SCED 4989-Professional Leadership Assignment Part I: DM4: Refle tion: See!

learning e"perien es #e$g$% professional% resear h% olleag&es% omm&nit'( as so&r es of refle tion to impro)e tea hing$ Explain one experience you have used sources (professional, research, colleagues, community, etc.) to help you improve your teaching.

Each morning and afternoon as we carpool to and from our student teaching assignments, my colleagues and I discuss our classroom experiences. We listen and offer suggestions to each other based on our limited classroom experiences. I had been struggling with getting my students properly motivated and focused on the days lesson. I listened to all three of my colleagues suggestions, too the parts of each I thought would be most useful, and greatly improved the subse!uent classes interest and focus. "ist your professional content organi#ation with its website. What resources are available for teaching$

%ational &ouncil of 'eachers of English ( )ournal articles, lesson plans, newsletter, and maga#ine containing articles relevant to teaching English. http*++www.ncte.org+

Part II: DM4: *ased on 'o&r st&dent tea hing e"perien es% de)elop a professional learning plan +ased on indi)id&al needs and the needs of the learners% s hools% and ed& ational omm&nit'$ ,. -escribe one goal you can include in your professional learning plan that includes ways to* .ddress the needs of individual students. .ddress the needs of all learners+students. /upport the school. /upport the educational community.

0y goal is to earn endorsements in E/", history, and speech. Expanding my nowledge base to include these others content areas will serve not only my school, through the increased flexibility additional content endorsements provide, but also my students and the educational community through an expanded understanding of other content areas. .s I continue my education I hope to become a role model for students by demonstrating intellectual curiosity, a strong wor ethic, and a determination to achieve my goals.

,$ Identif' one area of -ea!ness 'o& -o&ld li!e to impro)e and set a goal$ I would li e to improve my ability to design lessons my students will find exciting. .$ /o- -ill 'o& meas&re0assess the goals 'o& listed a+o)e1 'he attainment of additional endorsements are easily !uantifiable1 my ability to write better, more engaging lessons will be measured by observing student reactions during lessons intros and by the change in overall student participation for each lesson. Part III: DM2: Parti ipate as part of a learning omm&nit'% sharing responsi+ilit' for ea h st&dent3s learning +' gi)ing and re ei)ing feed+a !$ E"plain 'o&r e"perien e -ith parti ipating and sharing in responsi+ilities d&ring a professional learning ommittee #PLC( e"perien e$

'he meeting I attended was a lunchtime get2together of the English department to discuss testing. 'here were eight people in the room, including myself. 3ne teacher had attended a seminar or conference which addressed the new state testing model1 accordingly, he presented the information, which included a video, to the rest of his department. While I expected the meeting to address 4"& concerns and issues, the topics had nothing to do with anything related to cross curricular activities. 'he focus of the meeting was the new testing format and the sort of essay !uestions which are li ely to appear on the test. 5ecause this is the first year the district is using this companys testing products, teachers have only the most general idea of the types of !uestions on the test. 'he company, /age, provided the standard test review materials1 however, several of the teachers expressed concerns that review materials do not always provide an accurate representation of the actual exams. While no one expected an exact copy of the tests, many were worried because other testing companies had, in the past, provided review materials that resulted in an overly simplistic image of the tests rigor. 'he nature of state testing and the importance of the results, for the district, schools, and teachers, ma es a new testing model a daunting prospect for all involved. /ince the common core standards are in place, I expected the testing products to focus on those elements which would most accurately reflect curricular alignment with the core1 however, the common core was not mentioned ( either by the informational video or the teachers in the meeting. While none of the teachers indicated an intention to drastically alter their lesson or unit plans to cater to the test, all seemed concerned that the effectiveness of their teaching may not reflect accurately in the new tests.

E"plain ho- 'o& engage in professional learning to enhan e !no-ledge and s!ill% to ontri+&te to the !no-ledge and s!ill of others% and to -or! olla+orati)el' to ad)an e professional pra ti e$

0y mentor teachers and I fre!uently discuss how students respond to certain lessons and what sorts of things wor well within each lesson. 6or example, during the /ha espeare unit the regular English students were allowed to dress in costume and perform each scene while the English 7onors students were re!uired to read the play at home. I learned that accommodating different learning styles and varying student wor ethics is essential to effective teaching. Whenever Im having difficulty with a lesson or class its helpful to confer with other teachers who have more experience adapting a particular piece of literature to classroom instruction1 however, Ive also found it interesting that these same experienced teachers will as for my opinion and ideas. 8ltimately, Ive learned that professional practice is advanced by combining the wisdom of experience with the fresh perspective of the novice.