APPENDIX G – Capstone Overall Reflection (elementary)
The heading of Whitney’s elementary portfolio conclusion tells the
reader her Professional Growth Plan is an artifact that will support
her overall reflection.
Whitney Hogg, Spring 2006
Artifacts Included:
Professional Growth Plan
Portfolio Conclusion
The opening paragraph restates her student teaching goals and suggests that setting them helped her develop the
division themes. It clearly sets the organizational framework for her paper.
Looking back on the experiences that I have had thus far in my educational career, it is clear
to me that I have come a long way as an educator, but there is more for which I will continue to strive.
Throughout my field experiences, namely student teaching, I have set goals for myself to accomplish.
These goals have given my experiences a purposeful focus and helped me to develop areas of
strength and reinforce areas of weakness. Through these goals, developing a rapport with students,
differentiating instruction, designing developmentally appropriate lessons, and developing classroom
management, I have seen the qualities of an instructional leader, global citizen and reflective scholar
become apparent in me.
The following three paragraphs interweave the achievement of her goals with her development as a teacher in
terms of becoming an Instructional Leader, Global Citizen, and Reflective Scholar. The themes are supported by
implementation and she cites concrete evidence of her impact on student learning.
In order for an educator to be effective he or she must be an instructional leader. I see myself
as an instructional leader, as many of the goals I set for myself were focused around this theme.
Lesson planning and assessment have been a huge part of my student teaching assignment. This
area is one I feel most confident in as I now have experience in designing my own lessons based on
state standards, curriculum goals, and free of structure from basals. In this same light, I have focused
on making sure lessons were developmentally appropriate, by working closely with my cooperating
teacher and gaining more experience in this area. I have seen my impact on student learning through
the assessments given to students, as 85% of my students mastered the curriculum goals during my
lead teaching and planning. An instructional leader is one who never sees his or herself as finished
learning and growing. I am committed to this life long learning and growth as I continue to strive as an
educator.
Bringing diversity and a global outlook to my classroom is a vital part of creating a well
rounded curriculum and in turn creating well rounded citizens. Many topics such as racism, prejudice,
and problem solving were studied under my direction. These are all real world issues and extremely
relevant to students and the world in which they live. I also brought to light the diversity within the
students’ own seemingly homogeneous classroom by celebrating and incorporating differences such
as using sign language. I feel that my job as a global citizen in the classroom will never be complete.
As the world keeps changing, it will be my responsibility to ensure that each of my students is able to
see the world in its true light and be able to make a difference. As I work to become a global citizen,
my students will be involved in the journey along with me, learning and growing together.
Throughout all of my field experiences, I have developed as a reflective scholar. The mentor
relationships that I have had with cooperating teachers have been invaluable in helping me to
determine my strengths and weaknesses and gain insight on how to improve myself as an educator.
Reflection has become a part of my daily life, an almost natural instinct. During lessons I reflect on
how my students are reacting to the information I am presenting and make small adjustments along
the way. At the conclusions of lessons I reflect on what I liked and didn’t like and how I can learn from
the experience. Looking back on my experience of student teaching and not using basals, I see
myself as a stronger, more independent thinker and educator. I am able to construct lessons based
on what I have determined my students need to know, not what a curriculum series tells me the
students need to know. Reflection is a part of who I am and is something that as an educator I will
always use as a tool to benefit and monitor not only my students, but also myself.
The concluding paragraph is honest and insightful, and leads the reader into Whitney’s
Professional Growth Plan
As my career in education is just beginning, so is my journey in becoming an instructional
leader, global citizen, and reflective scholar. Right now I see myself as a beginning teacher who has
the knowledge and resources to positively impact student learning. However, I also know that this is
not enough to establish a life long career. I plan to continue developing in these areas through
mentor relationships, gaining more professional knowledge, through professional development and
literature, and reflection. The subject area of language arts is of particular interest to me, as I have a
preference for teaching this topic. As I gain more experience I would like to repay the educational
community for the wonderful opportunities by becoming active in professional organizations and
school committees. I am committed to life long growth and never having the attitude that what I am
doing is the best it can be. My students and their best interests will always be the diving force behind
my decisions as an educator.
