FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT

Part 1 Fundamental Competencies

Act as a cultural Act as a cultured professional who is at once an
C1 facilitator when interpreter, facilitator and critic of culture
carrying out duties. when carrying out duties.
Based on what you have observed and experienced during your field
placement,
• How will you encourage students to develop critical thinking,
Guiding
perspective, and reflexivity with respect to their immediate environment
Question(s)
as well as their cultural environment?
• How will you foster the classroom into an inclusive cultural space that is
stimulating for everyone?
I encouraged students to develop critical thinking, perspective, and
reflexivity concerning their immediate and cultural environment. Students
had access to a daily writing corner with “fact, imagination, and question
pockets” where they were encouraged to reflect on and write about the
cultures that they take part in (their home cultures, interests, internet culture,
etc.). In these journals, students are encouraged to use their critical thinking
to make sense of their understandings, whether it is facts about bees or their
favorite tv show. Students are prompted to reflect on how these facts
connect with their daily life and how to tie this knowledge with the
ideas/concepts they learn in school, etc. The writing corner encourages
students to express their interests, questions, and ideas without fearing their
peers' judgment. However, if students wish to share their ideas with the
class, they do so in an “Author’s Chair" (a student sits in a chair and reads
their piece to the others). The low stakes writing environment encourages
students to use their creativity and write their ideas in an inclusive and
stress-free way.

Response The students’ classroom is decorated with images of diverse cultures,

ethnicities, and student interests. There is a large poster of Martin Luther
King Jr. that the students made together to remind themselves of power
inequality and fighting for one's rights. Additionally, students were allowed
to have their toys with them (so I encouraged students to talk about their
toys, what they like about them, and to think about how to incorporate these
toys in our English art activity). Consequently, students connected their
home culture to their school culture, and we fostered an inclusive
environment where students shared their interests and respected others
interests.

I made the classroom into an inclusive cultural space that was stimulating
for everyone by providing apps such as Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text
for students to use. TTS and SST helped students communicate their
complex ideas with their teachers and peers. Moreover, during our activities
and lessons, the students were allowed to use sensory-friendly tools such as
noise-canceling headphones, weighted animals, and elevated chairs. The
headphones relaxed the students and encouraged them to participate in class.

2021 Professional Competencies 1

FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT
Also, students had access to a "peace corner" where they can unwind and
assess their behaviors. We did meditation and Brain Gym to add kinesthetic
movement in our lessons, the BG relaxed and prepared students for our
lessons. By catering to the students interests and practicing inclusive
teaching (SEL- socioemotional learning and accommodating kinesthetic
learners) all students participated in class without disrupting their peers and
we fostered a culture of peace and safety within the classroom.

Lastly, every day, we put on a Storyline Online book reading for students to
listen to. Here, celebrities read stories to the viewers, and
animations/beautiful drawings accompany the read aloud. We made it a
point to select stories that reflect the diverse nature of the students in our
class. *The stories we chose discussed themes related to Mexico, Japan,
China, low socio-economic class, Christmas, annoying siblings, love, and
overcoming difficulties. We chose stories that resonate with the students'
lived experiences, home, and school culture.

*Sentence adapted from my Action Plan.

Communicate appropriately in the language of

Master the language instruction, both orally and in writing, in all
C2
of instruction contexts associated with the performance of
duties.
Based on what you have observed and experienced during your field
placement,
• How will you monitor the quality of students’ language, provide
Guiding frequent feedback, and help students to correct themselves and
Question(s) demonstrate their ability to integrate the rules and usages of
language, both spoken and written?
• How will you Draws on and values the students’ mother tongue to
foster acquisition of the language of instruction?
I monitored the quality of students’ language, provided frequent feedback,
and helped students correct themselves and demonstrate their ability to
integrate the rules and usages of language (spoken and written). For
example, the students were doing a poetry unit for their English class, and
daily they would read the “poem of the day.” We made the students listen to
a reading of the poem, read the poem together, individually read stanzas, and
read stanzas in groups (boys read aloud then girls). Through these readings,
Response we informally observed students' ability to read. If a student mispronounces
a word, I provided feedback by working with the student to correctly
pronounce the word. Through class discussion, I evaluated students' use of
the vocabulary terms (stanza, poem, and rhyming), the sound words (CH,
SH, and TH), and proper grammar. Another activity that helped us correct
the students' grammar and spelling was the daily journaling corner. This
corner has fact, imagination, and question pockets. Here, students are
encouraged to do low stakes writing with the knowledge they acquire from

