Commitment to the Profession CLO1-Demonstrate commitment to the teaching profession and personal growth as a teacher and a learner, and develop necessary social and communicative skills to deal effectively with teachers, learners, mentors and peers.
Applied a workshop about personality development, and how to deal with people at the work place -Sub-outcome 1: Set personal development targets with reference to previous teaching practice reports and create a Professional Development Plan (PDP).
Description I managed a workshop at Umm Al-Qura school for teachers from the schools in the same area which are, Ahmed Bin Majed which is a primary school for boys. Aljeer school, which is a secondary school and Al-Wadi which is a middle school. The workshop was at the library of the school. I took the permission from the administration, my MST supported me and gave help if I need something and then the library teacher. The library included eight groups; each group included 6 teachers. I started with greeting teachers by providing breakfast.
Then, I showed the PPT (Check my Philosophy Statement). PPT including points that talk about; how to talk with customers or parents? How to deal with the bad situations? How to deal with people? What type of personalities that we can meet in the work place and how to avoid being in pressure? I used PPT to organize my ideas, showed evidence and liked my talk to some evidence. After explaining what in the PPT about the personal development and how we should act at the work institution. I provided papers and books about the same topic for teachers just to give them materials that can help in supporting the workshop and the steps that I mention.
Justification I prepared this workshop because it's valued for all teachers and can reflect positively on their teaching skills and strategies. It can also reflect in their personality and they way that the should use in dealing with the administration staff, teachers and parents. Above 40 teachers joined the workshop, so, this a clear evidence that this is something that demanded from teachers in the area. I chose this because I thought that this would give an idea about the HCT student’s in the whole schools that in my area. I have showed that I’m responsible and I have an adamant background about what are the most important points that each person should follow to show professionalism, especially, in the work placement. I prepared this workshop because it’s related to my (Check my PDP goal 1), which focus on increasing the interaction and being a social personality. So, I chose to apply this workshop to show that I can communicate with different people and I can interact well.
All the teams at Umm Al-Qura school attend the workshop. I used this strategy with the collaboration with the administration because this is how the principal confirm that each teacher attend to her meetings. So, as a clear evidence, I collect pictures of the schedules of each team that attend the workshop with each teacher sign and I will insert 2 as example (I covered the teacher names for the privacy).
2. I prepared all the schedules to organize for parent meetings with my MST - Sub-outcome 5: Work collaboratively and communicate effectively with the practicum setting management, mentors, peers, and parents in a sensitive and a professional way.
Description I collaborate with my MST in planning for meetings with parents. So, I was selecting the proper times for the meeting days. And I chose each Wednesday as a day of the parents’ meeting depending on the schedule that has more free sections. The system of applying meetings is to start with this Wednesday to meet the parents of section 3 students, next Wednesday with section 4 students, then, with section 5 students. These meetings are for the parents that their child showed misbehaving, bad attitude or losing marks and show a negative change in their level from the previous weeks. The target of these meetings is to give specific details about the student level, so, parents can collaborate with the teacher and build the student's personality and ability to learn.
My job here is to write down notes from my observation during the explanation about students’ level. I have the list of the names. In front of each name, I write the note about the behavior and level like; not being active or changing in behavior. Then, I am responsible for preparing a schedule to put down the parents’ names and the times that they should follow it to attend the school. I worked on the schedule each weekend. So, my MST can send it from Sunday to the parent's group in WhatsApp, and then, they will know before that they should organize their time and visit the school to discuss their child level. During the meeting, we show all evidence from the student's notebooks or books, in some cases we ask the parents to attend the class for one lesson to notice the attitude of her child. Then, we write a report about the visit of each parent, but very simple report that only includes the main points.
Justification I chose to prepare this meeting because parents need to support the level of their children by making an effort in memorizing lessons ad teach them morals with the teacher and the school staff. The teacher need support from the parents to build the child’s knowledge and personality. If the teacher explains the lesson without any caring from parents, they will not make progress. The child spends half of the day at school, so, if he was not bringing his books, not acting probably, not being attention to the teacher, most of his time lost without getting any benefit. So, I think that collaborating in any field always create a great result that can affect positively in students’ level (Check my PDP Goal 1). I'm helping my MST in creating a classroom that stick to the rules because it's one from my future goals as I mentioned in my resume.
