Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Building my Professional Portfolio

As I continue to build onto my professional portfolio the biggest obstacle I find is choosing which artifacts to add under each standard. Although all of the standards are incredibly important I have been really focusing on the third standard which is instructional planning. The standard is "the practitioner plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, curriculum goals, and state curriculum models. The three artifacts that I have decided to include in this particular standard are my Level II Teacher Work Sample, a student interview that I did for my Level I experience and an in-depth lesson plan that I also created for my Level I experience.

I believe that my teacher work sample shows my ability to base my instruction on the personal needs of the children. Within my TWS I have two case studies of two different students. I describe each student in detail and give instructional implications of each student. I believe that if any of my future employers were to read through my TWS they would know immediately that I am competent in planning my instruction around my students' needs.

The student interview is an interview that I did with four individual students. Within this interview I was able to recognize which developmental stage each student was at and why I believed him or her to be at that specific stage. This will show my future employers that I am able to classify students developmental stage and also my students' cognitive abilities.

My Level I lesson plan that I created briefly says what I will do during the lesson and the rest of the paper describes the physical layout of the classroom, teacher-centered instruction, student-centered instruction, different modes of learning, modifications for special need students and gifted students, and assessments. Future employers will be able to read through this lesson plan and realize my ability to create and break down lesson plans while addressing all curriculum needs as well as student needs.

My professional portfolio is only half done right now however I take a lot of pride in it! I am looking forward to having a complete paper portfolio and then creating an e-portfolio. I really like to look through it to see the progress that I have made as a pre-service teacher and hope to be able to add a lot to this portfolio as I continue throughout my teaching career!

More to come...

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Another helpful blog...

This is a blog that I found that is by Angela Maiers and she is based out of Des Moines. She has had 20 years of experience in education and has worked in a classroom environment before which I find very relatable. Her work is featured in the National Research Council Yearbook, multiple professional journals, and most recently in Urban Schools Most Promising Practices, published by the International Reading Association. Angela also won the Edublog award for the best new blog! She is doing amazing work for the education world and definitely views technology as a vital aspect to education.

I have recently started reading this blog and am excited that Angela will be coming to speak with us in late March! I really admire her views about learning and technology and am excited to dive into this blog with more detail. Angela says that "teachers need to be great learners" and I absolutely agree! Teachers need to be willing to learn about all types of things throughout their career - different religions and cultures, teaching methods and even technology! I am hoping to take a lot away from Angela's blog and hope that you all will look into it!

More to come....

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Mi primer poste de blog!

Hello all! My name is Kate and this is one of my first blog! I am finishing up my education at the University of Northern Iowa and am going to graduate with a major in Elementary Education with a minor in Educational Technology. I plan on student teaching in Austin, Texas in the fall and staying in the area for a while so I am going to be focusing this blog on Texas Education. I'm planning on writing about any concerns that I have or any interesting articles that I find about the Texas education system. One big challenge that I see in my future is ELL students. I know that a lot of students are going to be bilingual and most of them will be Spanish speakers. I have four years of high school Spanish under my belt but still have a lot to learn! This is a challenge that I am looking forward to conquering! I found a great blog/website called Spanish Only that teaches you a word of the day and a phrase of the day. A new post is up everyday and it only takes a few minutes to read in the morning and I can practice throughout the day. I would recommend subscribing to this blog if you would like to learn a second language gradually!

I also found a blog called Tech Chick Tips that is created by two Texan educators that are "obsessed with anything technology." I really like this site because these two ladies are really trying to focus on different ways to implement technology into the classroom. This website focuses mostly on outside resources but just collecting them into one area. I selected this blog because of my Ed Tech minor. I am looking forward to implementing technology in my classroom and relating to my students via technology. This is a fantastic resource for any teacher - especially those who are interested in technology!
Enjoy!