Standard 3 | Teaching Portfolio

Quality Standard 3: Teachers plan and deliver effective instruction and create an environment that facilitates learning for their students.

Standard Reflection

I would rate myself as accomplished in this standard. Because I had the opportunity to completely take over control of my classes from the very beginning of the semester, I have had a ton of growth opportunities in my delivery of effective instruction. I feel as though I was really able to drive home major connections between the students and the material. I also consistently prioritized differentiation because of the wide range of intellectual levels within every one of my classes. I was able to help many of my struggling students get to a place where they were not only passing but confident in the material by the end of the semester. One goal that I have for this standard is to become more confident and on top of things in the planning process, as there were some days in student teaching where I felt a little overwhelmed with everything that was coming up.

Element A: Teachers demonstrate knowledge about the ways in which learning takes place, including the levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students.

Artifact: End of quiz questions

Rationale: At the end of every formal assessment I did throughout student teaching, I included a couple of questions to gauge how each of my students are doing both personally and in class. I was able to tailor the next unit that we completed based on their responses (for example, when some students expressed that the course was moving too fast, I was able to not only slow the next unit down but also was able to know that they likely need more individual attention on a day to day basis).

Element B: Teachers use formal and informal methods to assess student learning, provide feedback, and use results to inform planning and instruction.

Artifact: Jeopardy questions

Rationale: This artifact is an example of a form of informal assessment that I was able to do with multiple classes, that being playing "Jeopardy" with them. This game allowed me to see what my students had down vs. what they needed more time with. Throughout the game itself, students were able to work in teams to deliberate what they though the answers were, which allowed me to overhear their thought processes surrounding the material. This method also directly impacted the various formal assessments that were typically completed the day after we played in class, as many of the Jeopardy questions then showed up in a similar format on the actual exam.

Element C: Teachers integrate and utilize appropriate available technology to engage students in authentic learning experiences.

Artifact: Citizenship Test Quizlet Live

Rationale: Technology was a huge aspect of my student teaching experience, considering that teaching online made up a significant portion of the semester. This artifact represents something that I did with my Civics students on the very first day of the semester. To introduce my students to the ultimate goal of Civics, that being the ability to be a well informed and active citizen, I showed them the real life version citizenship test that is administered in the United States, but to make it more engaging I decided to have them play a Quizlet Live from home. This is a direct example of using technology to the advantage of my students, as they were way more interested in learning about the citizenship test when it was an online game with prizes involved.

Element D: Teachers establish and communicate high expectations and use processes to support the development of critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

Artifact: Psychology Final Project Rubric

Rationale: This artifact is an example of the description I created about the final project for the Psychology class I led this quarter. This rubric provides an example of the high expectations I held for what needed to be included, and the students were able to then read this and create some truly awesome projects. By communicating these expectations early, my students had plenty of time to engage in some critical thinking and research about whatever mental health condition they chose.

Element E: Teachers provide students with opportunities to work in teams and develop leadership.

Artifact: Theories of Intelligence Research Project

Rationale: This artifact is from a lesson I did in my Psychology class where I assigned groups of students to a specific psychologist's theory of intelligence, gave the groups the majority of our class time to work together, and then had all of the groups present to the class at the end of the period, so that the whole class had a working definition of all of the curriculum's designated psychologists. The students had lots of opportunities to work in groups in my classes, but this artifact also ties in that they then had to lead the class in instruction at the end of the period.

Element F: Teachers model and promote effective communication.

Artifact: Quarantine Post

Rationale: This artifact is an example of one of the many posts I made to Google classroom throughout my student teaching time. This specific post came at a time where I had a great deal of students at home quarantined, so I made it a big priority to make sure that all of them were able to stay caught up with the assignments and what was expected of them. I always wanted my students to realize that I am accessible to them for whatever they may need, so regular classroom posts are just one way I tried to reach out.