Teacher Candidate
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
CAP Element 6
CAP Element Description
Regularly reflects on the effectiveness of lessons, units, and interactions with students, both individually and with colleagues, and uses insights gained to improve practice and student learning.
Overview
Each day as a teacher, there are successes and areas for growth in each lesson. Especially when a lesson is repeated for different groups of students, there are many opportunities to alter a lesson and optimize its success. There are certain practices which may work for some teachers and not for others. As a new teacher, observing other teachers and analyzing their strengths is very helpful. Other teachers have practices that can be applied or altered according to preference. Just like how students must reflect on their work to grow, teachers should do the same to get the best outcomes.
Daily Reflections
During my teaching practicum, I was constantly considering ways to improve or alter my practices. Even within lessons or between classes I would choose ways to develop or change my ways of teaching. I noticed that my growth was exponential as I started taking over classes. I first needed a lot of help from my mentor teacher. We would reflect on many small details of my lesson and teaching and choose ways to improve. For example, in my first lessons I struggled to remember each small detail I wanted to mention. In a lab in which we were testing the affect of an enzyme, amylase, on the starch in pudding and I completely forgot to have the students label their cups. This was something that I would easily remember now, but in my first few lessons I needed to reference my notes and lesson plan to remember the details I wanted to include. Much of my experience was altering my mistakes or identifying areas for growth with my teacher.
Reflection on Lesson Effectiveness
Not only did I reflect on my practices and methods as a teacher, but I also reflected on the types of materials and activities I used in my lessons. From class to class, I would find small details in my materials or activity that would be more clearly represented if I altered it slightly. One great example of this was in my cell membrane lesson. In this class, I had students build a cell membrane and color code each detail. I developed clearly details in the elements of the cell membrane that would be easier to visualize. I also added more parts of cell membranes for talking points. I also altered my lessons to be most effective for different classes. In my highest level class, I gave the students the materials without labels, and they had to figure out what each cell membrane component represented and where they should go with the help of their textbook. They could use color and creativity in any way they saw fit. In my next highest level class, I gave my students some time to discuss with partners which elements of the cell membrane are represented, and then towards the middle of class I wrote specific details on the white board about what cell membrane components were expected to be in their posters and where. In my lowest class, I built the cell membrane one step at a time with the students. As I went through each cell membrane component, I described the location and used the projector to show the students exactly where each piece went. I colored in each membrane component with a different colored pencil and prompted them all to do the same.
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
Redesign of Units
In my unique situation, I was also able to restructure my entire week of lessons if necessary. There were many times that I would complete a week of classes and discover that if I included different information at different points in the week, students would have a better scaffolded unit of lessons. In other situations, I had to reflect on what materials were most important to keep or to eliminate since some weeks of classes had fewer days or snow days would occur and interrupt my lesson plan schedule.
Fellow Student Teacher Support
Another unique opportunity with my teaching practicum was that I was able to teach in the class next to another biology student teacher. Between classes, at lunch, and each afternoon we would drive back home and discuss our students and how the day went. This has been one of my greatest assets through this experience. I had a resource who could relate to my exact experiences each day, and we both were able to share our successes and mistakes as teachers. We both were able to observe each other’s classes and provide feedback on classroom management techniques and things we may not have noticed in class while teaching a lesson. When observing other teachers during the weeks I was teaching classes, I interpreted classes from a student’s perspective. I noticed more about student focus and engagement, and what exact times students lost focus. Bringing this knowledge and experience back to my class caused me to become more aware of student engagement and I incorporated more strategies to engage every student.