Goals

In the beginning of my 2021-2022 school year, I set two specific goals for myself. The first was to provide my students with a learning environment that gave them the opportunity to succeed regardless of their learning levels or style. Secondly, I had the desire to create an environment that produced strong relationships in a distant setting. I wanted to encourage those connections to be made in order to maintain an engaging online classroom.

I believe I accomplished these goals through implementing many tactics I learned through completing my cycles of inquiry. I approached my first goal by, first, informally and formally assessing my students' distinct learning styles through placing them in breakout rooms, reviewing their assignments, and communicating with them. I assigned roles in breakout rooms which allowed my students to succeed in areas they were confident in. For example, I had a student who did not feel comfortable sharing to the whole class, therefore, her role in group assignments was the 'scribe'. For the second goal, I created an 'About Me' form where students were able to share facts about themselves that were presented to the class. We also had a show-and-tell day where students were able to bring something to class that was special to them. During morning meetings, students were asked to write about a topic and proceeded to share their answers in rotating breakout rooms for 5-10 minutes. This helped to form friendships within the virtual classroom environment. Finally, I sent students individual packages in the mail, where I wrote a personal note to them, further solidifying the relationships formed throughout the school year.

CSTP Self Assessments

Throughout the school year, I believe I have moved from the Exploring level to the Integrating level of the CSTP Standards. I have worked to educate myself in areas where I desired to grow in and have applied them to many of my lessons. I now work to integrate these aspects into my lessons and classroom on a daily basis through mastering new aspects of teaching and incorporating new ideas when needed.

Strengths

An area that I am strong in is the level of engagement prevalent in my class. My students are constantly participating and wanting to be a part of the lesson being taught. Students of all levels strive to be a part of the conversation and offer up answers even if they are not sure they are correct. My students understand that failure is a step in the learning process, therefore, they are not afraid to try and try again. I believe that this strength is rooted in the relationships I have worked to maintain and grow throughout the school year. When students feel they are being heard, they have the desire to branch out of their comfort zone to be a part of the conversation. Another area I feel I am strong in is bringing light to the many different cultures present in my classroom. I have made an effort to embrace and honor diversity by having students share and learn about their own cultures, all the while educating myself.

How I have changed

During the first few months of school this year, I was struggling with time management. I was finding myself unable to accomplish all that I wanted to when teaching a lesson. This was due to my desire to let every student participate in class. I wanted to find a way to allow my students to answer questions and engage with others without this being so taxing on the time I set aside for a direct/guided teaching. In order to correct this problem I began implementing the usage of Zoom chat, whiteboards, and breakout rooms. These new techniques helped me to better assess where my students were at and students were able to answer as a group, rather than only calling on one at a time. My lessons now move at a more efficient pace and I am better able to observe how well my students are absorbing the content.

What I am most proud of

I am most proud of the growth mindset I have held throughout the year. This year I was placed in an environment that was relatively new to me. I was required to master a multitude of new applications, websites, curriculum, and much more. I put myself in the shoes of my students and how they might feel starting a new grade, not sure of what was ahead of them for the new school year. This mindset reminded me of my 'why' for becoming a teacher. I am passionate about lifelong learning and used this mindset to guide me through my first year as a virtual teacher. I wanted to ensure that I incorporated as much advice and suggestions into my classroom as I possibly could. Having this mentality throughout the year has led me to grow in more ways than I could have imagined.

Areas of continuous improvements

I want to better scaffold my assignments this next year. I want to help my students feel challenged at their personal learning levels. I not only want to provide assistance to my intervention students, but also encourage my at or above grade level students to grow even more. I also want to provide better feedback to my students throughout the entirety of the year. I plan to have my students set goals for themselves early on and meet with them routinely to check to see where they are at. This process would allow my students to become the driving force for their education while I, the teacher, am their guide.

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