Professional Program Formative Assessment

Teacher Candidate: Donovan Grubb November 24, 2018

Teacher Candidate Email: degrubb@lakeheadu.ca
Associate Teacher: Joe Gaudreau
Associate Teacher Email: joseph_gaudreau@lakeheadschools.ca
Faculty Advisor: Matthew Roy
School: Nor'Wester View Public School
City: THUNDER BAY
Subjects: Science to 3 7/8 classes, language, physed, and health to homeroom class
Grades: '7 8
No. of Days Absent: None

Professionalism
Demonstrates dependability, flexibility and initiative Needs Further Development
Demonstrates sound professional judgment with learners and colleagues Developing as Expected
Acts according to the ethical standards for the teaching profession: care, Developing as Expected
trust, respect and integrity
Responds professionally to and enacts constructive feedback Developing as Expected

Comments
Donovan has had a great start in the grade 7/8 class. He interacts well with his student teaching partner to
create and to complete organized lessons, as well as, shares resources such as text books and the science
lab. Donovan creates a unit plan in Science, ensuring that each lessons is available on Google Drive prior to
teaching. He arrives at school early and prepared to teach everyday and makes sure that he asks any
questions so that he can listen to immediate feedback. Donovan displays professionalism and enthusiasm.
He has a great rapport with students, other student teachers and other adults in the school. When given
constructive criticism, Donovan responds appropriately and uses the feedback to improve the area indicated.
He asks for input when he requires it and learns quickly from experiences (classroom management
techniques). Donovan is punctual, responsible and uses appropriate judgment in all situations.

Positive Learning Environment

Maintains positive, inclusive, safe learning environment established by Developing as Expected
Associate Teacher
Engages in strategic relationship-building conversations with learners Developing as Expected
Models initiative and enthusiasm for learning Developing as Expected
Addresses inappropriate behaviours in a positive manner; leaves learner Developing as Expected
dignity intact

Comments

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FACULTY OF EDUCATION
955 OLIVER ROAD, THUNDER BAY, ON, P7B 5E1 1 COLBORNE STREET W, ORILLIA, ON, L3V7X5
Donovan explains the steps of his lessons clearly and logically. His calm nature, confidence and ease of
dealing with sudden changes or interruptions allows for quite clear instruction and teaching. Donovan's
planning and organization is good. His planning of lessons and creative ideas for lessons ensure that he is
organized, prepared and exhibits great classroom management. In some cases, Donovan needs to use
different types of classroom management styles to achieve the classes' attention in different subject areas. In
physical education for example, there is less structure which requires a more authoritarian approach or a
method of waiting until the children are ready when trying to achieve the classes' attention.

Teaching Practice
Demonstrates understanding of curriculum guidelines, expectations and Developing as Expected
big ideas
Demonstrates understanding of subject matter Developing as Expected
Demonstrates working proficiency in the language of instruction in four Developing as Expected
language modalities: reading, writing, listening, and speaking
Develops engaging lesson plans for submission to AT prior to teaching Developing as Expected
Communicates clear, achievable expectations and instructions to learners Developing as Expected
Engages learners in the learning process through careful selection and Developing as Expected
implementation of developmentally appropriate
approaches/strategies/tools

Comments
Donovan has settled into the class quickly and comfortably. He develops lessons that are student-centred
and include differentiated instruction to accommodate students learning at all levels. Donovan has gained
the respect of the students and is able to maintain classroom consistency. Donovan needs to involve more
students during question and answer periods by using other techniques to involve new students when
requiring oral communication in class (think time or think/pair/share). Donovan has a good knowledge of
subject matter and links the knowledge well to curriculum expectations. He uses a variety of examples, life
experiences and creativity to relate subject matter in a way that relates well to all students or individual
students when required. Donovan must ensure that he gains general knowledge of all curriculum in all
required subject areas.

Assessment / Evaluation
Practices assessment for/as/of learning, with Associate Teacher guidance Developing as Expected
Provides specific, meaningful and timely descriptive feedback to learners Developing as Expected

Comments
Donovan is doing a good job creating assessment techniques to evaluate existing knowledge of the students
or assessment 'For' learning, then using techniques such as quizes to assess 'As' learning and a culminating
task to evaluate 'of'learning. When given constructive criticism, Donovan responds appropriately and uses

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FACULTY OF EDUCATION
955 OLIVER ROAD, THUNDER BAY, ON, P7B 5E1 1 COLBORNE STREET W, ORILLIA, ON, L3V7X5
the feedback to improve the area indicated. He asks for input when he requires it and learns quickly from
experiences (classroom management techniques).
Donovan is always learning and improving by asking questions and using new initiatives, but he should make
himself more familiar with local board policy and procedures, programs, and initiatives (ie Attendance, Guided
Reading, and Shared Read).

Teacher candidate's growth plan

After meeting with my AT, and discussing my performance during the first two weeks, we've
formulated a growth plan and some areas to improve on during the final two weeks of my
practicum. These areas include the following:

I need to use more formative assessment techniques to evaluate student's

assessment "for" learning during a lesson. To achieve this I will incorporate techniques such
as, think pair share and using elbow partners to force students to formulate their own
answers and ideas that they would be comfortable sharing with the class. Another technique
that I can see working well with the students would be getting them to participate in a
polling-style assessment where the students vote on a piece of paper about a certain topic.
This way I can see how well they understand a lesson immediately after and get a better idea
on whether or not I need to review a topic or move on. Also, I need to move away from the
"ask-and-answer" method as I've noticed that I routinely revert back to that and usually am
relying on a few students to help keep the lesson moving without stopping and getting a
response from everyone. I think using group-work and "think pair share" activities will help
me move away from this and get the students discussing their understanding of a subject.
This will help me gauge when I need to move along with a lesson or stop and engage in
further discussion as a class on a specific topic. One last thing that I should focus on is
structuring my questions differently to challenge students to use higher thinking. The
students did very well on the last quiz that I administered which tells me that I may need to
provide them with more challenging questions. I will achieve this by constructing potential
higher-thinking questions in my lesson plans and co-creating them with my AT to ensure that
they do require higher thinking to answer them.

The teacher candidate is developing as expected.

Official document produced by Lakehead University, Faculty of Education

Dated: 2018-12-12 Signed by:

Dr. Wayne Melville

Chair, Undergraduate Studies in Education

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FACULTY OF EDUCATION
955 OLIVER ROAD, THUNDER BAY, ON, P7B 5E1 1 COLBORNE STREET W, ORILLIA, ON, L3V7X5