Teacher KnowledgeOver the course of this graduate program, I have learned that to best meet the needs of students, especially in literacy, you must reflect on your teaching, be knowledgeable of the standards of learning, engage in professional development of best practices of teaching, and collaborate with other teachers and colleagues.
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Standards and Literacy ProgramsAs a teacher, you must be knowledgeable of state and grade level standards and curriculum to best meet the needs of your students. To the right, is a link to the Common Core State Standards and a link to a Weebly I created for a PBI unit which includes: lesson plans, standards of learning, assessments, and goals for teaching students about the environment.
Schools and school districts are always eager to have the best literacy programs. There is a lot of money put into these programs and many times teachers are expected to implement these programs in their classrooms. We have learned that to better teach literacy, educators must be critical of programs; many may have great resources for teachers and students, but it all begins with educators. As a teacher, it is incredibly important to remember that there are many programs out there with no accountability or successful research; be critical while using learning resources to better educate students and remember that teachers make programs work and learning possible. |
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"Professional development is not about the workshop...it is at its heart the development of habits of learning..."
-Bertani M. Fullan, The New Meaning of Educational Change The following are examples of Professional Learning I have completed during this program:
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CoachingReflecting on your teaching is one of the most important aspects of being a teacher. The only way to better your teaching is to pick out what you do well, but also pick out what you should continue to work on. As a teacher, you will be regularly observed and it is important to take constructive feedback to better meet the needs of your students.
During my final semester I was in ECI 508: Teachers as Leaders. One of the assignments of this class was to complete a coaching cycle based on the Practice Based Coaching framework. I was able to coach a colleague of mine and it was a great moment of collaboration and a enjoyable learning experience for both us. Below is one our coaching cycles. Professional DevelopmentTo best meet the needs of our students, teachers must reflect on their teaching and continually keep up with best practices to meet the needs of our students. Over the course of this program, I have learned valuable information about how to best participate during PLC and Professional Development and how professional learning should be developed and implemented in our schools; "PL must ultimately result in both changes in teacher performance and in student learning; such changes should reflect efforts to achieve specific curriculum goals or standards" (Bean, p. 119).
According the book, The Reading Specialist: Leadership and Coaching for the Classroom, School, and Community written by Rita M. Bean, the following are guidelines for developing, leading, and evaluating an effective professional development program (p. 121-128).
Bean, R. M. (2015). The Reading Specialist: Leadership and Coaching for the Classroom, School, and Community (3rd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Publications. |
Collaboration
The ability to collaborate with others is a necessity in the world of education. Educators must work together to best meet the needs of our students. Collaboration provides educators with learning experiences, strong relationships, trust, promotes professional development and coaching experiences, and creates a safe and loving school community. Over the course of this graduate program, my colleagues and I have come together to complete many projects, book studies, meaningful conversations and learning experiences, have brought our learning experiences to our schools to create stronger relationships within our schools, and have created strong relationships with one another.
Below are a few of the projects we have completed with one another during our time in this program, along with projects I have completed with my work colleagues from school.
Below are a few of the projects we have completed with one another during our time in this program, along with projects I have completed with my work colleagues from school.
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This is a Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan from ECI 508: Teachers as Leaders. I worked with the first grade team at my school to decide what our students needs were and how to use our assessments to plan instruction. We decided to assess our students' knowledge of high frequency words using Fry's High Frequency Word List to then differentiate our instruction to better meet their needs.
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The video above is from a book study I completed with my colleagues during ECI 523: Teacher as Researcher. We read the book, Because of the Kids: Facing Racial and Cultural Differences in Schools (Click on the title to learn more about the book) written by Jennifer E. Obidah and Karen Manheim Teel. The authors write about the three years they collaborated with one another with the intent to explore racial and cultural differences and how they impact the classroom, but also learned to collaborate with one another and overcome difficult challenges. While reading this book, my colleagues and I learned not only about racial and cultural differences, but also how to overcome challenges of collaborating with others to best meet the needs of students.