MSED ELEMENTARY PORTFOLIO PROJECT 4

Section One:
Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project

Introduction, Overview and Rationale

Ivan Welton Fitzwater once said, “The future of the world is in my classroom today”

(Kappu, 2017). This quote strongly resonates with me. I grew up in a Law Enforcement family

and from a very young age wanted to try to have a positive impact on my students and hopefully

keep them on the positive side of the law. From a very young age my dad, a retired police

officer, shared a quote with me that he said Law Enforcement believes, “there is a thin blue line

between good and evil and Police Officers protect that line.” It is my goal to keep my students on

the good side of that thin blue line and to teach them the values that will allow them to succeed

in life. I was raised to be a respectful, contributing part of society. This is what I want to instill in

my students.

Although I have not completed my final tasks in becoming a qualified teacher I have

been working towards this goal for many years. Since I can remember, I have wanted to teach.

The grade I have wanted to teach has changed many times but my wish to teach has never

wavered. This portfolio will take you through my preparation to become a teacher and what that

means to me. Through the use of artifacts, I will demonstrate my abilities to plan and implement

age appropriate material, a look into my teaching philosophy as well as a glimpse into my future

classroom. Each artifact has been chosen with great care and rationale to show the work I am

most proud of and the artifacts that show my devotion to continue learning and bettering myself

as an educator. My hope is for this portfolio to show the well-rounded teacher I am becoming

and to help you understand who I am as a person as well as an educator.

Portfolio Development
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This portfolio is filled with information about my journey in becoming a qualified

educator. The information in this portfolio is broken down into six different sections; Section

One: Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project, Section Two: Teacher

Candidate Background Experience, Section Three: Teacher Candidate Artifacts, Section Four:

Alignment to Curriculum and Standards, Section Five: Teacher Candidate Reflection Guidelines

and finally Section Six: Teacher Candidate Teacher Interview Video.

Each section demonstrates more about myself and my experiences. All of these

experiences have brought me closer to completing my teaching education and preparing me for

the teaching world.

Section One: Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project contains

information about what is going to be included in and the purpose of my teacher candidate

portfolio. This section also speaks about Howard Gardner, Maria Montessori, HighScope

Curriculum, and Harry Wong’s philosophies and how they influenced my own teaching

philosophy.

Section Two: Teacher Candidate Background Experiences contains information on my

educational, work, volunteer and observations experiences, my current philosophy of education

as well as a living resume.

Section Three: Teacher Candidate Artifacts will show proof of my knowledge and

capabilities in many areas of teaching. These artifacts have been carefully chosen with the idea

of showing my knowledge and experiences in mind. The artifacts you will see in this section

include: (1)my Early Childhood Education Diploma, (2)Grade 4 Social Studies learning

segment, (3)Pecha Kucha Presentation on Deafness, (4)Math Lesson Plan on Money, (5)RTI

meeting assessment, (6) SAVE and Child Abuse Workshop certificates, (7) Professional
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Development certificate where I attended four workshops: Assistive Technology, Kagan

Strategies, Trauma-Informed Teaching and Teaching ELL and Refugee Students, (8) SMART

Notebook presentation, (9) Weebly website and (10) a Literacy lesson segment on sequencing.

These artifacts will show my ability to lesson plan, use technology in my teaching as well as

provide accommodations and modifications for my students when needed.

Section Four: Alignment to Curriculum and Professional Standards, will address how

each artifact will align with New York State Standards, Ontario Curriculum Standards, New

York State Code of Ethics for Educators, Ontario Ethical Standards, Interstate New Teacher

Assessment Support Consortium Standards (InTASC), International Society for Technology

Education (ISTE), International Literacy Standards (ILS), Council for Exceptional Children

(CEC), the Medaille College Department of Education (DOE) Claims and CAEP Standards.

Section Five: Teacher Candidate Reflection will be my time to reflect on my time at

Medaille College in the Education Department as well as my experience in the observations I

made in the two Early Field Experience observation classes. This section will by my space for

reflecting on the accomplishments I have made in my educational career as well as my feelings

moving forward into student placement as well as the teaching world.

Section Six: Teacher Candidate Teacher Interview Video will showcase the interview

questions and show my knowledge and understanding of the New York and Ontario curriculum

standards. The interview is available on the Weebly website I have created. Along with the

video, Section Six explains me learning experiences and my readiness in becoming a teacher in

the field.

Theories, Theorists and Experts in the Field of Education

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Throughout my schooling, my Diploma, my Degree and currently during my Masters, I

have learned about countless educational theories and theorists. Most of the theories and theorists

have a positive effect on students but some stick out to me more than others.

Howard Gardner developed the Multiple Intelligences model. He believes there are eight

different intelligences and everyone has their own set of intelligences and people can have more

than one intelligence (Schumacher, 2019). It is important to me to take my students learning

styles into consideration when I am planning my lessons and delivering material. I want to

ensure I am giving students the chance to show their best learning as often as possible.

Maria Montessori’s philosophy of allowing the students to learn through their natural

curiosity is something I also believe. I believe students learn best when they are interested in the

topic or subject matter. I understand this is not always possible but when it is I like to give my

students the choice.

Independence is one of the number one attributes I would like to instill in my students.

The HighScope curriculum fosters this independence as well as problem solving skills within the

students. This curriculum has the students follow a six-step method to resolve conflicts. This

teaches students how to independently resolve conflicts which is something I would like to

foster. The HighScope educators ask the students thought provoking questions so they have the

opportunity to gain independence in all aspects of their lives. The HighScope curriculum

framework is based on a plan-do-review cycle where the teachers sit down with the students and

have them plan their activity time so their play is completely intentional. Once they have planned

they are able to go and put action to that plan. At the end of each play time, the teacher sits down

with each student and reviews what they have done during the play time, if their plan changed
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and why their plan changed. This framework starts simple and gets more complex as the students

get older as well as master the skill of planning, doing and reviewing.

Classroom and behaviour management is something I am most nervous about when I

start teaching in my own classroom. I understand the importance of good classroom management

and have high expectations for my students in all areas of the classroom. Harry Wong was

brought to my attention by a fellow teacher and I became inspired. His classroom management

beliefs and practices is something I want to aspire to. Harry Wong believes in a well-organized

classroom, posting each assignment for the class in the same place, presenting clear expectations

and giving consequences when procedures are not properly followed. If the classroom is well

organized and procedures are clear the classroom will begin to run itself.

Conclusion

Teaching is complicated. Teaching is eventful. Teaching offers something different every

day. Even though there is still much to learn, there are many influential people to help guide our

path. I believe my personal teaching philosophy will grow, change and develop over the course

of my teaching career but knowing there are influential educators to look up to gives me

confidence in my philosophy and teaching.

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