2021 Professional Competencies 2

FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT
their school and daily culture/environment. In these journals, I monitored the
students’ writing, corrected their misspelled words, and grammatical errors.
The students have a section in their journals unique to them; this section has
a list of the incorrect and correct spelling of their commonly misspelled
words. Having a word bank is good, but word banks can be overwhelming
and could limit students' creativity. I frequently told students to refer to
their commonly misspelled words as well as the "power word wall" in their
classroom (words such as – they are, their, there, any would, how, and
could). Therefore, students access prior knowledge helping them write their
sentences. We also practiced spelling the power words using a kinesthetic
activity. This activity makes students clap to spell the words while holding a
yoga pose. Every student enjoyed this activity, and it helped them remember
how to spell the words!

When writing, students would visit the CT or me to get their spelling and
grammar corrected before moving onto their final work. Consequently, we
can provide frequent feedback and prevent students from misspelling
throughout their assignments. We corrected students' language during casual
conversation, class discussions, and one-on-one discussions as well. Daily
conversation and student observation was the best way to identify mistakes
in student language and correct it. Consequently, students felt less pressured
and more willing to learn.

I valued the students’ mother tongue, helping foster acquisition of the

language of instruction. There was one student that would refer to Japanese
words when they had trouble communicating in English. I speak and write in
Japanese, so I translated and connected the Japanese words to English
words, helping the student understand the meaning of the English word. I
had the same scenario with a native French speaker. In this case, the student
needed help understanding an English sentence. I translated the sentence to
French and asked the student to interpret the meaning of the sentence. Then,
I asked the student to reread the sentence to me. The student connected the
English and French words and realized that although different, both
languages have similarities.

Part 2: Competencies central to working with and for students

Design and plan teaching and learning
Plan teaching and activities and situations that are appropriate
C3
learning situations for the students, the learning content and the
education objectives.
Based on what you have observed and experienced during your field
placement,
Guiding
• How will you plan ways of presenting content in a structured manner
Question(s)
so that students can grasp the relevant points and understand
implications?

2021 Professional Competencies 3

FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT
• How will you plan activities for students so they can prepare,
integrate, transfer and reinvest their learning in order optimize
competency development.
I planned ways of presenting content in a structured manner so that students
grasped relevant information. I asked students to frequently highlight
pertinent information that helps them understand what they need to do, what
they need to find, what they need to use to help find, etc. This skill was
beneficial during the C1 word problem test and the lessons we prepared
(concrete poems and multiplication with base-ten-blocks). This highlighting
action was routine to these students as the CT drilled it into their daily
activities. Thus, highlighting relevant information was habitual practice for
students to organize and understand relevant information. Additionally, I
would write relevant information on the blackboard or SMART board as a
reference for the students. Visually, we modeled math concepts on a poster
board and posted it to the class wall to help students recall math strategies
and apply them in the following lessons. For our math lesson, our poster
reviewed the different base-ten blocks. The class learned the base-ten blocks
Response
at the beginning of the year and needed a visual refresher since we were
using these manipulatives in our current lesson. I planned activities for the
students that built on earlier lessons. In our English lesson, we reviewed the
sound words that students explored in their daily poems. Since the students
were wrapping up their poetry unit, we added to their poem repertoire by
introducing a final form of poetry incorporating the TH, SH, and CH sound
words. I asked the students to refer to the sound poems in their binder to
help them complete our poetry activity. The students wrote their poems with
the sound words from our daily poems. Thus, the activity asked students to
recall prior information. In both cases, students were reinvesting (and
transfer) their knowledge to work on a new lesson. Moreover, each lesson's
objectives follow the guiding questions explored in its respective unit.
Therefore, we give meaning and purpose to our lessons, and students
understood why we were doing specific activities.

