KATIE KUTZ
Artist/ Student/ Art Educator
EDUC 350
Spring 2020
For this class I had the opportunity to be placed in an 8th grade pull out math class with the wonderful Kathy Kern as my mentor teacher at Boltz Middle School. The purpose of this course was to provide integrated theories of learning and teaching through a practicum experience at a local middle school. I learned to be responsive to the individual needs of all learners in our classrooms. Through this class I was provided a basic understanding of the nature of middle school learners including students with educational disabilities, those who are gifted and talented, and students from culturally, ethnically, economically, special needs, and linguistically diverse backgrounds. I gained experience learning how to adapt instruction, create inclusive classroom learning environments, and how to teach in a culturally responsive manner to reach all students.
Standard One: Demonstrate mastery of and pedagogical expertise in content.
The first artifact I chose for standard one was my lesson plan from the lesson that I was going to teach to the math class that I was placed in at Boltz. I also included the video lesson that I taught that was specifically designed with remote learning in mind. Due to quarantine I was unable to teach in the classroom, but I still got the opportunity to make my video and it was sent to my mentor teacher to use with the students. Additionally, because of scheduling I was not able to be placed in an art class. Instead I was placed in an 8th grade Pull Out Math class. This class was designed for these specific students. My mentor teacher usually went to work with them in their classroom, unfortunately that environment was not conducive for their learning, so she created this one-time class specifically for them. This artifact is in line with element A of standard one as I have provided instruction that is aligned with the standards and individual needs of my students.
The second artifact that I chose for standard one was the chapter study that I did from the book Teach Like A Champion 2.0. I read the chapter titled Building Ratio through Questioning. In preparing this short lesson I had to read and learn the content myself and prepare a presentation on it to teach to my classmates. In this I did my best to bring in how you can use questioning in your classroom in multiple different contents to appeal to the various content majors in my class. This artifact is in line with element C of standard one as I have demonstrated knowledge of the content and central concepts of the chapter I taught.
Standard Two: Establish a safe, inclusive and respectable learning environment for a diverse population of students
For this artifact I chose the presentation on integrated services given by the assistant principle of Boltz middle school. In this presentation we went over what an IEP and a 504 is and the laws behind them, as well as how to work with students who have special needs and how to talk to parents about their child. We also went over the role of the integrated services department and the resources available to us as teachers. This is in line with element C of standard two as it refers to "engaging students as individuals, including those with diverse needs and interests, across a range of ability levels by adapting their teaching for the benefit of all students".
For this artifact I chose a presentation given by Mary Richmond on how to differentiate in your classroom. This presentation was all about how to create an inclusive and respectable environment for the diverse learners in your classroom. We went over what differentiation is in regards to content, process, product and learning environment, as well as some different strategies to use in multiple different contents. This artifact is also in line with element C of standard two as it refers to working with students individually and adapting teaching and content for students with diverse needs.
Standard Three: Plans and delivers effective instruction and creates an environment that facilitates learning for students
For this artifact I chose the classroom management presentation given to us by the dean of students at Boltz Middle School. This presentation was all about classroom management techniques and how to create an environment that facilitates learning for students. This was an extremely helpful presentation as I believe classroom management to be one of the most important skills to have as a teacher. This is in line with element D of standard three as classroom management is about establishing expectations and using problem solving skills.
The second artifact I chose for this standard was the presentation from the Pump the Breaks workshop we did. The workshop was about behavior de-escalation strategies. In this workshop we learned about the neurology of behavior, the effect of verbal and non-verbal communication, went over some strategies to use to de-escalate behaviors. I believe that dealing with behavior in your classroom and being able to de-escalate is important in creating an environment that is safe for students and facilitates learning for everyone. This is in line with element F of standard three as this workshop was about modeling and promoting effective communication in behavior situations.
Standard Four: Demonstrates professionalism through ethical conduct, reflection, and leadership.
I chose to use my mid-semester field evaluation from Boltz Middle School for my first artifact. This was completed by my mentor teacher and aligns with element B of standard four as it is linked to my professional growth.
For my second artifact I chose was the agenda from a 6th grade team meeting that we attended at Boltz Middle School. During this team meeting we were introduced to the 6th grade team and they explained to us what they do in their meetings and why they have them. We then listened as they conducted their meeting for the day. This aligns with element D in standard four due to the leadership associated with the team meeting.
Professional Teaching Dispositions &
Three Take A-ways
My favorite aspect of this experience was getting to work with my students and build relationships with them. Since I was in a pull-out class and only had six students, I was able to work one on one with them a lot and get to know them and talk with them about life. I often had a student who would walk in every morning and would be upset and not want to talk to anyone and wouldn't do any of her work. I was able to build a relationship with her and get to the point where she trusted me, knew that I was there to help and support her and ultimately that I believed in her. By the end of my experience she was able to talk with me in the morning and when she was upset, and she would become ready to work much fast than before. This experience has given me the opportunity to understand how important relationships are as a teacher and also the opportunity to learn how to form these relationships.
Another big take away that I got from this experience was getting to learn more about integrated services and how to work with students with special needs. I am a substitute para and have had a passion for working with and advocating for students with special needs. During this course I not only got to work with some of these students, but we also had multiple people talk with us and give us presentations on the topic. I have always felt that teachers don't get enough training on working with these students so it has been a goal of mine to learn as much as I can and help to spread the information. I have gotten so many valuable resources from this experience that I am excited to share with my community.
My final take away from this class was getting to see directly how schools are dealing with our current quarantine situation. This has been a strange and stressful time for everyone and seeing how the schools are still running their classes and connecting with students and going above and beyond to get the resources students need to them has been incredible. I have gotten to chance to hear from some amazing educators and hearing their insights and getting their perspectives and advice has really helped with this whole situation. While we hope that we will never have to deal with another situation like this again, it's great to be able to see how schools are dealing with it just in case we ever need to deal with in our teaching careers.
During my 450 placement there are a few dispositions that I would like to work on. I would like to work on oral and written communication as I feel there is always room for improvement. I would also like to continue learning and working on cultural responsiveness as I believe there is much to still be learned. In addition to these professional dispositions I would also really like to focus on classroom management since I was unable to be placed in a traditional class and my experience with this has been different from what I feel I should expect as a future educator.