5700 Self-Reflection Assignment 1 & 2
Instructions
Of all the judgments people make in life, none are more important than the ones people make
about themselves. Self-reflection is a process that teachers may use to examine their own
professional knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, traits, motives, and social interactions to make
judgments about the quality, value, or worth of a teaching performance. An individual’s
perception of potential rewards or consequences to self, others, or the organization guides selfdirected efforts to change teaching performance. Self-appraisal can provide a structure and
resource for teachers who wish to be responsible for the improvement of their own
professional performance by subjecting it to their own scrutiny and study. Self-appraisal is
most meaningful in a climate when trust exists between educators and value is placed upon the
process of exploring one’s own quality of performance.
As you first read the proficiencies, you most likely begin to self-assess, possibly saying, “Yes, I
do that,” or “My students don’t do that. I wonder if they should.” This section provides some
tools to help you organize your thoughts about your teaching performance in relation to the
proficiencies. The ideas and questions included here are meant only to stimulate your own
questioning of your teaching performance. It is strongly encouraged, though not required, that
you write down responses to some of the questions that seem most pertinent to you.
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Influences for Teachers to Consider in Self-Reflection
A teacher’s work is influenced by a variety of factors, the sum of which contributes to overall
effectiveness as a teacher and the learning of the teacher’s students. A change in any one of
the following may impact effectiveness and learning. You may wish to note ways that each of
the following impacts your work as a teacher. You may also wish to share your thoughts with
other professionals.
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Beliefs about teaching and learning
Skills in planning, managing, and evaluating instruction
School-wide improvement initiatives
Classroom methodology and technology
Opportunities for leadership and professional development
Relationships with students, parents, and colleagues
Community involvement
School climate
Understanding of learners’ strengths, needs, and interests
Availability of resources
The concept of teacher as learner
Your own teaching experiences and prior history with supervisors and mentors
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Methods of Self-Reflection
There are many ways to learn about ourselves as teachers and facilitators of learning. Some of
the following can be used to stimulate new insights into your professional work.
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Observing other teachers and discussing their work with them
Asking a peer to observe your teaching and discussing their observations of
your work
Independent and collaborative study
Viewing videotapes of your teaching
Analyzing the results of student assessments
Keeping a journal or log of critical events
Developing a portfolio of teacher and student work
Administering student or parent questionnaires or conducting interviews
Conducting action research in your classroom
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Self-Reflections and Observation by Field Supervisor Reflections
2021-2022
It is most important for teachers, especially beginning teachers, to spend time reflecting on
what they are doing in the classroom. Time is a precious commodity for beginning teachers. As
a result, new teachers often fail to spend time reflecting on their teaching experience. Since we
value the art of reflection, reflections, both self-reflections and reflections on observations by
your Field Supervisor, are a required component of this course and, in turn, the program.
Reflections also support development in teaching Standard 9: Professional Learning and Ethical
Practice. Uses self-reflection to improve teaching effectiveness. Teachers conduct selfreflections on a continual basis to determine how the teacher can be a more effective teacher.
All candidates in the iteach program will be required to submit two reflections.
Required Schedule of Two Reflections
Reflection
1. Observation by Field
Supervisor
2. Impact on Student
Learning Reflection
Due date for Individuals
Hired in the Fall 2021
12/15/21
Due date for Individuals
Hired in the Spring 2022
4/30/22
3/15/22
10/1/22
In developing your reflections, all writing should clearly reflect your thinking and
professionalism. In each commentary, be careful not to just summarize but to identify how your
students are learning through specific examples of their work or response. All claims of student
learning must be substantiated with examples.
Again, you will submit a total of two self-reflections during the two-semester field experience
(one during your first semester of field experience, and one during your second semester).
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First Semester: Reflection 1
Observation by Field Supervisor Reflections
Candidates are observed during their field experience: at least three times (two times in the
first semester and one time in the second semester) if working on a Probationary certificate,
or at least five times (three times in the first semester and two times in the second semester)
if working on an Intern certificate. Your Field Supervisor will provide you with a copy of your
evaluation at the end of each visit. As a requirement of your field experience, you must submit
one reflection from the CARE field experience observations you will have with your Field
Supervisor during your first semester of teaching. It will be very useful for you to reflect on the
observation itself, as well as your Supervisor’s comments.
Reflections on Classroom Observations by Field Supervisor
The following are guidelines for submitting your supervision reflections. Attach the lesson plan
you used during the class your field supervisor observed. Then include your thoughts about the
lesson and the observation by responding to at least four of the following prompts/questions.
The reflections will be graded as a pass or fail according to the aligned rubric. A score of
proficient in all categories is required to pass. Please use this reflective opportunity to think
deeply about your practice and experience thus far, and submit a thoughtful response.