Implement and supervise teaching and learning

Implement teaching
C4 situations appropriate to the students and the
and learning situations
educational aims.
Based on what you have observed and experienced during your field
placement,
• How will you uncover students’ preconceptions and reactivate the
Guiding
prior knowledge needed for teaching and learning situations?
Question(s)
• How will you use diverse approaches and strategies and provide a
variety of stimulating tasks to trigger and maintain active student
engagement in the task?
I uncovered students’ preconceptions and reactivated the prior knowledge
Response needed for teaching and learning situations by asking students what strategy
would help them solve the math problems in our lesson. I used diverse

2021 Professional Competencies 4

FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT
approaches and strategies while providing multiple stimulating tasks to
trigger and maintain active student engagement. I asked students to recall
prior information by looking at their binders and worksheets to see if they
can identify a strategy that they learned that applies to this lesson. I made
students access their prior knowledge by using probing questions that force
them to recall the name of the strategy and how to use it. I mouthed the word
instead of directly telling them the name of the strategy and asked students
to come to the board and explain the strategy to the class. For example, in
our math lesson, we recalled students' prior knowledge of the regrouping
strategy and how to use it with the magnetic base ten blocks and place value
chart. I guided a student to do a regrouping of 10 units. Then, I asked the
student: What do we call this strategy? Why use it in this example? In what
other scenario can we use this strategy? The student explained the strategy
as regrouping, one that they used in an earlier math lesson. Once I refreshed
the students’ memory, they further explained that regrouping is not
removing units but transferring them. The probing questions helped the
students retrieve and connect their prior learnings to the new learning
scenario of multiplication with base-ten blocks. For the Concrete Poems
activity, when the students were writing their sentences, I told them that they
could use their daily poems as a reference to find SH, TH, and CH sound
words to use in their poems.

To maintain active engagement in the classroom, we did Brain Gym with the
students (kinesthetic movements). Thus, our kinesthetic learners are focused,
and we engage all students before diving into our lesson. Moreover, I change
the tone of my voice to emphasize points that I want students to focus on
and to capture student attention. During my math lesson, I saw that my
students were unfocused. Therefore, I changed the pace of my teaching to
capture their attention. I modified my teaching strategy by doing more math
examples together. Also, I asked: specific students for the answer, students
to reiterate what I said, students to explain to a peer, and students to write on
the board and explain to the class.

Develop, choose and use different methods for

C5 Evaluate learning evaluating knowledge acquisition and
competency development.
Based on what you have observed and experienced during your field
placement,
• How will you provide students with frequent and constructive
Guiding
feedback that allows them to track their learning and support their
Question(s)
progress?
• How will you identify students’ strengths and challenges and plans
appropriate interventions that foster their learning?
I provided students with frequent and constructive feedback that allowed
Response them to track their learning. I supported student progress by encouraging
them to frequently check in with us before they progress to their finalized

2021 Professional Competencies 5

FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT
products (especially during the concrete poem activity). We incentivized this
process by offering those that come for guidance some stickers. During the
correction process, through casual conversation, we would provide students
feedback on their work. We encouraged students to pose questions that will
help ensure their understanding of the activity objectives. During the math
lesson that we did, some students had trouble with the regrouping strategy. I
identified students’ strengths and challenges with the math problems by
circulating the class and observing students' work. I would help guide
students' thinking toward the correct direction. I helped students by probing
them with questions such as That is an interesting answer! Perhaps, we can
try using the regrouping strategy here? How many units do you have here?
What do we do when we have ten units? These interventions fostered the
students learning and understanding of when to use the regrouping strategy.
When I realized that the whole class had a misunderstanding with
regrouping, I directed their attention toward the front of the class to do an
example with regrouping to refresh their memory. Through correction as a
class, individual observation, and conversation, I identified students'
strengths and weaknesses. Also, I asked students if they found the
worksheets hard or easy (informal self-assessments). I used this student
feedback and applied it to the other section. The students in the other class
had more examples.

