Jeremy

Mellema March 14, 2013 Mid-Term Self Evaluation Standard 1: Roles and Relationships The standard of Roles and Relationships examines the student teachers

relationship with students and with the school community at large. It asks that student teachers create a safe classroom experience that maintains high expectations for all students. In terms of this standard, I believe that I am on the verge of approaching this standard. The reason why I am approaching this standard is that I have developed positive relationships with a majority of my students. One of my strengths as a teacher is my ability to relate on different levels with students. My easy-going personality is both a positive and negative thing, as I my not be as forceful as I should. I feel like I need to continue working on creating a better working environment in my classes, especially my third period class. I have at times been able to create a positive environment, but over the last two weeks, the class has started to lose some of its self-control. I feel like I have lost control of some students in the class. I need to do better at redirecting student misbehavior and reinforcing positive behavior. I do feel like I have made strides in improving certain parts of my management style, but it could get better in the next few weeks. Standard 2: Student as Learner The second standard asks that the student teacher see students as complete

human beings that have specific needs and talents. I feel like I am meeting this standard. I think that I have been able to get to know students in a way where I can

get them to complete intellectually stimulating work. Two examples of this has been my interactions with TaRronce and Wackneer. As part of my lesson on communism, I had students write about basketball and communism. This activity allowed TaRronce to understand the abstract terms and definitions and see how they would work in a real world setting. We are still talking about communism and he understands what it means. I think that this shows that I can use students interest to develop engaging lessons. My other example is Wackneer. For my summative assessment for the Cold War unit, I had students examine the Cold War in Latin America. This assignment was great for my classes, because it challenged the traditional history that they have know, something they love to do, and it allowed some students to use their personal experience to create an article. This was especially true for Wackneer. He was able to connect his familys history to what we were learning in class and wrote an outstanding article. I do feel like I have room for improvement for this standard. I think I need get better at documenting student growth and progress, because right now it feels like I do not formally know what my goals are for each student and what progress I want them to make in their learning. Standard 3: Planning The third standard looks at how student teachers plans for teaching. I feel

like I am approaching this standard. I have improved since the beginning of my student teaching experience, but I still have a ways to go before I feel like I am meeting this standard. Some of the biggest improvements that I have made is in terms of the content that I place in my lesson and how I explain the activities we will do in class. At the beginning of student teaching, I was having difficulty pacing my

lessons to fit in 53 minute blocks of time. However, I found a good balance where I am sometimes able to have a well-timed lesson. The issue I have with planning currently is researching to many topics. I end up being burnt out by research and I have not gotten all of the information I need for class that day. To fix this I need to focus more on quality over quantity. I do fell as though my direction giving ability has improved sensationally. I believe that they have improved because I have taken the time to script out what I am saying and I have worked on how I model to students. I still need work on explaining how I want things done, but I am confident that I will improve. Standard 4: Classroom Practice The standard of classroom practice asks student teachers to do a variety of

activities in the classroom to create a student-centered environment. It looks at how teacher present information, allows for collaborative activities, facilitates discussion, and develops student skills. I believe that I am approaching this standard. I have tried to incorporate many collaborative activities into the classroom, some better than others. For example, I ran through an activity that allowed students to work in groups to create web organizers to see how capitalism affected the 1950s in America. One aspect of this standard I am proud of is discussion. I dedicated a week to teach students how to hold a Socratic Seminar. The week started out rough, but over the course of several practice rounds the students were able to discuss and communicate in an outstanding fashion. What I need to improve upon is developing student skills. I want to focus on improving

student writing specifically. I have not done this yet, and I feel like I need to do better at monitoring and guiding student writing. Standard 5: Assessment This standard asks student teachers to incorporate various types of

assessment. I believe that I am approaching this standard. I have incorporated several different types of assessment, diagnostic, formative, and summative. I had a student come up to me and say, Why cant we take multiple choice tests in this class? Hearing him say that made me feel good, because I am trying to design my assessments to engage higher order thinking skills. For example, my summative assessment for the Cold War unit asked students to research and create an article that synthesized information about a Latin American country with our knowledge of the Cold War. A running theme that I am noticing is that I would like to make a more concerted effort of setting goals for individual students in terms of assessment. What I mean by this is that I would like to better assess and record student growth to make sure all students are learning and growing as individuals in my class. Standard 6: Professional Knowledge and Growth Standard six looks at how student teachers use feedback and self-reflection

to improve teaching. I feel like this is one of the most difficult things for me to do, but I do feel like I am meeting this standard. I am a perfectionist and I do not like to fail at something. I feel like some of my lessons have failed and my ability to control my classes sometimes has been subpar. I do not like hearing or thinking that I have failed, but I have made a concerted effort to hear the things that I am doing wrong and adjusting those things in my teaching practice. There are two examples of things

that I have listened to feedback and improved upon, they are giving directions and using a teacher stance. I have a tendency to ramble if I feel like I am not being understood. This led to lots of misunderstanding in the first few weeks of class. I had a clear idea of what I wanted to say, but I was failing at translating that to students. Under Jenns guidance, I became better at scripting out directions. I have seen vast improvement in the past two weeks in my directions. I think that it is a testament to my dedication to get better as a teacher and Jenns ability to find easy to achieve goals for me as a teacher. I have also been growing in my classroom management. Because of my easy-going personality, I sometimes let behaviors go, or blame myself for stunts misbehaving. This was especially true at the beginning of the semester. Although I still have a long way to go, I feel like I have taken feedback from multiple sources and have developed a stronger teacher stance that fits my personality. I am much more likely now to state when I am upset or disappointed in the class, which is a positive sign. I want to be a great teacher and I know that I have the potential to be one. I hope that I can continue working on my craft and soon consider myself an excellent teacher. Standard 7: Engagement with Subject Matter The final standard addresses how student teachers engage in their content

area. I believe that I am approaching this standard. There is so much to learn about history and social studies. That is what I love about it; there is always another side to a story or another way to present information. It includes all other content areas within it. It is so vast that I feel like I have just scratched the surface of all the information that I need to teach. For example, my Latin America assessment proved

to me how little I know about Latin American history. Students would ask me questions that I had no idea how to answer. It is shocking to me, as a history major, to be that ill informed. I want to incorporate more inquiry-based lessons into my next few units. I hope that I can learn more from the students during this process. It seems daunting to be adding additional content areas to my classes right now. I would like to add more cross discipline material; hopefully I can do this as I get more comfortable in my role as a teacher.