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Sophia Palajac
Dr. Brondyk
EDUC 310-01
10 December 2019
Elements of Effective Teaching Checklist
A. Engaged Students in the Content
During my second lesson I gave a group of first graders a mini math lesson. To get the students
excited about the lesson I decided to start with a game which I called “Finger Cards”. This game
was a matching game and required the students to practice being able to recognize the numbers
between one through ten. By playing this game the students were unaware that this game was
enforcing a math concept and they were instead focused on finding matches. Also by scheduling
this game as the entryway into my lesson the students were able to remain fully engaged
throughout my entire lesson. With this said, the students were able to see the subject of math in a
new kind of light. In this new light all the students gained a new appreciation for math and began
to see it less as a chore but more as a task they had control over.

B. Designed a Rigorous Task that Required Students to Engaged In, Thinking Deeply
About, and Make Sense of their Ideas
Each week the students are given a new set of spelling words. These spellings words are selected
specifically for each student based on the assessment my mentor teacher had given them at the
beginning of the year. Based on those results my mentor teacher determined which set of spelling
words she should give to each of her student. At the beginning of each week the students in my
class given their new set of spelling words and at the end of the week the students are tested on
them. During the middle of week while I am at my placement my mentor teacher has me work
with the students on their new words. She asks me to have each student sort their words and tells
me to read the words out loud. After the second week my mentor teacher had given this test I
decided to make this task more rigorous for the students. I not only asked them to sort their
words and read them out loud to me but to also put them in alphabetical order. A week after that
I decided to make this same task even more rigorous and engaging for the students by requiring
them to choose two of their spelling words and to create a sentence out of them. At first, I
thought the students would think this was too challenging for them and that they would find it
“boring”. However, to my own surprise they actually had fun with it and some even decided to
create a sentence with more than just two of their words. The purpose of having them do this was
to get the students thinking deeply about the words and to help them make sense of what their
words mean.

C. Helped Students Develop Twenty-First Century Skills

Problem solving; Student came up and did not know what they should do next. Instead, of
helping the students I told them that I was sorry and that they needed to find a way to solve that
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problem all on their own. After about five minutes I went back to that same student to see if they
found something to do. The student discovered that they had their landform poster needed to be
colored with color pencil, by the time I got back to them they were already picking out an
assortment of color pencils from the color pencil bin. The student was able to solve their own
problems and did not need to rely on others to help them. Not only did the student develop and
grow their problem solving abilities but they also showed themselves that they were more than
capable of solving the problem all on their own. In other words, the students were able to prove
and show themselves that they could function independently. Overall, learning how to problem
solve and find solutions to problems all on their own are all crucial skills to have especially in
today’s twenty-first century world.

D. Made Connections that Fostered Deeper Learning

For my first lesson I taught a whole group science lesson on the subject of seeds. Before giving
this lesson I knew that the students had just finished learning about plant photosynthesis and
about the different parts of a plant. When planning for my lesson I kept this information in mind
and began my lesson with questions that required them to think back to those lessons. For
example, I asked them the following questions: “What do plant produce? And why is this
important?” and “What stands as the foundation for all plants?” By asking these kinds of
questions the students were able to tell me that plants produce oxygen which is crucial for all
living things to have. Through my second question the students were able to tell me that seeds
are the foundations to all plants and that they are needed for plants to grow. These responses that
the students gave, provided a foundation to my lesson. The students were able to realize that this
new science lesson will build on those past lessons. Overall, these connections also made the
students feel good about themselves because they had prior background knowledge about the
science concept we would be focusing on.

E. Promoted a Growth Mindset

During the fourth week at my placement the students were given the following writing
assignment; to write about a time in their lives they had overcome something. My mentor teacher
provided the students with a booklet which outlined all the key elements to good pieces of
writing. By doing this my mentor teacher wanted her students to practice creating a distinct
beginning, middle, and end to their stories. While the students were working on this task one of
the second grade students stopped me and told me that “they could not do this!” This student
appeared to be both frustrated and overwhelmed with the task therefore, I decided to sit down
and help them. At this time, I realized that this was a perfect opportunity for me to alter the
students mindset from being fixed to growth. To do this I looked for ways I could encourage the
student to view challenging task, like this one, as a chance to improve skills and understanding. I
told the students that through tasks like these it is important to remain positive and optimistic. I
encouraged the student to use the booklet that my mentor teacher had supplied them with and
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that by doing so writing their story would be much easier. I mentioned to them that this writing
assignment provided them the perfect opportunity to try some of the writing strategies we have
been learning about in class. Overall, by having the students see this task differently they started
to change their mindset and were able to complete the writing assignment.

F. Encouraged Students to Make Their Thinking Visible Through Discussion or

Writing
Everyday the students at my placement are assigned a total of six math problems for which they
are asked to complete during “Work Cycle”. During the ninth week at my placement I noticed
that one of the students were struggling through their daily six math problems. Instead of doing
their work they chose to stare blankly at one of the classroom walls and choose to avoid working.
After a good five minutes I noticed that the student had not made any progress and therefore, I
decided to sit down and help them. First, I asked the students what they were working on and
then I asked them if they needed help. The student said that they did and so then I asked them
what could I do to help them. The student shrugged their shoulders so then I took control of the
situation and quickly grabbed a dry erase board and marker. On this board I wrote out the
problem the student was working on. The problem was a subtraction problem which required the
students to borrow from the next place value over. After I wrote the problem down I handed the
marker over to the student and asked them to work through the problem out loud. This task got
the student very excited and they even jumped out of their chair. Using the dry erase board
encouraged the student to think through the problem differently and they were able to make their
thinking visible. Overall, the dry erase board helped the students be able to work through all six
math problems and get through other work that they had.

G. Used Data to Inform My Teaching

This semester I have been fortunate to have a mentor teacher who has allowed me to teach a
wide range of lessons and activities. With this control I have been able to make informed
decisions about how I have chosen to approach those lessons based on the data I have collected.
For example, during my seventh week at my placement my mentor teacher had asked me to
teach a third grade lesson on Roman Numerals. She told me that I could choose if I wanted to
take all the third graders at once or just take a few of them at a time. To make this decision I
decided to rely upon the data I have collected on those third grade students. With this data I
knew that it would be best to just take a few of them at a time. By doing this I was able to
differentiate my instructions and therefore, met every student instructional needs. The data that I
have been collecting has been based on student interactions and responses from prior lessons.
From these lessons I have been able to determine which students work well with one another and
which one do not. Also I have been able to identify which one of the third grade students could
use more individualized attention from me the teacher. With this all said I decided to split the
third graders up into two different groups. In both of those groups there were a total of three
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students and of those students they were each selected by me. Beside these two groups I also
chose to work with one of the third graders all by themselves. I did this because this particular
student tends to get frustrated with lessons especially when they are in a large group. I have
found that by working with this student individually they have been more successful at meeting
the lesson objectives. The student does not feel pressure from their peers and feel like they need
to rush and get the right answer. Instead, the student is able to take their time, process their ideas
out loud, and ask me any types of questions they may have.