The Penn State teacher actively encourages students’ development and learning by creating a positive classroom learning environment, appropriately using a variety of instructional and assessment strategies and resources, including instructional technologies.

For Domain B, my first area of strength is appropriately managing student learning and behavior.  Prior to each lesson, I would verbally review my behavioral expectations and give directions for the activity.  Students also had a visual checklist available on the board or a project rubric stating the academic expectations.  By circulating around the room during group work and independent practice, the classroom remained proactively managed.  Also, direct and non-direct cues including, eye contact, proximity, referring to a specific child’s name, or explicitly redirecting, were given at all stages of instruction.  All of these methods create an effective classroom culture conducive to learning.  As time passes, my ability to manage student learning, behavior, and even the general classroom procedures continues to develop.  Second, my ability to assess students in multiple ways in order to give feedback to learners and analyze data has grown tremendously.  This has been an area I have focused on trying to improve a lot in the past few months.  Being in the classroom and engaged in their learning process, I am able to get a sense of my students’ progress and monitor their understanding and then use that assessment data to draw conclusions.  My observations, quizzes, project rubrics, students’ self assessment, scavenger hunts, math home links, math boxes, and completed science or social studies packets all provide records of collected assessment data. I have come to be able to use all of the data I know about my students and translate this knowledge into concrete assessment data giving me the necessary components to give students appropriate feedback to guide new learning.

The teacher actively and effectively engages all learners.

Through this lesson, I was able to learn about each one of my students.  They were actively engaged through group and individual activities to learn about me and about one another.  The students enjoyed the chance to depict themselves through a drawing and to share with their fellow classmates.  Every child was responsible for working with a partner to complete an activity and held accountable for their own picture.  Throughout the lesson, the students were engaged and excited to learn about the similarities and differences in each person that make up their classroom environment.

The teacher assesses student learning in multiple ways in order to monitor student learning, assist students in understanding their progress, and report student progress.

The social studies unit I created and taught in my classroom is comprised of four different lessons.  Each lesson has its own objectives and assessments.  From the first lesson to the culminating activity, we were building upon and adding on to the knowledge we learned in the previous lessons.  Rather than having one assessment at the end of the unit, each lesson contained a pre-assessment to measure the students learning at that point, a formative assessment to monitor their progress, and a summative assessment to measure and report their learning.  By utilizing multiple methods of evaluation and measuring the students progress and understanding at various points throughout the unit, I was able to assess their learning in many different ways and monitor their progress closely.  The number of assessments helped me to get a complete picture of what the students were learning and what parts of the lessons were the most effective.  By recognizing the most effective pieces of the lesson, I was able to adjust the remainder of my teaching and alter this unit for future use so students can benefit as much as possible from these lessons.

The teacher appropriately manages classroom procedures.

This paper represents my emerging beliefs about classroom management. I clearly state my expectations for student behavior and my plans for setting up a learning environment that accommodates the students.  My plans highlight the actions necessary to create a student centered environment and communicate the classroom procedures and goals with the students.  The paper also includes my thoughts on managing students with physical, intellectual, social, and emotional needs.  During my student teaching placement, I implemented the theories and practices I studied and adapted my own methods for managing classroom procedures.  I was able to take this knowledge and apply proper management procedures to enable quick transitions and clear time management during lessons.  With a positive learning environment, my students responded well to the procedures in place and grew as responsible, respectful students.

The teacher appropriately manages student learning and behavior.

I created this science unit as an inquiry-based lesson that asks students to collect evidence, explain their findings, and connect their evidence to other concepts they previously learned.  Every student was responsible for learning individually and working in a small group to gather information.  This type of lesson is different from how the students traditionally experience science lessons, so they were all appropriately challenged academically.  Instead of presenting them with the information and then assessing their knowledge, the students were the active learners and teachers in this unit.  Students were aware of my expectations for the tasks and their behavior while working to complete them.  By requiring that every student participates and creates a postcard to demonstrate their understanding, every child was busy and focused making classroom management more simple and straightforward.  I was available to answer questions and push the students to explore the topic even further throughout.  This unit created a learning environment in which each student was actively pursuing knowledge and challenging themselves to understand the concept more deeply.

The teacher communicates effectively using verbal, nonverbal, and media techniques while teaching. 

The focus of this video was on my questioning skills during direct instruction.  By comparing my low and high level questions, I am able to get a clearer picture of how effectively I am communicating with the students.  The video demonstrates my ability to ask questions that require students to not only recall information, but analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the information as well.  The questions posed were asked to ensure each child had an accurate understanding of the concept and to clear up any misconceptions the students may hold.  Asking effective questions makes for direct and appropriate communication.  The video also demonstrates my rapport with the children and the language, both verbal and nonverbal, that I use when speaking to the whole group.