INTASC+9

INTASC 9

Reflection of INTASC 9: Reflective Practice After the completion of a lesson, the reflective process is one of the most important aspects that will help us to improve our performance as educators. Within INTASC 9 we examine elements of the reflective process that will help us reflect on how we perform in the classroom, what worked within our lesson, and what we might change in the future. The reflection process after a lesson is extremely essential because it is where we’re able to recognize what worked within our lessons and what didn’t work. Many times, when we create a lesson plan, we create an idea in our mind of how effective it will be with our students. It is still very common, though, that our lessons may not go as we had planned. This is where the reflective stages prove to be the most beneficial for our success and ultimately, our student’s success. When using the reflective practice, we examine the performance of our students, our own performance and how the two were effective with each other. What went well within the lesson? What didn’t go so well? What might we change for the future? In examining these elements, we realize that we might give students more time with their assessment, we might move seats around, or we might spend more time on instruction and modeling. There are many different variations that we can exercise after we have performed the reflective practice of our lessons and the class’ productivity. We will also use the resources around us to help us with our reflective process. For more assistance, we can contact other professionals, such as our colleagues, a librarian, the media specialist, advisors, case managers, and even other professional literary resources and classes. It is important that we open ourselves up to different forms of resources and instruction. It is from these that we can build our own performance, as well as the performance of our students. Within a classroom setting, if a lesson was deemed as ineffective, the teacher must maintain the ability to step back and reflect upon what went wrong. Perhaps what the teacher finds ineffective within the first mod, they can change before their next mod begins the assessment. It is these changes and alterations that come from within the reflective practice. The more we reflect upon our performance and look for ways of improvement, the more we will find our students more engaged and connected with the material.

FIRST OBSERVATION:



SECOND OBSERVATION:

Reflection A: "The teacher reflects and evaluates the effect of his/her personal and/or professional choices on others (students, parents, and staff) in the learning community."

Based upon INTASC 9, I have included two observation evaluations based upon my first and second observations as a new teacher. The first observation lesson was a great reflection piece because I was able to find what was essential for professional reflection of my performance. Because of this lesson, I was able to see the essentials for every motivational activity. Though I thought I had a motivation, it wasn't as effective as I had imagined it would be. I am aware that these instances occur within teaching and this is what highlights the reflection process. Because this motivation wasn't as effective as I had hoped, I was able to fix my motivational strategies for the next class. This proves my mastery of INTASC 9 because I have the ability to gather information from both my performance and my student's performance in order to make professional decisions and alterations. This artifact also demonstrates positive student learning because, I was able to make my alterations to my next class and grasp their attention. I have proven my ability to reflect properly upon my planning and teaching ability in order to set new goals and directions for myself and my students. As shown in my second observation lesson, I take those reflections and implement them immediately. Within my second observation lesson, I have not only one, but two motivational activity lessons, where students are highly engaged and prove a solid grasp of the material. This artifact proves a positive impact on student learning because I have found new methods for grasping the attention and interest of my students. I believe that the first five minutes of class are the most essential because they set the tone for the rest of the class. By reflecting and implementing new lessons, and teaching strategies, I was able to alter my negative reflections and turn them into positive aspects of student learning and progress. This aspect touches upon the reflection aspect of JPTARR. Without frequent reflection, teachers will not improve or learn with their students. Also, within the teaching portion of JPTARR, this article proves that I can take constructive criticism in order to implement better teaching strategies to better help my students learn.



Reflection B: "The teacher seeks out opportunities to grow professionally." Within this artifact, I have found a specific method to improve instruction within the classroom. Because I understand that all students work differently, I now have a way to incorporate different ways of differentiating for my students. I feel that it is always beneficial for teachers to continue to look for new resources to improve classroom instruction. Since our classes are ever-changing and our students are ever-changing, we need to continue to alter our methods of instruction in order to best provide the best learning environment for our students. So far, in my teaching career, I have incorporated most of these bullets into my instruction. My goal is to reach all of them by the end of my 1st year. Looking at specific aspects such as increasing the use of visuals for student understanding, I have found that these methods truly improve instruction to the point where it is not only more enjoyable for the teacher, but it is more enjoyable and understandable for the students. My goal as a first year teacher, is to focus more on my English Language Learner students. This component of visuals, and models will help me find success with these students. I believe this method will also help me with my IEP and 504 students. Every good instructor knows that every student teaches differently; therefore, I will use this reference as a guide to help me differentiate for my students to the best of my ability to be sure that they can perform at the best of theirs.This article reflects the aspects of reflection and teaching best for the components of JPTARR because it will allow educators to look upon different methods that they could use within the classroom to better help their instruction and better meet the needs of all of their students.