Mid-semester Reflection

At this point in the semester, I feel that I have made quite a bit of progress in each of the
quality standards, although there are a few that I need to put some more time and attention into.
The first standard, which was the expert, I feel that I have grown but remain at a developing
point. I feel that I have a basic understanding of concepts within my content area but still
struggle to explain the connections. Furthermore, I feel that there are some concepts that I need
to familiarize myself with on a deeper level, although I do believe that this deepness comes with
the experience of having your own classroom. An artifact that I will be able to use for this
standard is the development of our first CEP lesson plan. I felt that I demonstrated well the
content that I wanted to teach as well as demonstrated a deep understanding of why and how we
would do so.
For the second standard, which is safety I feel that I have reached a level of
accomplished. I believe that this is because of the experience I have gained from working with
students in high stress and high emotional situations. For the past few years, I have worked at
Respite Care with teen age and school age programs assisting students with a wide range of
developmental disabilities. Here, I have learned what it means to create a safe community as well
as how to create professional relationship with students. Although I do always think there is
room to grow, I feel that this is the quality standard that I understand and can demonstrate the
best. I also feel that I have grown within this standard from my experience at TVHS. An artifact I
can utilize for this portion of a portfolio might be a reflection I did about reporting a student to
the dean and my mentor teachers when I overheard them say something which constituted alarm.
I felt that the student’s safety was on the line, and they were ultimately able to right the situation.
I wrote my reflection on how to create a safe environment for a student while also salvaging
these professional relationships when things do not go the way a student had hoped.
For the third standard, Inquiry, I feel that I have developed my skills but am still within
the developing range. I feel that I still struggle with managing and maintaining classroom
structure as well as knowing when and where to implement specific teaching skills which I have
acquired. Moreover, I feel that I have developed my understanding, through AVID and teaching
our first lesson. I feel that this skill is built only through experience. I am excited for our next
lesson, as a believe that I will be able to take suggestions and change how I teach in order to
command a room easier. I believe that some artifacts I will be able to use for this standard are
reflections from AVID as well as lesson plans and reflections after teaching lessons.
Furthermore, I feel that I could use student assessments from my lessons to show their thinking
and learning.
For the final Standard, professionalism. I feel that I have grown a lot and am now at a
proficient level. I feel that I have learned a lot about communication with colleagues, and what
professional attire looks like. I also feel that I have begun to understand what it means to be
professional around students. Some artifacts I can use is emails sent to and from mentors as well
as emails from peers, group mates, or my professional development groups.
A goal that I have for the rest of the semester is to work on the Inquiry standard through
stepping out of my comfort zone in the classroom. I need to be louder and make more of an
effort to grab student attention through this standard. I realize that I do not command attention
well, and this is one of the pillars to maintaining a classroom. Another goal that I have is to dive
deeper into connections within my content area or working on standard 1. I feel that I need to
dive deeper into the idea of how content relates to each other rather than how they stand alone. I
think I can work on this in my next lesson and create a more clear intentionality behind why I am
making decisions with using particular content to facilitate student learning.