Educators implement effective practices in areas of classroom management, planning, instruction, assessment, evaluation and reporting.
Educators have the knowledge and skills to facilitate learning for all students and know when to seek additional support for their practice. Educators thoughtfully consider all aspects of teaching, from planning through reporting, and understand the relationships among them. Educators employ a variety of instructional and assessment strategies.
Evidence #1 of Adherence: Student/Teacher Co-Created Criteria for Group Project
I and my co-teacher decided on a project for our French 9/10 students to do for the first week we were teaching: we asked the students to pair up, research a French-speaking country, make a poster, and give a 3-5 minute presentation. However, we wanted student input, so we asked them what they thought would be good criteria for the project. We jotted down all their suggestions in various categories we supplied, and that night we cleaned them up and made a rubric. Since we were grading by the criteria they decided on themselves, their level of ownership was extremely high, and the results astonishing. We expected short presentations and minimal effort, but instead we saw students wearing traditional clothing from their countries, preparing food and beverages, and recreating their countries’ flags. The entire project was a resounding success!
Evidence #2 of Adherence: Final Practicum Classroom Management Plan
One of the greatest challenges of new teachers tends to be classroom management. While I don’t pretend to know absolutely everything about it, I will say that I have learned a tremendous amount, and in my experience the key to creating a controlled classroom environment is creating good trust relationships with the students. If there is an atmosphere of mutual respect, there is often less need for students to behave in extreme ways to gain teacher attention or ensure that their academic needs are met.