Reflection on Pre-Internship #1- Teamwork

The first part of internship that I think is important to reflect on is collaboration. My partner during pre-internship definitely grounded on me and helped me through times of challenge. I think the reason that I found collaboration particularly important, other than the obvious reason of teamwork, is because our cooperating teacher did not tell us what we were going to be teacher until the night before. I found that challenging because I tend to get stressed out when I am under pressure. My partner and I were lucky enough to both be teaching grade nine students in different periods. While we were not teaching the class together, both classes were learning the same material and so we were able to plan our lessons together. I know that this is not always going to be the situation, but it showed me that it is possible for great lessons to be planned in a short amount of time. I constantly went home from the school stressed out and worried, but always showed up to the school the following morning prepared and organized.

While it was frustrating being put under this enormous amount of pressure, it pushed me out of my comfort zone and make me realize that I need to be flexible. I think this was good practice for my internship. I truly hope that I am going to be given more time to plan lessons and units for my classes, but at the same time I now know that it is possible for me to work under pressure and create wonderful lessons.

I actually got the opportunity to grow as a teacher while watching my partner teacher. I taught period one and my partner taught period two. Since we planned our lessons together, we basically used the same approached and techniques in the classroom. After teaching I would sit at the back of the classroom and watch my partner teach the same lesson. It was interesting for me to see the adaptations she could make in the lesson just by watching me teach it prior to her class. It was a great learning opportunity because I got to see the lesson evolve and shift from when I had taught it just the hour before. Also, it was interesting to see how the same lesson can have different effects on the students. For the most part the students were engaged in both classes, but in period two the students were a little more rowdy than the class before leading to more classroom management needing to be implemented.

I had been working of a novel study with the students for the majority of the time that I was there. The students were studying multiple themes that were present in the novel, one being teamwork. I constantly got to tell me students that we were working on assignments as a team and needed to build relationships in order to have great success with one another. I know that it sounds extremely cheesy, and the students definitely gave me an eye roll or two, but this is definitely something that has stuck with me from my pre-internship- teamwork.

Inquiry Post #7: Summary of my Learning

As an English Major I have been trying to think about the ways that I might formatively assess students through writing. The textbook Teaching Adolescent Writers by Kelly Gallagher is one that I hold close to me and one that I think will be useful when I go into my pre-internship. I want my English classroom to be filled with opportunities for students to practice writing. Gallagher writes that “Quite often, when students are asked to write formally in school, they haven’t had enough previous writing practice to give them the competence to succeed” (31). Before reading this text I didn’t really think about practice writing and how effective it can be for students. Students should be given the chance, as Gallagher says, to “write before they write”. I think that this would also be a great opportunity to formatively assess students with descriptive feedback to support their learning.

Another textbook that I feel will support me in internship is Making Classroom Assessment Work by Anne Davies. Davies writes that “We [as teachers] interrupt learning if we evaluate too often, whereas assessment information can guide instruction and support learning” (52). I think that this has been my biggest realization through my inquiry project. Before looking into the difference between formative and summative assessment, I had this preconceived idea in my head that they were the same thing. I feel silly for thinking this in the first place because the two assessments could not be more different. From the insightful words of Gallagher, “[A] way to encourage students to start writing [or working on any assignment] is to let them know up front that you, the teacher, will not be grading everything they write” (53). I think that by letting students know that they have the opportunity to improve their work will motivate them to engage themselves as a student.

Inquiry Post #6: Evidence of Learning- Formative Assessment Inquiry

What I find to be the most important line from chapters seven and eight from Making Classroom Assessment Work by Anne Davies is the line, “[…] the person who is working the hardest is learning the most” (71). I enjoy this particular quote because it focuses on encouraging students to be a part of the evidence and assessment stage in the classroom. Chapter eight specifically talks about how students need to learn how to gather evidence so that they can have solid proof of their learning. It is easier for a student to judge themselves on what they are learning and where they need to improve if they have learning evidence to reflect on. The chapter states that as teachers it is our job to make sure that students are able to simply collect evidence of their learning. We are to keep the process simple, involve the students, help students and parents value the evidence and also continuously reconsider evidence collections (74). If we follow all of these steps then students will able to understand why gathering evidence is important to supplement their learning. Students will have a clear image of what they are doing well and what they need to work on.

Something that I would like to note is the description of why portfolios can be useful for guided learning. I honestly did not know the difference between a progress portfolio, which provides snapshots of a student’s learning over time, and a process portfolio, which is where all of the learning is provided over a time period (79, 81). After reading this chapter I think that I will definitely link portfolios and gathering evidence together to start. Sometimes when I think about gathering evidence from my students I feel a little bit overwhelmed, but I think that a portfolio is an excellent place to start and in time when I have enough practice I can expand from there.

I am particularly reflecting of portfolios because it is an assignment that I am to complete for a current university class. It is interesting to me to put all of my content together and to get the chance to present my evidence of learning throughout the semester. I think that by doing this I started to clearly understand the learning goals from the semester and am able to somewhat review the content before putting my books away for good. Process portfolios are a great way for students to show evidence of what they have learned, to put it all together in a portfolio, and to reflect on how this evidence has enriched their learning experience.