REFLECTION, SELF EVALUATION, AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

#6 Prompt Reflection of Instructional Decision Making for Showcase lesson followed by reflections on the other lessons taught in this field experience and plans for future professional growth. Provide a reflective critique for the showcase lesson taught relative to instructional decisions. Your discussion should be thorough and insightful using specific information and examples to support your analysis. Reflective cycle includes what you did and why, critique of those decisions, and what you might change or need to change to improve impact on student learning in the future. For the first section reflect on performance of the whole class. For the next section reflect on performance of the 3 individual students. For the third section, reflect on the other 2-4 lessons that you taught. Finally, identify at least two professional goals and activities that would enhance your skills as a professional educator.

Whole Class reflective discussion: I taught my fifth lesson on October 12, 2012. This lesson served as my Showcase Lesson, and was focused on Exponents. I used a Power Point presentation, the Smartboard, and the students participation during my lesson. The first part of the lesson went very well, the students came into the room and were met with a problem, and were instructed to answer it the best way they could. They had a few questions, but once they understood that I was not looking for any particular way of solving it then they got to work. This lesson was a review and I was hoping they had retained at least some of the information that was taught to them a few days prior. To my surprise the majority of the class scored a zero on the preassessment. When the student returned to the room from their special area, they all seemed excited to see me standing at the front of the room. The problem they were met with was this: Write 5x5x5x5 in Exponential Notation, Write 6x6x6x6x6 in Expanded Form, Write 2x2x2x2x2 in Standard Form. The pre-assessment did not go as I had hoped; the majority of the class scored a zero out of 3 and most of them did not attempt to answer the questions. I noticed this when I took up the papers and did a quick glance over them. I also noticed that most of their confusion came from them not remember the vocabulary, so thats what I focused on the most. The first thing I did was go over the pre- assessment; once they saw the problems worked out on the board I realized they memory was being sparked. The post- assessment went very well, no student scored a zero and I had three student score 3 out of 3. That was confirmation to me because no one scored a 3 on the pre- assessment. The activity they were given gave them a chance to play and learn at the same time. I noticed that everyone was on task and they were actually getting competitive. In the future, I would have the students do a turn and talk before I take up the assessment, this would help trigger their memory and they might have done a lot better on the pre- assessment. I also think that they should have had this information presented to them closer together so that they did not have time to lose

the new information. I will also continue to use the students participation as part of my lesson, this seems to keep their attention and causes them to strive for the right answer so they can come and write on the Smartboard. The activity is definitely a keeper and I will use it again if I have the opportunity. The only thing I would change would be the time allotted to play, because they didnt have enough time to play until someone won. Overall, this lesson was a hit and went over extremely well. I was very pleased with the difference in preassessments and post assessments. The scores on the pre- assessment were majority ones and zeros, and post assessment were twos and threes. The scores went from 40.9 percent scoring zero to zero percent scoring a zero. And zero percent scoring 3 out of 3 to 13.6 percent scoring 3 out of three on the postassessment. The scores on the assessments, the participation in the lesson, and the participation with the activity all seemed to play a big role in the class learning. I will continue to be hands on during my math lessons.