APPENDIX G – Capstone Overall Reflection (secondary, unthemed)
Amber Lucas, English
Amber’s final reflection combines her original student teaching goals with her development
as a teacher in terms of the Division themes.
Portfolio Conclusion
As I entered into my student teaching experience, I was very focused on expanding my
instructional abilities. After observing my classroom for a week, I knew that there were at least three
areas in which I wanted to concentrate. I wanted to work on developing my capability of assisting and
monitoring students who disrupt the classroom, connecting cross-curricular content areas within the
classroom, and improving my classroom management skills. Throughout the entire student teaching
experience, I succeeded, failed, and sometimes, as Harry Wong says, just survived.
Throughout all of my struggles, advancements and letdowns, my ability as a reflective scholar
was my biggest asset. Every individual experience, whether positive or negative, contained so many
lessons to analyze and consider. Without the reflective skills that I gained in my methods classes, I
would have lost out on many learning opportunities. Through the use of my journal and bi-weekly
meetings with my cooperative teacher, I was able to gain a far greater level of educational
comprehension in regards to my successes and failures. I was able to analyze the most finite detail of
lessons, student and teacher interactions, classroom management techniques, and all other aspects
of teaching. This was very apparent when I spent several meetings with my cooperative teacher,
other seventh grade teachers, and outside resources considering the proper course of action with an
extremely disruptive student. My reflective skills assisted me through this trying time and allowed me
to consider all of my options as well as judge those that I had already tried. The strength of my
reflective skills is what will guide me into becoming a more considerate and successful teacher.
As I progressed further into my student teaching, it became more apparent to me that my
instructional leadership skills were strong but always in need of development. I have always believed
that the pursuit of content knowledge had to be accompanied with a pursuit for better classroom
management strategies as well. I experienced this need for more knowledge, when I enforced new
classroom management strategies, from Harry Wong. I took his research and implemented it into my
own classroom, which he encourages. It is this pursuit for knowledge that will lead me to becoming
the head of my department, the liaison to my teachers’ association, and to constantly test and use
new classroom management techniques.
The final aspect of teaching I felt confident about, but I knew that I needed real teaching
experience in order to prepare to implement my global citizen ideals. The global citizen part of
teaching too often gets pushed to the side. It was important to me, as a teacher, to take the time to
plan and implement educational opportunities that encouraged my students to consider their world
from other perspectives. I achieved this when I performed the “brown eye, blue eye” experiment. The
children were amazed at the reaction of the other students in the class and in their own as well. This
effort to make students see outside of their comfort zone was much more difficult to achieve than I
had originally thought. I realized that not only was it important to take the extra time to plan these
very meaningful activities, but to include time to allow the students to put a voice to their thoughts
through discussion and writing. Creating amazing global citizens should always be a part of the
teaching process.
Her final paragraph leads the reader into Amber’s Professional Growth Plan, which follows
this conclusion and is the last artifact in her portfolio.
After completing my student teaching, I understand better the demands and tremendous
benefits of being a reflective scholar, instructional leader, and global citizen. Each theme is unique
and yet they all work together to construct a fantastic teacher. I want to be the teacher who
continually maintains my current level of security with these three division themes while at the same
time excelling beyond my own comfort. I want to continue my advancement in classroom
management, through various resources and simple trials. I want to continue in my education to
achieve a reading license, become a department head, and eventually a major voice in the politics of
education. I am starting small with lofty goals, but I have the tools and experience to succeed.
APPENDIX G – Capstone Overall Reflection (secondary, themed)
Kathleen Harris, Social Studies
This portfolio was entitled “A Climate of Change.” The theme was introduced in her portfolio
introduction and continued throughout, ending with this overall reflection.
