Running Head: REFLECTIVE PLANNING TO AID INSTRUCTION

Reflective Planning to Aid Instruction

Jessica A. Williams
Regent University

REFLECTIVE PLANNING TO AID INSTRUCTION

Introduction
In order to have reflective planning and instruction a teacher must think of the impact of
pre and post assessments on instruction. A great teacher assesses their students in order to find
what prior knowledge or the schema of the students in their class. In order to plan lesson
effectively a teacher must continue to assess student achievement continually during the unit as
well.
Rationale
The artifacts I chose were assessments from the energy unit I did with my students. I
taught this over a course of two weeks with them and I was completely responsible for student
achievement and learning. The first artifact was the test which the students would be tested on at
the end of the unit. I am firm believer of Understanding by Design and having the test guide
instruction as well as standards and essential knowledge. This artifact presented everything the
students would be assessed on to make sure they meet the standard for learning. The second
artifact was another way we check student learning is through the notetaking pages. The teacher
assistant checked those to make sure students were filling them out and actually answering the
questions. It was good to see what students continue to learn during the process. This helped me
to see the concepts they are struggling with that I need to continue to go over with students.
These artifacts presented that the teacher was thinking about what the students must know by the
end of the unit and continually to drill the information into them. I specifically asked to see the
test, because I wanted to make sure I covered everything on the test that students needed to know
in order to succeed. The notetaking pages and the post assessment were straight from the
standards and were meant to help students know exactly what they will be tested on the SOLs.

REFLECTIVE PLANNING TO AID INSTRUCTION

These artifacts demonstrate that the basis of good planning is having assessments along the way
that assess for accomplishment versus a grade.
Reflection
The artifacts I chose were examples of what my lesson plans outlined for student
achievement and learning. I believe I did meet students needs because the lowest grade I had
was a C and that was one person. 12 students made As. Three made A minuses. Five students
made a B. One student made a B minus. One students made a C plus and again one C minus. The
slipup for most students was the open- ended chart. Students had to put more than one advantage
and disadvantage about using wind, water and sunlight and some students did not necessarily do
that. I believe the test should be the starting point for the teacher which is the basis for
Understanding by Design. Instead of the teacher making the assessment during or at the end of
the unit, the teacher should make the goals standards specific and concrete then begin to plan the
unit or course (McTighe & Wiggins, 2009). Honestly, it made it easier to look at the test to
figure out what would probably be the students hardest concept to grasp. During the preassessment the words advantage and disadvantage were the highest in terms of words students
did not know. I also did a journal using synonyms for the words disadvantage and advantage and
it continued to be a concept some students still struggled. In my instruction, I planned to go over
those vocabulary words almost every day and taught synonyms such as pros, cons and
drawbacks. However, from my data collected of the test results and when I graded the test it
exposed that was still a struggle. I think most of the students understood what advantages and
disadvantages meant. However, there were students who put advantages under disadvantages and
vice versa. The standard set is that teacher should look at the test then plan, pre- assess and then

REFLECTIVE PLANNING TO AID INSTRUCTION

post assess. I believe my artifacts display that I continually think about my students learning
process and achievement.
I do believe my faith does play a part in the fact I want my students to do their best. Also,
in everything I do I want to do my best. Colossians 3:17 says, And whatever you do, in word or
deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him
(English Standard Version). I if I do everything unto the Lord then I want to do everything to the
best of my ability. I believe a great teacher assesses their students continually in order to have
them reach their full potential. Since I do everything unto the Lord I want to go the extra mile for
my students and plan for their success. The best way to do this is plan with end in mind and asses
for student achievement.

REFLECTIVE PLANNING TO AID INSTRUCTION

References
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (Expanded 2nd ed.).
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.