Reflection: I believe that I am accomplished within Teacher Quality Standard 3. Making sure I am constantly reflecting on my teaching and using data to better understand how to adapt and improve my teaching is very important to me as a new teacher and teacher in general. I also value the use of technology very highly, and in this last year's circumstances, learned quickly how to implement it effectively into my teaching. Despite the complications of the year, I also worked hard to implement discussion, group work and student collaboration whenever possible to give students the opportunities to be leaders and grow socially.
Element a:Teachers demonstrate knowledge about the ways in which learning takes place, including the levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students.
Artifact: Asking for student feedback on lesson Rational: When creating my lesson plans, it is important to me to use grade level expectations and knowledge from my personal relationships with students to guide the lesson creation, and make it most appropriate and suitable to students. However, it is also important to me to get feedback directly from my students especially as I am a new teacher, and using new tools for the first time. During a fourth grade lesson, I introduced a new tool to students. With up to sixty students on a Zoom call at once, short classes, and not being in person, it is difficult to determine how students are enjoying and engaging with things. Thus I gave the option for students to leave me feedback on their thoughts on the lesson when they turned it in. That way, I was able to reassess and revise the lesson if needed.
Element b: Teachers use formal and informal methods to assess student learning, provide feedback, and use results to inform planning and instruction.
Artifact: Closing question at the end of the principles of design lesson to determine what needed to be retaught or spend more time on, and criteria for success for a mural designing project Rational: After teaching a new topic, it is important to me to gather data as a check for understanding. Often, i would use closing questions or exit tickets as a way of doing so. After teaching the principles of design lessons, it was as simple as just asking students to reflect on which principles of design they still didn't quite understand. That way, we could spend more time explaining or practicing it in the future. I also used criteria for success when planning lessons. The criteria for success were given to students as a reminder of what was expected of them, so they could know what I would be looking for as they worked. They also helped me to assess students projects, especially with something so subjective like art, by knowing exactly what I was looking for.
Element c: Teachers integrate and utilize appropriate available technology to engage students in authentic learning experiences.
Artifact: Video instructions within the Bitmoji classroom on how to use technology tools (click the images to watch videos) Rational: This year I incorporated technology more than I would have ever thought possible in an art class. In my middle school placement we used Desmos to ensure all students have the lesson slides, Google slides as personal digital portfolios, and Zoom to navigate the online learning. At my elementary placement, we used Zoom for remote learning, Seesaw for turning in projects, Bitmoji to make lessons more personal, Google slides to present the lessons, and tools such as Padlet, Pixton and Flipgrip within the lessons for students to interact with. For this artifact, I am showing how I used Screencast-o-fy to record instruction videos on how to use new technology tools that students could find by entering the Bitmoji Google Slides.
Element d: Teachers establish and communicate high expectations and use processes to support the development of critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
Artifact: Breaking down the artist statement into parts Rational: In my middle school placement, and important part of the students development was getting them to write artist statements as a way of reflect on their making and think critically about it. At the 6th grade level, this is a new idea, so in my lessons I broke down the parts of the artist statement, as well as provided sentence stems for each part to help students get started. This helped students think more specifically about their work, and go more into depth with their artist statements.
Element e: Teachers provide students with opportunities to work in teams and develop leadership.
Artifact: Small group critique guidelines Rational: Although COVID-19 created many implications for working in groups, at my middle school placement I incorporated opportunities for small group critiques throughout project processes as a way for students to collaborate and share ideas. The in person students shared their process and ideas with the 3-4 students seated around them, while the remote students shared theirs in breakout rooms. I provided sentence stems and a basic structure to guide the discussions and ensure that each student had the chance to give and get feedback.
Element f: Teachers model and promote effective communication.
Artifact: Overlay of highlights from definition of Think Outside the Box, notes from class discussion, reflection Rational: One of the ways I modeled and promoted communication in my lessons was through discussion. During a project where students were creating murals based on an organization's core values, we held class discussions to break down the core value. I started by reading the definition while students underlined parts that stood out to them. We then looked at the overlay as a class to determine what were common trends and share them out. Students then build off of those ideas and put them into their own words which I recorded on the bored. By doing so, we were able to share ideas and come up with a class broken down definition. I then asked students the next day to reflect on this and write their own definition. By leading class discussions that start with something like breaking something down, and noting key takeaways from the discussion, it can promote and model what effective and collaborative communication looks like.