DOMAIN 4

Lyasha Bishop
EDUC 540-902 Week 8
How are you showing each component of Domain 4 in your field placement classroom?

4a - Reflecting on Teaching

This was the most naturally met subsection of this domain as I naturally critique myself.

After each lesson I write in my teaching journal about what went well and what could use

improvement. I review the videotaped lesson plans by myself and with my Principal (who is my

CT) and pause the video to take notes on proximity and engagement with the students. I enjoy

watching myself because I learn from myself. It is easy to mimic the other styles of teachers;

however, it is obvious that copying them can come off as extremely inorganic. When I watch

myself, I can adjust my instruction to match what is uniquely me.

4b- Maintaining Accurate Records

I have learned the importance of always having a backup method. The school uses

Powerteacher which is an amazing e-source for collecting data. I update it multiple times a week

and have a hard deadline of doing final updates by Friday at 4:00pm every week. However, I

have learned that technology can crash or be unavailable due to an update during a parent teacher

conference. Parents do not want to hear excuses but would like a hard copy of what it is their

students has earned. Since experiencing this I have kept a physical gradebook and the hard

copies of all of student’s summative assessments. I do these so parents can have a tangible

record.

4c-Communicating with Families

 I have learned that too much communication is better than not enough. My students are

all connected via Class Dojo. I leave messages on class dojo as it is super convenient for parents

to receive notifications as text messages on their phones. Many families have thanked me for the

convenience of this app and how much I use it to share information. Although I love using Class

Dojo, I do not rely solely on Dojo for communicating. The very same messages I post to the app

I include in a weekly newsletter and forward as a text message and email to each parent. I do this

because I understand that every family has different forms of communication and I believe each

should be accommodated. I would rather a family member proclaim that I communicate too

much versus not enough.

4d- Participating in the Professional Community

Teaching is a profession where peers learn from one another. With that said, I look for

various opportunities to attend Professional Development (PD) seminars. The principal has

forwarded them to us via email and I have looked for some on my own. The 30 hr. requirement

for teachers to engage in extracurricular learning is very easily met because the community that I

am in enjoys going to PD’s and hosting assemblies on information for any teacher who was

unable to attend.

4e-Growing and Developing Professionally

When I first began teaching, I remember thinking that it was an invasion of privacy to

have someone observe me in the classroom. It made me feel eerie as if I was not trusted or even

if I was being doubted. I feel the opposite now. I often will ask coworkers to come and observe
me and give me their honest feedback. My mind has changed so much because I now see my

coworkers as resources. I now know that there’s no such thing as a perfect teacher or one that is

naturally “gifted”. Instead successful teachers rely on one another to grow.

4f-Showing Professionalism

Learning how to dress was the biggest challenge for me. The way I dress is the first thing

my students, their parents, and my co-workers notice about me. Because I’m coming from a legal

background, I assumed this would be easy for me. I was totally wrong. The suits I used to wear

did not work. I now have to get on the floor engage in play and often break a sweat dancing with

students or begin rapping the letter sounds. Naturally this meant I would want to wear leggings

or sweatpants but this was not appropriate or right either. It took me some time to get it right,

however now that I have it makes a huge difference for my comfortability.

What did you learn about/from the resources this week?

This week’s video How to Succeed in Teaching Without Really Crying, Please, No

Surprises! Step-by-Step to Effective Parent/Teacher Communication offered amazing insight on

how to set a positive standard for teacher and parent relationships. The video offered advice such

as” keep parents informed no matter what”. This piece of advice stood out to me because the

teacher in the video said that if we have the hard conversations such as “your child is behind” or

“your child is beginning to display unpleasant behavior attributes towards his peers” parents will

not be surprised or even as angry if larger conversations such as retention or evaluation for
special needs programs need to happen. I learned that the more I communicate and the earlier I

communicate the more support I will receive.

What professional community will you become a part of? What do you hope to learn from

that community?

I would like to join the Black Doctoral Network. This is a community of educators and

academics that are working to transform education and curriculum. I had the privilege of

presenting a poster at one of their conferences. I received so much support and knew that in this

profession support is a wonderful thing.

What resource will you continue to follow and why?

I will continue to use classroom 2.0 as it’s a blog space where educators connect with one

another and help each other figure out dilemmas, common mis teachings or instructional errors,

and suggests fun strategies to keep your students engage.

What new resource did you find that you can share with us to contribute to our class

network?

I love education.com. While it’s not a blog it’s a really cool site for teachers looking for

differentiation techniques. I use education.com to help me plan for tier 3 groups.