School of Education Portfolio University of Wisconsin Platteville Artifact Reflection Bucks County Challenger team Fall 2007 A apte

e A!uatics "esson #lan $pring 20%& Title of Experience/Artifact: #re $tu ent "esson #lan Fall 20%& Describe your educational experience/artifact:

Throughout my e ucational experience' ( ha)e *orke *ith many ifferent stu ents that ha)e a *i e range of nee s+ ,y artifacts ha)e come from *orking *ith stu ents *ho ha)e autism in a pool en)ironment' teaching a classroom of challenge an isa-le stu ents at the #latte)ille .igh $chool an also the Bucks County Challenger team' *hich ( create in high school+ ( *orke har to make sure my lesson plans an challenger league *orke out to meet the nee s of all stu ents+
Wisconsin eacher Standard Ali!n"ent

The experience I have chosen aligns with Standard 3 Diversity: Teachers understand that children learn differently. My many experiences working with various students with disabilities allows me to demonstrate my ability to work with diverse populations. My lesson plans show my ability to manage a classroom with students and also have the skills to adapt using specific rules and games that meet the needs of physically challenged students. Its important to make sure all students can fit in without getting hurt or feeling out of place. To be sure I can accomplish that goal, students will be grouped in fair teams and will play specific games that meet the needs of every individuals age and skill level. I was able to work one on one with my student in adapted aquatics. I was really able to get to know him personally as well as defining his skill levels. I ad usted my lesson according to the things he liked, felt comfortable doing, and was able to succeed in which got him motivated. My student would shut down, give up and potentially fail if I gave him too many instructions or things to do. I had to be careful how I constructively instructed him by keeping it simple and to the point. !hile working with the challenger students, it was a difficult task to ad ust to each individual student considering every disability is unique in its own way. "ome of my students had walkers and wheelchairs while others were able to walk and run. !e really had to strategically pair students together accordingly and adapt each drill for every group of students. My experiences have proven my understanding of students different approaches to learning and my abilities of adapting to diverse needs and other requirements within standard #.
UW#Platteville School of Education $no%led!e& S'ills& Dispositions Ali!n"ent

This artifact best aligns with KSD 4.b Maintains Accurate Records. $very student with diverse learning needs have accurate, updated records on their educational process. %uring my experience working with my student in the pool, I would record our process after each session and plan for my next lesson plan accordingly. I kept records by having a checklist on what activities the student was proficient in, needed work on, or havent developed yet. %uring my experience at &latteville 'igh school I kept in touch with my cooperating teacher to communicate how students were doing in class but also ways to change thing for some of my students. !e both assessed students by determining if they came prepared for class, participated with others properly and put their best effort forth during class. !e had students fill out charts telling us what they thought they deserved then we assessed them how we felt and compared them with each other to give them a final grade.

Explain %hat you learned about teachin!/learnin! fro" this experience:

I learned that everyday wont go as you plan but you need to have the ability to ad ust the plan and adapt on the fly. (ne thing I found out fast was that I needed to have a lot of patience and that I could not get upset or overwhelmed when students did not understand a unit or a lesson. I had to ust keep plugging away to find different ways to teach it. !hen students have a very short attention span, I have to keep them active as much as possible with the most simple instruction I can give. !hile coaching for the )ucks *ounty *hallenger team, I found out how much you truly mean to the students. $ven though they might not be able to perform or answer things you ask of them, they are truly taking everything in, they really need you and appreciate everything that youre doing for them as well as their parents.
Explain %hat you learned about yourself as a prospective educator as a result of this experience/artifact: +s a prospective educator I discovered I love working with the students more than anything else. I have the best feeling after working with the students and being able to make an impact on their life. I had one parent come up to me during a *hallenger practice crying, thanking me because I was able to make her child smile # times in one hour. "he was crying on my shoulder saying she has never seen him smile more than , times a week and I was able to provide him with that oy and happiness in a one hour period. That was one of the most memorable things in my life and best feeling that I could ever ask for. )eing able to have the impact on a student, and family, the way I did, was unbelievable. I take that feeling and moment as motivation to continue educating and impacting as many people possible. !orking with challenged students is not easy but there is so much reward in the end and no stress can amount to the greatness and satisfaction in the end.