3 Individual Student reflective discussions: I chose Student #12 as my high performing student. This student is very advanced and is also the only student in this class who is in GATAS. He sometimes rushes through his work and makes errors because of it. On his Pre- assessment this student surprisingly scored a 1, he only answered the first question correctly (Exponential notation). I noticed that he was the first one finished and he was able to answer all three questions right when we went over them on the board. He even corrected an error a student made when she was solving the problem on the board. During the lesson the student was one that always had his hand up to answer a question. On the Post assessment this student scored 3 out of 3. I believe this student knew the information before I taught it, but he rushed through his work and made careless mistakes. I think the lesson helped him focus on what he was doing and he took his time on the post assessment. He also was one of the winners during the activity, he really takes pride in being the best and I think if I had shown him his pre assessment he would have shut down and not been able to focus on the lesson. I chose Student # 2 as my average performing student. This students grades are right on target for where she should be as a fifth grader, but she barely comes to school. During my two weeks there this student missed three days. She has to constantly make up work and I think her grade would be a lot better if she came to school more often. On the Pre- assessment this student scored a zero out of 3. She did attempt to answer the questions, but she was absent the day the lesson was introduced so she really had no clue. During the lesson this student was attentive and participated when questions were asked about exponential notation and expanded form. She had a hard time with standard form, because this is where multiplication is needed and this student does not know her facts. Once she got the hang of what we were doing. The rest of the class was getting a review lesson, but she was being introduced to the content. She actually picked up the information quickly. When the Post assessment was given this student scored a 2 out of 3 and the one that she missed was standard form. Once again she did attempt the problem, but got mixed up in her multiplication. I chose this student as my average instead of my low, because her MAP test scores say she is on an average level. I chose Student #3 as my low performing student. This student has a hard time staying on task and her Math MAP scores are low. She is one of the students who goes to see the math teacher during class. I noticed that this student is always up moving around or at her desk not doing her work or paying attention. She is very easily distracted and pouts and mumbles when she is asked to pay attention or to take her seat. On the Pre- assessment this student scored a zero out of 3. She didnt even attempt the

problems; she just wrote them down and turned in her paper. During the lesson I noticed I had her undivided attention. She participated and stayed on task the entire time. When she took the Postassessment she scored a 3 out of 3; I was pleasantly surprised. This showed me that she is capable of doing the work, she just chooses not to.

Reflection on additional 2-4 lessons: Use the reflective cycle to critique your 2-4 additional lessons for the class you taught and discuss what modifications/adaptations you would implement as a result of teaching and/or student performance, both during and following instruction of this lesson. Specifically, address the following questions as part of the discussion: Lesson One: I taught my first on lesson on October 1, 2012. The lesson was a Science lesson on the Parts of the Ecosystem. It focused on understanding the factors that make up an ecosystem. The lesson lasted about an 45 minutes. I think the lesson was interesting and engaged the students, because it allowed the students to be involved and actively participate in the lesson. Before I presented my lesson, my cooperating teacher gave me access to the students work book and the teacher edition online. I was able to come up with lesson ideas as well as focus on what the lesson needed to entail. I used a lot of visuals by using the Smartboard and did a lot of question and answer senerios with the students. The students really seemed to take to my teaching style and I think it is because it was very interactive and they were allowed to be involved. I had a post assessment I planned to give during class but decided to give it to them for homework, because the lesson was packed with a lot of information. I felt that I delivered my lesson clearly and at a level that the students could understand. However I think I should have given the opportunity to use their science notebooks to take notes of the vocabulary and the examples that were given. When and if I have the opportunity to teach this lesson again, I will make sue to incorporate writing in my lesson. I think this will be a major help in the future, especially with the amount of information that this lesson covered. During my lesson, I used a Power Point presentation that displayed pictures and vocabulary. Each vocabulary word was followed by a picture example. For example, when discussing biotic and abiotic factors, I displayed a picture of a an aquarium and asked the students to name living things in the aquarium. I then introduced the word Biotic, and displayed the word Biotic with the definition which explained that biotic factors are all the living things in an area. I then displayed another side which had four pictures on it and the students had raise their hands and tell me which picture was not biotic (1 of the 4 was not biotic). I displayed the picture of the aquarium and asked them to name the non-living things. I then introduced the word Abiotic. I repeated the same things I did with biotic but with abiotic. The slides continued on this path through all of the factors; microorganism, populations and communities. While I was involving the students I tried not to call on the same students, because I wanted everyone to participate, but if a student was stumped I would call on a another student to help them out. The students really seemed to have a grasp on the concept of Parts of an Ecosystem. The majority of the students were able to decipher between Biotic and Abiotic as well as give an example. The time I spent on my lesson was right within the time they usually spend on this particular subject; however, if I plan on incorporating the Science notebook I will need to allot time for the student to write.