I didn't take any picture of the process because my MST said that she didn't take permission from the parents to share their children names, especially that the schedules and documents include the names of the students that have issues and this is something privet. As evidence, I took a picture of the parent's permission sheet that responsible about selecting the time of when the parents enter and exit the school if they attend any meeting (I covered the parents names for privacy).
3. Attendance and duties - Sub-outcome 3: Show initiative, enthusiasm, active participation and engagement in accordance with the policy of the setting.
Description Attendance; I was attending the school at 8:00 Am and leaving at 2:30 Am even that the school day finish at 2:15. I was covering all the classes that I suppose to cover from my MST schedule. Each day I attend before my MST to organize the student’s and collect their homework's or give them the dictation. When my MST delivered, I was responsible about all of her classes for 1 week, so, her whole schedule. After they brought a substation teacher, I help in giving her background about students level and strategies that can be effective while they are misbehaving. She is a new teacher, and my MST is on her vacation, so, she absolutely needs help. Related to the committed of professionalism, I understand the situation of not finding a substitute teacher for 1 week. And changing the grade to other MST that teacher other level.
Duties; From the first day at school, I asked my MST about her duties in the yard, playtime and Home time. So, I start assisting in bus duties. Bus duties means that I took the section that my MST is responsible about in details, and take them to the bus stations in the outside yard. Then, I divide the class depend on their region (Shaam, Aljeer, Ghalilah, etc). After that, I arrive to the bus that responsible about their place after making sure that the bus mentor is inside the bus. And the rest 4 student’s that use the car, I should wait them until they leave. The canteen duty is only about organizing the line while they are buying. While, the playtime is about mentoring the student’s to not hurt themselves. Duties also when I take substation instead of my MST.
Justification For both, attendance and duties, if I'm showing commitment, following the rules, doing works and applying what my MST ask, this will reflect that HCT students are trustful. The school will accept trainers each year to give the student's the chance to try this experience of teaching girls because this is the single girls’ school in Shaam's area. If I didn’t follow the instructions in a good way, they might reject me in my level 8 TP, and I need to complete in the same school to complete my action research with the same school, environment, and data. So, by applying rules, I’m helping myself taking the risk of changing the school out to not changing the whole basis of the action research out.
Evidence for attendance section; Evidence for duties section;
A note that describe that I'm responsible about my attendance even due the illness.
Planning for Learning CLO2 - Plan, implement and evaluate lessons within the curriculum of the teaching practicum setting.
Applying differentiation activities in my lessons - Sub-outcome 2: Implement and justify differentiated planning that caters for learners’' needs and interests while taking into account developmental, cultural, physical and social factors, and targeting skills and concepts across the physical, cognitive, linguistic, and social & emotional domains.
Description In each week of the TP, I planned for two lessons with differentiation activities. I start with filling the lesson plan template of the HCT. In the activity section of the lesson plan, I try to add more details and a description about what exactly the steps to apply these differentiation activities during the class. For some lessons, I added differentiation activities, at least in 2 sections from the 5e’s, while sometimes I prepare differentiation activities in each stage from the 5 stages.
For example, in the engagement stage, I will have envelopes that include three questions. Each question is selective to a specific level, medium, low or high. For the explore stage, each level will be responsible for reading different paragraphs for different level about the lesson to find information that can help in collecting some key terms and idea (Check my PDP Goal 2). Then, in the explaining stage, after explaining the lesson, I distribute worksheets about the what I explained, for the low-level students, it should include more pictures than words. For medium level, it should include words more than sentences. Then, for high-level students more sentences and more writing work or critical thinking. For the elaborate stage, a bonus question with different level, then the evaluation stage, different level of assessment depending on their level.
After writing the information in the lesson plan, I prepare the worksheets and the activities. I print it out and provide all the materials that needed in the activities. So, from my point of view, each lesson is planned for improving the student’s level. Also, to help the learners achieving a lot and gaining knowledge by only attending the class. Planning for differentiation lesson is something need effort and a whole day for planning the activities that can help the students not confused them.
Justification Planning lesson plans with differentiation activities will improve my critical thinking, especially when I will give more details and more analyzing of what to do with the activities. Differentiation activities give the students the chance to get benefit from the lesson more by doing the work that is matching their level. And this is can contribute in adding the flexibility to the lessons and this is match my PDP goal 1.
By applying activities that match their level, they understand the lesson gradually by scaffolding their knowledge and how they gain information each day and build it up. If the teacher didn’t give activities that fit the student level, they will misbehave, play with any tool that on the desk, or be hyperactive. And this is because they are bored and they are trying to enjoy their time instead of setting without any benefit.
