Mid-Level Reflection

Pre-Student Teaching, Spring 2014

Experience/Artifact:
The artifact for this standard is one of my weekly reflections from Pre-Student teaching in the
middle school. Each week I completed a reflection, thinking about the experiences I had in the
classroom, and discussing them with my cooperating teacher.
Alignment Number Nine, Reflection: Teachers are able to evaluate themselves. The teacher is a
reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his or her choices and actions on
pupils, parents, professionals in the learning community and others and who actively seeks out
opportunities to grow professionally.
This experience aligns with Wisconsin Standard number nine, Reflection, because during my
pre-student teaching, I continuously reflected my experiences each week. During the weeks at
the middle school, I was able to use books from my methods classes to apply inquiry methods
and questioning techniques in the classroom. I am more competent in this standard because I
was able to use some of the same methods of inquiry to form self-assessments every week and
to see how my presence in the classroom affected the students. I was able to observe the
students behavior under the instruction of their teacher and compare it to that of when I was
leading the class period. I was then able to determine how to change my instruction to offer
each class the best opportunity to learn the material.
UW-Platteville KSD Alignment KSD4.d., Reflecting on Teaching:
This experience also aligns with UW-Plattevilles KSD4.d., Reflecting on Teaching, because each
week I consistently made thoughtful reflections on my experiences in the classroom teaching. I
was able to recognize what parts I needed to improve on in order to enhance the learning
experience for the students. I feel that I am more competent in standard nine because I was
able to learn from my teaching experiences and my observations of the students acceptance of
my instruction through the use of my weekly reflections. This allowed me to determine
alternative approaches in order to improve on my teaching.
KSD4.e. Grows and Develops Professionally
KSD3.a. Communicates Clearly and Accurately
KSD3.c. Engages Students in Learning
KSD3.e. Demonstrates Flexibility and Responsiveness
KSD1.b. Demonstrates Knowledge of Students

What I learned about teaching/learning:
From this experience pre-student teaching and doing reflections each week, I learned that
there are many forms of self-assessment. During this period, I was able to gain experience in
both teaching and being able to adapt my teaching based on the student responses. I feel that
it is important for a teacher to be able to adapt and change lessons and assessments based on
the group of students. This experience has made me more competent in this standard because I
have been continuously reflecting on my teaching experiences throughout my semester pre-
student teaching, and I have been able to adapt my teaching as a result. I learned that it is
important to be able to recognize whether or not something is working, and to be able to adapt
and change to the situation. This allows for the best environment for learning because it is
adaptive to the needs of the students.
What I learned about myself as a future teacher:
I learned that I was able to observe and learn from my experiences and apply them to the next
class I taught. I was able to improve as the day went on, and that is something that I think is
very valuable to have when I start teaching. I believe that doing the weekly evaluations of
myself and discussing them with my cooperating teacher was a great learning experience for
me because it helped me to continuously evaluate myself and to continue to learn and grow in
the classroom environment. I was able to achieve a comfort level with the students, and
formed relationships with them. This experience was great for me to be able to get a feel for
what it will be like with my own students in my own classroom.