Section Three:

Teacher Candidate Artifacts

Introduction

In this section of the profile you will be able to see the engaging artifacts that will display

the skills and knowledge that I have acquired over my time here at Medaille. These artifacts are

important to showcase the work that I think best displays my professional abilities, experiences

and dedication to become a better teacher. They range from classroom integration, digital

technology skills that I have acquired, lesson plans, early field experience and my overall ability

to plan, assess and evaluate students as well as myself.

Artifact 1:

Classroom Management Fun Box

The first artifact that I wanted to present is my classroom management fun box. This is an

assignment that we did to highlights some of the fun, creative ideas, tips and tricks to create a

positive and well managed classroom. Since I am not currently in a classroom I have chosen

items and tools that I have seen previously in an elementary school class room I had a placement

in through my high school co-operative program. These ideas are used in a way that shows how

personalized the approach is to each student and attempts to create new ways for students to

adapt and overcome events during a school day so each student can enjoy the most success as

possible during the school year. Many standards are meant to align with these items in this fun

box because it is directed towards the betterment of each and every student in a personal way. In

my opinion the fun box tools do cover a lot of areas because the teacher that I got the ideas from

honestly does hit all the standards with these students in the classroom I saw them used in.He

had an incredible ability to separate each instruction, lesson, assessment and discipline with
different students in the call, it seems unrealistic for all these standards to be covered, however,

the small class size made it easier for him to do so on a daily basis. The scope of the class is to

discipline these students while trying to instil in them the attention to every detail they need to

learn in order for them to be successful at the next grade level.

INTASC Standards

Standard 1: Learner Development: The teacher understands how learners grow and develop,

recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the

cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional and physical areas and designs and implements

developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.

Standards 3: Learning Environments: 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.

Standard 4: Content Knowledge: The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry,

and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences that make

the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the contest

Standard 6: Assessment: 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.

Standard 7: Planning for Instruction: 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 the learners and community context.
Standard 8: Instructional Strategies: 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.

Standard 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice: The teacher engages in ongoing

professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his/her practice, particularly the

effects of his/her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the

community), and adapts practices to meet the needs of each learner.

Standard 10: Leadership and Collaboration: The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and

opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families,

colleagues, other school professionals and community members to ensure learner growth and to

advance the profession.

NYS Code of Ethics for Educators

Principle 1: Educators nurture the intellectual, physical, emotional, social and civic potential of

every student

Principe 2: Educators create support and maintain challenging learning environment for all.

Principle 3: Educators commit to their own learning in order to develop their practice.

Principle 4: Educators collaborate with colleagues and other professionals in the interest of their

student learning.

Principle 5: Educators collaborate with parents and community, building trust and confidentiality

The Ontario Ethical Teacher Standards

developing students’ potential. Members express their commitment to students’ well-being and

learning through positive influence, professional judgment and empathy in practice.

TEAC/CAEP Standards

Claim 2: Medaille College graduates meet the needs of diverse learners through effective

Claim 3: Medaille College graduates are caring educators.

Classroom Management Fun Box

The classroom management fun box is an activity that I will showcase a few of the skills

and strategies that I have learned during my Early Field Experience hours that will display

different ways in which you can manage different situations in the classroom. I was a part of

room 116 at Caledonia Centennial Public School in Caledonia, Ontario, Canada, which is unlike

any that I have been a part of before in my grade school experience. This room is a Partially Self-

Contained, Special Education, Strategies classroom, there are seven students, in grades three

through eight, male and female, in the Strategies class and all are identified as behaviorally

exceptional. Several also have additional learning exceptionalities. The classroom had one

teacher, two educational assistants and myself in the room at all times. In the learning strategies

room, the goal of the learning strategies class was to help the students improve on their weakness

and attempt to intergrade them back into their respective grades and have them be able to use the

knowledge gained and apply the learning strategies they were given.

Mr. Phillips used a few very effective tools that I can remember to assist in managing the

classroom. The first and most often used classroom management aids that we used was called

Kelso’s Choice. It was a series of pictures of a frog enacting different situations and behaviors
when faced with an issue. They include: Talk it out, Wait and cool off, Go to another game,

share and take turns, Make a deal, Apologize, Tell them to stop, Walk away, Ignore it. Now

these posters were strategically placed above the blackboard so that while the kids were at their

desks and encountered a problem they could look up and are able to use their own agency to

choose a solution to this problem. Another thing that Mr. Phillips used to ask if a student came to

him with a problem was “Now, is this a big problem or a little problem”, and of course the

student would most times say it was a big problem, which to them it may have been but was

really a small one. If it was diagnosed a small problem, then he would ask them if they could

find a solution up on the board to help them sort out the situation. Now he didn’t have a list of

big problems or small problems posted which, in hindsight could have made the start of this

process a little easier, but then again it will be hard to have a list of all big problems and all small

problems. However, without a list it gives the child space to self-diagnose the problem and make

a pre-decision themselves on which type of problem it was.

