Alicia Hanson

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Course Reflection
My overall opinion of this course was that it was laid out in a clever way that
really let us focus and reflect on the core principles of effective teaching. The heart of
the course revolved around the Five Core Propositions of the NBPTS and each module
focused on one at a time, filled with relevant readings and discussion opportunities. Each
module then culminated in a main assignment related to each specific core proposition
and allowed us to reflect more deeply upon it. I thought this format was a great way for
us to really deconstruct and more thoroughly analyze the main components of what
makes good teaching.
The first component we tackled was reflecting on our own thoughts and beliefs
about the practice of teaching and writing our own teaching philosophy statements. I
thought this assignment was a good way to compare our own beliefs about teaching with
what we read about the five core propositions in Ellis Understanding National Board
Certification: A Guide for Teachers and Those Who Support Them (2012). This
assignment was connected to the fifth core proposition, which is teachers are members of
learning communities. Besides writing our own narratives of our educational ideas and
beliefs, we also had to read and critique each others work as part of this assignment. We
were collaborating on the aspects of good teaching and acting as a learning community.
The affects this assignment had on my practice as a teacher were primarily reflective. I
actually got a chance to sit down and put my teaching philosophy into words, which I

hadnt done before and I received good feedback from my classmates and professor that
helped me reflect further on my beliefs as an educator.
For the second component we had to work in groups to connect the themes and
ideas of 3 sets of standards in a concept map. After completing that we had to write our
own individual reflections of the common themes we identified and how they changed
our ideas of learning and teaching. In A Rich Seam by Michael Fullan and Maria
Langworthy, they outline three components that promote deep learning: learning
collaboration/partnerships between teachers and students, learning tasks that have a real
purpose and create new knowledge, and digital resources to enhance the deep learning
process (2014, p. 10). I believe this assignment connected to what was espoused in our
reading because we essentially practiced what we read: working collaboratively with
each other that was meaningful using digital resources like Popplet to enhance our
learning. This assignment was connected with the second core proposition, which is
teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students. This
assignment also connected to our teaching philosophy assignment because we had to
more deeply analyze and connect the core propositions and standards for our practice and
reflect on if anything changed our minds regarding our teaching philosophies. The
implications this assignment had on my practice was that I had the benefit of being in a
mini PLN with my social studies colleagues. Our collaboration on the standards map led
to insightful discussions and a deeper understanding of the different standards and core
propositions specifically related to our content area. This allowed me a deeper level of
reflection and professional growth.

The third component was related to the fourth core proposition, which is teachers
think systematically about their practice and learn from experience. For this module we
were required to watch a video of a content area specific lesson and write an analyzation
and reflection of what we saw. This activity very strongly related to the fourth core
proposition because we had to watch a lesson with analytical and reflective purpose, we
had to examine the strengths and weaknesses of that lesson and reflect on its outcomes.
All of these characteristics make up the fourth core proposition, as stated by Ellis in our
textbook (2012). This assignment was a good exercise in analyzing students and
effective learning environments and it helped prepare us for the following component,
which entailed creating a student case study. As for this assignments implications on my
practice, it was incredibly helpful to watch another teachers lesson and learn good
strategies from it. Since we watched content specific videos I got to see techniques that
are relevant to my classroom and it was a good resource for me to get lesson ideas from.
Component four revolved around the first core proposition, which is teachers are
committed to students and their learning. Our readings reinforced this concept and
focused on student motivation and voice, learning environments, and cultural influence
on student learning. In Round Holes, Square Pegs, Rocky Roads, and Sore Feet: The
Impact of Stage-Environment Fit on Young Adolescents Experiences in Schools and
Families, for example, we were introduced to the concept that student learning
environments should adjust and accommodate to the social needs of students as they
experience developmental, emotional and intellectual changes (Eccles, Lord, Roeser,
1996). Also, in the article But Thats Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally
Relevant Pedagogy by Gloria Ladson-Billings we came to understand that cultural

relevance is a teaching approach that utilizes student culture as a strength for fostering
academic success and motivation (1995). These concepts were relevant when it came
time to do our case study assignment, in which we had to interview and observe a student
who was different from us either culturally, linguistically, ethnically, or academically and
then analyze and reflect on the learning environment of the student in relation to what we
read. Again, this assignment was good scaffolding for our final module assignment,
which had us analyze the work completed by our case study students. The implications
this assignment had on my teaching practice was that it gave me excellent practice at
learning about my students and examining what kind of learning environment Im
creating for them. When you actually have to sit down and write out your analyzations of
your students and classroom environment it can help you notice things that definitely
need to be changed or things that are working really well.
Finally, component five focused on the third core proposition, which is teachers
are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning. While reading the article
Looking at Student Work for Teacher Learning, Teacher Community, and School Reform,
I was struck by the assertion that any student work on the table is also the teachers
work: it results from an assignment the teacher has given and reflects the fruits of the
teachers instruction (Little, Gearhart, Curry, Kafka, 2003, p. 191). This idea reinforces
the third core proposition and also directly relates to our assignment of analyzing student
work. For this assignment we had to design a lesson and adaptations for our case study
student and then collect and analyze the work they turned in after the lesson. During this
we had to analyze and reflect on how well they met the learning goals, and essentially we
had to reflect on what went well and what didnt in our instruction. Like the article

stated, our students work was a reflection of how well we implemented our instruction
and our analyzation of the work was an exercise in monitoring student learning. This was
also one of the main implications this assignment had on my teaching practice. It was a
very detailed examination of one of my lessons and how effective it was overall, as well
as how effective my adaptations were for my focus student. This assignment gave me a
great chance to take a more detailed look at my students learning, which was great
because a lot of the time grading can be a hectic mess when youre dealing with 100 plus
papers and you may not be as thorough as you should.
Overall, this course and the completion of all these components and assignments
has laid a very good foundation of knowledge for me in going forward with this masters
program. We had several writing assignments that focused on analyzing our practice,
combining our thoughts with evidence from various readings and videos, and reflecting
on each process. Through taking this course, Ive gained a deeper understanding of the
core propositions, exercised the practical application of effective teaching, and improved
in my analytical and reflection skills. I feel that this will definitely be an asset to me on
my journey through this program.