Instruction

I work hard to solidify student intellectual engagement in my classroom. I make the content relevant by tapping into students’ funds of knowledge. I have done this through short writing exercises, such as asking students to write about a significant memory from their childhood. Asking students to write about a personal experience is a relevant way of learning narrative writing. 

I make tasks as open-ended as possible to allow space for students’ creativity and multiple ways to achieve successful task completion. Writing assignments like the one I mentioned above are one such example. While all students practice the same narrative-writing skills, they do it in unique ways. Another example is when we practiced character analysis by completing an activity called “character silhouettes.” Rather than assigning each student a character, I allowed them to choose whatever character stood out. All students practiced citing text evidence and making inferences, but they did it differently.

An area where I grew during the past year is allowing more time for intentional reflection and closure. A routine in my class was completing metacognitive reading journals, in which students reflected on their experience after fifteen minutes of independent reading. I also integrated a variety of exit tickets. Some asked students to think critically about a concept we reviewed in class; others asked students to self-reflect on their work and progress in writing using a rubric. I also included opportunities for peer feedback in my unit; I wanted students to understand that their peers can be powerful resources. I would like to continue growing in this area. 

I monitored students’ learning through various means. I check in with students individually if they feel confused and look over their work at the end of the day. This allows me to modify lessons in response to my students’ difficulties. I provide feedback and record students’ progress through our Google Classroom website. My record-keeping system is accessible to students; they can refer to certain assignments to view specific feedback oriented toward future improvement. I always seek to balance working within students’ Zone of Proximal Development and moving up Bloom’s.