Practicum experience documentation and reflection template

New York Institute of Technology

School of Education and Professional Services

MSIT Documentation of Practicum Experience

Student Name Basma Abdulla Abri

Course/Title_ EDIT 696 Practicum and Seminar

Semester 2

Instructor Dr. Melda Yildiz

District

School Building

Building Address_

Building Telephone #_

Name of School Principal

Subject/GradeLevel Foundations Level 2

Date submitted 18th May, 2017

 Practicum Experience Journal
Course: EDIT 695 Practicum and Seminar Date(s) of Activity:
5th March 14th May, 2017
Location: Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Al Your Role in the Activity: Professional Development
Ain Womens Higher Colleges of Technology Conductor
DESCRIPTION OF PRACTICUM EXPERIENCE ACTIVITY:

I worked closely with teachers and students to complete this assignment. Based on responses to a needs
assessment survey, I found opportunities for professional development sessions with both the teachers and
the students.

My role in these sessions was clear I would choose one of the technology resources or tools that I planned
to do a PD on, and then prepare a lesson that required that tool to be used by either the teacher or the
students. PD sessions about this tool with teachers would be conducted either prior to the lesson for input
and advice, or after the lesson for feedback or observation notes.

For my students, their roles and responsibilities were clearly outlined at the beginning of the class. They were
also given a feedback response sheet (sometimes on paper and sometimes through a google form) to
respond to the PD. The purpose of doing this was to ensure that my goals and objectives were achieved
during the PD sessions.

My practicum was an exciting opportunity for me to gain experience as a workshop conductor. It took quite a
bit of time and energy but it was also fun and made me focus on not just using tools but on spreading my
experience with these resources that I love to use. It was also a wonderful way for me to gain insight on tools
that I thought I had become an expert on, by reaching out and getting ideas from other teachers (as well as
input from students).

INSTRUCTIONAL APPLICATION:
This was both an online and face-to-face application. I sent links to students and teachers before meeting
them and asked them to watch. Then we would meet, discuss, apply, and reflect. The process itself took 38
sessions to complete, but with the prep work as well as presentation time and reflection time it totaled 50
hours.

My hope was by creating tools and resources as a learning model, that students would not see this as
something new that they have to learn but rather the medium with which they would have to share their
work with me. Students are also expected to use these resources and tools in the upcoming years of their
college careers. Teachers also got a chance to apply these tools in their own classes, and eventually created
their own PD sessions to share with others as well.

My goal was to help students and teachers plan effective classroom strategies and use effective assessment
tools that matched with the college standards. Since we have a diverse population of students from different
educational backgrounds and learning levels, some tools needed more than one session to implement.
 IMPACT OF INSTRUCTION ON STUDENTS/PARTICIPANTS LEARNING:

The PD has greatly affected my performance at work. One thing I clearly noticed was how much support and
pride I received from my peers. They were very proud of me and of the work that Ive been doing and I felt
quite supported and encouraged.

In addition, my comprehension of what entails a teacher has changed: it is not just what we do in the
classroom. Teaching is for inside the classroom, and for life. This includes the work we do with our peers. And
if we take notice even our conversations about what weve done in our classroom are PD. We learn just by
conversing with other teachers and sharing experiences. I took note of that and plan to work with other
teachers who have started meet ups informal sessions in a coffee shop in which every person shares their
experience on a specific topic. Last week it was about communicative methods of teaching grammar.

In terms of self-motivation, the feeling that I got at the end of a PD session was motivation enough. Working
closely with teachers and sharing experiences, as well as getting feedback from students at the end of a PD
session have had a very positive impact on my learning it has motivated me to do research more on topics
of interest that teachers and students brought up for future PD sessions.

In terms of the impact on the attendees and the students, it was discussed how these tools could increase
and improve student motivation and learning. In addition, teachers practice the use of new instructional
techniques that were brought up in the PD. They see the benefits and impact of applying these techniques on
the students, and come back to me with feedback and suggestions for improvement. I think that this would
have a great impact on student achievement and our ability to cater to our students diverse needs.
RELATIONSHIP OF PRACTICUM ACTIVITY TO STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT:
First of all, with students I could see that there was more motivation, engagement and changes in their
achievement results. Some tools were very exciting for students and made them forget that they were in a
classroom learning but they wanted very much to complete the activities and enjoy the results. These
learning actives and new technology tools have a positive relationship with student engagement.

For me personally, completing the practicum activities had a great effect on my personal growth and self-
direction. I am much more excited about teaching the next cycle of students because I have another goal to
see how I can use new tools to gain their interest and build up life-long skills for them. I have also managed to
build stronger relationships with my peers because now we have a shared goal of achieving more with our
students. Ive taken my work outside of the classroom and shared it with colleagues, and their responses
allowed me to explore different ways to impact my students. As one person commented at the end of the
PD, she had been teaching instructional technology for the last 10 years. I never knew that we had such a
great resource among us and would never have discovered this if not for the practicum work.
 APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS FROM THE COURSE:

I feel like the educational aims of this course were achieved quite well. As I went through the journals and
submitted or reviewed my work that would match the standards, I found that my learning outcomes aligned
well. Many of the skills and knowledge that I was expected to acquire from this course were achieved, and
have actually become a part of my thinking. For example, I am planning all my weekly lessons with at least
one survey either as a prep or as feedback from a lesson.

The application of knowledge from this course also appears in a Weebly I created for my final presentation. In
it I have put up all my work for this class as a way to review and update and keep on track with my
professional development.

Another way that this course can be applied in my teaching is that now I have seen how to apply lessons,
skills and technology in teaching one subject (namely math) across subjects. It is lovely to be able to take the
essence of learning how to teach one subject matter and be able to apply this cumulatively.

CANDIDATE SIGNATURE COLLABORATOR SIGNATURE (IF APPLICABLE)

Name: Name: Lana Al Bardawi

Date: Thursday, 18th May, 2017 Date: Thursday, 18th May, 2017