Running

head: PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL ASSESSMENT #2

EDUC 540 S12: Field Experience III

Personal Professional Assessment #2
Houston LJ Doig (UCID: 10085931)
Due: Sunday, November 29, 2015
University of Calgary

Personal Professional Assessment #2

In week two and three of field experience I felt that I made substantial gains
in achieving my goals. I will still strive to improve in these areas as I know that being
a teacher means I am a lifelong learner. In the past two weeks I began to connect
many of the students with their names (quite the task as I see approximately 168
students in a day). This helped a lot for classroom management as I was able to use
name cues to quiet students and keep them on task as well as to identify which
students I should be keeping a closer eye on. I also made an effort to circulate
throughout the classroom so all students feel my presence and are encouraged to
focus. Furthermore, I tried to maintain eye contact with students and refrain from
keeping my back to the majority of them (there is a higher chance that students will
behave if they feel they are being watched).
As for time management and organization I made sure my lessons were done
ahead of time so I could do a run-through at home to make sure my timing was
adequate. I made sure the photocopying that I needed was done prior so the
students never had to wait on me. Part of organization is keeping your students
organized as well, making sure they know what homework is due and what
quizzes/tests they have coming up. I made sure to remind students several times of
upcoming events and posted them on their D2L shell as well. I realized over these
past two weeks that it is important to mark efficiently and hand back assignments,
etc. as quickly as possible so I can keep track of them easier. For me, a large part of
time management has been knowing when classes are beginning and ending and so,
like my partner teacher, I have set silent alarms on my phone to alert me.

Personal Professional Assessment #2

As the weeks go by I feel my teacher presence has increased. Students are

asking me more and more questions as they come to know me. I have also made an
effort to build relationships with other staff. I played in all of the student vs. teacher
volleyball games and plan to do so when I return next semester for basketball.
Additionally, I helped out other teachers in the school; taking photos around the
school for Ms. Fong, doing photocopying for Ms. Belgrave, and helping out Mrs. Mein
for drop-in basketball. Also, I am beginning to tutor/help a student after class on
Wednesdays.

My perspective on teaching and learning has definitely changed. Through the

teaching side of it I am finding out just how time consuming it really is. In week
three I created three lessons on symmetry using PowerPoint which took much
longer than it did to present to them in class, but I believe that the time spent did
help the students because they were able to see the symmetry through movement
(Ill attach one of the PowerPoints for you to see if you like). For my perspective on
learning I have encountered many students and their different learning needs. For
example, I have one student in grade 8 who has trouble dividing so I did a visual
example with him. I drew 10 dots and said, How many groups of 2 can I make? I
then proceeded to group the dots inside circles; I eventually ended up with 5
groups. I explained to the student that we divided the 10 into groups of 2 and got
!"

an answer of 5 (equivalent to ! = 5). This seemed to make sense for the student. I
also found that the students who need the help may not always ask for it and so I
tried to make sure to inquire with every student how things are going.

Personal Professional Assessment #2

The pedagogical relationships that I am building with students and staff are

vital. Students must see me as a teacher and staff should see me as a part of their
team. For students I must be sure not to break the barrier between teacher and
friend, which many teachers have told me. All of my social media settings are set to
private so no student can view them. In week three I had one student try and add
me on Instagram, which I made sure not to accept. As for staff, I try to help out with
anything I can such as taking photos, helping with sports, photocopying, and food
orders, which they really appreciate considering their busy schedules.

The future goals that I have set for myself are again classroom management,

teacher presence and time management. I believe that managing my time will
become very important as the load gets heavier and I continue to take on teaching a
larger percentage of the day. Ill be adding the goal of remembering more of the
students names and who they are. This relates to an additional goal of improving
my questioning/cueing techniques (prompting them with their name and selecting
students who dont always raise their hand).