Week 4 Reflection

Weekly Reflection and Self-Assessment Blog Week 4

Due Date: September 19, 2011 (due Monday at 7am)

This week’s blog is based on the following standards,

best practices and education program learning outcomes.

Illinois Professional Teaching Standard #3 – Diversity

Teachers must be able to understand how children learn and have an appreciation for diversity in learning styles. They must be able to present lessons to their students in a way that promotes positive learning experiences for them.

Education Program Learning Outcome # 8 – Diversity

Candidates will understand and respect the diversity of their students, families, and the community; will treat all with dignity; and will select and implement appropriate teaching materials and methods to meet the diverse needs of their students, enabling all students to learn.

Education Program Professional Disposition # 2 – Sensitivity to Diversity

Displays a commitment to equity, caring, and the belief that all students can learn

Based on Education Program Professional Disposition # 2 – Moral and Personal Integrity

Displays ethical behavior, an attitude of service, and respects the rights and feelings of others.

Goal Setting:  Last week you set two goals. Reflect on those goals and where you are in achieving them.

Also describe your conversation with your cooperating teacher regarding your goals. Set 2 goals for yourself. Write one goal regarding different learning styles and finding a way to reach your students for the rest of the semester. Consider: what do you need to do to enable all students to learn? Share your goals with your cooperating teacher.

Last week I set two goals regarding my instructional planning. In doing so, I hoped to improve my anticipatory sets and continue to look for activities that were supplemental to scaffolding information. This past week, I feel that I accomplished them in some ways. I felt that my anticipatory sets for my freshman were better in which I found to be more beneficial that my upper class students. I asked a few students if they liked my information I was presenting like fun facts and they said honestly they didn't because it took away from their time playing. In some sense, I do agree with them that my anticipatory sets are more to just say than really give them the information they need to know. That however, was during tournament play in which my students were eager to go out and play. On the other side, I felt that my freshman were more excited to hear my anticipatory sets, but I felt at times the fun facts or my "hook and hold" provided to much chatter that I wasted time to get them back on track to listen to the directions in which I was going to present. I feel anticipatory sets are necessary in some cases, but to get their attention through a review of the day prior engages them more sometimes to get them thinking about yesterday and how it meets today's goals. Perhaps, I should re-think completely these tasks, or continue with the scaffolding in which I review from the day prior to get their mind going? Any thoughts? 

One goal: By the end of the semester, I will continue to give my students a visual representation, the ability to kin-esthetically attempt the skill, and provide my students with reasons for why this skill is necessary not only in the sport, but how it would be beneficial for their lifetime activities. Also, my students will be working on a fitness project in which they will have the ability to write and express what fitness means to them.  

Reflection/Analysis:  (Complete at the end of the week)

1. Write one word that best describes your teaching experience this week.wonderful
2. Summarize your experiences this past week based on the following:
1. Knowledge: Describe any understanding you gained this week about how students’ learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, and prior learning, as well as language, culture, family, and community values. Do you understand your own personal cultural perspectives and biases and how they might affect your teaching?
2. In my class this week, specifically in my leadership class, we participated in a riddle that they needed to solve. The riddle was 1-2-3=20. It was a jump roping activity but the students only knew that they had to get all students through the rope. The students after almost a 1/2 hour of trying they became extremely frustrated and angry at one another, a goal in which we wanted them to feel. It took two days to achieve the riddle, but after they figured it out through clues from the rope, the students were excited they worked together to achieve this goal. The students learned a lot about each other and we saw how some students were very vocal, while also some students were very quite. There are a lot of diverse individuals in this class and it was interesting to see which races spoke up first and those that never spoke. I feel I do understand my own cultural perspectives and biases, but I also feel at times I don't. I feel this is something that will be more established as I continue to mature and age. I find it essential that we  keep being open-minded that all students can learn while keeping their cultural differences aside. 
3. Performance: Give a specific incidence where you used cultural diversity and individual student experiences to enrich instruction this week. How did you design instruction appropriate to students’ stages of development, learning styles, strengths and needs?
4. This past week, I developed a tennis tournament. At the end of last week, I asked students to line up with their partner and asked them to stand in either the line that "thinks they are awesome at tennis" or the other line that "I think I"m good but need to practice some more." By doing so, I developed a tournament that was to the students learning styles, their personal strengths, and had an appropriate  tournament in which students played one another whose skills were closely matched with theirs. In this, I found that students were more eager to play their opponents that were at their level. The students were excited to be rotating, while playing at other courts, and being able to improve their skills. From the time I started with these students until now, I feel they have tremendously improved on their tennis skills. Breaking the students up to their skills really made a difference not only in the student's energy, but also in their motivation to play for a reward to be playing at the level in which they felt they were at. To be completely honest, I felt the students did a fantastic job at choosing what level their skills were at :)!
5. Performance: In what ways does your cooperating teacher or did you respect the diversity of their students, families, and the community, and select and implement appropriate teaching materials and methods to meet the diverse needs of students, enabling all students to learn.
6. I have a few students that are going through some extremely difficult times in their life right now. In respect to keeping their confidentiality, I find that we make sure the students are provided with the necessary means to succeed within the class. This often comes from us personally talking with the students themselves, providing the support in which they made need, and following up with their services. In any situation, my cooperating teacher has made sure that when a student has behavioral problems that she address them personally and speaks with their counselor to make sure the students are given the correct services that they need in order to succeed in the classroom. With two students in particular, the students were provided with the knowledge that we care about them more than just in the classroom. That we appreciate them doing what they need to do in order to succeed in the classroom. In some cases, we had to purchase clothes for a student because of her socioeconomic status along with having counselor interact with parents so that a student could get his school stuff before he was kicked out of his home. By being considerate to these diverse needs, the students have made a complete turn around in my class and I have enjoyed them in class over the past week. Meeting these students diverse needs sometimes means going beyond your "call of duty." 

Communication with your College Supervisor:

1. Describe anything in particular you want your supervisor to know or to help you with. I found out that there is not such thing as an adaptive physical education endorsement, you must go through a graduate program in order to achieve this. I discussed this information with professor Meyer and feel this information would be good for you to know as well. I am beginning to teach gymnastics on Monday and was wondering if you had a extremely detailed resources that could help me, since I am a bit nervous teaching this because of the safety that is involved within these activities.
2. How are you getting along with your cooperating teacher? How well are you communicating? Do you meet regularly to discuss your teaching and ways to improve. My cooperating teacher is amazing. We talk all the time, have activities always plan and provides me with some suggestions along with feedback to help me improve. After every class I teach she asks me how I felt it went and if there way any changes I thought was necessary for the next time I teach the activity. We have no issues communicating at all, she is a great teacher and I feel blessed to have her as my cooperating teacher!