My growth goal this year was Developing as a Professional Educator, Utilizing multiple means of instruction, including technologies and differentiated assignments, and Implementing classroom management techniques that benefit all students.
CSTP 2 Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning
CSTP 6 Developing as a Professional Educator
CSTP 3 Understanding and Organizing Subject Matter for Student Learning
CSTP 5 Assessing Students for Learning
CSTP 1 Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning
CSTP 4 Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for All Students
CSTP 2 Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning
CSTP 1 Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning
CSTP 4 Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for All Students
CSTP 6 Developing as a Professional Educator
CSTP 3 Understanding and Organizing Subject Matter for Student Learning
CSTP 5 Assessing Students for Learning
I was shocked to see the many differences between my Pre- and Post-Self Assessment this year. Last year, only 2 of the standards changed places but this year 5 out of the 6 standards changed places. I was not surprised to see that CSTP is at the top, though. I have always strived to have a safe space in my classroom, where it's okay for students to be themselves and make mistakes. I do not wish for school or learning to be scary for students, so I do my best to make it safe and fun for them. I am happy to see that CSTP 1 and 4 are higher on the list, as this year was a struggle with having such a vast difference between student levels and I had to put in extra time and effort to ensure all students were getting what they needed.
My strengths are Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning , Developing as a Professional Educator and Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning.
The area I would most like to grow this year is in Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning. I will explore ways to connect students' prior knowledge, backgrounds, and interests through using a variety of instructional strategies, resources, and technologies to meet the diverse learning needs of students.
CSTP 2 Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning
CSTP 6 Developing as a Professional Educator
CSTP 5 Assessing Students for Learning
CSTP 3 Understanding and Organizing Subject Matter for Student Learning
CSTP 1 Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning
CSTP 4 Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for all Students
CSTP 6 Developing as a Professional Educator
CSTP 2 Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning
CSTP 5 Assessing Students for Learning
CSTP 3 Understanding and Organizing Subject Matter for Student Learning
CSTP 1 Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning
CSTP 4 Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for all Students
Year 1 - Compare and Contrast
From my Initial Self-Assessment to my Final Self-Assessment there was only one difference - my top two standards traded places. I rated myself highly for CSTP 2 because I always strive to make my classroom a safe place for all students. The reason I think that CSTP 6 moved to the top in my Final Assessment is due to the fact that I changed grades midyear and was required to develop personally in many aspects. Along with changing grades came becoming a part of two new grade level teams, learning new curriculum, planning lessons for content I had not previously taught, and doing all of this quickly and continuously. I had to learn how to be flexible and to adapt quickly to all of the changes and curveballs that were being thrown my way.
It was interesting to see that the order of the remaining CSTP remained the same. I think the reason for this though is because I feel there is always room for improvement so I unintentionally scored myself the same because I did not feel as though there was enough improvement in certain aspects to make a difference.
My areas of strength are Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning, Developing as a Professional Educator, and building relationships.
I have always been one who believed that there is always room for improvement. I believe that no matter what I am doing, especially professionally, I always have the opportunity to grow. I enjoy receiving feedback that allows me to improve. I am constantly looking for new ways of teaching and new things to do with my class to help them in any way they need it. I strive to adapt to the needs of my class.
Based off of the CSTP standards, I think all of them are aspects that I will continue to grow in. Education changes daily and I know that to give my students the best learning experience, I must change with it. This means that I must always do my best to learn the material I am teaching as it changes, and learn different ways of teaching the material that fits the needs of all of my students. There are areas that I do not feel as confident about as I do about others, such as creating assessments or designing different ways to help English Learners, so I know that I must continue to grow in these aspects in order to gain the confidence I need.
Year 1 - Changes and Proudest Moments
This year, due to Covid, I was forced to use technology more and incorporate more digital resources for my students. While I have always liked working with electronics, I have never used it for teaching as much as I did this year. With my 4th and 5th grade class, I am 100% online distance learning so the only means I have to teach them is through the computer. I have had to learn new resources and applications quickly in order to help my students navigate online learning.
Another way I have changed is in learning how to be flexible. I have always been the type of person who likes to be organized and have everything planned out ahead of time. I utilize planners and keep things color coordinated in order to make things easier to keep track of. This year made it nearly impossible to do that with all the changes that kept coming my way. At first, it was very frustrating and I would find myself getting overwhelmed, but I learned how to take a breath, relax, and adapt to the changes as necessary. Now, even though I still enjoy being organized, I do not get stressed as quickly as I did before when changes come my way.
With all of that being said, learning to be flexible and to adapt is what I am most proud of this year. I have always believed that in order to be a good teacher I must adapt to the needs of my students, instead of expecting them all to adapt to me and my ways of teaching, but I guess I was naive in thinking that this would come after learning my students and planning the adaptations I need to make - this year taught me that that is definitely not always the case.