Differentiation activities show the real progress of the student, because the student is working and doing something that they understand and have the ability to apply. So, this is the suitable way to judge the real progressing of the students’ level.
As evidence, this is an example of worksheets from the same lesson and the same context but for different levels.
High level worksheet Medium level student Low level student
2. Preparing a detailed lesson plan - Sub-outcome 1: Create lesson plans with learning outcomes and a range of developmentally appropriate activities that meet the requirements of the practicum setting curriculum, and the needs and interests of individuals and groups of learners.
Description After each class, I start writing down some notes about the positive and the negative points of the lesson, areas of development to focus on and some recommendation. After each school day, I collect all the notes that I wrote to help me prepare a good lesson plan for the next day to show progress in the lesson delivery and the students’ level.
I start opening the curriculum of the English book, to the next lesson that I should prepare. I read the contents, writing down what are the most important points that I should focus on giving to the students. I start by writing the ideas of how to give this lesson and what type of activities I want to apply. Then, I start writing the lesson plan by adding all the details to each point. Writing down the instructions step by step to help their teachers apply the same lesson with the same steps if they decide to use my lesson plan.
Justification Planning a detailed lesson plan that gives detailed description in each point, help on giving the lesson in sequence without missing any part (Check my Reports and Observations). Giving details helped me explaining the lesson well, by mentioning all the points that I need to explain during the lesson. A lesson plan with detailed instructions, and steps in the methodology of giving the lesson, can give a chance to any teacher that want to use my lesson plan, to apply the lesson without having difficulties.
I think that any lesson plan that includes clear steps of what to do, can help any teacher that didn’t attend the class that I prepare the lesson for them, in recognizing the level of the students, their strength, and weaknesses. And this because they will read what I give in each activity and how that I was applying differentiation activities. So, I think that planning a detailed lesson plan that includes all the activities help me adding all the important things that the students need to learn the lesson. And this related to my PDP goal 2 that responsible about increasing the using of inquiry-based learning in lessons.
As evidence, and example of a detailed lesson plan that includes a lot of descriptions and steps.
A comment from my MCT to confirm this point.
Managing learning CLO3- Utilise a range of effective teaching strategies and demonstrate clear understanding of effective classroom/ learning management.
1. I used the cooperative learning as part of my learning environment - Sub-outcome 3: Use a variety of effective teaching/ learning techniques that support the approach to teaching and learning prescribed by the setting.
Description I have a plan from year one semester 1 in the Education department until now, to apply group working activities during all my lessons. I was suffering from this problem when I was studying at the school, because, some of the projects need more effort and more than one person. But, teachers were not allowing any group working, and this was increasing the pressure of the projects and the assessments. So, based on my experience at the school, I state this plan.
In all my teaching practices, I apply a group working activities (Check my PDP Goal 1) which consider as cooperative learning strategies. In some lessons, I will give the main information of the lesson; then I will apply a working group activity. In other lessons, I will enter the lesson with a group activity and let the students share ideas together. Some group activities that I applied depends on the cognitive thinking, like; answering questions only. While, other types of activities depends on their creativity, like drawing or creating something.
Pre-group working activity, I give a clear instruction that can help students apply the activity in a good way, that gets reflect positively on their understanding. During the group working, I walk around to monitor the student's process in the work, and I give help to the students that they need any assistance. Post the activity; I ask the students to present their work in front of all the class, share ideas and ask them some questions. Then, I ask them to wrap up and organize their desks if the activity was depending on using different materials.
Justification I believe that cooperative activities support learners and support the lesson. Group working activities, give the learners the chance to recover their information that the teacher explained during the lesson. Give them the chance to share ideas, because I noticed from these four years experience, that some students could understand better from their colleagues instead of the teacher explanations. So, by applying the strategy of cooperative learning, I’m giving the students the chance to learn more and improve their level.
Also, from my previous teaching practices, I noticed that after any group working, students would present better than if they were working individually (Check my Philosophy Statement). This strategy helps managing the learning, because it benefits the students and increasing their abilities in learning. So, cooperative learning develops thinking and language. I think that this strategy will help students feel comfortable during the lesson. And this is because they will collaborate with their colleagues and break the routine, of only taking the information from the teacher, and applying for individual works. And this is related to my PDP goal 1 because it helps to increase the flexibility in interactions with students during lessons.
