Reflection Paper For Teachers

The role of a school counselor can be both rewarding and challenging. One of the most challenging aspects of being a school counselor is managing multiple duties (K. Hancock, personal communication, August 19, 2014). K. Hancock is also the district testing coordinator, which according to the ASCA, is noted as being an inappropriate counseling duty. The role of a school counselor, in regards to testing, is to “interpret the results of these tests and to analyze them in conjunction with multiple measures of student achievement” (ASCA, 2005). During testing season, K. Hancock has to utilize her time planning and preparing for state assessments rather than focusing on primary counseling roles. During this time, she must extend her work hours to ensure she is able to

There are many different types of attachments that I have observed in the Magnolia classroom. Some are attachments to the children’s personal belongings and others are attachments to people, such as the teachers. Growing out of these attachments is good for the children’s social-emotional development.

Previously teaching was something that teachers did. The role of teachers was known to be the center of the classroom, they were expected to know everything about a subject matter and be able to explain it well to students. The role of the students was to learn by listening, practicing and working hard. We now know that teaching and learning are closely related. By understanding the relationship of teaching and learning we can understand the concept of Mathematizing. Mathematizing is the process of constructing meaning. This is accomplished by letting students develop their own strategies and questions and letting them explore them through classroom discussion with their peers. (Young Mathematicians at work) This can also be accomplished by allowing students to use real world examples to help deepen their understanding of the concepts.My understanding of this topic has evolved over this course I was always viewed teachers as the know it all of the classroom and the students roll was to retain as much as possible because they were going to need to use it on a test in the future. Learning the new concept of mathematizing I recognize that a teacher must also act as a facilitator of the classroom. Allowing students to think freely make mistakes and make sense of problems and concepts on their own. While also leaving space for the students to teach the teacher or help the teacher understand what they are thinking and how they came to their answer.

disciplines. Since this class was used for formal instruction, I noticed that they never had a hard time with subtle refinements. These students used appropriate levels of vocabulary while answering questions and understanding the complex syntactic structures of the teacher’s PowerPoint. Although I didn’t notice any such grammar structures or phonology, I did notice how automatic they were with recognizing common words. One of the students had noticed that in the PowerPoint the teacher had used the wrong “new”. The teacher praised the student because he was even unaware he had used “new” instead of “knew” in his instruction. This showed me the ability of how late adolescence automatically recognizes critically evaluation of texts. I wish I had observed a child where they were ELL, but I thought this helped me see the developmental trends of different age groups. I thought everything I have learned in this class thus far, abstracts the idea of a child’s cognitive process theory. These students were advanced, proving that the child’s unique experiences lead to differences in their pathways to proficiency and how they communicate. I thought it was great to hear the sarcasm the teacher used with his students to interrupt the text. For example, he had made a joke about Julius Caesar’s wife and how ugly she actually was. The students laughed and really connected to his humor. I asked the teacher why he liked teaching 10th grade and he said “because I can say and act in different

Nick is a high school senior who spends the majority of his time preparing for tests. He plans to attend college at Ball State University. Nick believes that he will be successful with handling money when he moves out of his parents’ house because he just received a 100% on his math test. Throughout the last few months of high school, Nick’s teacher attempts to prepare him for the transformation from high school to college. His teacher informs him that studying for tests within high school may not have prepared him to face the physical world. Specifically, she informs Nick that studying in high school may be different or more difficult to handle due to specific situations that deal with money throughout life (Handling taxes, bank accounts, work, etc.). What type of learning is Nick’s teacher emphasizing?

Everyday teachers make decisions that influences student’s opportunities to enhance their learning through different content areas. Thus, it is essential as a teacher to draw upon the content knowledge you want your students to take away from your class but it is also equally important to equip your students with skills that will help them outside of the academic realm as well.

To begin the Faculty assignment I first started by trying to email professors using the faculty information document provided. Of all the specialties available under the Business degree, management and marketing most interested me. This is due to the fact that I have an ample amount of experience working in restaurants. Often while performing tasks such as endlessly sweeping floors, scraping gum off tables, talking down agitated customers and so on, I found my mind wondering. Aside from thinking about how much I was utterly and wholly adoring my tasks, I thought about what it would be like to run the establishment. I wondered what it would be like to manage others and plotted ways in which I could improve upon my manager’s skills in the area of management. Because of my curiosity for management I really wanted to speak with someone who is knowledgeable in the area. After sending a few emails to multiple instructors and not receiving any reply I decided it was time for a face to face interview.

