Title:

Pre-Student Teaching Reflection

Date:
Fall 2014
Artifact description:
This is a reflection of a lesson that I gave to a 2nd grade classroom on steady beat and
rhythm. The reflection highlights upon failures that we sometimes must have to
understand where we can improve and figure out how we can do better for our students.
Wisconsin Teacher Licensure Standard Alignment:
This reflection best aligns with standard 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 reflection best aligns with standard nine because it is a reflection of a lesson
that I planned and put into action. This includes comments of things that I thought went
well as well as things that I can improve upon. It easy to focus upon the negative, but I
understand that a failure is good and should motivate us to learn more to help our
students. Each lesson brings its own individual challenges and sometimes we will be
pushed to the brink. My struggles opened up positive encouragement from Mr. David
about pushing forward and never giving up. If I cannot evaluate myself constructively,
then I will never be able to grow as an individual or as a teacher. Also, even if I have a
great lesson, I can evaluate better strategies to improve upon and use the positive
techniques for future lessons.
I am more competent in this standard because I allowed myself to constructively
criticize and recognize processes that I can improve on.
UW-Platteville School of Educational Knowledge, Skill, Disposition Statement Alignment:
This experience best aligns with KSD4.a.
Reflects on teaching. The candidate makes an accurate and thoughtful reflection of
his/her teaching effectiveness, is aware of specific elements of his/her teaching that
contributed to successful instruction, and can offer alternative teacher action to predict
the future successes of alternate approaches
This experiences best aligns with this KSD because it is a reflection of my lesson in its
entirety including positives, negatives, and ideas I could expound upon. I learned that you
have to roll with a situation and expect the unexpected whenever you are teaching. Mr.
David was good at improvising and thinking on his feet when things were getting out of
hand.
I am more competent and aware of this KSD because of the nature of my own
personality. Its easy to be negatively critical, but its even harder to critically analyze
your methodology and way of creating lessons and to find the positive in a lesson. Mr.
David gave me a safety net in which I was allowed to experiment and see what would
work out best for the students. Even though the result wasnt desired I learned a great

deal about quirks and different strategies to help me in my strive towards having a fluid
lesson.
Secondary KSDs:
KSD 4.f Shows Professionalism
What I learned about teaching/learning
I have learned that to become better teachers, we must constantly evaluate and revaluate
our methods of teaching. Every day is a different day and brings its own unique
challenges. I want to be able to have the most fluid and flawless lesson as possible. I also
want to have many back-up plans so that if lessons do not go as planned, then I have
something different to try to bring focus for the students. I have learned that the best way
to avoid lulls in learning is to keep pushing yourself and your students towards
knowledge. I feel that I will become better at having better plans as I practice more.
What I learned about myself as a prospective educator:
As a future teacher, I feel that I have many advantages and disadvantages. My advantage
is that my youth will be relatable with my students. However, I cannot become
complacent when it comes to planning ahead. I always need to be vigilant in my
endeavors to further learning and to never stop my pursuit of knowledge. I have learned
that if a lesson plan isnt working, go onto something else because if you dont, you
might be just as stuck as your students are. I feel that as I attend more conferences and
talk to more teachers, I will figure out many tips and tricks of the trade.