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Reflection Paper Jeanna Jerde Spring 2014

In order to professionally develop, a person must identify their weaknesses and devise a plan to improve upon those weaknesses. To assess the level of progress that has been made, a method of evaluation must also be established. Goals, procedures, and evaluations provide a person with a clear pathway to improvement. I believe that establishing and focusing on these goals based off of the conceptual framework has helped me to improve significantly as a teacher during this experience. Knowledge of Self as an Individual is the first section of the conceptual framework. I devised two goals under this category. My first goal is: I will provide opportunities for all students to learn and succeed. I will accomplish this goal by presenting information to cater to the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learner. I will record the manner in which I present information in my lesson plans. I will create projects that require various forms of intelligence in addition to spatial intelligence. The manner in which the different types of intelligences are included will also be recorded in my lesson plans. I will evaluate this goal by asking my cooperating teacher and university supervisor to observe and record a critique of the level of effectiveness in which I provided opportunities for all students to learn and succeed during my lessons. I believe I have made great improvement in this area. During my lessons, I have provided many opportunities for all types of learners to succeed. I have also achieved this goal mainly by helping struggling students on an individual basis. My second goal as part of this conceptual framework category is: I will maintain a safe and healthy learning environment. I will accomplish this goal by reviewing safety rules with the students during instruction especially when potentially dangerous or hazardous materials and tools are required for the project. These safety warning will be

included in my lesson plans. I will also check all materials to ensure that they are safe to use. Any materials or tools deemed unsafe/healthy will be disposed of properly and replaced. I will record in a log the name of the tool/material that was deemed unsafe, the reason it was deemed unsafe/unhealthy, and the method of disposal and replacement. I will evaluate this goal by asking my cooperating teacher and/or university supervisor to ensure that I included a safety warning when necessary. I believe I achieved this goal during my experience. I always gave the students safety warnings about materials and took the necessary precautions before handing out or disposing of materials. Next, I created two goals under the category of conceptual framework entitled, Knowledge of Content. My first goal under this category is: I will continue to expand my knowledge of ceramic and fiber art forms, tools, materials, and techniques. I will accomplish this goal by researching and developing lesson plans involving ceramics and fiber arts. I will make models for these lesson plans using ceramics and fiber arts. I will also ask my cooperating teachers about ceramic and fiber art projects for further information. Any information that I discover will be recorded in a log. I will evaluate this goal by writing a self-analysis of the amount of improvement I have made in these areas after completing a lesson plan using either of these materials. I have made substantial gains in these areas. I learned quite a bit about fiber arts during my elementary experience as I taught three lessons including this media. I also learned a very great amount about ceramics while teaching two sections of pottery at the high school. I even had the opportunity to experiment with and create some samples of ceramic projects.

My second goal as a part of this conceptual framework category is: I will continue to expand my knowledge of developmentally correct art projects for grades K-12. I will accomplish this goal by researching and developing lesson plans for grades K-12. My lesson plan will describe the reason the art project is developmentally correct for the certain grade. I will evaluate this goal by reflecting on the level of success perceived and whether or not the lesson was developmentally correct for the age group. I will also ask my cooperating teacher and university supervisor to observe and record their critique of the perceived success in developing a developmentally correct art project. I have learned a lot about the developmental level of students and, I think, have successfully learned how to create lessons that are developmentally correct. The third section of the conceptual framework is: Knowledge of the Learner. I also created two goals under this category. My first goal is: I will assist students in understanding cultural diversity by providing a variety of experiences and information. I will accomplish this goal by providing cultural and/or historical connections in the art lessons that I teach. This information will be in my lesson plans. I will evaluate this goal by asking my cooperating teacher and university supervisor to record their critique of the effectiveness in which I teach cultural diversity while observing my lessons. I believe I also accomplished this goal. I inserted some cultural or historical information into my lessons whenever it was pertinent and helpful. My second goal as part of this section of the conceptual framework is: I will respond to the developmental levels and needs of all students. I will accomplish this goal by first identifying the developmental levels and needs of all students. Then, I will create methods to meet all the developmental needs by teaching to the middle

developmental need and providing individual instruction to meet the needs of the advanced students and students that are behind. I will evaluate this goal by asking the cooperating teacher and university supervisor to observe and record their critique of the level of observed effectiveness in catering to different developmental levels and needs. I believe I have also accomplished this goal. I respond to developmental needs the most while individually helping the students. I challenge and encourage the students with great artistic skill and help and sometimes modify projects for students that struggle with art. The next part of the conceptual framework is: Knowledge of Pedagogy. Again, I created two goals under this category. My first goal is: I will employ both cooperative and individual learning experiences. I will accomplish this goal by planning and implementing both individual and team art projects. The roles for the students in the team projects will be carefully assigned as to eliminate confusion or conflict of each teammates duties and responsibilities. All of this information will be recorded in my lesson plans. I will evaluate this goal by recording in a log the amount of individual and team lessons. I will also record a reflection of each lesson in this log. Unfortunately, I didnt implement any team art projects during my time teaching. However, the class often discussed subject matter and critiqued artwork as a group. Nevertheless, I will still need to make some improvement on this goal. The second goal under this category is: I will provide opportunities for students to construct new knowledge of their world. I will accomplish this goal by asking openended questions and assigning projects that involve critical thinking skills and creativity. My constructivist teaching strategies will be recorded in my lesson plans. I will evaluate

this goal by asking my cooperating teacher and university supervisor to observe and record their critique of the amount and effectiveness of constructivist teaching strategy that I use during my lesson. I believe I achieved this goal. I assigned projects that required creative problem solving and was careful not to solve the problem for the students while providing them individual help. Instead, I attempted to guide them to the answer. Finally, the last piece of the conceptual framework is: Knowledge of Self as a Teacher and Member of a Learning Community. I also established two goals under this section. The first goal is: I will show initiative. I will accomplish this goal by being very vigilant and responding to tasks, challenges, and issues swiftly without being prompted to do so. I will evaluate this goal by recording in a log a reflection of the amount of initiative that I showed at the end of the each 6 week student teaching experience. I also accomplished this goal. I jumped into each experience head first and responded to challenges promptly. My second goal as a part of this category is: I will receive and use constructive criticism to improve and refine teaching skills. I will accomplish this goal by carefully listening to, recording, analyzing, and reflecting on the constructive criticism that I receive from my cooperating teaching and university supervisor. I will then immediately proceed to make changes based on that constructive criticism and record the amount of success made based on those changes. I will evaluate this goal by asking my cooperating teacher and university supervisor to observe and record their critique of the level of improvement made on issues that they identified in their previous constructive

criticism. I think that I made significant improvement based on the constructive criticism that I received from my supervisor and cooperating teacher during this experience. I believe I have made considerable gains on many of these goals. I improved due to experience, practice, reflection, and observations and critiques from my university supervisor and cooperating teacher. While some of these goals still require some attention, most of these goals have been adequately reached. However, I will still keep these goals in the back of my mind while planning and teaching as making improvement is always a possibility and necessity.