Culminating Questions and Reflections Guide (D-1)
Use the following questions to guide your reflection about . . .
Yourself
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What were your growth goals?
How would you measure your progress toward meeting those goals?
How have students benefited from your reflections and the learning that took place
in your inquiries?
Your students-
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What did you learn about your students’ needs?
What did you learn about differentiating instruction?
What did your student assessments tell you about your teaching?
When you made changes in your teaching, what were your expected student
outcomes?
In what ways did you impact student success?
How did your students progress compared to what you expected?
Evidence—
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Reflect on evidence collected during the three modules (Context for Teaching and
Learning, Assessment of Teaching and Learning, and Inquiry into Teaching and
Learning) in the following areas:
- Focus students
- State-adopted academic content standards for students
- Instructional strategies
- Assessments
Provide evidence of the connections between the subject matter you taught, your
instructional strategies, and your assessments.
Highlight the best evidence that illustrates a change/improvement in your teaching.
Looking Ahead—
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What will you continue to investigate or focus on as you move into your next year of
teaching?
What led you to choose this area of focus?
Copyright © California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the Department of Education
Formative Assessment for California Teachers (FACT) – 2010
Summary of Teaching and Learning – Culminating Questions and Reflections Guide D-1
Page 1 of 3
Culminating Questions and Reflections Guide (D-1)
DIRECTIONS: Based on your work this year, use evidence to guide your thinking and prepare a written
reflection. The key insights captured here may be shared during your program’s culminating activity.
1.
What have you learned about yourself as a
teacher?
This year has been full of learning experiences! I
have learned so much through meeting with my support
provider, my talks with colleagues, seeking instructional
advice from our resource teacher, and researching ideas
to implement in my classroom. I have learned that I
need to be open to trying lots of new things with my
students. The bigger “bag of tricks” that I can have as a
teacher, the more likely I will be able to reach all of the
learning styles that will be present in any given class.
This year’s class has shown me that as a teacher the
more strategies I can have to keep students engaged, the
better chance I will have at keeping each students’
interest throughout the year. Engagement and classroom
management strategies have been my focus this year. I
learned a great deal of strategies from Rick XXX and I
have also done research to find more strategies that
have worked wonders for my class.
One specific goal I had was to learn how to be a
more effective writing teacher. I worked very closely
with my support provider to learn Step-Up-to-Writing
strategies for organizing writing ideas. One strategy that
I have used in teaching writing is the green, yellow, red
color-coding, which was introduced to me by my
support provider. After introducing this strategy to my
class, and using it several times, my students were able
to write a paragraph! Being able to give my students the
gift of writing has given me the confidence that I can
teach writing and be successful. Due to the fact that my
focus in Module C was to have my students to be able
to write a paragraph with a topic sentence, details, and a
closing sentence, it allowed me to put a great focus and
emphasis on really looking deep into how I was
teaching writing and what I needed to do to improve the
strategies I was using. I feel very confident in teaching
writing and am thankful to have learned new tools to
use to make my students proficient writers.
2.
What have you learned about your students?
This year has been a great deal of fun learning
about all of my students and their unique traits. My
students and I have learned many things together along
the way. My students need variety and they like change. I
have researched and introduced several classroom
management strategies in order to keep them enthusiastic
about staying focused and positive. I always thought that
with teaching and managing a classroom, less is more. I
had the impression that when it comes to classroom
management strategies that I needed to stick with a few
and be consistent with those few. However, my class this
year has taught me that change is not just good, it is
necessary! I have introduced several new strategies
throughout the year that have been extremely effective. I
thought that the beginning of the year is when the
students learn how the classroom runs and what different
procedures are used; however, that is not the case at all!
Students need variety and change and they like new
things that make school exciting. Many times this year
when I introduced a new strategy I told the students that
it was the time of year when they were ready for
something a little more challenging or mature. Using this
type of introduction made the students feel as though
they were being rewarded. The students responded well
to this type of introduction and they took the new
concepts being introduced with open arms. I now know
that the year is going to evolve differently than you may
have expected, things will be unpredictable, and students
each have their own little quirks that make the class
special and unique. It is learning how to tap into all of
these exceptional students and personalities that makes
my job as a teacher so rewarding.
Copyright © California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the Department of Education
Formative Assessment for California Teachers (FACT) – 2010
Summary of Teaching and Learning – Culminating Questions and Reflections Guide D-1
Page 2 of 3
3.
Describe a piece of evidence that best illustrates a
shift you have made in your teaching.
The most dramatic change that took place in my
teaching this year is how I taught writing. Last year
during my long-term substitute assignment, I spoke with
Lynn XXX who is my support provider this year, about
my concerns and questions when it came to teaching
writing. I knew this year that I wanted to make a great
effort to expand my knowledge of the way that I taught
writing. One of the writing standards for third grade
states that students should be able to write one
paragraph with a topic sentence, details, and a closing
sentence. Through the help and support of Lynn, I was
able to utilize fabulous Step Up To Writing strategies to
get my students organized and prepared to write and
meet the above-mentioned standard. Overall, the Step
Up to Writing strategies I have been introduced to
through this inquiry process have really transformed
how I teach writing. The students are able to see how a
paragraph is put together and they to are able to put a
paragraph together on their own with the appropiate
parts. Using colors is what the students have really
responded to. The students know how to do the green,
yellow, and red strategy on their own and they are able
to move from their outline into a paragraph. Giving the
students these "tools" is exactly what they needed to
boost their writing abilities. I have extended, and will
continue to extend upon the strategies and resources I
have been introduced to. We have come up with
movements to the colors of the paragraph and what they
mean. Making things interactive have made the writing
process come alive for the students and they no longer
see writing as such a task they have to endure, rather a
fun activity where they get to express themselves. I
would love to go to a Step up to Writing training and
learn additional strategies to teach writing.
4.
What will you investigate or focus on in the next
year?
The most dramatic change that took place in my
teaching this year is how I taught writing. Last year
during my long-term substitute assignment, I spoke with
Lynn XXX, who is my support provider this year, about
my concerns and questions when it came to teaching
writing. I knew this year that I wanted to make a great
effort to expand my knowledge of the way that I taught
writing. One of the writing standards for third grade
states that students should be able to write one paragraph
with a topic sentence, details, and a closing sentence.
Through the help and support of Lynn, I was able to
utilize fabulous Step Up To Writing strategies to get my
students organized and prepared to write and meet the
above-mentioned standard. Overall, the Step Up to
Writing strategies I have been introduced to through this
inquiry process have really transformed how I teach
writing. The students are able to see how a paragraph is
put together and that they are able to put a paragraph
together on their own with the appropiate parts. Using
colors is what the students have really responded to. The
students know how to do the green, yellow, and red
strategy on their own and they are able to move from
their outline into a paragraph. Giving the students these
"tools" is exactly what they needed to boost their writing
abilities. I have extended, and will continue to extend
upon the strategies and resources I have been introduced
to. We have come up with movements to the colors of the
paragraph and what they mean. Making things interactive
has made the writing process come alive for the students
and they no longer see writing as such a task they have to
endure, rather a fun activity where they get to express
themselves. I would love to go to a Step up to Writing
training and learn additional strategies to teach writing.
Copyright © California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the Department of Education
Formative Assessment for California Teachers (FACT) – 2010
Summary of Teaching and Learning – Culminating Questions and Reflections Guide D-1
Page 3 of 3