PDP+Goals

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=Goal 1= education in an open, pluralistic and caring society; determine the content, methods and institutional arrangements that are relevant, worthwhile and appropriate for the education of children; have a personal vision of what one can achieve as an educator; understand how schooling and other institutions influence students.**
 * The development of a clear, coherent and justified view of education that enables one to: understand the place of

-During my 405 practicum I had the opportunity to share a number of resources with my SAs as well as with other members of the departments that I was a part of. On one occasion another science teacher heard students talking about a game of jeopardy that we had played for a review session. The enthusiasm that these students had while talking about the game prompted my colleague to ask if he could use the game I had made with his class in the next block. I was excited to hear that he wanted to change what he had planned in order to use an activity that I had created. About a month later the same teacher asked me if I had made another version of the game for the next unit. He explained that his students had been begging him to use the game again as it had helped them to prepare for the test.

-As I have progressed through my practicum I have taken time to reflect on and reevaluate my educational beliefs. I have posted a number of these revisions on this site. Belief Statements

-Katie McElgunn-Jonas and I had regular daily meetings to discuss the successes that we were having as well as to collaborate on the challenges that we were facing in our classes. These daily meetings were of infinite value and at times were the source of some of my most significant reflections

=Goal 2=
 * The development of a clear commitment to: respect students as persons with varied interests, backgrounds, points of view, plans,goals and aspirations; care about students and their individual development, uphold standards of excellence inherent in various forms of inquiry; uphold the principles that ought to govern a civilized, democratic and pluralistic community; establish and maintain ethical working relationships with all members of the educational community.**

-In my lessons I tried to use a variety of approaches to teaching in order to appeal to a variety of learning styles and multiple intelligences. In my Science 9 class I spent two classes teaching the process of protein synthesis. For this topic I provided students with notes, watched an animated video, assigned students different roles and had them act out the process, read a fairy tale about the topic and provided a worksheet and practice problems for the students to assess their understanding.

-On my last day of my practicum I had a meeting with one of my students as well as her counselor and the marathon program (for students who demonstrate challenging behaviours) coordinator. This meeting was called to discuss the mark that I had assigned this student for the term. During this meeting we discussed how I had assessed the students and why this particular student had been earned the grade that they had. In making my final decision about her mark I asked for the professional guidance of both of my colleagues and considered the points that were presented by both the student as well as the counselor and marathon coordinator.

-I had a number of meeting with the principle of my school to discuss current methods of assessment and how we can use the practice of backwards planning in order to maximize student understanding.

=**Goal 3**=
 * The development of clear commitment to lifelong learning manifest in: openness to alternatives and possibilities; reflective practice; engagement in dialogue and collaboration with colleagues, students, parents and others in the educational community; ability to form and reform ideas, methods, techniques; setting an example to students; stimulating students to be continuous learners.**

-During my practicum semesters I attended a number of workshops on social justice, collaborative learning and gymnastics. I was able to take the lessons that I learned in these workshops and apply them to my teaching and planning. I also attended a workshop on technology in the classroom. During this workshop I learned how to create a [|wikispace] that I used for two of my classes.

-As part of my reflective practice I have written a series of reflective journal entries on my progress and experiences. An assortment of these reflections can be found at here.

-Where ever possible I tried to make my lessons interactive and fun. The following attachment is a feedback form that I received from one of my students. . One of the activities that many of my students had a blast with was creating models of the cell out of jello and candy. Many of the students also enjoyed acting out some of the processes seen in cells.

-I made myself available to my students before school and on my prep block and lunch so that students could get additional help as they needed it. Through my wikispace I also responded to questions that students had on weekends and in the evening.

=**Goal 4**=


 * The development of ability to create opportunities for learning that are: engaging and imaginative; significant and relevant to pupils’ educational development; intellectually challenging; sensitive to issues of social equity and cultural diversity; appropriate to building habits of sound thinking; responsive to students’ individual learning needs; reflective of growing understanding of what goes on in the classroom; consonant with learning goals.**

-I feel that the following feed back form from one of my students nicely demonstrates the contagious enthusiasm that I brought to my classes each day.

-During my practicum I made a mistake or two but was quick to acknowledge these mistakes and take responsibility for them. I had one of my students tell me that they felt more comfortable in my class because I was not afraid to make mistakes and this made them take risks knowing that they would be supported.

-As mentioned earlier I had a number of seminars with the principle of my school and during these meeting I acquired professional literature that reinforced the discussions that we had.

-Attached is a form that I adapted to use with one of my classes in preparation for a unit test.