The Kelso’s Choice posters and discipline model align with Lev Vygotsky theory of Gradual

Release of Responsibility. The attached chart below breaks down the stages of release where in

the top tier of the teacher responsibility it is focused instruction; where he lets the kids know

what is expected of them and they do it. As you work your way down the triangle you can start

to see where the students begin to take on their own responsibility. The student would come to

one of us and say “so and so did this” without looking at the posters, we would ask them “well

what strategy have you used to solve this issue” and you would see them think about it. The

following time something happened you would see them looking up and starting to figure out

they did not need to come to us to some the problem. They had the ability to do so themselves.
Therefore, the gradual release of responsibility was working, and teacher-focused responsibility

decreased, and the student responsibility increased.

The second classroom tool was a simple behavior chart. It displayed every kids name

going vertical on the chart and horizontal were the days of the week. Each student had his or her

days of the week box diagonally split in half. The top half being the time spent in the learning

strategies classroom and the other half being the time the spent in their grade classroom that they

would integrate to for the second half of the day. Depending on their behavior they would get a

mark from 0-5 for each part of the day. The top three at the end of each month would get a little

adventure (walked to the old Train Station then a cross to Tim Horton’s for a Hot Chocolate and

timbits).

The second theory that applies was certainly the operant conditioning proposed by B.F

Skinner. The behavior chart that was on the wall demonstrated that, It good behavior was

rewarded and bad behavior was accompanied by punishment (in this case not going on the mini

adventure). This chart did have a little interesting twist to it that allowed the children to have a

voice. When filling out the chart, Mr. Phillips would assign the points that he thought was fair

and would give the students a chance to rebuttal on if they thought otherwise (always thought

their mark was too low). He would ask what their reasoning was and ask them if they thought

their reaction to whatever the problem was that lowered their score was handled correctly or

what they could do in the future to receive a higher score. This would also give the students a

standard that they would try to abide by the following week.

A third option that we did in the classroom was to assign weekly tasks. This held the

student accountable and really tried to make them feel like they had a duty and responsibility

within the room. This not only holds the student accountable to the teacher but the students
accountable to other students. Tasks included, one person would stack and un-stack the chairs

(un-stacking had to be there on time in the morning to be the first one in the room while the other

students unpacked their bags and took off their coats). This was also a task that is relatable to

Vygotsky release of responsibility. Giving them as task and making sure they were able to

perform it consistently.

A last thing that we would do would be is greet each student in the morning with a Good

Morning and say their name. Make things personal and make the student feel like they are a part

of something. It seems like a small thing to do but there could be kids who don’t have adults that

talk to them like that at their home our outside of the school, so inclusion was a big thing that we

would strive to do. Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect touches on this a bit in a way. If the

student feels that they are important when we greet them in the morning and it gives them

meaning it will become a habit, either them smiling or saying hello back, even asking how you

are doing to. This action that provides satisfaction will have a tendency to reoccur and become a

positive for each student.

Having little classroom experience compared to a lot of the people in the program, I also

asked a few of my friends who are teachers what they think classroom management keys are and

they both agreed that the first goal they try and achieve is to make the classroom a safe place.

This falls inline after the physiological needs of the student are met, next are the safety needs of

the students as understood in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Basic Needs. This includes them feeling

safe within the classroom, free from bullies or negative energy. This includes having their

education plan match their specific learning skill set.

Both of the teachers also said two words that stuck out to me: Standards/Expectations and

Consistency. They both touched on the importance of not only setting the standards and doing so
on the first day, but to also follow up and follow through on the standards that are set and

holding the students accountable. Hand in hand with standards is expectation. Having standards

laid out as a goal and expectations follow through with the hope that they will live up to what is

set out for them. The second word is consistency. They stressed that this is imperative to the

classroom to be consistent. Letting the students know that they are striving to be consistent and

meet the requirements at a consistent pace and ability will only help them have more confident in

themselves.

As far as a personal philosophy on in classroom activity and management I would say

that I do like the simple B.F Skinner reward system but I feel like they will catch on to that and

continue to do the things they know are right because they want the desired result. The kids are

smart and know how to get out of trouble before it happens. Beyond that I do find the Vygotsky

method a good one because of the fact that it gives the children options to make decisions on

what they are going to do, and it give you a comparison point as to how far along each student is

in their ability to make those decisions.

Example Behaviors Chart

Name Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Total

Johnny 1/3 2/4 3/2 1/5 5/5 31/50

Sarah 4/4 ¾ 4/1 5/4 4/5 38/50

Jimmy 1/1 4/3 4/4 5/3 5/4 34/50

Name Significance Sticker