Amber Hosmi

Final Self Evaluation

EDR 317
12 December 2017
Part 1
Professionalism
1. Exemplary
2. Overall, I believe that I showed extremely professional behaviors throughout the
duration of this semester. Everyday, I arrived on time to Media Elementary with my
lesson plans ready for the day, while feeling very prepared and ready for a full day of
field experience. The only days I missed field were due to one absence because of an
illness and one absence for an excused Math Conference for one of my other courses at
West Chester. I was able to make the time up for both of these absences, and arrived on
time and for the full duration of expected time for every day of field. I was able to fully
understand the rules and procedures of the school and Mr. Ks classroom and by the end
of the semester I really felt like a part of the classroom. I was able to practice everything I
have learned through my courses at West Chester in this real life situation of teaching. I
engaged in appropriate speech while speaking to the students and my mentor teacher.
While looking back on my entire semester at Media Elementary, I believe my
professional demeanor was well beyond what was expected of a West Chester University
Practicum student.
3. As I prepare for student teaching, I plan to continue to show exemplary qualifications
in the area of professionalism. A goal that I have for myself is to continue to plan ahead
and come prepared and ready everyday while arriving on time. This will enable me to
complete whatever I possibly can each day that I am expected to be there. Another goal I

have for myself as I prepare for student teaching is to understand my mentor teachers
procedures in his or her classroom so that I can be sure to follow and implement these
procedures as well.
Relationship with Mentor Teacher
1. Exemplary
2. With every lesson plan I wrote for my small reading group, I was sure to confer with
Mr. K before initially writing my plan so I always knew what was expected of me when
teaching a certain literacy skill. Once my lesson plans were completed, I was able to
allow enough time (at least 2 work days) to email him my lesson plans, where he then
provided me with any necessary feedback in order to help me make my lesson plan as
successful as possible. After the first 2 weeks of getting to know and understand what Mr.
K expected of me in the classroom, I really felt comfortable taking initiative in the
classroom. Some ways in which I did so was by walking around the classroom while the
students were working at their desks. During Independent Reading time throughout
Reading Workshop, I was able to work 1 on 1 with some students. During this time, I
would approach certain students that Mr. K had asked me to keep an eye on, and ask
them what they were working on today and then continue to work on this skill with them
while they would read aloud to me. Overall, Mr. K was able to help me understand the
type of relationship that was expected between us by showing me during the first few
weeks of me being in the classroom. I think we had a very professional relationship
overall and I feel very fortunate to have gained the experience that I did from working
with him.

3. One goal that I have in this area while I prepare for student teaching is to make sure I
try my best to form a positive relationship with my mentor teacher beginning as early as I
possibly can (whenever I receive my placement). I think that it is extremely important to
form positive relationships as early as possible in order to maintain those relationships
that will make you successful. I plan to take initiative within the classroom starting on my
first day at the school, so I can become comfortable in the classroom as soon as possible.
Ive learned from prior experience in my fields that the longer you wait to be proactive in
the classroom, the harder it is it jump in and feel comfortable. I plan to find out
everything that is expected of me from my mentor teacher as soon as possible. By doing
so, I will be able to ensure that I meet all of the requirements that are expected of me and
that my experience in the classroom is both beneficial for the students that I will be
working with and for myself as a future teacher.
Teaching and Interaction with Students
1. Sound
2. I feel that this is an area that I was able to meet many goals I had coming into the
semester, but I learned about so many more goals that I continued to develop for myself
each day I was in the field. I am able to classify myself as performing sound in this
area because I met many goals in many of the areas in this category, but there is still so
much for me to learn about myself as a future teacher. I truly learned about time
management and how important it is to provide yourself with enough time to plan
lessons, receive feedback, actually teach the lesson, and reflect on the entire experience
EACH time. I learned and was able to demonstrate my knowledge in actually
implementing lesson plans while using effective language with my students and assessing

