Standard 1: Demonstrates Mastery of and Pedagogical Expertise in Content I would mark myself proficient. I always strive to make lessons for my students that are engaging and relevant. That being said, I am a student teacher and I am very transparent about the fact that I am learning too. Both in my elementary and secondary placement, I was sure to check my instruction though assessment of student understanding. I also was sure to always align my lessons to the standards. In doing this, it helped me be sure that I was presenting a lesson to my students that was thorough and wholesome. My professional goal in this standard is to continue to plan in the template that I was given through my program at CSU. I want to also focus on more interconnected lessons. I achieved this at the high school level when projects went: value study, composition study, skull study, facial features homework assignment, journal assignment, symbolism research, thumbnail, and finally the symbolic self-portraiture assignment. Even thought these assignments were different, they built on each other. Whereas my elementary birdhouse architects lesson was relatively isolated. I think in making the connections between lessons, we allow students to connect and transfer the learning.
Standard 2: Establishes a safe, inclusive and respectable learning environment for a diverse population of students I would mark myself proficient. This is so much easier said than done. I felt I could have done better at this when I had students (particularly at the elementary level) who were on IEP and who were sometimes a physical threat to themselves or others. There was one instance where I was able to prevent a student from hitting another student by catching them before it happened and pulling them out in the hall. But I know there were instances where I didn't see or hear situations. One instance in particular, there was a student whose artwork was being laughed at and this went completely unnoticed by myself but was observed by a parent volunteer. This sometimes becomes an issue of not being able to see and hear everything at all times. My personal goal to address this is to move throughout the room more during work time. I also want to empower other adults and students in my room to hold up the integrity of our classroom culture and speak out when they hear or see something happening. I always strive to do this through positive reinforcement, i.e. "I love how table three is giving each other productive helpful feedback."
Standard 3: Plan and deliver effective instruction I would mark myself proficient. I could plan even better. A moment where I struggled with this was the portraiture sequence that I did at the high school level. I think I did a great job scaffolding learning through: composition, value, skull proportions, facial features, and symbolism. But I totally forgot to scaffold learning for the switch in media. Students had done plenty of preliminary sketches in graphite but suddenly they were using Prismacolor pencils and some of them had never used them before. Even a homework assignment that gave them practice would have been helpful. How I responded though, was I encouraged students to practice on their thumbnail drawings in their sketchbooks that were required to move forward on the final draft. Because I hadn't it though enough, students ended up spending way longer on the assignment than they should have and some gave up entirely. This was really challenging for my match-up teacher after I left. My professional goal within this standard is to address pre-assessment in a more authentic way. I could have addressed this threw knowing their lack of experience with the media before going into the project.
Standard 4: Teachers reflect on their practice I would mark myself proficient. This is an element that I feel really strong in, in the moment. During a lesson and immediately following it, I always know what I need to adjust to make it more successful. However, where I could stand to grow is the long-term. I sometimes struggle with sitting down and making the necessary notes and adjustments on a physical plan which isn't an issue right now, but will become one if I hope to use these lessons in the future. I could potentially run into the same problems. I pride myself in being really responsive to feedback though, and I was always happy to collaborate with my mentor teachers and department.
Standard 5: Teachers demonstrate leadership I would mark myself proficient. This standard was really difficult at times as a student teacher. It is so important to listen and observe and follow in this part of the process but I found myself getting frustrated at opportunities that I passed to be a leader. One way I could have been more of a leader was to get more involved in my school. At both placements, there were clubs and extracurricular activities that I was interested in but that I didn't get involved in. That being said, I did head up an Art Club class on origami after school at my secondary placement and it felt rewarding to contribute to my department in an extra curricular way. I also took it upon myself to take on tasks preparring for our art fair at my elementary placement. I emailed our custodian staff a heads up and sent a reminder to teacher to send our announcement page home with students. Taking initiative shows investment in the school and my professional goal moving forward is to seek out more opportunities to be involved but also to be a leader in the community.
Professional Disposition Self Assessment: Overall I would rate myself proficient and getting close to advanced. Areas that I feel I really excel at are: tact and judgement, ethical behavior and integrity, and commitment to profession. Tact and judgement I have achieved in navigating difficult situations in the work area. In one case, in particular, I was called a baby by a co-teacher and in the moment in front of everyone I didn't say anything. But afterwards I approached her and shared that I didn't appreciate the joke and that while I am young, I'm hoping to prove myself with my work ethic and commitment. I found that I put extra time in before school at the high school level and after school at the elementary. Either way, I was always putting extra time in. Another example of being committed to the profossion was joing my mentors in marching in the Red for Ed rally in Denver to increase pay for teachers, given that Colorado is 48th in the country in rank of how it pays it's teachers.