Fall 2018 PS III Anne Haaland

KSA Reflections
Reflection #7, 03.11.2018
This week, I have chosen to reflect upon KSA – A:
“Contextual variables affect teaching and learning. They know how to analyze many
variables at one time, and how to respond by making reasoned decisions about their teaching
practice and students’ learning.”
This is one of the areas I feel I’ve grown the most in. There are sooo many variables to
keep track of and at first I found it a little overwhelming. I am very happy I had my mentor here
when I first started. She let me know right away a few things I needed to keep an eye out for
and especially the fact that I need to keep a paper trail of everything I do in class and with each
student. This helped me a lot for the first while, especially in regard to noticing which students
needed some extra help and attention.
I am much more confident now that I have control of my class. As I get to know my
students better, it becomes easier to keep track of their performances. I find it very challenging
to be able to predict who is performing below their ability. Especially in my current classes,
because they are all so good in class. If I were to judge solely on my impression in class, I would
say that everyone is performing to the best of their abilities. However, during parent-teacher-
interviews, one mother told me her son wasn’t quite studying as much as he should and that he
should be getting better grades. Her son had an average of 84%. He was not on my radar at all.
He worked well in class and did well on tests. Yet, he was an underachiever. I can imagine there
are more students like that in my class too, that I won’t discover. Our school’s motto is “Be all
we can be.” I love this saying and it is what I will strive to achieve with my students.
I am still discovering new variables and new ways to handle them all. How to consider
each and every student’s thoughts and needs when planning a lesson. How to help those who
fall behind. How to challenge those who are ahead. How to help students with anxiety. How to
make each student want to come back to my classroom, because it is a safe place to be. A fun
place to be. And a place to learn and grow as a person.
I became a teacher because I want to make a difference. This can mean a lot of things
and I am not sure how to tackle this yet. But if I can spread some smiles and good feelings, I
think I am moving in the right direction.
Fall 2018 PS III Anne Haaland

Reflection #6, 27.10.2018

This week, I have chosen to reflect upon KSA – G:
“Students’ needs for physical, social, cultural and psychological security. They know how
to engage students in creating effective classroom routines. They know how and when to apply
a variety of management strategies that are in keeping with the situation, and that provide for
minimal disruptions to students’ learning.”
This KSA is super important to me. I feel like I master a part of it, but there is still lots of
room for improvement. I think my students feel safe in my classroom, and they know what is
expected of them and what they can expect of me. This is important to create a safe learning
environment.
One thing I have been a little worried about is that I don’t get enough challenges with
classroom management in this practicum. My students are just too good! I find myself
wondering if I would be successful if I had a more challenging class or if I have the necessary
skills to become a teacher. Then, I remind myself of previous experiences and current
challenges. In my short career, I have already encountered students with heavy family issues,
with drug problems, and mental illnesses. I have had my life threatened and a student pass
away. Before I even started my education degree, I had other teachers come to me asking me
for advice. This is something I take great pride in and I need to remind myself of this when
things are rough. I am here for my students, and I will do everything I can to make their lives as
good as I possibly can. Sometimes I will fail, and sometimes I will succeed. I hope to get more of
the latter.
My current challenges are mainly connected to the science 10 class size. The students
are great, but I am still trying to find the best strategies for handling such a large class in
different scenarios. Because they are such a polite and well-behaved group, I can try out several
strategies without fearing if they will cooperate. No matter what I choose to try out, they always
try to make the best out of it.
I can never be 100% certain that I will be able to handle any classroom management
issues that will come my way. Luckily, I am never alone. Even when I don’t have a mentor
teacher, I will still have colleagues and the administrators to discuss problems with. I also
believe that if the students sense my serenity and they know that I truly care and want the best
for them, that will solve many problems right off the bat. I have seen huge changes happen in a
class, just by talking about it as a class and coming up with a solution together.
Fall 2018 PS III Anne Haaland

Reflection #5, 20.10.2018

This week, I will discuss these two questions
1. Where do you stand on differentiation and accommodations in the classroom?
2. Briefly describe a scenario where you have practiced, successfully, an
accommodation/differentiation where you were able to meet a student’s needs to grasp a
concept.