All in all, I feel that this lesson went very well, especially by it being the first lesson I had ever taught. After talking with my cooperating teacher, I realize I need to make sure I give the students a chance to write during the lesson. Hands on and visuals are good, but I think writing helps to activate the information students. I also need to move beyond the Smartboard during my lesson and not just during the during assessment. For my future lessons I will make sure I work on implementing these things.

Lesson Two: I taught my second lesson on October 3, 2012. This lesson was also a Science
lesson that continued in the unit that discussed Ecosystems, but this lesson focused on How Organisms Interact. This lesson also used Power Point and the Smartboard. I included many pictures and examples so the students could put a picture with the definition. This lesson focused on producers, consumers, the different types of consumers, predators and prey, parasites and host, and food chains and food webs. This lasted about an hour. At the start of my lesson, I grabbed the students interest by displaying a slide that features all types of food; pizza, cheeseburgers, chips and dip, French fries, and fried chicken. I then asked students to raise their hands and tell me their favorite foods. Throughout the lesson student were asked questions such as this and had plenty of visual pictures to look at. Once again I didnt incorporate the Science notebook, but I used the students as a visual later on in the lesson. I am a very hands on person; I really need to work on incorporating writing in my lessons. I feel I was clear in the delivery of my lesson and the concepts came across at a level that was appropriate for this group. If I had the chance to do the lesson again I will definately find a way to incorporate that Science notebook. I will also allow the students to cut-out and make the producer and consumer necklaces that we used in our food chain/ food web activity. I think this would have given them more to do in the lesson then just participate in questions and answers. During my lesson, I made good use of the Smartbaord and incorporated animations when students where answering a question. For example, when I got to a check point in my lesson I had fill in the blank questions. When I called on a student and they gave me an answer I would make the correct answer appear in the blank. The check points were used as my during assessment I wanted to make sure the class had an understanding of the previous material before I moved on to new information. This seem very beneficial in the lesson. I also did an interactive activity with the students. The activity had the students construct a food chain. They were given necklaces with pictures of producer and consumers and they had to put themselves in order. They did this with their backs to the class, but once they felt they were in the correct order they turned around and let the class see if they were correct. The students really seemed to enjoy this activity, but for the future I will have them construct the necklaces. This lesson went over extremely well and my cooperating teacher complimented me on the food chain activity. When I wrote my lesson plan I had initially planned to have the students make the necklaces used in the food chain activity, but decided I would make them myself. I think this was an error on my part because I think the student would have benefited from doing this themselves. I think if they made the necklaces, then I would have had the opportunity to incorporate their Science notebook. They could have glued the necklaces in their notebook when the lesson was over. This was a missed opportunity. Overall, I think my lesson went well. The student took well to it and seemed to really understand the material by the end. When we got to check points they all had their hands up ready to answer

