CSTP 2.1
Promoting social development and responsibility within a caring community where each student is treated fairly and respectfully
IRP SPEECHES
As a part of a long-form Independent Reading Project that I implemented during my long-term student teaching placement, I instructed students to write a speech based on a social topic they’d researched extensively, that they also had a personal connection to (if you want to read more about the project as a whole, please view CSTP 1.2). These speeches were presented as students’ final in the class, and covered a wide range of topics.
All students were required to listen to their peers share about the things they are passionate about, and to consider the things their peers want to see changed. I think the experience students had both giving and receiving the speeches really helped students to appreciate their own identities and to view themselves as valued contributors to society, while also creating a classroom culture where students feel a sense of responsibility to and for one
another. The speeches marked just how far my class had grown as a learning community, and how I had facilitated activities so that they could help each other to accept and respect diversity in terms of cultural, religious, linguistic, and economic backgrounds; learning differences and ability; gender and gender identity; family structure and sexual orientation; and other aspects of humankind.
The artifact shown here is an example speech written by one of my students. This student chose to give the vast majority of his speech in Spanish, his first language. At the end of the speech he informed his classmates that he chose to do this, so that they would feel for a moment the same way that immigrants do when they enter this country and do not speak English- while being expected to learn the language immediately. This moment was profound and the whole class was incredibly supportive of the students and applauded his message.
CSTP 2.2
Creating physical or virtual learning environments that promote student learning, reflect diversity, and encourage constructive and productive interactions among students
TABLE GROUP SEATING CHART
The simplest artifact to present for CSTP 2.2 is a blank copy of the seating chart that I used exclusively throughout my long-term student teaching placement. I knew right away that my class was full of incredibly social people, who did their best when they could lean on and use their peers. For this reason, I decided to arrange the classroom to accommodate that strength, placing them in small table groups that would naturally encourage socialization, discussion, and community building.
IRP WORLD CAFE ROTATIONS
The IRP World Cafe Rotations is an example of a shared research activity that we did to kick off our Independent Reading Project, during my long-term student teaching placement (for more information on the project in general, please see CSTP 1.2). The World Cafe was spilt up into stations based on broad social topics and at each station students would gather as much information as they could, using their Chromebooks, on the existing discourse around that topic. Students were asked to copy and paste important quote, along with links to articles, into a shared research document. As students rotated between stations, they’d keep building off the previous groups’ research, which resulted in the shared research document growing. When it came time, later on, for students to choose their own, more specific, social topic to research individually, students were able to use the articles listed on the World Cafe Shared Research Document as a resource to help them both decide on what topic to pick and decide on what kind of sources to read. The artifact included here is a screenshot of the front page of the World Cafe Shared Research Document.
This activity involved moving students around the physical space to best support their learning, leveraging their social strengths to create a shared resource, and making sure students had equitable access to that resource through the use of technology. The learning environment during the World Cafe was stimulating, promoted student learning, reflected
diversity within social issues, and encouraged constructive and productive interactions among students.
CSTP 2.3
Establishing and maintaining learning environments that are physically, intellectually, and emotionally safe
CHECK-IN JAMS
Supporting students social-emotionally was something I really wanted to work on as I entered my long-term student teaching placement. One way that I decided to do this was through frequent check-ins with students. These check-ins were designed to both create a safe, accessible learning environment for all students and encourage, support, and recognize the achievements and contributions of all students.
The artifacts provided here are samples of check-in questions that were administered on Jamboard, during daily warm-ups. I like using Jamboard for check-ins because it is quick, easily accessible, and students can see their peers' responses while still being able to share anonymously. Jamboard also can provide alternative modalities for checking-in, for instance, I asked students to share pictures and even memes with me at times to describe how they were feeling, fun things they had done, or what they were excited about.
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FRIDAY FRIENDS
One of my favorite community building activities, and one of the instructional successes of my long-term student teaching, is the implementation of weekly “Friday Friends” activities. Friday Friends started at the beginning of the year, after students and I read an excerpt on the idea of “expertise” being a multi-modal thing- in other words, we explored through the reading how everyone is an expert in something, because everyone possess valuable knowledge, and that knowledge can exist in many different spheres, industries, and areas. To create a safe and effective learning environment for all students, I wanted to move forward from this reading, positioning all my students as experts, and affirming their individualized expertise as of value to everyone else in the class.
