Standard 5

Standard 5: Educators implement effective planning, instruction, assessment and reporting practices to create respectful, inclusive environments for student learning and development.

A big part of the teaching profession is developing the skills necessary to support, plan, and foster student learning. This means that my process of planning, instruction, assessment and reporting practices are dependent on my learners. I had a fairly rough idea of how I would like to teach my students, but they were largely adapted to suite my students more once I got to know them.

Therefore, before I could begin teaching, I spent a lot of time getting to know each of my classes. I got Easter themed M&M packages and handed those out to every student. Each student would share a fact on a specific category based on the colored M&M’s they had. Students had choice within this activity in regards to what they would share and how much. Once this was completed I asked all students to quietly write and reflect in their Scientific Notebooks their ideal learning style (we talked about all of them), and how they like to best learn in regards to activities or worksheets etc.

Before I began my practicums, I developed a unit plan for all of the courses I would teach. I like having an idea of how I would like to start the course, and where I was going in a similar fashion. In each unit plan, students would receive assessment from a plethora of avenues, formatively and summatively. My students became very comfortable with self-assessments, peer-assessments, and reflections. This not only helped them, but myself when it came to doing assessments from the rubrics we created together.

 

For students to best learn, I enjoy creating numerous activities. My students greatly enjoyed review activities, such as Kahoot!, Plickers, Station work, Group discussions, labs, whiteboard activities, inquiries, and discussions. Within theses various activities, I often integrated student choice, so that they would have opportunities to show their best work according to their strengths. This was very evident in the Biotechnology inquiry, where students provided informational pamphlets, posters, PowerPoint slides, and all other means of sharing their learning in a way that they felt best suited their preference. I differentiated as much as possible in my classroom lectures to ensure all of the learning style preferences are met, visually, kinaesthetic, relational, auditory.

It is very important for me to learn about my students. During my first practicum, I worked hard to develop positive relationships with my students. I started off by memorizing each of their names within a few classes and requesting that they fill out a Student Survey. I really wanted to start off the month by getting to know them and how I could create lessons that evolved around their learning.