My student teaching experience began in a humid, tropical environment without the
comfort of air conditioning. Despite the oppressive heat, I observed the evolution of five
separate classes into five distinct classroom personalities. Within each classroom, student
leaders emerged demonstrating enthusiastic attitudes and a willingness to participate. Also
emerging were students needing encouragement, reassurance, and support. The realization
that classrooms not only contain unique individuals, but also a unique chemistry helped
define the goals that I set for my student teaching experience.
The next two paragraphs state her goals and the progress she made during student teaching. She
reflects on her experiences, setting future goals based on what she’s learned about herself as a
teacher.
As I assumed lead teaching responsibilities. I focused my efforts on the integration of
classroom procedures into my cooperating teacher’s classroom management plans. I am
extremely pleased with the results and believe they are vital to the management of a
classroom. Procedures create a climate that is secure for students and timesaving for
teachers. My final instruction to my geography class was to pass in a homework assignment,
and I noticed with delight that the papers were in my hands in less than twenty seconds. The
implementation of procedures enhanced my time management skills and created
swifter transitions for students allowing more time devoted to learning. As I enter my first
year of teaching, I will continue working on time management to enable the most effective
forms of instruction.
She reflects upon the impact she had on her students and their learning.
A third goal for my student teaching experience was to create lessons that included
performance-based assessment. As an educator, I have found that I must be very intentional
regarding this effort. While challenging to create, my experience demonstrated to me that
students, particularly at a high school level, want their learning to have meaning. Engaging
high school students in “real life” tasks is a goal I will carry with me throughout my teaching
career.
I began my student teaching experience believing that the classroom
environment, both physical and behavioral, impacted me. I conclude my experience by
acknowledging that while I cannot always control the day-to-day weather, I create the climate
that touches the life of every individual entering the room. I have discovered that the twelveweek objectives I set for my student teaching experience have become lifelong goals defining
my commitment to education. I believe these goals represent an educator who combines a
positive, enthusiastic attitude with kindness and caring to create a nurturing environment
where academic
APPENDIX G – M401 Elementary Overall Reflection
Emily Whitaker
The first paragraph briefly summarizes what the reader should have seen and read about in this
portfolio.
The following paragraph summarizes what this pre-service teacher sees as her strengths, how
she knows they are her strengths, and how she will use them to help her improve during
student teaching.
This portfolio is documentation of my ability to effectively meet the INTASC Principles and
Division Themes of the IU East Education Department. Specifically, I have explained my educational
beliefs, instructional experiences, professional growth, and commitment to volunteering in several
communities. After reading this portfolio, the reader should have a sense of who I am as a future
educator and citizen.
In preparing this portfolio, I have made mental notes of my areas of strength, and it is my
intention to utilize these strengths during my student teaching experience. First, I provide instructional
experiences that are suitable for all learners. I have shown several times in this portfolio how I have
adapted my instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners. Second, I have demonstrated my
knowledge of a variety of instructional strategies to facilitate student learning. It is my goal to continue
to learn new strategies and to implement them into my instruction. Third, I have shown my ability to
use and incorporate technology in the classroom. I am comfortable in using a variety of
communication techniques in enriching the learning opportunities of students. During student
teaching, I plan to capitalize on my ability to provide sound educational opportunities to all of my
students.
The final paragraph outlines areas in which this student would like to focus during student
teaching and why these have become her targeted areas. She gives hints as to how she plans
to achieve these goals.
During student teaching, I need practice in using assessments to plan my instruction. In my
field experiences, I have assessed the progress of my students, yet I have not used this information in
planning succeeding lessons. In addition, I need to make a stronger connection with parents and to
communicate with them more. I plan on achieving this through my writing of weekly newsletters,
telephone conversations, and conferences. Finally, I need to develop my ability in managing the
classroom environment. During my field experiences, I have managed the classroom for short
durations of time; therefore, I am unaware of what it is like to mage a classroom for a whole day.
Overall, I need to improve my ability to plan my instruction based upon assessment, foster
relationships with parents, and manage the classroom effectively. I am looking forward to the
opportunity to achieve these professional goals.