=**Goal 5**=
 * The development of ability to put educationally sound curriculum ideas into practice in well-organized ways.**

-The following is an excerpt from my 405 final Doug was in regular communication with me, with other teachers in the science department and with staff in the Learning Resource Center. The topics and issues that Doug and I discussed reflected his interest and desire to continue to develop as a teacher and to ensure that his learning methods benefited student learning as possible. For example, we spent time discussing ways that he could utilize different levels of questioning in order to increase the level of student interactions during more traditional teaching methods, such as note-taking. And whenever we discussed various strategies which he could use to improve student learning or whenever he received feedback or suggestions, Doug would immediately implement these new strategies into his lessons. Doug is also extremely reflective of his teaching. Often times, he would be able to tell me what changes or improvements he would make the next time he taught the same lesson before I mentioned the suggestions to him. As a result of being reflective and open to feedback, Doug quickly excelled and became a very strong, effective teacher.

-I believe that it is essential to assess prior knowledge at the start of each new unit. At the start of each unit I had my students take participate in either a think-pair-share activity or a class brainstorming activity. I took the topics that were presented in these activities and built my subsequent lessons off of this foundation of knowledge. I also took the information that was given to me by the students to find ways of connecting the course content to areas of interest for them. One of the topics that came up in my biology 11 class was renewable energy sources, this became a recurring theme throughout the term and we looked a number of different research projects that are currently underway.

=**Goal 6**=
 * The development of knowledge about: teaching subjects; how individuals and groups of students learn; evaluation practices.**

-Another final excerpt

Doug was also extremely effective incorporating current world events into what he was teaching about. Whether it was incorporating the recent landing of a meteorite to explain how genetic drift occurs or using the topic of renewable resources when discussing bacteria and algae, Doug ensured that he connected what the students were learning about to the world they live in. In addition, the background information that Doug used to supplement the course content was extremely extensive, interesting and informative. There was no doubt that Doug was not only knowledgeable about what he taught but also that he clearly had a passion for the subject matter that he taught about. In addition, Doug was very knowledgeable about a variety of different learning methods and was respectful of the fact that he had a wide diversity of learners in his class. As a result, his lessons contained a healthy balance of some teacher-centered activities combined with many student-centered activities.

=**Goal 7**=
 * The development of ability to be a thoughtful and sensitive observer of what goes on in the classroom.**

-I dedicated the beginning of each of my classes to discussing how students were doing and what activities they had coming up outside of our class. I found that this helped me to relate to my students and understand where they were at mentally and emotionally on any given day. This also allowed me to freate lessons that related to their personal interests and activities

-One of my major goals throughout my final practicum was to increase the number of questions that I was asking during teacher-centered instruction. As my skill in this area improved I found that the enthusiasm that my students showed in the lessons increased dramatically.

-After giving instructions I checked for understanding using a variety of methods from a show of fingers to indicate the level of clarity that each student had to having students paraphrase the instructions and expectations.

=**Goal 8**=
 * The development of ability to use evaluation and assessment practices that: use evaluative data as a means of furthering studentlearning; appreciate the subjectivity of evaluation; make use of varied practices that are congruent with learning goals; respect the dignity of each learner; show understanding of the moral implications of evaluation and assessment practices; promote self assessment.**

-More from the final! = = Doug ensured that his learning methods were inclusive to the diversity of learners that he had in this class. For example, he had several students who had learning disabilities in writing. Whenever he gave notes, Doug posted these notes on his website. Therefore, these students, and any other students who had either not been able to write down all the notes in class or who were absent from class, could access the material after class. Since Doug also posted the daily summary for each class and the day’s homework, as well as other things such as the video clips he showed in class, the students were able to review what was going on in the course on their own time and at their own pace.

Homework was reviewed and when reviewing those questions, Doug always involved as many students as possible, asking them to contribute to answers. Their responses were always courteously accepted and complemented.

=**Goal 9**=
 * The development of ability to use classroom interactions that: show caring and respect for every student; encourage learners to clarify and examine their ideas; are authentic, unpretentious and honest; communicate openness, a tolerance for uncertainty, and appreciation of the spirit of inquiry.**



=**Goal 10**=
 * The development of appreciation for and skill in organizing harmonious working groups, and interpersonally sound working relationships among students.**

The following are the rules for the use of my website discussion pages, it is based on the same guidelines that govern my classrooms. Forum Rules

-Part way through my final practicum I created a seating plan for one of my classes. The arrangement of students in this plan was based on relationships that were evident, grouping students together based on complimentary skills and attributes, and physical location based on individual learning needs.

=**Goal 11**=
 * The development of ability to observe, understand and respond respectfully to students with different learning styles and learning difficulties**

The following is a lesson plan for the class on protein synthesis that was described earlier

=**Goal 12**=
 * The development of appreciation for and ability to be flexible about curriculum — recreating, re-inventing, re-constituting, and discarding practices that have been observed, upon reflection, to be inappropriate to individual and group learning needs.**

The following is a blank copy of the feedback form that all students were given to assist me in my professional growth