Therefore, I had students sign-up to share their expertise in a short 5 minute demonstration each Friday. Most Fridays two students would share, right at the beginning of class, and we continued with Friday Friends consistently until the last week of the school year, when the last two students shared. Friday Friends presentations ranged in topics from, how to use a digital camera, to how to kick a soccer ball, and how to calm yourself down before public speaking. I made sure from the very beginning of the year, to stress to students how important respecting their peers' presentations was. The artifact included here is a sample of a student’s Friday Friends presentation. At first, the class was unsure about the validity of these presentations. However, as the weeks went on, I watched students begin to eagerly look forward to Friday Friends. They not only were willing to listen and learn from their peers, they also were excitedly asking questions and engaging deeply with each other.
These activities were so valuable to building my classroom community, and it is definitely something I will take with me into my first year of teaching! Friday Friends really helped me establish and maintain a learning environment that was physically, intellectually, and emotionally safe.
CSTP 2.4
Creating a rigorous learning environment with high expectations and appropriate support for all students
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
For this CSTP, I am using my initial Teaching Philosophy, developed at the beginning of credential year as the primary artifact. It has always been central to my pedagogical philosophy that students be motivated to initiate their own learning and strive to meet challenging learning goals. One way I did this throughout the year was by being committed to giving students choice and ownership within the classroom space. At my short-term student teaching placement I experimented with this by having students work collaboratively with each other to create the criteria for a writing rubric (after I’d given them the appropriate categories). At my long-term student teaching placement I carried this commitment even farther, by implementing an entire choice-based Independent Reading Project, which ran as a primary assignment throughout over half the semester and produced some of the best student work I had ever received. I stand by the idea that when you give students choice and voice within the classroom community, they will be more motivated to engage with the content, which means you can organically increase the expectations you hold all students to. If anything, my belief in this Teaching Philosophy has only grown as I have over the year.
CSTP 2.5
Developing, communicating, and maintaining high standards for individual and group behavior
EMAILS HOME
One way in which I sought to develop, communicate, and maintain high standards for individual students’ behaviors was by reaching out student’s families as they were struggling with meeting classroom expectations. The artifact included here is an email that was sent home to a student's mother around the midpoint of the semester, during my long-term student teaching placement. This particular student had no problem meeting the academic expectations of the class, but began experiencing behavioral problems when he wouldn’t stay in his assigned seat or wait for the bell to ring before leaving the classroom. After trying to check-in with the student one-on-one, to no avail, I reached out to his mother. At the beginning of the credential year I was nervous about working with parents, but was pleasantly surprised when this parent responded to me warmly. His mother informed me that he’d been struggling with the passing of his grandmother- something I otherwise would have never known- but that she was still disappointed in his behavior. We worked together over email to devise strategies to help the student take responsibility for their own behavior and actions. After this initial interaction, I felt much more confident communicating with parents and it helped me to grow as an educator so that I could better see students' parents and families as a resource.
CSTP 2.6
Employing classroom routines, procedures, norms, and supports for positive behavior to ensure a climate in which all students can learn
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DAILY & WEEKLY ROUTINES
I knew that developing daily and weekly routines within my long-term student teaching placement would help my students transition smoothly and efficiently from one instructional activity to the next. I implemented a variety of strategies to create routines that were adaptable and fair, while still maximizing student learning and community engagement. For example, most Monday we would start the week with a short reading analysis, which we called “Monday Moments”. On Wednesdays we typically hold short 20 minute “Writer’s Workshops” to start the day. And on Fridays we would begin the day with Friday Friends (for a more thorough explanation of Friday Friends please see CSTP 2.3). In addition to these weekly routines, we had daily procedures, such as Warm-Ups, Check-Ins, Grade Checks (on Fridays), announcements, and a review of the day's learning goals. These procedures helped students to transition during the beginning of the class period, since they knew exactly what was expected of them at the beginning of each day. On Wednesdays, students became so accustomed to being instructed by the Warm-Up slide to get their Writer’s Notebooks out, that they began doing it at passing period, before I’d even put the slide up!
The artifacts included here are some of my lesson slides that show the procedures and expectations with which a typical class day would start (note that they are all presented in a consistent format for students).
CSTP 2.7
Using instructional time to optimize learning
CONCEPT MAP LESSON PLAN
The IRP Concept Map Lesson Plan demonstrates the typical way in which I would organize instruction, during my long-term student teaching placement, to optimize learning. The lesson plan features brief instructional segments where I am talking, which punctuate larger periods of student-centered, project-based learning. I found activities like this lesson offered the most balanced instruction and were easier to adjust, if needed. The artifact provided here is a formal lesson plan for the Concept Map activity, which shows the rough timing and pacing for activities where I am leading, versus where students are leading.