Practicum Plan Progress

One of my most important learning goals listed in my Practicum Plan was my aim to increase control of my classroom to ensure that students respect me as a teacher. I feel that this could be best accomplished by establishing a better relationship with my students that makes them feel comfortable in the classroom when I am teaching and allows them to bring their questions to my attention. I tried to do this by learning student names as soon as possible to be able to call on specific students during lessons. I also decided to add more discussion activities to my curriculum so my students understand that I respect their thoughts and opinions so they will learn to also respect mine.

In my plan, I originally included a lesson that includes Creative Arts in relation to social studies to be completed in February. Although I have not removed this from my plan, I have not been able to complete this lesson in February. I will have to change the target date for completion to a date in March.

Looking through my plan, I have already completed every activity that I planned to complete in February. At the moment I am also already planning my activities for March. Though I feel good about my organization and completion so far, I am extremely worried about the about of activities and lessons due in March. March is going to be the biggest problem in my plan, mostly because we have very few days of school in March. Our county has a Spring Break in addition to an Easter Break of three days. I will definitely have to buckle down to complete everything required for this time.

Two Characteristics for the Novice Teacher

Characteristic 2 for the Novice Teacher emphasizes the importance of being an effective communicator. This communication can occur in various forms: a teacher may communicate in a written manner, through speech, or even in a non-verbal way. These exchanges often occur between the teacher and student, but it is also important to note that a teacher must also communicate with parents, faculty, and other individuals in the school community.

My most important artifact associated with communication is the student blog I set up at Taylor County Middle School. I created a blog through a website specifically made for student use to ensure student safety and ease of use in order for students to answer critical thinking questions. With this website I was also able to reply to the blog entries with comments and suggestions. I find this to be my most notable artifact because my students were excited to complete this assignment, and were eager to use blogging again in the future.

Characteristic 4 relates to the essential duty of each teacher to ensure learning for all students. Being a facilitator to learning for each students involves a commitment to meeting students needs in various ways.

I believe I best met my students' needs in a lesson dedicated to differentiated instruction. I designed this lesson specifically to meet the different learning styles in my classroom. In this lesson on the French and Indian War, students used a RAFT to complete a writing activity. I also played traditional Appalachian music to help my students who work better with sound in the room. I find this to be a great artifact because my students were more equipped to complete a writing assignment than in past lessons.

These characteristics important to teacher development are connected by emphasizing a clear understanding of the student and his or her needs. Communication with the student is essential to understanding needs and thoughts. By becoming receptive to our students, we as novice teachers can improve the quality of our teaching and therefore the likelihood of student learning. Furthermore, without effective communication with our students' parents and our own colleagues, it is much more difficult to learn the details of student needs and specific strategies to use.