Artifact #4- Fieldwork Formal Reflection (Placement 1)

Overview

I have included this artifact as it is a very important from of self-reflection and self-

reflection is a very important stage of learning at the graduate level. A self-reflection also acts as

a journal and it is nice to look back at the experience which sparks such wonderful memories. I

started off with writing about how the students and staff of the school accepted me right from the

beginning. I had the other grade two teachers saying that they wished that I was in their

classroom and felt that I was mature and confident in my instruction. I had asked the principal to

sit in on a lesson as well, and she said that I did a very good job. This made me very happy to

hear.

I felt that this reflection was important to include but im not sure how many standards I can

apply to it. Below I will list the standards that I can apply and for the standards that I can’t, I

will list as N/A

Connection to Standards

INSTAC Standards

The INSTAC standards include 10 standards that relate to the teaching profession. For

this artifact, I would like to attach Standard #10- Leadership and Collaboration, which states,

“The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for

student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals,

and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the profession”. I would like

to include 10(a) “The teacher takes an active role on the instructional team, giving and receiving

feedback on practice, examining learner work, analyzing data from multiple sources, and sharing
responsibility for decision making and accountability for each student’s learning” and 10(o) The

teacher knows how to contribute to a common culture that supports high expectations for student

learning” (INSTAC). I feel that these standards cover my overall experience of working in the

classroom with students, my associate teacher, other teachers, administration and parents. At the

beginning of my placement, I sent out videotaping permission forms, along with a welcome

message that I used to introduce myself to parents. In my message, I thanked the parents for

allowing me the opportunity to work with their children and let them know that I would treat

their children with respect, care and integrity.

NYS Code of Ethics for Educators

The NYS Code of Ethics for Educators is a very important set of standards for educators

to follow. These standards are broken down into 6 principles, and for the purpose of this artifact,

I would like to attach principle #4, which states, “Principle 4 Educators collaborate with

colleagues and other professionals in the interest of student learning. Educators encourage and

support their colleagues to build and maintain high standards. They participate in decisions

regarding curriculum, instruction and assessment designs, and they share responsibility for the

governance of schools. They cooperate with community agencies in using resources and building

comprehensive services in support of students. Educators respect fellow professionals and

believe that all have the right to teach and learn in a professional and supportive environment.

They participate in the preparation and induction of new educators and in professional

development for all staff” (highered). By using this principle, I can prove that I worked with

other educators to make decisions with the curriculum, instruction and assessment designs and

support of students. I worked with a number of school staff on these decisions, including, my

associate teacher, my supervisor and other grade 2 teachers to co-teach and plan instruction. I
created a number of lessons and shared those lessons with other grade 2 teachers to use in their

classroom.

Ontario Teacher Ethical Standards

The Ontario Teacher Ethical Standards are standards that are used by educators in

Ontario. For the purpose of this assignment, I would like to attach the standard of Trust, which

states, “The ethical standard of Trust embodies fairness, openness and honesty. Members'

professional relationships with students, colleagues, parents, guardians and the public are based

on trust. This standard is extremely important as you are asking for the trust of students and

parents. Trust is important in the field of education as children are very presious and you want to

make sure that they are very well taken care of.

CAEP Standards

The CAEP Standards are very important to the field of they account for new teachers and

the role they will play in the classroom. These standards are broken down into 5 standards, and

for the purpose of this artifact, I would like to include Standard 1,-Content and Pedagogical

knowledge which states, “The provider ensures that candidates develop a deep understanding of

the critical concepts and principles of their discipline and, by completion, are able to use

discipline-specific practices flexibly to advance the learning of all students toward attainment of

college- and career-readiness standards” (caep). This standard is important to new teachers as

they are required to know the content and pledge to help students become ready for college and

career readiness.
 ISTE Standards

The ISTE standards include 7 standards for educators. For the purpose of this artifact, I

would like to include standard 2-Leader, which states, “Educators seek out opportunities for

leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning.

Educators” (iste). I have included this standard as I as a soon to be educator, am required to

prove my leadership role to not only students in my classroom but to the entire school staff. I am

responsible to empower my students through boosting their confidence, which comes from

confidence of themselves and their academics.

ILA Standards

The ILA standards are broken down into 7 important standards. For the purpose of this

artifact, I would like to include, Standard #6- Professional Learning and Leadership. This

standard states, “Educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support student

empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning” (ila). This standard fits well

with my overall reflection as I will be in a leadership role and I will do my best to empower

students and improve my teaching and learning through professional development and leadership

opportunities.

