STANDARD 9

Title: Student Teaching Evaluation Date: Spring 2014 Artifact Description: During the spring semester of 2014, I did my student teaching with Dave Dixon at Washington Park High School. I taught classes such as Power Systems, Automotive Capstone, Automotive Technician 1, and Automotive Technician 2. Most of my classes had 12-15 students. Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment: I believe that this experience best aligns with standard nine of the Wisconsin Teacher Development and Licensure Standards, 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." As a teacher it is important to evaluate yourself and reflect on the things that you do in the classroom. My cooperating teacher and I sat down on a daily basis to talk about how I thought I was doing, as well as how he thought I was doing. This was extremely helpful because I got feedback on my teaching and was then able to improve my lessons and my teaching style. One of the evaluation criteria was how I interacted with students, parents and others in the community. Through my student teaching experience I learned that an easy way to evaluate how well the material being taught is understood by the students is to give them an assessment. I like to use formative assessment before I present my lesson so I can gauge my students depth of knowledge as well as throughout my lesson to gauge their understanding of the material. After my lessons I will use a summative assessment to gauge my students knowledge gain from start to finish. These assessment techniques are a good way to evaluate myself because if the students all got the same questions wrong or show confusion during lecture or lab then it means that the material was not covered in enough detail or was missed completely. While student teaching I would sit down after my lesson and reflect on how I thought it went so the next time I presented the lesson I could make changes that would help my students. This reflection is important to provide my students with the best possible learning environment. Everything that goes on in the classroom will be shared with the parents of my students and also with members of the community. The other teachers in the department are also aware of what is happening in my classroom because they work alongside of me and teach the same students. Each action an educator makes needs to be carefully planned so no mistakes are made. Conferences and seminars are a great way to grow professionally as an educator. I have attended the Wisconsin Technology Education Association Conference, and plan to attend yearly to learn new techniques and projects that I can use in my classroom in the future.

UW-Platteville School of Education Knowledge, Skill, Disposition Statement Alignment: This experience best aligns with KSD4.a. of the UWP Knowledge, Skill and Disposition Statement, 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." I believe this experience best aligns with this KSD because I reflected on a daily basis on what went well and what needed to be changed for the next time. Another way I can judge my teaching effectiveness is by looking at test scores. By looking at these scores I can see what material needs to be clarified with the students and what I need to cover more thoroughly in the future. It is also helpful to get verbal feedback from the students because they may have ideas on how the information could be presented better, whether it is slowing down while presenting the material, or just presenting the material another way. I believe that self-reflection is vital to becoming a successful educator.

Secondary Alignment: KSD4.e: Grows and Develops Professionally What I learned about teaching/learning:

I learned that teachers are constantly learning by reflecting on their lessons and teaching style. By constantly reflecting on my lessons and actions I can improve my teaching and provide a better learning experience for my students. By improving my students learning experience I am able to have students more interested in my classes, better prepare my students for the future, and improve the learning environment. Students are the ones who ultimately decide if the teacher is doing a good job or not because they are the ones having the material presented to them and are influenced by everything the teacher does.

What I learned about myself as a prospective educator:

I learned that educators should evaluate themselves after each class. This way the details and the experience remain fresh in your memory, and you are able to effectively evaluate your teaching. I know that by doing self-reflections I will be able to improve my teaching as well as my classroom environment.