The ongoing assessment information we discussed is reflective of what Palm Pointe has been focusing on as a school-wide initiative. It has become standard practice to a pre-assessment to gage where students are at. This, along with ongoing formative assessments, drive lesson planning. This year we are not just tracking student progress, but focusing on providing feedback to move learning forward. We have participated in professional developments lead by LSI’s Terry Morgan. He has been a real asset in the development and enhancement of our teaching staff. Mr. Morgan has referred to the process as being on a class trip. You cannot wait until you get back to school to count how many students you have. You have to count along the way to ensure you have not lost anyone. In addition, through his PD, we have learned that while a teacher may have a great activity or lesson planned, if the focus is misplace it will cause a detour in learning in which students will not learn to the depth needed. Our staff is also engaged in a series of learning walks to enhance their learning.

Since I was in a middle school setting, I was given the opportunity to observe multiple classrooms which a variety of different students. In my first class, I noticed that most, if not all students were African American. The ratio was 22:1, where about 18 of them were boys. The second class I went to, had a ratio of 19:1. The ethnicity in this class was again, mostly African American, with a few Hispanics and Caucasian. The third class represented a ratio of 20:1. The ethnicity was made up of mostly Hispanics, Caucasian, with 1 African American child. My final class ratio was 18:1, where most students were Hispanic and African American.

1. Since I was in a middle school setting, I was given the opportunity to observe multiple classrooms which a variety of different students. In my first class, I noticed that most, if not all students were African American. The ratio was 22:1, where about 18 of them were boys. The second class I went to, had a ratio of 19:1. The ethnicity in this class was again, mostly African American, with a few Hispanics and Caucasian. The third class represented a ratio of 20:1. The ethnicity was made up of mostly Hispanics, Caucasian, with 1 African American child. My final class ratio was 18:1, where most students were Hispanic and African American.

I have learned so much in the fifteen weeks of this course about how children think. How my future students may think and how things can affect them. Such as poverty, trauma, learning abilities, primary language, and health issues, these are just the tip of the developmental iceberg. Students are exposed to so much before they can understand it and teachers need to be ready for anything they may bring in to the classroom.

Walking into the first two weeks of the EDU program I desired to experience what it would be like to be a future educator and have a grasp of how to help the molding of our youth and giving them the possibility to become future leaders. Doctor dresser was able to bring in a Concordia alumni who had just begun to experience his professional education, career and is teaching multiple different grade levels as a young teacher. When he first walked into the classroom my first impressions were that unfortunately he looked very inexperienced and unsure of what was to be expected of the lecture I thought to myself in the position of a younger student in his classroom this is a person I would not take seriously. He then proceeded to communicate

Students in classrooms complain of having to sit in classrooms all day. A story from ideas demco about changing the seating in classrooms is, “With 7 different types of seating available, it took about 2 ½ weeks for students to try all of them. After that time, I allowed students to “free choose” each day. It became obvious after the first several months that students could handle working with their friends, and we eliminated the signs. I had a few issues with students not being able to focus, but when I did, I simply asked the student to move to a new spot with his or her comfy seating. It wasn’t a problem because they couldn’t argue with my philosophy that students should be able to be comfortable and learn at the same time. I was able to get more teaching done, and the students were able to get more learning in, as they quickly got ready each day so as not to lose their choice spots. After the first month, the students were ready to eliminate even more desks. I asked if any students wanted to “desk/locker share” with a partner. This brought on a HUGE response. Pairs quickly formed, and students moved desk items into one space instead of two. We eliminated another 6–8 desks. Collaboration and neatness came into play for those sharing storage space. Desks were becoming a place to work instead of “homes” for individual students. We finally had only 6 desks out of the original 30 by mid to late September. I placed a tablecloth over these after we emptied them and gave the remaining students cubby bins. Now that all students had a bin on one of the bookshelves against the wall they no longer wanted the desks.”

Education has always extremely important to me and I believe it is the most important tool anyone can have. Growing up with well-educated parents always showed me what an education can give you, but it also gave me an environment where learning was something to be proud of. As both a Salisbury University student and a Salisbury native, I have invested a lot of time and effort into this city. I am a product of the Wicomico County Public School System and I could not be more proud of that. My experiences in minority-majority schools taught me lessons that go beyond the classroom—lessons about how our world works. Attending primarily underserved schools (Wicomico Middle/High) showed me where public school education both succeeds

This reflection paper addresses as a student and counseling professional how I feel as though I have been readily prepared to teach in higher education and areas, concepts, strategies, and thoughts on how I have evolved through this course. This course has made me think more into how the most powerful, durable, and effective agents of educational change are not the policy makers, the curriculum developers or even the education authorities themselves; they are the teachers. It further contends that the quality of the educational changes that teachers have the skills and opportunities to effect will only be as reliable and proficient as the teachers’ individual capacities for reflective practice and the development of self-knowledge (Stepien, 1999). These aspects of teacher development have, historically, been largely overlooked in the preparation and promotion of effective teachers. The emphasis has been more explicitly focused on the development and demonstration of teachers’ understanding of content knowledge and the associated pedagogies and in their capacities to understand their students as individual constructors of knowledge in diverse social contexts (Bosworth, 1999).