Submissions scoring less than proficient in any category will require implementation of received
supervisor feedback and resubmission.
Reflection #1 Question / Prompts:
1) Learner Development. How did your understanding of the variance in the patterns and pace
of how learners grow and develop reveal itself in your design and implementation of a
developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experience, specifically across the
cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical domains?
2) Learning Differences. What considerations were made to address student culture and
diversity? How did you incorporate understanding of student differences, diverse cultures and
communities to create an inclusive learning environment that enabled all learners to meet high
standards? What do you think the relationship is between an inclusive learning environment,
one where students feel a sense of belonging and value, and student learning?
3) Learning Environments. How was a collaborative community of learners fostered in the
lesson? Describe how you created an environment that supported individual and collaborative
learning, and that encouraged positive social interaction, active engagement in learning and
self-motivation.
4) Content Knowledge. Knowing your content and knowing how to teach your content are two
separate essential teacher skills. How did you create learning experiences that transformed
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aspects of the discipline into accessible and meaningful learning experiences that resulted in
student content mastery? Ex: Instructional strategies, academic vocabulary.
5) Application of Content. An effective teacher understands how to connect concepts and use
differing perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem
solving related to authentic local and global issues. These experiences are presented in an
organized and logical sequence in the lesson cycle. Describe your lesson cycle. How did you
begin the lesson with a relevant focus or hook? Include elements that address a meaningful
warm-up, closing activities, student collaboration opportunities that encourage students to
consider multiple perspectives, problem-solving approaches. Include how these student
experiences directed instruction toward master of learning objectives and higher order thinking
skills.
6) Assessment. Describe the multiple methods used to monitor and assess levels of student
mastery. Include formative (assessment for learning) and summative (assessments of learning).
Consider how the assessments engaged learners in their own growth, facilitated the monitoring
and adjustment of instruction in the moment as well as informed future instruction in response.
7) Planning for Instruction. Write a reflection that addresses how your lesson plan supported
every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas,
curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the
community context. Specifically, how did your lesson plan address student prior knowledge,
clear learning objectives, related disciplines, available curriculum resources, and learner
development. Provide evidence of how learning activities and assessments are clearly aligned
to learning objectives and how the plan provided appropriate modification strategies for learning
differences.
8) Instructional Strategies. Instructional strategies encourage learners to develop deep
understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in
meaningful ways. Some examples of instructional strategies are activities that facilitate: studentcentered instruction, student presentation of work, student to student discourse, graphic
organizers, student movement. What instructional strategies were implemented in the lesson
and how did the strategies support instruction that was engaging and relevant to learners and
provided opportunities to demonstrate new knowledge?
9) Professional Learning and Ethical Practice. Teachers continually engage in ongoing
professional learning and use evidence to evaluate their practice and grow in their instructional
and ethical practices. Consider the course work you are working through, the theories you are
learning about, supervisor feedback, and any other learning opportunities you may have
experienced recently. How are these understandings revealed in the lesson? What feedback did
you implement? In particular, how did you plan to promote a fair, equitable school environment?
How have you advocated for underserved students, or challenged unfair practices? Has this
learning created a high sense of personal accountability for the school’s effectiveness in serving
all learners? Have you had conversations that elevate colleague or student awareness of equity
issues that impacted this lesson?
10) Leadership and Collaboration. Describe opportunities you have embraced to take
responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with other learners, families, colleagues, other
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school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the
profession. How did these leadership opportunities contribute to learner success in the lesson?
11) Communication. Reflect on the communication that occurred during the observed lesson.
Maintaining a positive and professional demeanor and rapport is essential for a productive
learning environment. How did the manner in which you communicated to your student
influence the learning environment? Was there an instance where your positive talk motivated a
reluctant learner? Were you able to navigate an incorrect student response in a way that valued
student thinking and maintained a safe environment to be wrong and learn from the
misconception? How did you ensure the academic vocabulary was appropriate for the students?
Did you have to adjust or restate your thinking to the student level?
12.) Professional Dispositions. How did you exhibit professional dispositions during the
observation? Ex: Enthusiasm, preparedness, organization, punctuality, responsibility,
professional dress, respectful to other points of view, honesty, integrity, ethics, confidentiality,
and flexibility.
13.) Technology. How did you use the available technology to create personalized and
authentic learning experiences for students? How were you able to use technology to
accommodate learner differences and/or modify instruction to meet learner’s needs? Were you
able to model digital literacy and ethical use of digital tools? Were there any Covid related
proximity challenges that you were able to use technology to serve and solve?
