ED 338 LESSON SELF-ASSESSMENT The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effect of his or her choices

and action on pupils, parents, professionals in the learning community and others, and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally. An important component of effective teaching is the ability to accurately self-assess after each lesson. In ED 338 you will be self-assessing using the framework of the five Alverno Education Abilities and the Wisconsin Standards for Teacher Development and Licensure. After teaching each lesson, review the questions in each category before writing a summary response for the category.
Planning and Preparation (AEA Coordination, Conceptualization/WI Teacher Standards 1, 7, 8/Disposition: Respect)

How did advance preparation (or lack of it) contribute to the success of the lesson? How comfortable were you with the work you put in ahead of time, including the extent of your own knowledge base and understanding the prior knowledge that the students possessed? How well did you have materials ready and accessible for your use and for the childrens use? How did your classroom profile knowledge contribute to your lesson design? I did a lot of advance preparation for this lesson, which I believe made it a successful lesson. I talked with my CT to see what the weekly theme or focus would be so I could plan a lesson that would be meaningful and effective. I researched different lesson plans online to get some ideas as to how I could create an engaging Five senses- TASTE inquiry science learning experience for my 4K students. I also took into consideration the ages of the students, the individualities of the students, and the various cultures of my students. Since the topic of the 5 senses is a fairly new concept for four-and five-year-olds, as it the whole inquiry based science method, I planned on making this lesson more of an introductory lesson so that the children could use their senses to engage in and explore with the different types of apples. I had all the materials gathered ahead of time and had them right next to me when I started the lesson which helped the experience to go smoothly and keep the students engaged.
Classroom Environment (AEA Communication, Integrative Interaction/WI Teacher Standards 5,
6/Dispositions: Respect, Responsibility, Collaboration)

How could you tell the students respected you and were happy to work with you and each other? How did you show your enthusiasm and try to build rapport with the students? I believe the students enjoyed the TASTE experience because they were engaged throughout the majority of the lesson. Each child wanted to hold and taste the different apples and were very eager to share their observation with me and their classmates. During the lesson, there was a lot of

talking among the students, but the talk was about what they were doing. This lesson involved turn-taking, which I believe went very well. During the lesson, I asked many questions of the students, such as How does that feel to you? What word can you use to describe it? What else feels that way to you? After I asked these questions, I would ask different students for responses. As each student shared, I paid attention to them as they were speaking, and reminded the other students to be respectful listeners as well because they would want someone to listen to them when they are talking. I also paraphrased the student responses so they knew that I was listening to what they had to say and commented on the great word they offered. I would also use each students name as much as possible. At the end of the lesson, I used effective praise with all the students I said they did a great job acting as scientists and that they came up with a list of really good descriptive words.
Instruction (AEA Conceptualization, Coordination, Diagnosis, Communication, Integrative Interaction/ WI Teacher Standards 2,3,4,8/ Dispositions: Respect, Communication)

How well did you help the students get ready to learn? How clear were you in setting expectations for learning? How accurate were the assumptions you had before the lesson? How well did the materials you used meet the needs of the children? How well did you apply specific instructional strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners? How well did your questions encourage higher level thinking by the students? Was the lesson carried out as planned? What changes were made and why? I think I did a good job in getting the students ready to learn. During my introduction, I reminded students that they have been learning about the 5 senses and asked what they were and the body part used for each. Then I used a song to get them engaged. When I started the demonstration/participation part of the lesson, I introduced the activity, objectives and expectations so all students would know what was going to happen and their responsibility in the learning. The assumptions I made before the lesson was about what kind of words they would use to describe the objects and that they would understand how to pass the items. These assumptions were pretty accurate; these areas went as I expected. I think the instructional strategies I used were very appropriate for the age and individualness of the students they were all engaged throughout the lesson. I prepared questions at all of Blooms levels but I think the students struggled with some of the higher leveled questions. If I asked a question and the students didnt seem to understand it, I would try to ask the same question but a different way. This did seem to help them think differently and provide answers maybe not correct ones but it made them think at higher levels. I believe my lesson was carried out as planned. The only changes I made were when I reformulated some questions. Since this was an inquiry based experience, my questions were generic so they would still be able to support any answers or any direction the students may have taken the experience.

Assessment (AEA Diagnosis/Integrative Interaction/WI Teacher Standards 1,2,3,7,8,9/Disposition: Collaboration)

What questions did you ask that facilitated the development of content understanding and critical thinking? What indicated that the lesson was developmentally appropriate for children in the group? Which children achieved which objectives? How do you know? What might be included to strengthen the childrens learning? Some of my questions were: What are the 5 senses? What part of our body do we (xxx) with? What do you observe and what sense are you using to do that? What other sense do you think we can use to find out more about these apples? How do you think the red apple will taste? How would you describe the taste? How do your observations compare to your guesses before you tasted the apples? What do you think we can do to find out for sure which has the most and the least? Why do you think that? These questions allowed the students to formulate their own answers and responses to the experience while the different levels of questions allowed me to assess for content knowledge and to know where to guide instruction in the future. Since the children were engaged by doing, using their senses, and eager to share their answers, I believe this was a DAP lesson. All students achieved objectives 2 and 5 since all charted their favorite apple and participated in turntaking and followed the rules. I used a checklist for six students to assess the other objectives, and was able to assess objective 1 for all six but had a hard time assessing for the other objectives since I called on those students as well as other students for those answers. To strengthen the childrens learning, I could model and incorporate a think/pair/share session so all students have a chance to share and maybe learn something from a classmate.

Professional Responsibilities (AEA Diagnosis, Integrative Interaction/ WI Teacher Standards 9,10/ Disposition: Responsibility, Reflection, Collaboration)

How would you describe your relationship with your cooperating teacher, other adults in the building and parents or caregivers? What have you learned about collaborating with others and considering their perspectives? How well have you projected yourself as a professional, in dress, demeanor, and actions? Which Alverno Education Abilities will you focus on in the future to further your growth in the Wisconsin Standards for Teacher Development and Licensure, and why? I believe I have a good rapport with my CT, Mrs. Megiera (aide) and the parents I see in the morning. I can ask my CT for advice or feedback; her honesty and insightfulness helps me plan the best lesson I can. Mrs. M is willing to help in any way she can, too. The parents are supportive of having a field student in their childs classroom; many ask how my time here is going and have open

lines of communication (to a degree, since I am only a field student) with me. I believe I have projected myself in a very professional manner. I speak to my CT, students, other teachers, the principle and students with respect. I always try to look professional; I dress in appropriate clothing. To further my growth in the WTS, I will focus on the Alverno Education Abilities of diagnosis and conceptualization. I am still trying to determine and use the most effective type of assessments for a large group setting. I usually use one type that allows me to see how all students are performing on one objective but its not generally a method that allows me to document each students performance. I have also been teaching large group lessons as opposed to small group where I can focus more time on a smaller group of students. So, learning what types of assessments to use and when, and how to effectively assess students is one of my goals. The other AEA I want to focus on is conceptualization. In the end, I believe my lessons are very appropriate, effective and cover the desired content. However, I believe my process of getting there takes too long. I use a variety of different resources to get ideas but I need to learn how to narrow down those ideas sooner and have more confidence in which instructional strategies I will/can use. I also want to learn how to incorporate more than one subject into a lesson. To help me achieve this goal, I will continue to use my CTs, instructors and classmates as resources and peer reviewers.