Artifact Reflection

Title of Artifact: Practicum Education Portfolio

Date Completed: January 2016
Artifact Description
The artifact is my practicum educational portfolio, reflecting on my teaching experiences as they apply to the
state standards.
Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment
The artifact best aligns with standard 9, Reflection: Teachers are able to evaluate themselves, which states,
The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his or her choices and actions
on pupils, parents, professionals in the learning community and others and who actively seeks out opportunities
to grow professionally.
The artifact best aligns with the stated standard because the portfolio is a collection of reflections from teaching
experiences. Within each reflection, I evaluate my teaching skills and abilities as they apply to each standard
and each experience. For example:
The standard 3 reflection represents diversity and my ability to work with a diverse audience. I was able to
explain and reflect on my work with a student with a disability. Through my adaption of instruction, I was able
to find a strategy that allowed my students to comprehend reading. My ability to adapt allowed the student to
take steps toward success.
The portfolio is a continuous reflection, updated frequently to include new experiences or readjust old
reflections based on my growth as a teacher.
UWP Knowledge, Skill, Disposition Statement Alignment
The artifact best aligns with KSD4.a, Reflects on teaching, which states The candidate makes an accurate and
thoughtful reflection of his/her teaching effectiveness, is aware of specific elements of his/her teaching that
contributed to successful instruction, and can offer alternative teacher action to predict the future successes of
alternate approaches.
The artifact best aligns with the standard because I am able to accurately reflect on my experiences as a teacher.
In my reflections I can express when I had a situation that worked well and point out the reasons for the success.
For example, when tutoring a student with a cognitive disability, I was able to adjust my instruction to help a
student comprehend when he was really struggling to do so. I know that not every student will find success in
the same instruction and that it is my responsibility as a teacher to be able to find things that work for different
students. Perhaps some students are more visual learners than hands on, while some may be more successful at
hands on learning rather than audial learning. When we see that something is not working, it is our job to find a
way that does work so that our students can have the best learning experience we can offer them.
Secondary Alignment:
1. KSD4.e Grows and develops professionally
What I learned about teaching/learning from this experience:
I learned that it is very important for us, as teachers, to reflect on and assess our experiences. In doing so, we
can see where we succeeded and also where we can improve our teaching styles and strategies. The process of
reflecting allows us to grow as teachers because if something did not work so well, we can think of better ways
to adjust and improve our instruction. I find it very beneficial that every time I present a lesson plan, I
immediately write down a few notes about how I could have improved the lesson or what worked really well.
By doing this, we put ourselves in a position to offer our students the best instruction that we are able to offer.

What I learned about myself as a prospective educator as a result of this experience/artifact:

The portfolio reflection taught me that it really is important to reflect on our experiences as a teacher. It is one
of the tools I can use to become better teachers and in teaching it is very important to improve and grown. The
reflection process has given me confidence in my abilities to adapt to different students and to create
instruction. Ive learned that it may take a few times to get something perfect, but that I need to keep my
confidence and follow through to make it perfect for the students. Reflecting is not an easy process, we need to
look at both the good and the bad but in the end we will be much better teachers for doing it.