A. Grace Martin

Author, Student Teacher, Optimist and Promoter of Self-Empowerment

Growth Plan for Professional Semester 1: Fall 2014

Related Knowledge, Skills and Attributes Related to Interim Certification: 
KSA #3 Use documents to inform and direct planning, instruction and assessment of student progress; and the subject discipline they teach, and know which strategies are appropriate to help different students. 
KSA #5 All students can learn, albeit at different rates and in different ways. They understand the need to respond to differences by creating multiple paths to learning for individuals and groups of students, including students with special learning needs. 
KSA #9 There are many approaches to teaching and learning. They know a broad range of instructional strategies appropriate to their area of specialization and the subject discipline they teach, and know which strategies are appropriate to help different students achieve different outcomes. 
KSA #10 The functions of traditional and electronic teaching/learning technologies. They know how to use and how to engage students in using these technologies.
KSA #15 The importance of career-long learning. They know how to assess their own teaching and how to work with others responsible for supervising and evaluating teachers. They know how to use the findings of assessments, supervision and evaluations to select, develop and implement their own professional development activities.    
KSA #16 The importance of guiding their actions with a personal, overall vision of the purpose of teaching. They are able to communicate their vision, including how it has changed as a result of new knowledge, understanding and experience.  


Goals and Indicators of Performance for Practicum

#1

Goal: I want to use a variety of approaches to engage students with the content and to encourage active student participation.


Rationale: I need to experiment with approaches that are interesting to students. If students are hooked by the content then it is easier to keep their attention and focus. In order to create an environment that fosters learning, students must feel involved in their learning process.

Strategies

Technology integration using an interactive whiteboard SMARTboard lesson. Visuals, images, video


Role-play activities including props and mock trials or voting.


Reading strategies (chunking, read-write-pair-share, bump reading, teacher reading)


Read-write-share in pairs, group, class


Class discussion


Ask students what they are interested in with exit slips and incorporate ideas into successive lessons


Engage imagination using writing prompts of topic, character, setting, theme

Timeline

Weekly

Daily visuals



Weekly



Every time reading



Weekly


Daily



Each unit



Writing lessons

Performance Indicators

- Create notebook file and include in lesson plan at least once a week

- Lesson plans include role play activities

- Teacher reflections of lesson plan effectiveness. Have scale of how interested students were, can use exit slips of students rating interest of content.

- Teacher checklist or scale of student focus and attention in class

- Student self-assessments, KWL, exit slips

- Participation by all students using popsicle stick method

- Week 1: social studies introduction to ancient Athens, LA writing

- Weeks 2-5 include science and math hands-on activities and games

#2

Goal: I want to experiment with differentiated learning using a variety of approaches on a regular basis.


Rationale: To create a student-centered learning process, I must provide students with opportunities for active participation and understanding that is valid for each student’s abilities and learning strategies.

Strategies

Hands-on activities


Role playing


Hands-up class discussion for formative assessment


Graphic organizers


Jigsaw – expert groups, professor know-it-all


Cube review


Videos/film and technology integration

Timeline

Week 1- experiment with role playing activities and formative assessment of activities using exit slips and hands-up checks


Week 2- develop differentiated approach to teaching mathematics order of operations BEDMAS


Week 3- develop differentiated lessons for science Evidence and Investigation


Weeks 4&5- experiment with ways to gently get students with behavioral problems and special needs involved and learning the material

Performance Indicators

Students interested in activity measured by participation and exit slips


Reflections on whether or not the strategy worked


Review the next day if students still remember what they learned the previous lesson


Lesson plans with hands-on activities


Products that special needs students finish to demonstrate work