Characteristic 3 - We believe that the novice teacher should recognize that teaching is a professional, moral, and ethical enterprise, should understand moral issues and ethical practices in educational environments, and should have developed ethical frameworks which facilitate effective teaching.

This particular characteristic, one of ethical and moral enterprise, was initially difficult for me reflect on. However, I had not realized how regularly teachers, including myself, implement this into their classroom. Throughout the semester I have been teaching the young adult fiction novel, Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry. This story focuses on an African-American family during the 1930s. The children are treated poorly by their community, teachers, and peers. While teaching this piece of literature I have made it a point to remind the students that everyone is equal. We should treat everyone with respect, regardless of race, culture, religion, gender, etc. The students have participated in class discussions in which they discuss the issues of segregation and racism in the United States. For an artifact for my portfolio, I would include a lesson plan from this novel in which the students discussed the moral and ethical issues and completed an activity related to the discussion and the issues in the novel.

Characteristic 2 - We believe that the novice teacher should be an effective communicator.
I truly believe that communication plays one of the most major roles in the education system. In order to manage a classroom successfully and effectively, it is important the parents, students, and teachers are in constant communication with each other. Often times, parents only hear from teachers (and vice versa) when there is a problem. There is rarely communication for any positive reason. In my classroom I plan to set up a journal for the students which they fill out each week. They can reflect on what they've learned, pick out what they liked/did not like, or ask any questions about something they were unsure of. It would also be nice to set up a student-centered blog for similar purposes. As a pre-service teacher I have already sent out a welcome letter to the parents of my students to introduce myself and provide them with a way of communicating with me. I communicate with my host teacher regularly and discuss lesson ideas and teaching strategies with fellow Benedum participants on a weekly basis. For my portfolio I could include excerpts from the student journals (with their permission). This would include both the student comments and my responses and/or questions to them.

Practicum Plans & Progress

First of all, this semester has been wonderful. I really enjoy working with my students and my host teacher has been extremely helpful. She allows me to work with the students every single day; it has truly been a learning experience!

One of my learning goals is to initiate activities more effectively and efficiently in the classroom. I have implemented this learning goal by introducing and completing the daily grammar warm-ups and writing into the day with the students since my second day in the school. Initially, I struggled to get the students settled in as they entered the classroom, but gradually (with the help of my teacher) I've learned ways to keep the class on task and ensure that they begin working as soon as class begins.

Another learning goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year was to utilize various instruction methods in the classroom. In addition to regularly practicing co-teaching strategies like one-teach, one assist and supportive co-teaching, I also planned and completed a lesson using stations. The students practiced revising and editing in one station, using transitions in the next, and finally completed silent reading in their third station. The lesson went really well and it was really interesting to practice a different style of teaching, especially with the help of another teacher in the classroom. I've certainly grown more comfortable in my ability to use different methods/strategies for instruction.

I have made great progress in completing the activities on my practicum plan. My host teacher and I regularly review the required assignments, and because I get to work with the students every day that I am there, it seems that most of the assignments/requirements just fall into place. Although there are some assignments I still have to complete, (for example, the video assignment), I feel confident in my development thus far as a participant at Suncrest Middle School.