1. Achieving effective differentiation is an extremely important goal of mine. It is on my TPGP and it

is probably something I will work on improving throughout my career. I want to be able to reach
as many of my students as possible and to help them in best way to reach their full potential. I
am continuously discussing with both my teacher mentor and my principal regarding this topic,
and from my discussions it has become pretty clear to me that this is a complicated issue no
matter how many years you’ve been teaching. The best strategy for me, I believe, is to collect as
many tools in my toolbox as possible, as every student is different, and you never know what will
work for a particular student before trying different methods. Thorough communication, both
with the students and their parents, is another important factor in differentiation. I find that
most of the students don’t know themselves well enough yet to know what they need, so it is
important for me to offer some advice whenever I have some. On the other hand, I have had
some great conversations with parents, where they told me about the student’s past and what
has worked before. This helped me help the student more efficiently in class.
2. I think this question is really hard to answer. I am sorry to say that I haven’t felt like I’ve been
properly successful in this area yet. I am doing my best, and I keep working on this every day. I
have quite a few students in my science 10 class that barely passed science 9, and were
therefore recommended for science 14. I am constantly keeping an especially close eye on those
students and trying to offer them as much extra help as possible. I don’t feel like any of them has
had an aha-moment that will suddenly boost their grades by a lot. But some of them have been
working a little harder than they did at first. My hope is that every student feels comfortable
enough to come ask me for help when they need it and that they can get a sense of achievement
in my class.
Fall 2018 PS III Anne Haaland

Reflection #4, 13.10.2018

This week, I have chosen to reflect upon KSA – L:
“The importance of engaging parents, purposefully and meaningfully, in all aspects of
teaching and learning. They know how to develop and implement strategies that create and
enhance partnerships among teachers, parents and students.”
This week, I got to try parent-teacher interviews for the first time by myself. This was
very interesting, and it taught me a lot. It was also exhausting. The interviews went from
3.30pm till 7.30pm on Wednesday. The next morning all teachers came yawning to work. It was
nice for me to hear them talk about how they always underrate the strain of PTIs. At least I
wasn’t the only one getting exhausted from that day.
Before this interview, I had requested a few students’ parents I wanted to talk to. These
were all students under 60% average in the course. Some of the parents showed up, and some
did not. At least I know I have reached out, and done what I could to include them. For the
parents that did show up, they were mainly positive towards me. This was a relief! I know I will
have to deal with angry parents at some point, but I am glad these interviews went as well as
they did.
Most parents kept asking me for strategies. I gave them the most helpful that I could
think of on the spot, but this is something I would like to be more prepared for next time. I have
lots of strategies for studying, but I should try and think of what all the individual students might
need. This is challenging, but something I want to work towards.
Even though the parents were positive towards me, one mother was furious at her son.
She brought her son with her, and he sat with his head down the entire time while she
explained to me how he was being punished for his poor grades. I felt so bad for him, and
wished I could just give him an A to fix everything! Sadly, that isn’t how things work. Hopefully,
this will make him more focused and study harder to achieve the grades he should. I will help
him as much as I can along the way!
Getting an overview of all the students is something I have been working on so far in the
practicum. I feel like it is getting a lot better, and easier. It’s a way of thinking, so I imagine it will
become second nature for me eventually. Right now, I need to continuously check each
students’ marks to see if they are going up or down. Then, I have to combine that with their
work ethics in class, assignments completed, quality of work, and so on. Talking face to face
with their parents showed me, again, how important this overview of each student really is.
Fall 2018 PS III Anne Haaland

