Reflective Practitioners

As a teacher, I know that I must look back on the effectiveness of a lesson and its activities.  Evaluating the materials that I bring to the classroom strengthens my ability to organize and plan for future lessons.  Through reflection, I am able to see areas of lessons and activities that may need clarification.  As a teacher, I will constantly look for ways to help my students grow.  Reflecting on previous lessons helps teachers create new ideas and find new materials or activities that will challenge and engage their students. Developing as an individual, a student, and a teacher involves reflection.  The program at Central Methodist University has given me ample opportunities to reflect on material that I have learned, on the teaching styles of professionals I have observed, and on lessons that I have taught. As you explore the benefits of reflection, you have to first ask yourself,  What 'should' we reflect upon? How can we identify our values and our assumptions? In order to develop reflective abilities you must think and acknowledge all these processes. To grow in our skills and to best serve our students, we need to look not only at our teaching content, but also the lenses through which we view our teaching.  Reflection allows us to see what is not always self-evident. Developing our skills as a reflective practitioner, and receiving value from this procedure, can be enhanced by a greater understanding of the actual process of reflection. This understanding can enable us to ask ourselves vital questions and discover what our own learning needs are.  I have learned that reflection is an essential part of the teaching profession.  By reflecting and identifying areas that I need growth has been a benefit to not only me, but the students that I teach, which is the MAIN reason why as educators we should strive to do our best.

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything

without losing your temper or your self-confidence.

-Robert Frost

 

Classroom Management!

I believe Classroom Management is the key component in any educational setting. I believe that if students are in a safe environment, then learning can take place. This doesn’t necessarily mean punishing behavior problems but rather a combination of setting the tone in a class, preventing behavior problems with interesting and engaging curriculum and effectively including all students in the classroom so that their needs are met. Having the right environment for all students to learn is my major goal of implementing good classroom management--without it the students would not be able to learn. In reading the text and searching for websites that included resources to assist in creating a management plan, there were many websites that had an abundance of resources to assists with a variety of classroom problems and or concerns. As a new or veteran teacher,as societal trends and the dynamics of families tends, thus the challenges of regulating classroom behaviors changes also. Each of the websites references below were extremely helpful. Although each site has a different focus, each one has an aspect of classroom management that when combined will strengthen a classroom management plan. All are excellent resources. As educators , it is your responsibility to consistently seek resources to upgrade your skills and knowledge, including the use of new techniques. The "old school" methods of management are not necessarily applicable in this day and age. I believe the most important part of classroom management is not the behavior problems but creating a good rapport with the students, encouraging them to succeed and setting high expectations for them. As well as using an engaging a curriculum, I believe you can create this environment and it will limit the behavior problems in your classroom from the start.

Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each. -Plato

Classroom Management Websites

www.superteacherworksheets.com

www.K6edu.com

www.buildingclassroomdiscipline.com

www.effectiveclassroom.org

www.smartclassroommanangement.com

Reliability, Assessments and Sucessful Learners

When creating assessments to utilize in classrooms settings, it is important for teachers to make sure that the assessments that they utilize are reliable and created for all student types. In creating my assessments, I will strive to make sure that my assessments attempt to pull from the actual knowledge or performance of my students and not just their test taking skills. I will be designing assessments to motivate my students to perform to the best of their ability. I will definitely seek to create and determine a specific educational objective in mind when creating my assessments. I strive now to look at the assessment results of students and make sure that results are consistent. Ensuring what is needed and expected from students adds to the clarification of the learning process and ensures that students know what will be expected of them. My plan for making sure that the diverse learning style of the successful student is reflected in my assessments, is by comparing district, state, and national standards I will ensure that the successful students in my class meet and exceed the standards as outlined and show this, as reflected in these standards. In addition, I will strive to make sure that my assessments do not reflect bias. Continued feedback and upgrades as warranted and close attention paid to the performance of successful students will assist in making sure that assessments are reasonable and accurate. This will be used to assist in helping other students progress as well.



"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education" Albert Einstein



Instructional Alternatives Comparison

     When reflecting and comparing different instructional alternatives, it is my opinion that contrasting each noted type there is simply a matter of personal preference. As we have explored, there are different ways that different people learn and are conditioned to learn. As technology has evolved, the era of programmed and computer-assisted instruction has become an extremely popular way to learn. There are many computer programs that walk you through learning step by step and have interactive elements where students or eager learners complete practice drills and or complete assignments to demonstrate proficiency. As many are pressed for time, this has become a very popular way to learn and complete higher education degrees and certifications.

     In striking contrasts, student-team, pupil-team, and cooperative learning is also a popular method utilized in learning, this is similar to what we do at Central Methodist University in the adult degree program. Created learning teams allow for independent work as well as projects that require collaboration with fellow classmates. This cooperative learning allows for group scoring and also allows for team members to build on each others strengths and weaknesses. Life and business experiences of learning team members also add to the learning of the group as "real" life teaching experiences are brought to the table and expanded on in classroom and group settings, and is generally a benefit.

Once again, I do believe that a combination of instructional alternatives benefit learners, and the independent learners will develop a personal preference for the method that is most beneficial to them.

"You cannot open a book without learning something"  Confucius

 

Use the info correctly!

As an early childhood administrator, I pride myself as having been promoted through the ranks of my profession. I started as a teacher assistant, and have progressed since that first position. I have always had integrity about the use of student information within the Head Start Program and in my specific classroom. I protect and utilize all of my student's information with great pride! I was extremely disappointed recently to find out through our in house education administrator that a select group of teachers did not utilize the outcomes report and assessment screening  information from the children in their classroom to plan individualized specific activities throughout the program year and note it as a part of their lesson plans. Instead the received data was left unused in a stack found in classrooms. This to me, was not only a violation of an internal program policy, but a dishonor to the role of a teacher. These children are enrolled in our program to gain a "head start" and skills needed prior to entry into kindergarten. Not utilizing information specific to each child to focus on skills that they need is disheartening! To simply "create" what you think a child should know without assessing their needs and taking that in consideration as you teach is just not the best practice of a true professional who is dedicated to ensuring that all children learn and are successful.It is a spirit of slothfulness that should not be tolerated or accepted by administrators or parents.

"Trusting God doesn't alter our circumstances. Perfect trust in him changes us"  Charles Swindoll