Domain 3

Organizational Slides for Communication

To highlight my method for providing clear communication to students, I have provided an example of the organizational slides I used throughout my student teaching. I used these slides to communicate directions, list sequences, go through our morning routine, and list materials needed. I updated them throughout the day, depending on what we were working on. A teacher can only give directions verbally so many times. I felt that I was constantly repeating myself to give students directions. The slides helped greatly, as they laid out all the information that students need regarding directions/materials (what we were supposed to be working on). Students learned to arrive and check the front board for morning work. They also learned to check the front board after lunch, specials classes, and recess for directions. This form of communication worked for my students, as they could always refer back to it. I made sure to read the directions highlighted on the slides, at least once, to support my students who were still learning to read. For lower grades, I would definitely consider adding pictures to aid in directions. 

Organizational Slides Example

Discussion in Social Emotional Learning

One of the topics I took over during my student teaching was Social Emotional Learning through Second Step. I found that whole-group/partner discussions were the most valuable tool for reviewing this content. Planning for S.E.L involved developing questions that I felt would drive discussion. I laid out our main discussion topics and questions on slides for each lesson. Having the questions written on the board proved to keep students focused on the content being discussed; they followed along with the discussion agenda. I made sure to explain to students that this was not a set-in-stone list of questions/topics. Questions could always be added from them or myself. Sometimes, I gave questions one-by-one. Other times, our discussions naturally flowed through each question. I have provided a set of S.E.L discussion slides below: 

S.E.L Complex Feelings Slides

In addition, I reminded students of possible sentence starters, which were hung up around our SmartBoard. These were awesome to have easily accessible to students, as they kept discussion respectful and organized. Students learned quickly that using these would be the norm during discussion. We used these starters during many subjects, particularly in S.E.L and reading. Some of these discussion starters included:

• I agree with (name) because...

• I disagree with (name) because...

• I would like to add onto "name's" idea...

• I like that (name) said...

• I think that...because...

• The author points out that...

Sentence Starters

Making Lessons Student Centered

I learned early on in my student teaching experience that students need to be given multiple opportunities to respond, engage, and participate. Most students need to "do," rather than listen. Over time, I developed strategies to get students actively participating and even teaching each other. At the beginning of my teaching, I took over math. I believed that my math lessons were student centered and effective, but I quickly learned that there was much for me to change. I was struggling to keep students actively engaged. I learned to cut my own presenting (talking) time in half. I began to let students take ME through the lesson. This involved setting students up for the Solve & Share (opening activity that involved problem-solving), but having them present their thinking. As I modeled, I asked students to explain/ build upon each step or method. During the guided practice, I had students take over the guiding. They guided me and I supported their thinking when necessary. Students were beginning to lead me in the lessons, while I focused on providing support, clarification, and encouragement. Of course, there were days when content simply was not connecting with students. On these days, additional modeling and guidance was needed from myself, but I still asked for student thinking whenever possible. I made it my goal to get students sharing and modeling. This change appeared to increase student engagement; they enjoyed to learn from each other and share ideas.

Lesson Proficiency Grade Book

Early on in my student teaching experience, my supervisor brought to my attention that I should create a data collection tool/sheet to monitor my students' progress. I immediately new that I wanted to create a chart on GoogleSheets that would give me the ability to track student progress, as well as monitor my class as a whole (averages). Below, I have provided a section (Math - Unit 3) of the grade book I created. For each lesson, I graded students on a scale from 1-4. This score was based on a few factors: observations, participation, assessment practices, and exit tickets. In the grade book, you can view each student's percentage (average across all lessons and unit test). You can view student grades for each lesson. You can view the average class score per lesson. I color coded the class averages based on the score; this is a simple visual that highlighted which sections particularly needed review. This data assisted me in planning for test reviews, anticipatory sets, and small-group work.

Unit 3 Math Gradebook 

Formal Assessment Drives Flexibility

A MAJOR takeaway I have from my student teaching is that having flexibility is a teaching skill that will be exercised daily. It is common knowledge that teachers have to be flexible, but people don't often take into account how quickly decisions need to be made when flexibility is required. Teachers are constantly assessing through observation and interaction. When formal assessments reveal that students are struggling, changes need to be made quickly. For example, during one if my math lessons, I noticed that my students were not grasping the task of using our newly learned content to solve real-world problems. My teacher came up to me at the end of my lesson and suggested I take students through the independent practice as additional modeling. I hadn't considered this, as I just assumed the independent practice was set in stone as "independent." This was an excellent change that needed to happen in order to enhance student understanding. As I continued on teaching math lessons, I made sure to give formal assessment throughout my instruction. This helped me determine whether changes needed to be made to the lesson, during the lesson, in order to support student understanding. 

Math Flexibility Reflection