2. I use an appropriate classroom management strategies to secure a safe and effective learning environment - Sub-outcome 6: Establish and maintain clear and consistent rules and routines for behavior, and manage both positive and negative behaviors effectively in accordance with the policy of the setting.
Description I like to apply different strategies in the same class; I think that using multiple strategies can help in attracting the students more than using only 1 type of strategies. I used the strategy of counting when I count back from 3 to 1, and all of the students should stop what they are doing. I used the strategy of clapping, so, I clap to let the students stop the activity or the misbehavior. I also applied the strategy of giving points; I presented the list of the student names. I put markers with different colors for each group. In front of group 1, an orange tick sign, group 2 a green sign, etc. For each group, the black points for misbehaving, the red points for the positive individually work while the green points for the positive group working.
At the end of each week, there are medals for the best groups, a golden medal, bronze medal, and a silver medal. And there is a reward for the best student that show progress during the week. Also, I used technology to create a video each 2 weeks for each student that show progress, that include the students performance during the classroom and the students work. And this is to show a summary of their achievements and to give their parents an idea of their performance during 2 weeks. And this is related to my philosophy which is about integrating technology to classrooms.
Justification I think that managing the classroom help in preparing a suitable classroom environment for learning. If I manage the behavior, they will have the ability to focus on the information that I will give, and the lesson that I will explain, because they will be focusing on the target of the lesson, not the playing or the misbehaving. I think that a good classroom is that have less misbehaving. Managing the misbehavior help in giving the teacher the chance to recognize the students that participating during the lesson, and the students that having difficulties. Because, misbehaving confuse the teacher and let her focus only on the students that acting badly. Applying the points strategy, the rewards or the physical strategy like clapping and counting lead to encourage the students to act probably (Check my PDP Goal 1 & 3). After that the students will act probably, they will focus more in the lesson context instead of misbehaving.
An example of one of the strategies that I applied for managing the behavior of the students. And, a notes from my MCT feedback that related to this topic.
Implementing learning CLO4- Monitor and assess learners' performance and progress effectively during formal and informal activities.
1. My instructions were given at appropriate times within a lesson and are clear and concise - Sub-outcome 3: Be aware of and respond to learners'' evolving needs during lessons.
Description I was writing the instructions down before any lesson. I bring a white paper. I divide the paper into five sections which are the five e's. I write down what to say as valuable instructions in each stage. I focus on writing clear points for not being confused during the lesson. The instructions that I write down are for helping the students achieving more and applying the activities in the right way. And this will affect positively in students learning progress.
Justification If the students receive clear instructions and apply the activities well, they will get benefit from the lesson. I don’t apply different activities for wasting my time or for adding more pressure to my day. But, for giving the benefit to the students and help them achieving more during the lesson. If the lesson explained without applying any activity, they will forget the information, and they will not remember a lot of ideas from the lesson. I think that giving clear instructions, show that the teacher is professional and responsible about arriving the correct information for the students (Check my PDP Goal 2).
An comment that confirm that I do a great job giving students the new concept information.
2. Implement strategies which continually motivate and maintain an effective classroom presence - I was giving feedback in student’s writing tasks and exams - Sub-outcome 2: Provide feedback to learners and document evidence of their active participation in the learning process.
Description Related to my action research for year four which is about the student’s perceptions about receiving feedback in their writing tasks and how it effect’s their writing skills. I suffered from the writing level of the students, and I decide to find a solution for this problem. I was applying a pre & post strategy which is about giving a summative exam at the beginning of the year. Then, giving the students a formative exam in the whole five weeks and after exam giving a detailed feedback in mechanics, grammar and vocabularies. After these five weeks, giving another summative exam on week 7 to compare the affection of giving feedback in students writing skills (Check my Reports and Observations). The goal of this strategy is to examine if there is real affection from giving feedback on the writing tasks or not. So, this is considered as a process of implementation and change a problem that I suffered from in all my teaching practices.
Justification I think that giving feedback can let the students focus on their area of development and work on changing it with their parents and my help. And the reason of why I choose to give feedback on the students writing tasks, that because if the writing skills developed, the learners will improve their literacy skills because when the children will write extensively; they will become better readers. Writing skills will also develop the student's communication skills, that contributes to developing language, thinking, and personality. Writing also encourages creativity (Related to PDP Goal 3) and exploration. Good writing skills promote a creative flow that can help students use their imaginations, explore possibilities and delve into problem-solving.