Organize and manage a class in such a way as

Manage how the class
C6 to maximize student development, learning and
operates
socialization.
Based on what you have observed and experienced during your field
placement,
Guiding • How will you create a respectful and reassuring classroom climate
Question(s) that is conducive to learning?
• How will you identify signs of low motivation or miscomprehension
in students and implement measures needed to remedy the situation?
I created a respectful and reassuring classroom climate conducive to
learning by addressing my students by “everyone” or by the pronouns/labels
they prefer instead of referring to them as little boys and girls and grouping
them by visible gender. I honored my students' identities by asking them
how they would like me to address them. Moreover, I did not rudely call out
on a student if they misbehaved (like the class often did) since my goal is
not to shame the student. Instead, I consistently implemented the warning
Response system that the CT had in place since the beginning of the year, or I would
walk to the misbehaving students' desks and place my hand on their desks as
a reminder to follow the class rules. Also, we had the option of sending
students to the peace corner for a break. I was respectful of the student,
enforced the rules, and disallowed class disruptions that would impede
students’ learning. Furthermore, the CT decorated the classroom to reflect
the diversity of the students; there were books and posters on Black History
Month, Terry Fox, and books that reflected each student's interests (anime,

2021 Professional Competencies 6

FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT
collector toys, Harry Potter, etc.). The “reflection of the student” within the
class fostered a respectful and reassuring classroom climate for each student
since they felt they belonged in the classroom.

I identified signs of low motivation or miscomprehension in students and

implemented measures needed to remedy the situation by: observing
students while circulating the classroom, frequently asking students if they
are alert (is everyone listening? I cannot hear you!), I would change the pace
of the course, and I would provide students with a brain break if I see that
they are unmotivated in the lesson (in this case we would do Brain Gym to
kinaesthetically motivate the students). If students still fail to focus during
class, I ask them what the source of their confusion and I would ask another
student to explain in their own words (if my explanation did not work) since
students often understand when taught by their peers. I used this strategy to
clarify the definition of regrouping and when to use regrouping. Then, the
student understood since their peer explained regrouping to them. I
spontaneously changed the development of the lesson that was outlined in
the learning plan since the pace and the examples that were in the learning
plan did not help the students understand the concept.

Implement, as part of an inclusive teaching

Take into account approach, strategies for differentiating
C7
student diversity teaching practices so as to support the full
participation and success of all students.
Based on what you have observed and experienced during your field
placement,
Guiding • How will you group students in a way that takes into account the
Question(s) educational aims and students’ differentiated learning needs?
• How will you offer a diversity of content, structures, tasks and
processes adapted to students’ needs to foster their success?
I grouped students in a way that considers the educational aims and the
students’ differentiated learning needs. For example, before teaching our
activity on “Concrete Poems,” the CT, myself, and my fellow student
teacher sat at a roundtable to discuss the possibility of pairing the students
for the poetry activity. We decided to pair the students for the writing
portion of the activity since the students are unaccustomed to free-writing a
poem by themselves. Thus, by placing the students in pairs, each student
could scaffold each other's learning. We decided to group the students based
Response
on their: academic strengths and weaknesses, social abilities, and whether
they are on IEPs or not. Thus, students that are: weaker in writing are
together with students that are strong in writing, visual learners are together
with students that prefer to write (the student who likes drawing would take
the lead in the drawing portion of the concrete poem activity and vice-
versa), on IEPs were placed with their aid and other students with similar
modified learning plans, friends who fool around in class were intentionally
separated, usually working well together got to work together, etc.

2021 Professional Competencies 7

FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT
Therefore, we accommodate all the students' needs and ensure that students
will be working on the activity in a safe and comfortable environment.
Moreover, we avoided categorizing the groups by gender (girls together and
boys together).

I offered a diversity of content, structures, tasks, and processes adapted to

students’ needs to foster their success by simplifying the worksheets while
maintaining the same objectives (to complete a poem with SH, CH, and TH
sound words, to place the poem in or around the drawing, etc.). The only
difference was that these students cut and pasted the appropriate sound
words into a fill-in-the-blank poem, and the shape was pre-made for them;
they had to match the poem to the theme-related drawing. Also, we adapted
the worksheet by making the font bigger, thus, easier to read and process.
The specific students on the IEP enjoy cutting and gluing since they cannot
properly hold a pencil. Therefore, we made the fill-in-the-blanks a cut-and-
paste activity with no writing involved with the modified worksheet.

