Reflections

Dedicated Professional
The two artifacts I chose demonstrate that I am a dedicated professional. My first artifact
is a letter of recommendation from my mentor teacher. She explains how I am dedicated to the
school I worked in and my students. She mentions how I attended many meetings and workshops
to enhance my understanding of teaching. Not only does this show how I have displayed myself
as a dedicated professional, but also how I have displayed myself in the eyes of others. My
second artifact shows how I have devoted my time to after school events. This shows how
excited I am to work in the school environment and how I am willing to do what it takes to not
only be the best teacher, but also a great member of the school team. Being present at after
school events has allowed me to grow relationships with students, parents, and staff members. A
goal I would like to reach to improve my devotion to education would to be to attend as many
county workshops. I am always excited to learn about new strategies and techniques to use in my
classroom. To meet this goal I will sign up for as many PD opportunities as soon as I get a job!
Instructional Leader
My first artifact, the behavior management plans, demonstrate how I am an instructional
leader because I am creating an effective learning environment and managing students behavior
appropriately. As I mentioned in my portfolio, behavior management is the first step to creating a
positive and successful learning environment. This artifact shows how I am willing to research
new behavior management strategies and implement in my classrooms depending upon the grade
level/school I am working in. This artifact shows how I was aware that each class is different,
resulting in the behavior management plan to be different. My second artifact demonstrates how
I am an instructional leader because I am willing to learn and use new types of technology in my

classroom. I am always striving to use new innovations and creativity in my teaching to promote
engaging lessons. A goal that I would like to work on is becoming better at creating problemsolving and critical thinking lessons. In order to achieve this goal I plan to use free time to
research new ideas as well as collaborate with GATE teachers.
Continuous Assessor
Artifact 1 demonstrates that I am a continuous assessor because I was able to create
rubrics that were understandable for students. In order to build this rubric I used the Common
Core standards for writing and reading and turned them into kid-friendly vocabulary. I believe it
is important for students to be exposed to rubrics so they know exactly how to achieve a passing
grade. Assessments should provide a lot of information for teachers, but I also believe they
should be fair, by providing the students with the guidelines and expectations. Using a rubric also
allowed me to assess my students fairly. All students were graded off the same rubric and were
held to the same expectations. Artifact 2 shows how I used multiple means to assess math fact
levels tests. It was amazing to see students who had been struggling on a math fact level pass
because the way the assessment was administered changed. The goal I am setting for myself to
become a better continuous assessor is to create multiple assessment measures as I can. I found
how amazing it was to see how much a student may know the information, but may struggle with
putting it in writing. I plan to achieve this goal by getting to know my students early. I think if a
teacher has good relationships with her students then she will know when the student is
struggling or may just be struggling with the way the assessment is being administered.
Educational Advocate
The two artifacts I chose, Panther Club and Accommodating for all students are great
examples of how I am an educational advocate. From February to March I devoted time to the

second grade team in an afterschool program called Panther Club. This is where I worked with
slightly below grade level students and assisted them with science and reading standards. This
artifact shows how I believe that all students have the right and ability to learn as well as how I
am personally committed to equal access to public education for all students. My second artifact
shows how I believe that all students have the ability to learn. All of my lessons were
accommodated for all students to lead them to academic success in the classroom. I have a sister
who has an IEP and I strongly believe that the teacher has the ability to make special education
students (and all students) to either feel successful or unsuccessful. I want my students to come
in excited to learn as well as feel that they are in a safe environment, and I believe the way I
accommodated and modified my lessons without being obvious about it, has shown how I am an
educational advocate. An area where I believe I can grow in this category would be participating
in an organization that promotes the professions of education. I am not involved in any program
outside of the school environment. I would like to become more involved and apart of a program
that promotes education!
Collaborative Bridge Builder
Both of my artifacts show I am a strong collaborative bridge builder. In my first
practicum two of my colleagues and myself took charge of a Veterans Day Assembly. It was a lot
of work to involve the community but the outcome and learning experience for the students was
unbelievable. It was amazing to see how the students lit up as soon as they saw the Veterans that
we had been learning about for five days. Providing these types of experiences for the students is
extremely important! This assembly also benefited the community, there were many veterans that
could be recognized and thanked for their service. My second artifact shows my devotion to
communicating with parents. One thing the most important things I have learned from the MAT-

E program was to develop positive relationships with the students and the parents. Every
opportunity I could I was trying to communicate with parents and keep them up to date on events
and learning topics that were going on in the classroom. An area where I would like to improve
in is linking subjects with different grade and school levels. I think it would be an amazing
experience for students to be interacting with older and or younger grade and learn from them. I
plan to meet this goal by collaborating with all staff members, not only those in my grade level
team.
Reflective Decision Maker
My first artifact explains how I quickly realized a program was not working for me and
how I came up with a new way to implement the lesson the next day. I am always looking for
better ways to improve my teaching and to learn from others. My second artifact shows how I
reached out to an administrator to monitor my teaching strategies as well. Both of these artifacts
show how I am and reflective decision maker because I am looking back and finding procedures
that were successful or finding area that need improvement. As a teacher I will also reflect and
make note of what types of strategies led to student achievement and which were a total flop. A
goal I am setting for myself would be to have my students engage in more productive selfcriticism. I believe it is important for everyone to be comfortable with hearing constructive
criticism. It is the only way we can grow!