8.

Reflection, Self-Evaluation, and Professional Development

The unit I taught to my fourth grade class was on weather and the water cycle. We began
by learning about the water cycle. After the students were comfortable with the water cycle, we
began learning about different types of weather and weather safety. I feel like this unit was
successful. The students learned a lot of information and seemed to have fun while we were
learning about weather and the water cycle. I enjoyed teaching this unit to them. During some
lessons, I found myself enjoying the content and students so much, I would lose track of time
and we would work on science into recess time. I learned a lot about myself as a teacher as I
taught this unit to these students. I learned ways that I am comfortable and successful with
teaching students. I also learned where I make mistakes and was made aware of areas I need to
work on.
Before beginning this unit, the students took a pre-assessment. This pre-assessment
showed me where I needed to begin with the unit. I noticed that a lot of the students did not have
much knowledge on the types of weather, clouds, or water cycle. This meant we needed to start
at the very beginning and have in-depth lessons on the objectives.
When I was teaching this group of students, I noticed things about myself and the
students as a whole group. During the first couple of lessons, I found out that the students
enjoyed and learned more when we read out of the workbook and discussed it. They enjoyed
having whole group discussions about this topic. I also noticed that I enjoyed leading the
students to whole group discussions. Before this unit, I did not think I would like whole group
discussions when I was a teacher, but this unit made me change my mind. Aside from whole
group discussions, when I was teaching this unit, I taught the class using a variety of
instructional modes. These other instructional modes include lecture, small group, and

demonstration.

Sometimes, I would go through PowerPoints for the students to listen to and

take notes. Other times, the students would turn and discuss things with their neighbor. I also
demonstrated some things to the students. For example, I demonstrated the parts of the water
cycle with my hands while I sang the Water Cycle Song to them.
When I would give the students assessments to check their progress of learning, I would
evaluate it in a way that would show me if the students needed to have more review and
information or if they were all ready to move on to the next objective. I would go from the
majority of the results. For example, if the majority of the students were struggling to
understand, then we would have a review session.
When teaching these students, I presented the information in a way that I thought was
very clear and logical. I tried to put the information in everyday words and terms and in
language that the students would be able to understand and grasp easily. I also tried to relate it to
their lives by giving examples of the different weather and how they could stay safe during the
types of severe weather we learned about. If I taught this lesson again, I would do the same for
other group of students. However, one change I would make as far as having them relate it to
their lives would be having them write a story about themselves being involved in a certain type
of severe weather storm. They would be required to talk about the safety precautions and how to
protect themselves and others during this type of weather.
When we finished a lesson and science came to a close, I would do a brief review with
the students to wrap everything up. I would ask them questions to answer aloud or in their
notebooks as an exit slip. We would discuss the days lesson, as well as relate it to what we
would be learning the next day. I noticed that this seemed to help them to connect the lessons

together. Some students told me that the summary at the end made the lessons make more sense
to them compared to when there was not a summary or brief review at the end of the lesson.
While I was teaching the students or working with small groups during this unit, I would
interact with the students in a way that made them feel like they were responsible for their
learning. I would ask the students questions and give them plenty of time to think before having
to answer. When they were given this little bit of time, they were able to form an intelligent, and
mostly, correct answer. This seemed to make them feel more successful and like they were
responsible for learning all this information. I also feel like my treatment of the students was
respectful. If the students needed me, I would help them as best as I could. I would also respect
the fact that they were learning and they may not understand everything as quick as some people
would think they would. I was sure to be very patient with the students when they were learning
this information.
During this entire unit, we seemed to stay on topic during the science period. We seemed
to get the lessons finished in the allocated time. However, there were times we would get caught
up and run into recess time. This happened mostly when we were having group discussions or
watching a video on something we had learned previously. The students seemed to understand
and were fine with going over our time period because they were enjoying the lessons.
If I were to teach this lesson again, I would be sure to fully explain all information to the
students when it was being taught. I would also provide more activities to check for
understanding and progress of learning. I think the students would do better with more activities.
I would also provide more hands-on activities for the students. This would have the students
would be more involved in the learning instead of just discussing information.

