Week 12 Reflection Post

Retrieved December 5th 2016 from: AdventurousChica

Hey guys! This is likely going to be my last math blog post for a while...we are getting ready to head into our placements, yay! (OK the thought is actually terrifying me) but I just wanted to talk about some of the things I have learned throughout the last 12 weeks.

I came into this math course unbelievably nervous that I was not going to do well because I would need to know how to do math...How wrong I was!!! I learned that you do not need to be a math whiz to be able to teach math, I've now learned through experience that it is OK to tell students "I don't know the answer to that right now but let me find it for you" or "why don't we find that answer together?". When I started teachers college I was so worried that teachers needed to know everything, that is the biggest misconception I could have had, teachers learn just as much as students do, we learn from each other.

I have learned through our assignments in this class that with a little bit of time and effort, putting together a lesson that is well organized and effective that you understand, is not all that difficult, sure it may seem daunting, but a little bit of time and effort goes a long way. I've also learned many tips and tricks for engaging students and having them learn while having fun! We have done things like Easter Egg hunts, number lines, and in my placement class we did a Pokemon Go scavenger hunt!

Throughout the past 12 weeks we have watched our classmates become more confident in their abilities as educators and it is because we have had great support with guidance through all the ways we can be effective in the classroom. Math is still a scary thought for me, I was speaking with a high school math teacher over the past weekend and listening to her talk about the projects her students were working on scared the pants off me. However, this doesn't mean that it is something I would not be able to do anymore, it just means I need to be flexible and have an open mind when it comes to myself and my students abilities in the classroom.

Thank you guys so much for reading over the last 12 weeks and I will try and keep you updated throughout my placement!

Reflection 2

Which Professional Learning Goal would I want to emphasize during a job interview?

Policy:
Fundamental Principles

My learning goal is to ensure that all of my students have the opportunity provided to them as often as possible to succeed, not simply in school, but in life as well.

To achieve this goal, I must be attentive to each and every student in the classroom and make sure I am enabling them to do their best through differentiated instruction when it is necessary

Special Education in Ontario:  Weber, K. J., and Sheila Bennett. Special Education in Ontario  Schools. Seventh ed. St. Davids: Highland, 2013. Print. Student Success Strategy. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teachers/studentsuccess/strategy.html

I would choose to emphasize this in a job interview because I feel like student success is the most important part of their education. Making every student believe that they are able and capable of achieving something is imperative to their continued effort and engagement. I have personally worked with a student in my placement on a math assignment and saw that he was struggling with a certain concept, as I worked through the problems with him and provided him with as many different tips and tricks as possible, he was successfully able to complete the task and his confidence was boosted tremendously. 

Reflection 1

Think about how you will use the Assessment page of your Digital Portfolio during your first teaching block. Provide 2 examples, 1 writing paragraph for each.

1) I plan to use my Assessment page of my Digital Portfolio in many different ways throughout my teaching block. To begin with, I believe it will be convenient to have so many useful resources all located in one easy place to find. The resources we have used throughout the year are fantastic for providing answers to possibly tricky questions or situations we may face in the coming weeks. I believe as educators it is important that we put in the most effort possible when it comes to being fair and just with our students so simply answering something we may be unsure of without checking the resources available to us is unfathomable to me.

2) I can also see myself using my Assessment page as a reminder that there are many steps to follow when assessing and evaluating students. The steps of the process have been laid out for us in our AER Strategy Form and allow us to reflect on how we are growing as educators; are we treating students equally or are we letting our personal bias' get in the way of being fair? It serves as a reminder that every student has the right to be successful and that we have set personal goals to achieve throughout our teaching block. This process is something that must be taken seriously because we are responsible for these students' future, molding them and shaping them and helping them to become the best that they can be.

AER Strategy For- EDBE 8Y01

Hey guys, take a look at this document to see some of the goals I will be setting for myself in my placement throughout the year!

Week 11 Reflection- Effective Assessment in Math

Retrieved 

What a big week we had this week...we are winding down the semester with nearly all of our assignments done (yahoo!) and have finally now had a taste of what it is like to lesson plan. I don't know about everybody else, but I struggled with the assessment part of the lesson plan. I thought to myself, what is the point of teaching a lesson if we can't assess our students on it? 

My biggest challenge that I face when I think of assessment is being fair to all students and making sure that I am evaluating them all with the same opportunities and the same mindset based on their individual needs. We have learned over the last 12 weeks that there are three different levels of assessment. Assessment for, as and of learning...what are these, you ask? Let's take a look. 

Assessment FOR Learning

Assessment for learning is a form of assessment that is used to determine student progress. Teachers are able to adjust learning to the needs of the students and provide feedback. 

Assessment OF Learning

Assessment of learning is the use of a task or an in class activity to measure, record and report on a student's level of achievement. Are they getting it? 

Assessment AS Learning

This is a form of assessment that allows students to use assessment to further their own learning. Students can use this to reflect on their learning and to set personal goals for themselves. 

Something I did not realize coming into teachers college that assessing a students level of achievement could be so complicated! I think we all assume it's going to be nice and easy every day, that everything is going to go smoothly, but as I've started putting together lesson plans I have started to realize that could not be farther from the truth...I've got something else coming for me in the real world eh? 

The most important thing that we need to remember is that we need to be fair to all students, give every single one of them an equal opportunity to succeed. As educators, it is our job to mold and shape these children into who they are going to become. We will spend an extremely large chunk of their lives with them between the months of September to June so we better make sure that we ALL try our best. 

Thanks for reading again this week, that's me signing off. Toodaloo! 

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