachers must be prepared for every little thing that comes their way.
ReplyDelete2.In order for the students to be successful within your classroom there must be a positive classroom environment in place. Students should feel comfortable and safe in the classroom setting. The comfort level of the students will greatly impact their success rate in the classroom. In order to establish this environment in a classroom, a mission statement should be in place. In my mission statement I have addressed the concerns that my classroom will be a safe environment that all students will feel comfortable.
3.Instruction is one of the most important aspects of being a teacher. In order make sure each day is effective and that the students are gaining quality information, it is important to prepare effective lesson plans as well as applying proper instructional methods. For this domain I have a writing lesson for second grade. In this lesson students discuss adjectives in order to write a descriptive story about a dinosaur. This lesson helps students with their knowledge on adjectives as well as writing descriptive stories.
4.Teaching is only one of many aspects of becoming a teacher. Another of these many aspects includes professional development. In relations to my methods black class this semester we attended a workshop for social studies educators, completed a SAS workshop, as well as planned two service days relating to science.
I feel that the domain that I could use the most work on is Domain 4. Previously I had not attended many in-service or professional development days with my cooperating teacher simply because they were not on the days that I was at placement. With student teaching this semester I have already attended in-service days for the beginning of the year. I will be attending more in October as well as parent teacher conferences. This will help to build my skills as a teacher as well as my Domain 4.
I knew that we were attending more inservice days than before, especially because we were going with our cooperating teachers before we even began the school year this year, but adding the parent teacher conferences is a great idea! For as long as we have heard and known about parent teacher conferences, I've never been to once since I was always the student. I'm excited to add this experience to the many numbers of things I have learned from just the beginning of this student teaching experience.
Delete1. Planning and preparation is an important part of running a classroom smoothly. Student teaching in the fall allowed me to see just how much work goes into starting a new school year and making transitions easier for students. For this domain, I have a welcome letter I sent home to parents after my first week, with a family survey and media release form attached. As these forms are returned, it was easy to see how important it is to connect with families and learn abobut my students. The information I am receiving will allow me to better plan my lessons around the students strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles.
ReplyDelete2. A positive learning environment is essential for students to succeed. For this domain, I have my bullying lesson plan. This plan includes reading a book about showing respect to classmates and friends, creating a looks like/sounds like chart for bullying, and participating in an activity that uses apples to show the permanent damage bullying can cause. I would use this lesson within the first few weeks of school in order to create a more open and accepting classroom.
3. I have many artifacts that could fit into this Instruction domain. I plan to include my fairy tale lesson plan which includes five lessons. This artifact shows my content knowledge of the characteristics of fairy tales, time management skills for each day of the week, organization as I did not give many lectures, but rather asked for group work and dramatizations, and differentiation for all reading groups.
4. There are many professional responsibilities involved in a teaching career. I plan to include various letters of recommendation in this domain. Letters are written by various cooperating teachers, principals, supervisors, and parents. These letters show my professionalism and rapport the the leaders in the field of education and student families.
I feel I need the most work in Domain 4. I have already added to this domain with August inservice days. I plan to increase my knowledge even more with upcoming inservice days and faculty meetings. At each faculty meeting, there is a group presentation on specific topics, such as the common core, inclusion, and classroom libraries.
Good idea including letters of recommendation in Domain 4! I feel like that's one that a lot of us need to strengthen.
Delete1:For Danielson's first domain, Planning and Preparation, I included several artifacts that highlight the in depth processes that go into creating a fully engaging lesson, formulating assessments and goals, and understanding and building an activity or lesson that meets the needs of every student.One lesson plan I included was for the “Preschool for a Day” program. I planned this lesson using the 5E model of science instruction, and had to account for learning materials and age-appropriate activities. It was also important to plan for behavior, ability, and prior knowledge at the preschool level.
ReplyDelete2: For the second domain, Classroom Environment, I plan to include a lesson I created to research and celebrate multiculturalism in my methods block classroom. This lesson had a far reaching effect on my students, as they took the initiative to do further research, begin classroom discussions on the topic, and share stories of their family's heritage, finding connections and taking interests in differences. This type of passion for discovering their global community and pride in a diverse classroom definitely lends itself to the type of classroom environment I want to create: open, accepting, student driven, and one where learning is celebrated.
3:Instruction, the third of Danielson's Domains, highlights the communication of information from teacher to student, flexibility, creativity, and responsiveness of every teacher. An artifact I plan to include with this involves a lesson I did in my methods block classroom combining three of their current subjects into one integrated lesson starring the Statue of Liberty. This was a very out of the box lesson, involved a lot of information and movement, and showcased my ability to form a well rounded lesson that was hands-on as well as minds-on.
4: The fourth domain is Professional Practice, and looks at the professionalism needed to exceed in the teaching field, including their own continuing education and their communication with parents and co-workers. In this domain I plan to include a pamphlet I wrote for parents who have a child going through the IEP process, including helpful definitions, explanations of the process, and a timeline of the steps they will need to take as they undergo what can be a confusing and trying process.
I feel like the domain in which I could do more work would be the 4th Domain, but now have attended more professional development days and will continue to do so as my student teaching continues. I have three tips for anyone struggling: diversify the types of artifacts in each section, not just lesson plan after lesson plan, include plenty of pictures from a range of placements, and check and double check absolutely everything you have for potential artifacts. After I handed in my portfolio during Junior Block, I realized I had a perfect artifact for Domain 4 right under my nose! I was gutted, but definitely know better now.
The 5E Model is definitely a good artifact to include. My school incorporates the model and they were so excited to find that I already knew it!
Deletei really like the idea of putting your IEP brochure in your portfolio, I never thought of that!
