BSHS Classroom Practice Reflection
I have chosen the students’ final
presentations/exhibitions as the artifact that best reflects my
development as a teacher toward meeting Standard Four. The final
projects were completed in teams of four to five students, and I
served as project advisor for groups 2 and 5. This artifact
displays my teaching toward the goal of students
demonstrating what they have learned. It also illustrates a
range of teacher activities which I performed in order to help
students complete their projects.
The DTP I gave on research was planned
to help students develop skills they would need for their projects
(see lesson plan under Standard Three). It was sequenced with the
progression of the course and I modeled the research process using
an example that was connected not only to the course content for
that week, but also to the projects they had chosen. I incorporated
“teacher talk time,” questioning, and student activity. Although I
made the steps clear and easy to follow on the board, I should have
prepared a handout or monitored student note-taking more
effectively. If giving this presentation again I would also give
students more time to use the books I handed out.
In advising my groups during team time I had
the opportunity to work on structuring collaborative
activities as well as questioning/discussion. In setting
up group work I had to prepare so that I could move between groups
and know that each would continue to be productive in my absence.
This challenge is of course magnified if moving between all six
groups (if I were the only teacher in the class instead of one of
three). I found that preparing the feedback forms, and handouts to
facilitate team time helped students make the best use of
class-time in working on their projects. I used questioning
techniques almost continuously to help students develop research
questions and think through their projects. I also differentiated
my instruction, as one group was slower to get started, had
frequent absences, and required a more hands-on scaffolded
approach.
This experience with group work was very
formative for me as a teacher. I have come a long way in my
classroom practice. Ideally, the examples of student work I have
provided as part of the artifact should reflect my success in
meeting Standard Four. The individual student reflections on both
the content and the process of their group
presentations/exhibitions are especially insightful and share many
commonalities.
The following pages are organized to display this artifact as
follows:
Guidelines for final projects
p.4.
Project proposal
form
p.5.
Feedback on proposals for group
5
p.6.
Feedback on proposals for group
2
p.7.
Handout to facilitate team time, group
5
p.8.
Handout to facilitate team time, group
2
p.9.
Oral presentation outline, group
2
pp.10-11.
Presentation feedback
form
pp.12-13.
Group 5 power point
slides
pp.14-21.
Individual student reflections from group 5:
Student
1
pp.22.23.
Student
2
pp.24-26.
Student
3
pp.27-29.
Student
4
pp.30-32.
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