An examples from the charts that I created from the students results that I collected from week 1 to week 7. The charts about the progress of writing level in different learning level.
This is from the daily comments that I received from my MST which is an clear evidence that I provide a suitable feedback for the students.
Assessment CLO5- Reflect on all aspects of practice and experience in the educational institution and design an e-portfolio that showcases the intern’s best practices and work.
1. Utilize a range of effective formative assessment strategies to gauge student progress - Sub-outcome 4: select examples of practice that demonstrate effective teaching skills across the five competency areas, Professionalism and Understanding, Planning for Learning, Implementing and Managing Learning, Monitoring & Assessment, and Reflection.
Description During my teaching practices, I was organizing a range of effective formative assessment strategies. After each weekly plan that includes teaching 1 or 2 lessons, I was giving a weekly exam that considers as a formative assessment. The exam was in sequence, so, I was giving a formative assessment in the whole unit's lessons but week by week.
Other formative exams that I gave was during the same lesson. So, if I was explaining a range of information during any class, I distributed a differentiation level worksheet that includes questions from the whole lesson which consider as a formative assessments sheet. I consider them as formative assessments because they examine a good arrange of information even from a part of the lesson.
Also, I applied some discussions during the lessons to make a conversation with each group about the lesson. Moreover, I applied the observation strategy and the questioning to observe and cover the class level, student's attitude and writing some notes down.
Justification I think that formative assessment helps me as a teacher to monitor my students’ level. I think that formative assessment allows me to notice the gradual progress of students’ improvement during the lesson. Formative assessments help the students developing their thinking, which will increase their problem-solving skills. It also, helps developing their communication skills will affect positively in their language and personality. Also, formative assessment gives a valuable evidence of the students’ level and progress in any strategy that you applied from week 1 to week 7 of TP. For example, the strategy of giving feedback in students writing tasks to implement learning.
These are 2 examples of formative exams for grade 3.
2. Assessment data is used to inform planning and instruction – Sub-outcome 5: Review and evaluate approaches and formats used by educators to design e-portfolios, and draw on existing ICT skills and develop new ones to continue to design an e-portfolio.
Description After any assessment, I was collecting the data and writing some notes down about the weakness of the students and their area of development. I was writing down the most things that students suffer from, and this is to plan the lesson differently for the next lessons by writing clear details. For example, if the students suffer from a grammar rule, I will change my strategy in teaching grammar. If I were giving an individually work only, I would add groups working to contribute in increasing the level of understanding . If I were applying activities that effective for the kinesthetic learners more, I would apply activities that suitable for visual or auditory learners. Also, I will focus on establishing this area of development by writing some clear instructions, that can help improving the level of the understanding of the activity with students. And, make the activities valuable and contribute in helping to develop the students level.
Justification Using the data of the student's results after any assessment, help giving a real idea about the students' level. In assessments, the students are showing their own effort, their own understanding and their own ideas without receiving any assistance. So, assessments show the real level of the students that the teacher can use to make a plan for implementing and developing learning.
These are two examples of feedback from the observation 1 in year 4, semester 1 and observation 2. These two feedback's show how I make progress in my lesson planning to help to increase the student's level. Especially, that for observation 1, I distributed a formative assessment and the students was confused and not able to answer all the questions. So, I decide to establish the problem by giving clear details in my lesson plan.
Reflection on practice
1st observation, semester 7 5.3.2017 Sunday 10:50 - 11:37 AM
I can evaluate the student's ability to define the words by using formative assessments during the classroom. I think, using formative assessment that include questions for examine the students understanding of the meaning, is a very effective strategy. The first example is; questions about matching the pictures to the suitable word that describe it. The second example is; write a brief description for the meaning of each word. The third example is; fill the gaps of the sentences with the suitable word.
2nd observation, semester 7 8.3.2017 Wednesday 10:55 - 11:40 AM
3rd observation, semester 7 15.3.2017 Wednesday 10:55 – 11:36 AM
I will change the formative assessment that I gave for the students because I think that they were having difficulties reading the questions of the formative assessment. So, if I will change something, I will simplify the questions of the formative assessment. Also, I will add creativity to the lesson. I think that the lesson was focusing more on the strategies of managing the students, arriving the information and helping the students understand the lesson well. But, I ignore the creativity side which is very important to the students and the flexibility of receiving any information.
All my evidence in this page are from year 4, semester 1 instead of this part (the reflections that I will insert are from year 3, semester 2)