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Second Semester: Reflection 2
This reflection is based on the Impact on Student Learning activity that is introduced in course
5300. It is based upon the emerging movement of national pre-professional licensure
assessments. iteach believes that successful performance on this reflection will be of great
benefit to you as your progress in your career.
Reflection 2 – Impact On Student Learning Reflection
This will be the most extensive reflection you will submit this year. It will involve several parts,
and should be saved as a Word or word-processing document and uploaded to instructNET
upon completion. Your work must score Proficient in all 16 categories noted on the rubric to
pass this assignment. Submissions earning less than proficient in any category will be returned
with supervisor feedback to implement in the subsequent submission(s). We look forward to
reviewing your best work.
The reflection will include three sections:
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Knowledge of Students
Lesson Plan
Analysis of Teaching Effectiveness
Section 1: Knowledge of Students
An in-depth knowledge of your students is critical to effective teaching. Reflect on your
students by identifying students’ pre-existing knowledge and other factors (e.g. special needs,
giftedness, other modifications, student diversity) that will impact how your students learn.
This section should include:
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detailed demographics of your class (if you teach more than one class period choose
only one class period for this Reflection)
subgroups (e.g. English language learners, gifted students, students with a common
learning disability like dyslexia) of your students and their related learning needs,
personal, cultural and community strengths of your students and how you will utilize the
strengths to meet the diverse needs of your students.
Use specific, factual evidence about students to support your written reflections and eliminate
any assumptions or stereotyping.
Section 2: Lesson Plan
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Select a lesson plan you have used for the group of students described in part one. The lesson
should involve a formative and summative assessment that may be quantitatively measured.
Provide the lesson plan in full.
Whether you use the lesson plan template included in TEPC 5300 or a district lesson plan
template, the plan must include:
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State-adopted standards
Lesson objectives associated with the standard
Learning theory or theories that you will incorporate into the lesson and why
Instructional strategies and learning tasks
Instructional resources and materials, including technology
Assessment plan for the lesson (formative and summative)
You should also include a description of the academic language your students will need in order
to succeed in this lesson. Academic language will include:
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key vocabulary in your subject field that your students need to understand for the
lesson
words that describe what you are asking them to do (e.g. What does it mean to
“compare” and “contrast” two ideas? What does it mean to “solve for x”?)
words that describe an important structure or idea in your discipline (e.g. What is an “ifthen” statement?)
Identify at least two examples of academic language that you will use in your lesson, and how
you will assess student comprehension of this language, as part of the overall lesson.
In the event your district requires a prescribed lesson plan, it will be your responsibility to
identify how you modified the lesson to address the needs of your students, including special
populations accommodations and supplementary activities. You will also need to add any of the
additional elements NOT included in the district template, e.g. add a section about supporting
learning theories or add a section about academic language as needed.
Section 3: Analyzing Teaching Effectiveness
Based on the knowledge of students described in section 1 and the implementation of the
lesson plan in provided in section 2, provide a written reflection of what was successful in your
instruction and how students responded to your instructions. Provide specific examples of
students’ reactions and input. Did you respond immediately to this feedback by modifying your
plan in class? If so, what did you modify and why? If not, what could you change (based on
students’ responses) when you deliver this lesson in the future?
Questions to be addressed in this reflection are as follows:
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What varieties of assessment strategies or methods did you use?
How and why were these strategies selected?
How did your assessment(s) align with your learning objectives and instructional goals?
Did the summative assessment measure a variety of objectives?
Were the assessment tasks appropriate for students’ abilities and developmental levels?
What criteria were applied to judge or evaluate student progress?
Now, review your students’ performance on the summative assessment. Create a spreadsheet
that shows (in a FERPA-compliant way) how your students performed. Now, select at least two
student sub-groups. This could be male v. female performance, gifted students v. the general
class, or performance of ESL students and performance of students with learning disabilities. In
your spreadsheet, show how the performance of each subgroup compares to the whole—e.g.
Whole group average grade: 87.5 percent, ELL group average grade, 83.4 percent.
Now, add to your written reflection to answer these final two questions:
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What might account for the differences in performance between student groups?
What could you do differently to ensure all students have equal opportunity to master
the material?
Include your spreadsheet analyzing student performance with the reflection.
Considerations for Small Sample Sizes or Unique Teaching Placements
iteach believes that every teacher, regardless of content area, should be able to plan,
implement, and assess instruction. Therefore, candidates whose teaching placements do NOT
allow them to dis-aggregate student performance data due to a small sample size should note
on their reflection that the sample size of the lesson was not large enough to allow for analysis.
Instead, candidates should provide a discussion of the students' mastery of assessed material
and name what additional supports or modifications were used or could be used to ensure that
the student(s) master learning objectives for the lesson.
If you have any further questions about this reflection assignment, please contact your field
supervisor.
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