CEC Standards

The CEC standards are broken down in 12 standards and for the purpose of this artifact, I

would like to include standard #5, which states, “Developing relationships with families based

on mutual respect and actively involving families and individuals with exceptionalities in

educational decision making” (cec). I believe that it is very important to develop and maintain a
working relationship with students and their families. The families of students need to know

what is going on in the classroom and there is no better way to do so then communication. In my

classroom, I plan on communicating by way of agenda use and I plan on creating a website so

that the families will be able to be a part of their child’s learning.

 Holly Neil-Buchan

Placement One

St. Marguerite d’Youville Catholic Elementary School

Grade Two

My placement with St. Marguerite d’Youville was a very positive learning experience. I had the

opportunity to teach a grade two classroom of very smart and wonderful boys and girls. My biggest

success as a classroom teacher throughout this placement was the confidence that I acquired. I came
into placement not knowing what to expect and after eight weeks, I left placement with the confidence

that I will be a great primary teacher. I owe my success to my associate teacher, students and my

supervisor. My associate teacher allowed me to make my own decisions in lesson planning, but helped

guide me with her experience on how to efficiently instruct her classroom. It wasn’t just my associate

teacher who had faith in me; it was all of the primary (grade two) teachers who saw that I had what it

took. I started teaching in my first week and received comments like “She’s a good one” or “You have

nothing to worry about”. These comments really helped my confidence. The students showed me the

utmost respect, which allowed me to focus on teaching as opposed to classroom management. My

associate teacher had a very well established set of rules in her classroom. In the beginning, I had the

students complete a worksheet that taught me the classroom rules. I referred to these completed

worksheets all through placement to help me manage the classroom behaviors. My supervisor was very

helpful. When I submitted my lesson plans to her, I expected them to be completely revised. When she

returned them with only a few suggestions; this allowed me to be more confident with my planning.

I would say that my biggest challenge was to get some students motivated to start writing. I had

a student who was always needing motivation and I would sit down with him after each lesson to pick

his brain for ideas. I started to write his ideas down on a whiteboard (scribe) and together we would get

his work done. During a math quiz, I saw that he could complete the double digit addition questions.

When he got to the problem solving, I noticed that he became off task. I realized that he needed

assistance in reading the problem in order to complete the addition within the problem. I asked the

teacher if I could help and she allowed me too. Once I explained to just focus on the addition and not

the words, I saw his eyes light up. If it wasn’t a quiz, I would have helped him with the words. When I

asked him what his grade was, he gave me a big smile and showed me that he received an 82% (which I

already knew because I had marked the quizzes). This little boy’s smile of confidence made my heart

melt.
 My associate teacher used a couple classroom management strategies that I will use in my own

class. When it was time for snack/recess, my associate teacher would call one group at a time to wash

up in the washroom. I found this to be extremely effective, as it allows for less chaos in the hallways. It

also allows the teacher to know where her students are at this transitional time. When the students

became chatty, my associate teacher would say “hands on top” and students would respond with “that

means stop”. This worked like a charm every time! I would use this during lessons but mostly when

beginning a new lesson.

For my procedural writing unit, I used the students’ personal experience with attending a

birthday party to spark their interest in the lesson. I asked the students about birthday parties that they

have attended and how birthdays were celebrated in different cultures. The students loved sharing

their experiences with the class. This also helped us to create a graphic organizer for our writing prompt

on planning a birthday party. I believe that when students have the opportunity to share their

experiences, it motivates them to start writing right away.

Throughout my placement, I had the opportunity to use many different types of technology to

help deliver my lessons. I used the document camera regularly to show students the worksheet and

give examples prior to assigning the work. During the planning of my math unit, we had a math

specialist come in to help teach the students a new program. This program can be found at

www.glencoe.com. Once I learned how to use the program, I used it to help deliver my 2-digit addition

lesson. I used the internet which was connected to the smartboard to show students how to use base

ten blocks. I would ask a volunteer to come up to the smartboard to show a number (for example 37)

using the base ten blocks. I would have another volunteer come up to show another 2-digit number (for

example 20) using the base ten blocks. Finally, using the base ten blocks on the smartboard, we would

come up with our addition sentence. Students would then have the opportunity to use this program on

their iPad.
 In the beginning of my placement, I participated in the ancillary duty of attending a Student

Resources Team meeting (SRT). My associate teacher was calling up a number of students for IEP’s. The

team gathered at the lunch hour to discuss the student’s grades and determine the goals that needed to

help the student succeed. This meeting allowed me the opportunity to see first-hand what the early

stages of an IEP planning stage consists of.

In order to better prepare myself for the next placement, I will ask my associate teacher what

units I will be responsible for teaching. I would have liked to have a little more time to learn the content

that was needed to be taught in my unit. This would also help me with time management.