Running head: REFLECTIVE PLANNING AND INSTRUCTION

ReflectivePlanningandInstruction
Victoria Edwards
Regent University

InpartialfulfillmentofUED495FieldExperienceePortfolio,Spring2015

Introduction
Reflection is a huge part of life and it is important to reflect to
grow in life and in skills. Reflection planning and instruction is
important. Everyday a teacher should reflect on the day what went
well, what did not go well and what can be done better. During my
student teaching experience I learned how importance reflection really
is. Every week I had to write about my strengths and weaknesses to
know what I needed to work on. For my competencies I choose an
observation report and I chose a pre and post assessment with the
grades. In addition to the pre and post assessment I also included an
assessment I used during reading groups to see what the student
needed help with for reading. Both competencies were important for
my reflection in grading and teaching. My professors taught me the
importance of reflection and how it relates to teaching and my faith
and I reflected and used reflective planning throughout my student
teaching experience.
Rationale for Selection of Artifacts
The two artifacts chose to showcase my reflective planning and instruction
competency where a observation report from my director of student teaching and a pre
and post assessment with the grades of the students. Both artifacts are key for reflective
planning and instruction. The observation report is important because I took my director
of student teachers advice to heart and really worked on the areas she told me I needed to
work on. In addition to her advice and I also did weekly evaluations with my cooperating

teacher. The reason I chose to use an observation report from the director of student
teacher is because she gave me more feedback and advice; so I was able to really grasp
what I needed to work on and reflect on how to fix the problems that occurred during my
lesson. That is what is important about reflective planning it helps you to get better and
better with each lesson. Without reflection I would have stayed stagnant and not grown in
my abilities.
The second artifact was a pre assessment and a post assessment that I used for a
unit on Mali. I also included a post assessment on governments. In addition, I included
the grades of my students on both assessments. The pre-assessment was also a post
assessment it was on the on the economics of Mali. I knew from a previous lesson that
they had a basic idea of what natural resources, human resources and capital resources
was, but they did not know they specifics as it related to Mali. From the pre assessment
knew they needed to learn the economics of Mali. First, I new that they had never learned
about Mali based off the Virginia standards of learning. Second they were not able to do
the pre assessment without me help, so we had to do it as a class. After teaching I gave it
to them again and a majority of the students got an AP for a grade (means that they
missed 0) the most of the rest of the class got P for a grade( means that they only got a
few wrong) and one student got a DP( means the student got at least half wrong and
needs remediation). The results showed me that I did not need to teach it again, but
needed to work with the one student who got the DP.
The post assessment on governments was a success the whole class got Ps on their
assessment, which meant that I did not need to reteach because they understood the
material. Using assessments helps in reflective planning to see what the students did or

did not understand both of these assessments showed that the material did not need to be
retaught.
Lastly I included an example of my reading group assessment sheet. This sheet
helped me gauge where the students were struggling and doing well in and reading. I
would take this information to plan a reading group activity for them in the future.
All of these artifacts show reflective planning and instruction. The assessments
helped me decided if the information needed to be retaught and my observation report
helped me reflect on my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher.
ReflectiononTheoryandPractice
Reflectionisanimportantpartofbeingateacherandanimportantpartofmy
faith.Thisissomethingthatmyprofessortaughtmethroughoutmyteachingcourses.I
havelearnedthatreflectiveplanningandinstructionisimportantbecauseithelpedmeto
growmyskillsandfindoutwhatmystudentsneedwere.Iusedassessmentstoseewhat
thestudentslearnedandIusedtheresultstodetermineifalessonneededtoberetaught
inanewwayorifitdidnotneedtoberetaught.Ilearnedwhatanassessmentwasfrom
myprofessorsandhowtousethem.Assessmentmeansgatheringinformationabout
individualstudentslevelofperformanceorachievement(Partine,2003,p.112).Iused
myobservationreportstoreflectontheskillsthatIneededtobebetterandIworkedon
them.AsaresultIgrewintheareasthatIwasweakerin.SomethingelseIlearnedfrom
myprofessorwastheimportanceofreflectioninmyownfaith.Livinginthepastisnot
good,butreflectingonwhereIcamefromandwhereGodhastakenmefromisgood.It
isimportanttoreflectonthemistakesyouhavemadeanduseittakemakebetter
decisionsinthefuture.Mystrengthsinreflectionistakingmymistakesandmaking

changes.MyweaknessisthatIdonotalwaysreflectonmyown.Iusethecooperating
teachersadvicetoreflect,butIhaveahardtimejournalingandreflectingonmyown
sometimes.IngeneralIfeelconfidentinmyabilitytousereflectiveplanningand
instructioninthefutureandtakingmyexperiencesandeducationtobeagreatteacher.

Reference
Partine, R. L. (2003). Classroom Teacher's Survival Guide. Hoboken, NJ, U.S.: John
Wiley and Sons.