After the unit, before the unit test, I gave the students a post-assessment. Most of the
students made great improvements from their pre-assessments. I could tell that these students
learned a lot from this unit. Their unit test scores showed the same. There was one student who
did spectacular on the post-assessment. However, there was one student who did not improve
very much.
After reviewing my pre-assessment and post-assessment data, there were three students
who stuck out to me. One of these students was very successful, one was least successful, and
one was average. The successful learner scored a zero on the pre-assessment and a ten on the
post-assessment. There were several students who scored a ten on the post-assessment, but this
student stuck out the most to me. One reason I feel like she was so successful during this unit
was I noticed her studying at random times during the school day. For example, I would see her
studying at recess or at lunch. I would also see her studying her notes in the morning before
school started. A second reason I feel like she was so successful during this unit was when she
missed a day of school, she was coming right up to me the next morning to find out what she
missed and get her notes. I noticed her trying very hard to learn this information. I also noticed
her effort she was putting into studying.
The least successful student scored a zero on the pre-assessment and a three on the postassessment. This student is one that has a lot of behavior problems. He misses a lot of school
and does not seem to have the motivation needed to be a successful learner. One reason why this
student was not successful during this unit is because he missed about three days of school at the
beginning of the unit. When he returned to school, I tried to catch him up, but he did not want
me to. I would give him notes and papers, and I would try to talk with him, but he acted like he
did not want to talk and he would lose all of his papers. Throughout the unit, he continued to

miss a day of school here and there. Each time he would miss, he would be the same way to me
when I would try to catch him up. A second possible reason this student was not successful
could be that he has such bad behavior problems. He is constantly telling other students to leave
him alone, even when they are not doing anything to him. This student will stand up and yell at
the class, and then he will tell me what they are doing wrong. I will be sitting there watching the
entire thing and not see anything he is talking about. I really feel like this effects his learning
because he is unable to focus since he is concentrating on everyone else. One thing I could do
differently is put him in a small group of three to four students for extra help. This could be
during guided reading. I feel like this could help him to get that extra attention and information
he needs to be a successful learner.
The student that scored average on the post-assessment scored a zero on the preassessment and a seven on the post-assessment. One reason this student was labeled as average
is because he did just enough to get by with the average score. The majority of the time he was
distracted. I could keep his attention for a little while, but then he would go do something else or
begin talking. This was normal for the students with average scores. I could tell he did just
enough to get by, meaning he did not study enough to be very successful. A second reason this
student was labeled as average was because he got distracted a lot, causing other students to get
distracted. The students would be working on an assignment, and he would be talking to other
students, sparking conversations across the classroom. To help him out, I could have put him
somewhere where he sat alone and could not get distracted. I could have given more
assignments that were interesting to him so that he would be focused more than he was.
As I have worked through this clinical experience, I have noticed more and more about
myself as a teacher. I have noticed my strong points and my weak points. I have also decided to

set some goals for myself. These professional development goals emerged from my insights and
experiences during my student teaching. I learned how I want to grow and develop as I continue
my career as a teacher.
One of my professional development goals that emerged this semester is to cater to all
learners at the same time. I realize that all students learn differently. I have struggled this
semester with meeting all the learners needs at the same time. I have, however, been able to
teach and then go back and give extra help to those that learn differently. I want to be able to
meet these needs all at once, if possible. One way I will try to improve this and meet this goal is
by practicing with smaller and shorter lessons at the beginning. I will begin by teaching the way
I normally do, and then adding in different strategies to help all learners be successful. For
example, I could start a lesson by doing a read aloud and then showing a PowerPoint on the
information. I could end the lesson by taking a little extra time and have the students draw a
picture of what they learned that day. This will give them a visual if they need it.
A second professional development goal that emerged this semester is having more
parental involvement. This semester, I had a couple of parents write me notes and I sent a couple
of notes home with the students. However, I would like to have more active parental
involvement. I would like to see the parents truly involved in their childs learning and
schooling. For example, our classroom could have a parent lunch once a month. This would get
the parents in the classroom with their child and have them observe their child in the school
setting. One way I can meet this goal is by sending home monthly newsletters with different
ways for the parents to be involved. This would also keep the parents up to date with what is
going on in their childs classroom. A second way I can meet this goal is by having parents sign

up to volunteer at class parties and birthday lunches. This will also get the parents involved with
the classroom and the school, as a whole.
This unit helped me a lot with myself as a teacher. I noticed and learned a lot about how
students operate and how I can be a better teacher to these students. I also learned different
strategies and how to help students be as successful as they can be. I learned a lot about patience
and respect during this unit as well. Aside from learning about myself and students, I also set
some professional development goals for myself. Once I get my own classroom, I will work
very hard to meet these goals. I will also continue to practice using these skills I have learned
this semester while student teaching.