The teacher uses understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.

Our students come into the classroom with different life experiences, learning styles, and personalities. It is our job as teachers to create a safe environment that meets their individual needs. My second grade classroom had 26 students, each with their own set of skills and background knowledge. I made sure to use songs, visual aides, interactive notebooks, and hands on experiences to ensure their needs were met.

In the fizzy balloon extractor lesson I did, I had 26 students plus the students from the inclusion classroom. Unfortunately, it had been the inclusion rooms experience that they were to just play with ipads and not participate but I modified my expectations so that they could be included.

The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation.

The culture of the classroom is one of the most important things you can do. With careful planning and consideration you can create a culture of support, freedom to make and celebrate mistakes, and use respectful academic discourse. In my classroom my students knew that mistakes were my favorite things because they exercise our brain. Collaboration between students is essential for success. Working together positively and knowing how to handle differences of opinion does not just happen. We worked on discourse like "I respectfully disagree," "I would like to add on to what John said," and "I agree with Jane because." I also used positive reinforcements whenever possible with the help of Class Dojo and GoNoodle rewards.

In place value surgery, students did a cumulative review of everything we had learned so far. This review was unlike any other as they walked into an "operating" room. They had to "scrub up" with a face mask and hair net to treat their patients. They used scalpels (scissors) and stitches (glue) to perform expanded form surgeries, decipher place value blocks x-ray results, and check symptoms of place value riddles. This ensured that students who do no learn in traditional paper/pencil ways got hands on experiences. I also initiated a bucket filling classroom where every Friday we had a chance to fill another students buckets with compliments and nice things. We checked our "mailboxes" every Monday to start our week out positively.

The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the teacher’s and learner’s decision making.

I firmly believe that students can show their knowledge and express their understanding in many different ways. I also believe giving them ownership of some assessment and providing opportunities for self reflection are necessary as well.

My second graders were assessed formatively and summatively in several different ways. Formative assessment was done with Kagan structures like taking off and touching down, showdown, numbered heads together, and fan and pick. They were able to pick their own summative assessment by creating a skit, song, or writing a report on informational text and presenting to the class. They were also assessed on how they performed experiments, for example creating a "running" spider. I also used Plickers and Kahoot when possible.

The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.

Every Wednesday my mentors and I participated in PLC meetings with administration. During this time we would hear from committee chairs about meetings they had attended, discussed RTI students, assessment, and how our classes were doing. In addition to this, on Thursdays I would meet with both of my mentors to plan the following weeks instruction. We would discuss how the current week was going, if students were ready to move on, and standards we wanted to hit. I would then plan for both teachers and myself for the week. We switch classrooms, which means the AM group starts with math and writing and switch to the other mentors classroom after specials. After the switch they do all of their ELA standards. This means each mentor taught a class without me in the room and used my plans. I also planned their bulletin boards.

The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.

I have had the opportunity to experiment and refine many instructional strategies while I have been in practicum and furthermore student teaching. The two biggest instructional strategies I have used are Lemov and Kagan. I have also come to learn that strategies that worked well in practicum, may not work on other students. Using a mix of both has greatly benefited my classroom and kept us running smoothly.

The Kagan strategies I have used most are quiz quiz trade, find someone who, showdown, fan and pick, rally robin, rally coach, and sage and scribe. You can see those strategies in the document.