Stephanie Leffler Teacher Work Sample Reflection and Self-Evaluation

1st Grade Mathematics Unit Topic 10 Extending Work with Number and Operations Taught March 6, 2013 March 28, 2013

Every classroom is unique and my classroom is no exception. I am in a first grade classroom with 16 students nine boys and seven girls. Six students have IEPs. Three are considered to be severe special education students and three students are developmentally delayed. I have two ELL students, one is German (WIDA level 3) and one is Native American (WIDA level 2). The ethnicity statistics of the classroom are 14 Caucasian students, one Native American student, and one black/African American student. The students performing above grade level at of the end of Term Two in mathematics are: Luke, Karson., Acacia, & Nathan. All of these students are also reading well above grade level. The students performing on grade level at the end of Term Two are: Caleb, Maya, Connor, Shaina, Maddison, Matthew, & Blake. Maya is an ELL student and reads below grade level but does very well in Mathematics. All other students are at or above grade level in reading. Caleb is autistic, developmentally delayed, and has an IEP. Shaina has an IEP. She is heavily medicated for multiple issues, has severe behavior problems, and has a full-time aide. The students performing below grade level at of the end of Term Two are: Kirra, Lola, Taylor, Tommy, & Scotty. Tommy is an ELL student. Kirra has an IEP for ADHD, Taylor has and IEP for ADHD, Lola has an IEP for ADHD and developmental delay, Scotty has a IEP for ADHD and severe behavior problems. Scotty was recently put on medication for his ADHD.

I expected this unit to flow like the previous mathematics lessons I taught as I was being gradually introduced to student teaching. My class is pretty much broken up into halves. One half of the students are on or above grade level in literacy and math, and the other half are below because of exceptionalities and qualify for special education. I knew the lower group was going to be my challenge while teaching this unit. What I didnt expect was that three of the higher performing students would be afraid to try and asked for additional help. Also, two of the lower performing students did better than expected. This was a wonderful surprise. The classroom as a whole has improved tremendously during my student teaching. I have been teaching whole group and arranging for small group interventions in coordination with my mentor teaching. We make a great team and have been able to improve performance scores of most of the students. Three or four students still struggle no matter how much time is spent teaching them. It is very frustrating to know you have done everything you can think of, asked others for suggestions, tried multiple teaching strategies, used graphic organizers and manipuilatives, basically done everything possible, and a student or students just arent ready to learn a concept or concepts. My only feelings of solice for my lowest students not improving as much as I had hoped is that I tried my hardest to teach them. I know they have had some exposure to the concepts I was teaching. I only hope that eventually they are able to make the connections and are able to learn and improve. I will continue to find, use, and incorporate as many different learning and teaching strategies as possible. I need to find out what works for me as a teacher and what works for my students that are at varying

levels. I want all of my students to be successful and I feel such devastation when they dont or cant grasp a concept. My mentor teacher indicated to me that I do very well at keeping my voice in control even when I am frustrated. I feel the frustration on the inside but dont show my students that is how I am feeling. I am glad that is happening because I have felt a lot of frustration. Mainly because this is my first time teaching many of these concepts so I dont know exactly how to explain or model what I want my students to learn. My most frustrating lesson was the last lesson in my unit Lesson 6 Using Money in Different Ways. I was observed for this lesson and it was going very well during the whole group instruction. When we moved to individual work and small group intervention, my entire plan had crashed! I was so frustrated that I didnt know what to do to help my students. Tommy, Lola, Kirra, Taylor, and Acacia hit a wall and couldnt move forward. I switched from the worksheet assignment to recognizing coins and identifying how much each coin was worth, to counting coins. My students just couldnt process any more information. Mrs. Gunther gave me a coin counting sheet to help the students and a 100s grid but the students couldnt do any more. They needed a break. Half of the students understood the concept for the most part, I will have to do a little bit of re-teaching to make sure they fully understand how to count on from a quarter and use a quarter in combination with other coins. I was so frustrated that I couldnt get through to my lower students. (Acacia is a high performing student but this topic of coins and money has confused her). It hadnt even occurred to me that these lower students have difficulty completing simple addition

and subtraction so how are they going to be able to grasp counting different amounts of coins and beginning with 25? It was a very good learning experience for me to remember to look at the whole picture. Yes, students need the exposure, but I need to have appropriate small group interventions planned to their level. For instance, I could have just worked with my low students on identifying coins and understanding their value instead of trying to get them to complete a worksheet of a concept that is too far above their level at this point in time. As a class, my students need to be reminded to slow down and look at the question or problem. On the pre-assessment, almost every student missed a part of the addition and subtraction facts. This tells me they need to slow down, look at what is being asked, and understand what they need to do. I think this is a hard thing for students that have been successful to do because they think that school and learning is easy. I am finding that my higher achieving students are realizing that learning is difficult. Acacia, Luke, & Nate began asking for extra help and I was surprised that they needed so much hand holding. After I spoke with my mentor teacher about this observation she suggested that this is the first time a topic has been somewhat difficult for them to learn and they are afraid of making a mistake. I need to work on letting my students know that it is ok to make mistakes, this is how we learn. I need to encourage all of my students to work independently after the whole group instruction, and then evaluate what help they may need. I found that having students explain to each other how they arrived at an answer helps others visualize or manually solve some of these mathematic problems. My lower

students began to grasp more concepts. I also realized that having well prepared extension activities helped reinforce the concepts I was teaching. Many of these extension activities look like games but the students are using mathematical concepts to complete these games and activities. Tommy and Scotty are two of my lowest performing students. They have both improved greatly on the post assessment and are doing well. Tommys improvement partially has to do with him attending after school classes to improve his literacy. Scotty has been taking his medication for ADHD and is on a behavior modification program that is working. Both students are capable but have not had the opportunity to learn before now. I am so proud of Tommys improvement. He seems to have more confidence now that his reading level has improved and wants to do well. Mayas ADD affects her learning. She is sometimes on and sometimes off. When she is able to focus, she performs to a high ability, but when she is having an off day, it is impossible to get her to focus. She is one of my students that is frustrating because I do not know what I can do to help her. I know every student is an individual and especially students with exceptionalities vary to extremes. This is a difficult class because there are so many students that have attention exceptionalities. Is it the way we are teaching? I really want to find some interactive and engaging activities that will help my students learn, not make them bored and disinterested in learning. I feel like I need a lot more time teaching different subjects to figure out what works and what doesnt. Coordinating with my mentor and supervising teacher helped me a lot in planning what and how to develop my lessons. I am still working on my

classroom management and discovering that students have a very difficult time sitting on the rug for whole group instruction. I have no idea how this would work, but I would like to have small group instruction before teaching the whole group. For me, I could narrow down what I need to focus on in whole group, them have other break out sessions for my students to concentrate on what they are struggling to learn. I am realizing there is so much to learn and so little time. When I have my own classroom, I will work to train my students about transition time and earning free-time. I have seen so much time is lost in transitions. I have also learned how important it is to prepare and have all materials ready and set up so that students move easily from one activity to another. I will not know what works for me and my students until I am able to experiment with the learning and teaching strategies I have learned over the past three years. I am excited I have been able to apply my knowledge in the classroom and see the results. I feel so proud of my students when they perform well and so frustrated and always thinking about what I can do better or differently when they havent met the expectation.