the information they are learning from me. By consistently working with the same 5
students in a small reading group, who all have different strengths and weaknesses I was
able to learn so many valuable things about teaching literacy. I learned different ways to
hold students accountable for achievements and behaviors that had to do with
differentiating their learning as well as allowing them to understand what is expected of
each student in the reading group during our meeting time. I was able to learn different
techniques to motivate the students as well as engage them and keep them engaged
through my different lessons. Throughout this entire experience, I firmly believe I was
able to show respect for all of my students as learners.
3. There are many goals I have for myself in this area as I prepare for student teaching.
Areas that I definitely need improvement in are knowledge of literacy content,
pedagogy, and standards and I feel that this truly comes with experience. I feel that
understanding and implementing knowledge of literacy content is an area that can never
be mastered, as I will always continue to learn about literacy and develop better
comprehension. Understanding standards, finding content that meets the standards, and
assessing students based on both of these areas is something that I need to work on as
well. One goal that I have for myself relating to this area is to always ask for help when
needed, and to give myself enough time while planning in order to provide myself time
for any extra research or to be provided with feedback. Another goal I have for myself is
in the area of Exhibits ability to evaluate and respond to students learning needs. I
hope to continue to learn and implement different forms of assessment and evaluations so
that I can truly be able to understand what my students needs are. I plan on finding any
necessary procedures that will assist me in responding to my students needs.

Part 2
Literacy Development
One way my knowledge of literacy development has grown this semester is
through understanding the individual differences that students have. I have learned that
literacy development happens differently for each individual student and at different
paces for each student. The different levels at which students are reading at plays an
important factor in why literacy development happens at different paces. Each student
reads at his or her just right reading level, and those reading levels determine the
different abilities these students have. In this second grade classroom the reading levels
ranged from D to O, which explains why literacy development may develop differently in
each of these students.
Another thing I learned about literacy development this semester is that it happens
over time and may need to be taught multiple times before students have mastered certain
skills. I have seen Mr. K teach one skill and a student has demonstrated that he or she
fully understands this skill after one lesson, while other students need a lot more practice
before they fully understand. I have learned that for many students literacy development
may need to be taught multiple times using different language or resources before they
fully understand.
Literacy Instruction
One aspect of literacy instruction I was able to see a lot in the classroom is Mini
Lessons. This aspect of literacy instruction was practiced everyday in the classroom, for
at least 15 minutes, where the teacher was able to teach a new skill or review a previous
skill with further explanation. I was able to observe the different language Mr. K used

during Mini Lessons, and his usual routine that the students were always prepared for
during this time.
Another way my knowledge has developed this semester in terms of literacy
instruction is through understanding the importance and significance of independent
reading time during reading workshop. In Mr. Ks classroom, a typical morning consisted
of a 15-minute Mini Lesson, followed by at least 30 minutes of independent reading time.
During independent reading time, the students were allowed to work on any skill
(including the one that was just taught during the Mini Lesson). During that time, Mr. K
would walk around and work on different skills with different students for short periods
of time. This really allows students to self-instruct while being provided with guidance
from their teacher, which I think is really important. It also allows for Mr. K to
understand what the students are still struggling with and what they have grasped.
Literacy Assessment
One way my knowledge of literacy assessment has developed this semester is
through being able to understand exactly what I am teaching my students. While writing
my lesson plans for my guided reading groups, I have really focused on literacy
assessment because this is an area I typically struggle with. While planning my
formative/ summative assessment for each lesson plan I have always made sure to check
my objectives and standards and make sure they match the assessment I am looking for in
the students. While planning my lessons I have been able to really understand that the
focus on assessment should be based off of what the students are taking away from the
lesson.

Another thing I have learned about literacy assessment this semester is that all of
the students being assessed need to be considered when coming up with assessments in a
lesson plan. Sometimes I would think about assessment in terms of a particular lesson
being written in terms of formality. Once I would review my lesson and think about
implementing it in the class, I would ultimately drive myself towards thinking about the
students and their needs while coming up with assessments and actually assessing at the
end of a lesson.