Student Work Samples

Analysis
 This first graph shows the pretest and posttest scores of my third period U.S. History
class. Through this graph, it is evident that each student improved their scores from the pretest to
the posttest. The highest score on the pretest was an 85 while the lowest score was a 30 and the
class average was a 59. However, the highest score on the posttest was a 97 while the lowest
score was a 53, and the class average was an 81 meaning that as a whole, the class improved by
22 points. This shows clear improvement from the class as a whole, but there are discrepancies
from student to student on how much they improved. Some students, such as student number
twenty improved only by a small amount, but student fifteen improved immensely. This is
evident that in future lessons, I might need to focus more on student twenty and find some
differentiated instruction that would ensure the maximum improvement possible.
 The second graph shows the pretest and posttest results of my fifth period U.S. History
class. It is clear that there was improvement almost entirely across the board in this class as well,
excluding one student who made five points lower on his posttest than the pretest. The highest
score on the pretest in fifth period was a 70 while the lowest was a 35, and the class average was
55. On the posttest, the highest score was a 94, the lowest was a 50, and the class average was a
77. Just like third period, the average score of the posttest went up 22 points from the pretest and
shows clear improvement of scores across the board.
 Reflection
Through my experience of writing and teaching my ten day, I have realized that tracking
and analyzing data is essential to effective instruction. By doing this, I was able to target the
information that students were struggling the most with to ensure mastery of that material. Upon
reflection of this process, I definitely recognize some strengths and weaknesses of my lessons
and assessments. While my students scores did improve overall in each class from the pretest to
the posttest, I believe the average scores on the posttest could have been better in each class.
Upon comparison of the scores from my end of the unit test to my Clinical Instructors scores on
her end of unit tests, there was an overall downshift in the average score. I believe this is due to
the differences in teaching styles and test writing that the students may not have been used to. I
do feel as though my test could have been written better. I could have done this by including
more efficient posttest questions and by including better distracters to my multiple choice
questions. I could have also included more fill in the blank and short answer questions, because I
do not feel that multiple choice questions accurately assess students understanding and mastery
of the material at hand.
I was also able to assess these students critical thinking skills through the various
academic prompts provided. I definitely saw an increase in these skills throughout the unit, and
the students abilities to discover the significance and impacts of various events and programs on
the American society. When the students completed their Great Society three column chart, I
realized that I had assumed the students knew how to spot the significance of these programs, but
that they actually needed more instruction and modeling on how to do that. To address this, I
wrote comments on each paper telling them how to go back and find the significance In addition
to this, I also began modeling how to discover the significance during my instruction. After a few
days of this, their work showed that they were making progress in understanding how to spot the
significance of certain events. My assuming they could do an activity the first time with no
model was a weak point in my instruction, but the fact that I addressed it and they improved was
a strength. I realize now that I should have modeled to the students how to find the significance
from the beginning by going over one or two programs with them. I also provided the students
with multiple activities to develop their analytical skills through reading and answering questions
pertaining to primary source documents. I believe this gave them more detailed insight as to what
actually happened during the time at hand, and helped them in understanding the material better.
However, I do feel as though I could have provided the students with more opportunities to
develop different critical thinking skills more fully. I would go about doing this by implementing
bell ringers every day, each assessing a critical thinking skill, such as analyzing, applying the
information to current events, and reflecting on different material. These bell ringers would
either include information from the previous day to reinforce that material, or would be a
preview of the days information.
Time management was a significant challenge I faced while planning and carrying out
my ten day. I was extremely crunched for time due to the upcoming state test that the students
are required to take. Learning how to plan effectively around the state test deadline, and to
include a variety of effective student and teacher based activities and instruction to the students is
something I definitely have to work on. I believe one of the biggest weaknesses of my unit was
that I should have planned more student based learning, because students learn much better this
way. I also feel as though overall scores on my test would have been much higher as a result.
Overall, there were multiple strengths and weaknesses of my ten day unit plan and of my student
teaching experience as a whole. This experience has been the most informative and best
educational experience I have had throughout my college career, and I am excited to take what I
have learned and to apply it to my own classroom in the near future.