Cultivate the students’ natural desire to learn,

Support students’ love their sense of discovery and their curiosity by
C8
of learning bringing together the conditions required to
help them all thrive.
Based on what you have observed and experienced during your field
placement,
• How will you ensure that teaching and learning situations include
elements of everyday life and cultural references with which the
Guiding
students are familiar?
Question(s)
• How will you plan teaching and learning situations that spark
students’ enthusiasm for learning activities and are likely to relate to
their areas of interest?
I ensured that the teaching and learning situations included elements of
everyday life and cultural references that the students are familiar with by
designing my “Concrete Poem” English activity to incorporate student
interests. I explained that students are welcome to incorporate their interests
and hobbies into their poems. However, the students must meet the activity
objectives (include words with TH, SH, and CH sounds, write a poem with a
minimum of three sentences, and add the text into a drawing that matches
the poem's theme). During casual conversation, I would have a conversation
Response
surrounding student interests such as anime, cartoons, video games, Calico
Critter pets (collectible toys), Naruto, Beyblades, etc. With this information,
when I modeled sentences that students can write in their poems, I made an
example with Pikachu (from Pokémon) visiting the store to buy a chocolate
chip and cherry pies (sentence with the CH sound). When the students heard
this sentence, they were excited to start writing their sentences and even
started discussing with their peers what they would write. This relatable
aspect in my modeling makes the work meaningful for the students. Next,

2021 Professional Competencies 8

FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT
for the drawing portion of the activity, I suggested that if students choose to
write about Pokémon, they could place their poem inside a drawing of a
Pokeball. Thus, I planned a teaching and learning situation that sparked
students' enthusiasm for learning activities by relating to their interests. The
students enjoyed seeing their identity and culture represented in my
modeling example; they felt like I made the activity specifically for them.

Part 3: Cross-Curricular Competencies

Mobilize digital Use digital technologies in order to benefit
C12
technologies students and all education stakeholders.
Based on what you have observed and experienced during your field
placement,
Guiding
• How will you develop and mobilize technological skills?
questions:
• How will you use digital tools to foster inclusion and address diverse
needs?
I developed and mobilized technological skills and used digital tools to
foster inclusion and address diverse needs by using the iPads and SMART
board technologies that the classroom has. Specifically, for our math lesson
“Multiplication with Base-Ten Blocks,” these technological resources were
purposeful. While I was teaching the lesson, I used the SMART board to do
word problems with the class (word problems were from their textbook
publisher ERPI mathematics). These word problems directly align with the
math curriculum’s lesson objectives (multiplying two digits by one-digit
numbers, using base-ten blocks to represent multiplication, etc.). Using the
SMART board, I could copy as many base-ten blocks as I wanted, and the
activity was like a game causing students to be interested in solving the word
problems. During the math activity, I called on students to solve the word
problems, and they were able to come to the front of the class and use the
digital manipulatives. The visual learners enjoyed the graphics representing
Response: the word problems. The iPad encourages students to familiarize themselves
with logging in and out of educational apps; the app we used was IXL.
Students are responsible for their IXL account. IXL is a math app that
somewhat aligns with the math curriculum. After our lesson, students that
completed the assigned math worksheet independently took their iPad,
logged into their IXL account, found the appropriate activity (multiplication
with base ten blocks), and did the exercises. IXL reinforces learned
concepts; it also accommodates students’ multiple intelligences. The app
gamifies math with its point system, and the graphics are not overbearing so
that visually/aurally sensitive students can use the app. IXL provides
students with a writing/drawing/manipulative space to organize their written
work. The app saves the scores in each student’s account. These scores serve
as a formative assessment for teachers to track student understanding of the
lesson material.

2021 Professional Competencies 9

FE2/PS2 SELF ASSESSMENT
For students on IEPs, they did a simplified version of the IXL activity.
Moreover, all students had access to a Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text
app that facilitated their experience using IXL and completing the worksheet
(reading and writing their answers). Students with difficulties gripping
pencils were able to drag and drop manipulatives rather than individually
draw each one. We used the online calculator and dictionary apps since the
class has limited physical resources. Thus, by using technology, all students
had equal access to these resources.

2021 Professional Competencies 10