Teaching Reflection Example

School: Lincoln Elementary School Teaching Date: April 25, 2006

Teacher’s Classroom: Mrs. Jennifer Saxon Grade Level: First

1. What are your general impressions of your teaching experience? Give at least two comments that
describe your general reactions to the teaching experience (e.g., your performance, students’ responses,
etc.)

a. I was surprised at how excited the student’s were to see me. I had read a few stories to them prior to
this lesson (for the participation assignment) so we were familiar with one another. When they came
into the classroom for the lesson, they started talking to me about the stories I had read to them earlier in
the month.

b. I was not aware of the time factor it takes first graders to do simple tasks, such as passing around
pictures at their tables. I gave each table folders with pictures of the animals we would be discussing. I
did not expect the students to have trouble with sharing and passing the photos with one another, which
they did. I had to adjust for this and give them extra time for everyone to look at the pictures. They
also were not familiar with “partner work,” so that quickly became “group work” with their entire table.

2. What is your evidence of student learning? Give at least two specific examples of evidence in what
section of the lesson they occurred (one from the application activity and one from the instructional
steps), and for each example indicate the number of students who might need further instruction.

a. In Step #6 of the Instructional Sequence of the lesson plan, I knew most of the students were learning
when they were asked to complete their Desert Web by choosing the correct animal cutouts that
pertained to the desert, and glued them unto their poster. 14 students out of the 17 students chose the
correct animals.

b. In the application activity, the students were given a worksheet in which they needed to match up the
correct habitat with the animal that lived there. After they worked on this with their table, we shared
out with the entire class. 11 students matched up the habitats with the animals correctly, while the
remaining 6 students did not.

3. What did you do that helped students to be successful? Give at least two examples with both the
teacher action and the corresponding principle of effective instruction (include the matching number
from the list in Appendix).

a. In Step #4 and Step #9, when I explained the potentially abstract idea of the amount of water each
habitat (desert and freshwater marsh) has, I had two ropes at each table. One rope was six feet long (the
amount of water in a freshwater marsh) and the other rope was ten inches long (the amount of water in a
desert). We stretched these ropes over each table in order for the students to really see the difference in
these numerical amounts. This action made an abstract concept more concrete for the students
(especially the ELL) by using an object as an example. (#1)

b. The students worked with one another within their groups for the Engagement, Steps 3, 5, 6,
7,10,11,12, and the Application Activity. This group interaction allowed the students to process the
new learning for increased understanding and retention. (#11)

4. What did you do that possibly interfered with student’s success? Give at least two examples
with both the teacher action and the corresponding principle of effective instruction (include the
matching number from the list in Appendix).

a. When I explained the application activity which was matching up a new set of animal pictures with
new pictures of desert and freshwater habitats, I forgot to give the students an opportunity to practice
the matching after I gave the instructions. I think I would have had more correct answers on the
assessment if I had done this. (#19)

b. When I reviewed the two habitats in step #13 of my lesson plan, I used pictures and words to talk
about the different features of the animals and habitats. I should have introduced a Venn diagram, in
order for the differences and similarities to be better understood. This graphic organizer should have
been used to introduce the new content I wanted the students’ to learn. (#2)