Teacher Practice

My first year of teaching (2016-2017) was a struggle for me. I did manage to slowly develop into a more effective educator as the year progressed, but I definitely started weak. At the end of the year, I was marked effective because of the MOSL. My observation reports were lower than the MOSL, but I was able to average that out.

I also struggled during my second year, 2017-2018. It was up from my first year when I was able to be effective in a few more categories. I felt personal growth during the year, but definitely not to the point that I wanted to be. Not only was there personal growth, but my MOTP score went up from the first year.

The 2018-2019 school year brought me a greater level of success. I was able to reach an MOTP level of effective, and I felt that I made significant growth from my prior two years. I felt more comfortable in the classroom, with my students, and with my colleagues. It was a better year for me.

After not having official ratings for the 2019-2020 school year, I was still able to keep my ratings growing for the 2020-2021 school year. My MOTP rating number went up again, as I continued to develop and work on and hone my craft. Even though the year threw a lot of twists my direction, I was able to navigate the obstacles and managed to see myself grow even more.

Observation Reports

In this formal observation from the 2018-2019 school year, I was rated effective down the line. I planned the lesson with Mrs. Adragna closely to ensure that the lesson went according to plan. This was with a 7th grade honors class, so the plan was advanced. The class would be taking the 11th grade English regents the next year, so this lesson was to build upon student knowledge of arguments and rhetoric.

This informal observation was conducted by Ms. Kargol during the 2019-2020 school year. The lesson was at the start of a new text, so it was based around new vocabulary and giving students ways to use new words.

While I struggled with pacing and questioning, I was proud of the way my students demonstrated their knowledge of the new words. Pacing and questioning became a more consistent focus for future planning and instruction.

Informal observation with Mr. Singh from the 2020-2021 school year.

This lesson is broken down more below, with all of the materials and examples of student work attached.

Although the lesson went well with the questioning and discussion, and pacing, and use of technology, I could have made the lesson more rigorous in the future by having students demonstrate their understanding of infographics on a specific topic by creating their own infographic about that subject. Students worked in online groups so that they could communicate with each other while sitting in rows with the required 6 foot apart distance.

This informal observation was conducted by Ms. Kargol this year (2021-2022). I felt that this lesson went really well. I think that I built on my report from Mr. Singh last year and made the lesson more rigorous through use of higher order thinking questions and discussion. Students worked in online groups based on data acquired which allowed them to work collaboratively on a specific skill that was different than how they were seated.