Delete1.For Danielson's first domain, planning and preparation I would include my Underground Railroad Lesson plan. This lesson plan shows the amount of time and work that I put into my lessons. This lesson also incorporates technology into the lesson, which I feel is very important into today's world, to connect with the students.
ReplyDelete2. For Danielson's second domain I would include my diversity activities. These diversity activities will allow me to build a sense of community in my classroom that I feel is definitely important. I believe it is important for students to understand that everyone is different and that to have an effective community we ill have to accept and treat everyone fairly.
3. For Danielson's third domain, instruction, I would include my fact and opinion lesson plan. This lesson plan clearly communicates the thoughts and information to students. The instruction engages the students throughout the lesson.
4. For Danielson's fourth domain, Professional responsibilities, I will include the feedback of my cooperative teachers as well as my supervisor. I believe these feedback letters show how others in the professional field view myself. These are people that I have worked closely with, and their opinions mean a lot to me.
I believe that i need to do the most work in the fourth domain. I plan to gain a lot in this domain this semester through the various inservice days and other meetings throughout my student teaching.
1. For the first domain of Planning and Preparation, I will be using my Kid Watching Project because it is the perfect example of how much planning and preparation goes into a task like that. The project required planning to assess a specific student's specific needs, and to prepare yourself and the curriculum to address those specific needs.
Delete2. For the second domain, Classroom Environment, I am including the artifact from SED 272 that shows my knowledge of how important classroom environments are to students.
3. For Danielson's third domain, Instruction, I will be using my math co-teaching lesson, to show detailed instruction, as well as how I am able to successfully instruct with another teacher.
4. Finally, for Danielson's fourth domain of professional development, I will be putting in all of my professional development certifications I have acquired. These include certifications from Into the Wild, and certifications from educational conferences I have attended.
I, like many other, think that fourth domain is the one I could use the most help in. I think being in the school setting as much as we are this semester will really help give me more professional experiences that would better this domain in my portfolio.
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DeleteI think it is such a great idea to use the feedback of co-ops and supervisors for the fourth domain. It would really help show your professionalism, as well as how much you have grown as a professional throughout the course of a placement.
Delete1. For planning and preparation my strongest artifact would definitely have to be my brochure on Everything There is to Know About Special Education. Throughout the research of this brochure I learned a lot about special ed and the crucial information that surrounds it. I feel that having this brochure will prepare me to educate special education students in my classroom and to accommodate their needs. By understanding the learning needs of all of the students within my classroom, I can help them to all be successful learners.
ReplyDelete2. The plan for my potential classroom I feel would be my strongest artifact for this domain because I have carefully analyzed the best set-up for a successful learning environment. It is important to create a classroom that encourages inquiry and engaging learning aspects. Developing a culture of learning is very important for me to create within my classroom so that all students feel accepted. I feel that it is important to hang student's work within the classroom so that they feel like it is their classroom, too.
3. For domain three on instruction my strongest artifact would be my counting by twos lesson plan. This lesson plan consist of clear and concise directions and instruction throughout it. This lesson plan clearly communicates the expectations of the students and engages students throughout the lesson with hands on learning. This lesson includes a technical aspect, manipulatives, and an extension outside of the classroom. The instruction of this lesson plan has been fully thought out and provides the best learning experience for the students.
4. My best artifact for domain four on professional responsibilities would be that regarding family/teacher communication. By creating a welcome letter for parents and guardians it builds a relationship with families from day one that carries throughout the entire school year. It also sets up the lines of open communication to ensure best educational practices and that the students receives the best learning experience.
I feel that the domain that I could be more prepared in is Domain 1. Although I do have artifacts that could be used within this domain I do not feel as though they are my best. Being with my co-op as she set-up her classroom before this school year showed me more of the planning and preparation aspect. I feel that having this knowledge now I could re-visit this domain and find better artifacts for it.
1. For Domain One, Planning and Preparation, I created a seating chart for my Junior Block classroom. When creating the seating chart I had to consider any special needs such as proximity to the board for students that had trouble seeing or proximity to students' "cool off areas". I also had to take into consideration which students in their group would support their peers' learning rather than hinder it.
ReplyDelete2. For Domain Two, Classroom Management, I have included classroom rules. It is important to set the tone of your classroom right off the bat, but also to establish the expectations you have of the students. My classroom rules include having respect for our peers as well as our things. Be kind to one another. And "Ask 3 Before Me". I believe the "Ask 3 before Me" policy is a great clasroom management technique to put in place to build a sense of community while also keeping the students from rushing up to the teacher when they have a question.
3. For Domain Three I have included my Math Co-Teaching. My Co-Teaching experience is a good example of effective teaching and instruction. We use videos and manipulatives to teach multiplication using arrays, which requires well thought out lessons, assessments, and instruction. I feel I demonstrated effective instruction methods with these lesson plans.
4. Domain Four, Professional Responsibilities is an example of how the teacher's job does not end at 3:30. An artifact that I feel would be a good example of this would be my letter for the families of my Student Teaching Placement. Prior to the start of the school year, I had the opportunity to send out a letter to the families of my students. I took the time to introduce myself and to explain how excited I was to further my knowledge of education in our classroom. I gave my contact information and invited the parents to contact me should that have an questions or concerns regarding me or their child. I choose this artifact because I believe it demonstrasted my professionalism, despite the fact that I am just a Student Teacher. It also gave me the opportunity to explain to the parents that I am dedicated and serious about working with their children to the best of my ability.
The Domain that I feel I need to work on the most is Instruction. I feel that I need to further my repertoire of effective lessons and teaching methods to pull from and demonstrate my skills as a teacher. Throughout my Student Teaching, I plan to tweak and refine my lesson planning and take the time to reflect on instructional methods that work and do not work with my group of students and understand why they worked or why they did not (and recognize what I could do to fix them).