the question. This really overjoyed me. The food chain activity went well as well. The students who were chosen to come up and wear the necklaces all seemed to understand the roles and order of the producer and consumers in food chains. They behaved and did not get out of control during the activity. This impressed me and I will definitely use this lesson in the future, and make sure I make the changes I mentioned before. Lesson Three: I taught my third lesson on October 9, 2012. This lesson was my first Math lesson and was observed by Dr. Horton. The primary focus of this lesson was the introduction of the Commutative Property. Before the lesson my cooperating teacher and I had a discussion about how we could use the students Math notebooks. She suggested the flip book, so I put it in my lesson plan. The flip book would be made by the students and each property of multiplication they learn they will put in a flap in their flip book. The flip book will have the property on the front and then on the underside of that flap will be the definition and then an example. During the lesson the students were very attentive and participated when I asked a question or needed volunteers. I used the Smartboard and Power Point as well as the students during my lesson. The students seemed to be very eager to get into the lesson when they entered the room and saw me at the front of the room. The students were very attentive and participated in the lesson. They seemed to really enjoy the way I delivered the information. I feel this lesson went really well with this class. The problem I presented them with when they entered the class seemed to really get their gears turning. I was pleased to see so many different strategies in solving the problem. I really wanted the students to see the way the Commutative Property. The students were excited to come to the board and show how they answered the problem on the board. I also used a few students in my live demonstration. I asked two girls and four boys to come to the front of the class. I arranged them in the same order on both sides of me; (girl, boy, boy, me, girl, boy, boy). I then asked the class were there the same amount of people on each side. Then I had one side switch places, so the order was now (girl, boy, boy, me, boy, boy, girl). I then asked the same question. Doing this, I feel I really got my point across and they had a clear understanding of what the Commutative property is and what it looks like. During the lesson, I gave the students a lot of examples of the Commutative Property. I especially made sure I gave plenty of examples and to incorporate the students in the lesson. I noticed when the students were working on the pre-assessment that they used pictures and algorithms to solve the problem. This is what I wanted the students to do. I then had the student share their thinking with the class. I did not have any problems with behavior or classroom management during this lesson. The students really showed an understanding by the end of the lesson. They also enjoyed making their flip books. The estimated time spent on this lesson was one hour; however I actually finished in about 45 minutes. The rest of the time was spent decorating their flip books. Overall, I felt the lesson went very well. It was my first math lesson and it went better than I expected. In the future I plan to have more practice problems and to move around more. I did, however incorporate their Math notebooks, and that seems to be a step in the right direction. After I looked over the post assessments, the students really seemed to have grasped the concept. 90 percent of the students had a clear understanding of the property. I was very pleased with the outcome and plan to keep this lesson for the future.

Lesson Four: I taught my forth lesson on October 10, 2012. This lesson was a fun review lesson before the test they had on adding and subtracting decimals. At the beginning of the lesson I gave the student a few practice problems. I did this to make sure they had an understanding of how to add and subtract decimals before I presented with the scenario. Before the lesson, I came up with a story that planned to use as the bases of my lesson. The story was about two sisters who received money for Christmas and the students have to follow the story and find out how much the two sisters stared with, spent, and ended with. Many of my students had a hard time at first but once they began to remember the principles of adding and subtracting with decimals. The turn and talk as well as coming to the board and solving the problem for their classmates really seemed to assist with some of the minor confusion. The purpose of this lesson was to review and prepare the students for an upcoming test. I think the lesson served its purpose because the test grades showed that the majority of the class understood adding and subtracting decimals. The only instructional aide I used during my lesson was the Smartboard. The lesson caused the students to listen and take notes. I instructed the students when they needed to write down numbers and I also displayed the figures on the Smartboard, but the purpose of the lesson was for the students to figure out what operation needed to be used. The lesson went over really well. The students were very engaged and seemed very interested in the finding the solution to the scenario. If I were to use this lesson again I will make work sheets with the scenario on it. That way the students will have something in front of them to look at. I would also include a Power Point that displayed pictures to go along with the story. I think that will help the students make the connection to the story. I would also split them up into groups of two or three. The final part of my lesson was finding out if the students came to the right answer. I had different students come and set up the problem and solve it for their classmates. Then the class compared their answers. My lesson was a review lesson and lasted only about 45 minutes. Overall, I felt the lesson was successful in helping the students prepare for their test. The students really seemed to have fun thinking about their Christmas experiences and finding out which sister ended up with the most money. If I do this lesson again I will make sure the Christmas theme is relatable to everyone. If I have students who do not celebrate Christmas I will tweak the lesson so everyone can relate to it. This was my favorite lesson to teach, by far. Reflection on possibilities for Professional Development: Throughout teaching my five lessons and completing my teacher work sample, I have set some professional development goals for my future clinical experiences and lessons. The goals I have set for myself are watching my slang, I know even though the students may speak that way; I still have to maintain a professional way of speaking. Then I also plan to utilize writing in my lessons. I intend to do this by implemented time in my lessons for students to answer questions, but instead of having them answer out loud, I will have them document their thoughts in their notebooks. I also need to work on extending my lessons, because I seem to always get done before time. This was brought to my attention by my cooperating teacher. In my future clinical experiences as well as in my future classroom, I intend to have made these corrections so that my students get a quality lesson and so that I may be the best teacher I can be.