Reflection #3, 29.09.2018

This week, I have chosen to reflect upon KSA – E:
“All students can learn, albeit at different rates and in different ways. They know how
(including when and how to engage others) to identify students’ different learning styles and
ways students learn. They understand the need to respond to differences by creating multiple
paths to learning for individuals and groups of students, including students with special learning
needs.”
I have really started to feel the pressure to include everyone. I want every student in my
class to succeed. Unfortunately, I am teaching subjects that can be considered “more
advanced.” For example, in my science 10 class, I have a student who hardly passed science 9.
He was recommended to take science 14, but still decided to proceed with science 10. He is a
good student, always does his work in class, and tries his best. Before every test, he complains
about being nervous. To me, this is a sign that he cares about his achievement in this class.
Despite his efforts, he is failing. Now, starts a new process that I have never been part of before.
Contacting parents. I am curious to find out how I’ll do communicating with parents. Will they
blame me? Will they not care? Or will we find a solution together, that will better the situation
for their son or daughter? I have heard countless stories from my mentor regarding this. I am
following her guidance, so I am sure I will be fine.
I am currently working on finding a good rhythm for moving forward with the material. I
don’t want to leave anyone behind, but sometimes this is difficult. I wish I had more time to go
through the unit slower, but sadly I can’t slow down more than I already have. For most
students, it is crucial to practice problem-solving skills at home in order to be successful in
science. How can I make sure the students are practicing sufficiently? Formative testing is one
way. But even if I show the students they are lacking in an area, this might not be enough
motivation for them to study more.
I have a few students I need to have a conversation with on Monday (below 65%). I will
ask them how they think it is going and what their goals for this class are. I hope that together,
we can find a way for them to reach their goals.
On the flipside, at some point in time, someone is going to fail a class. I will try to not
take this personally and as a sign of me being an insufficient teacher. In the meantime, I will do
my absolute best at including all students and helping them become the best that they can be.
Fall 2018 PS III Anne Haaland

Reflection #2, 22.09.2018

This week, I have chosen to reflect upon KSA – K:
“Understanding of the purposes of student assessment and how to assess the range of
learning objectives by selecting and developing a variety of classroom and large-scale
assessment techniques and instruments.”
Assessments, assessments, assessments; all day, every day. I realize just more and more
how important proper assessment is. It is very important with both summative and formative
assessment, but at the same time, I can’t just throw tests at my students. I am constantly finding
new effective ways of assessing my students.
I was very prepared for the summative assessment I was going to give my students, as
well as formative assessment like discussions, kahoot, worksheets, questions, etc. But one thing
I wasn’t prepared for at all was graded formative assessment. My mentor informed me that I
am expected to put formative grades into PowerSchool as well as summative. This is because of
liability issues. We need to have a lot of numbers down, to defend a student’s grade in the
course. I have had to grade a lot more than I expected, and this is one area I want to improve
myself. Hearing of tools like plickers and flubaroo was a game-changer for me. I am very excited
to try these out, and hopefully they will make my assessing more efficient.
Assessments are especially important for my science 10 class. These students have until
the end of the month to decide whether they want to stay, or if they want to move to science
14. Several of my students barely passes science 9 and were recommended to take science 14.
There are no individualized education programs in science 10, so the only thing I can do is to be
as helpful as I can, and at the same time give the students a realistic view of what is expected in
science 10.
All in all, this is an area I want to improve. Both for my own and for my students’ sakes. I
want my assessments to be both educational and motivating.
Fall 2018 PS III Anne Haaland

Reflection #1, 15.09.2018

After teaching for almost two weeks, I would like to reflect upon KSA – F:
“The purposes of short, medium and long-term range planning. They know how to
translate curriculum and desired outcomes into reasoned, meaningful and incrementally
progressive learning opportunities for students. They also understand the need to vary their
plans to accommodate individuals and groups of students”
This has absolutely been the most important part of my practicum so far. As teachers,
we all know the importance of proper planning. However, it doesn’t matter how much you plan,
if you’re not able to be flexible enough to handle the daily life at school. I have already had
several students missing up to four classes (out of seven). I have also had students coming to me
and asking what we are doing the next few days because they will be away. I was thankful, then,
that I had all the plans ready and could let them know how to catch up while being away.
Another thing I have noticed this far into the practicum is how much my plans have to
change. My one class is way faster than I expected and cruises though the unit, while the other
class (the one with 43 students) is much slower than I expected. This means that my unit plans
are constantly changing. I am glad I put enough space in my long-range plans to accommodate
for these changes. Now, that I know my classes better, I expect my unit plans to improve
considerably.
Another thing I wasn’t really sure about before starting practicum was the Flex Fridays
arrangement. I saw the first Flex Friday yesterday, and it was very interesting. I loved it, but it
was different from what I had in mind. It is actually much better than what I had in mind! In the
future, I will plan better for these Fridays and really make them helpful for my students!
I could have written page after page of what I have learned so far, but let me end it here.
I am very happy about my placement, and everyone in the staff at St. Mary’s are super helpful!
Can’t wait to see what I’ll learn next!