Student XXXXX SPED 3390.01

Addendum Exhibit 4.8.a Field Observation Reflection Samples
The University of Texas at Brownsville
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More examples will be available on the onsite visit.
Student XXXXX
SPED 3390.01
My Philosophy of Education
When I think about education, I don’t only think about teaching science, math, reading, and writing. I also
think about being a teacher who educates their students for life; the one that teaches their students to believe in
themselves and to not be afraid of trying. I want to be the kind of teacher that believes in her students. I want to
impress in my special students that they can accomplish everything in life, that there are no limits and that even if
they are disable, mental retarded, or if they have any other genetic problems they can do whatever their hearts tell
them to do. I do not want to be just the kind of teacher that teaches to read and write, I want to be the teacher who
makes a positive change in their lives. I also want to be the kind of teacher that makes learning meaningful, a
teacher that focus on creating student’s knowledge by engaging them with their own life experiences. I think real
education consist on teaching students for real life.
Some years ago while doing my school observations hours, I met a boy about 12 years old, he was
diagnosed with autism. I remember that he asked me what I want to be when I grow up, and I told him that I
wanted to be a teacher. Right after my answer he told me with a big smile and with his eyes full of brightness that
he wanted to study technology. An immediate smile appeared in my mouth. I was very happy to hear that he had
dreams, that he wanted to become someone, and that he wanted to spread his knowledge and accomplish his goals.
This situation made me want to reach more students with disabilities and teach them to believe in themselves.
One West University Boulevard • Brownsville, Texas 78520 • utb.edu
Student XXXX
Professor XXXX
SPED
November 27, 2013
Reflective Journal
As I begin my study of special education, I’d like to define in my own words what a
disability is to me. A disability to me is when you are unable to adapt to the world as it is
currently designed. It’s a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term
upon their ability to carry out normal day to day activities. It doesn’t mean that they aren’t
capable to do it. It just means they must find their own way in doing so. If someone has a
disability, they shouldn’t be treated differently because the way they look or act. A person with a
disability isn’t handicapped; it just means they do things differently than everyone else does. I
work as a Kinder Aide and we have two Special Education Units there and when I see those
students, they have so much joy on their faces and want to be treated the same as everyone. In
their minds their just like everyone else. One of my personal experiences with a child with a
disability is a family member. My aunt’s sister has a daughter who was born with a mental
retardation disability. Her name is Clarissa and is 14 year old. All her life she’s needed 24/7 care
and has been in a wheel chair. Her mother, Gardenia, is a saint. She has been there for her
daughter since the day she was born. It takes a strong and loving person to do what she does for
her daughter. Clarissa’s father wasn’t around, so Gardenia raised Clarissa as a single parent.
Gardenia is married now, but I can’t imagine the struggles they both went through for so long. It
wasn’t Clarissa’s fault she was born the way she was born. In Clarissa’s mind and heart, she
feels normal and doesn’t look any different than others. She just needs special care and attention
and she deserves it because she’s a sweetheart. Every time I visit my Aunt and Clarissa’s there,
she has that beautiful smile like always.
Education has always been a big part of my life. I mean of course, we all went to school
from Pre-K to 12th grade, but what I mean is that we were taught that having a degree is really
important. The reason I’m pursuing a career in Education is to teach kids and to give them
knowledge and for them explore the world around us. I’ve always knows that I would be a
teacher when I was little because my dad was my inspiration. He was an Art Teacher/Coach and
my mother was a substitute teacher for many years. My parents have always taught us how
important it is to have an education and to always take it seriously. Now a day it’s so hard to get
a job without a high school diploma. My dad especially has been my role model and I look up to
him. I graduated from high school in 2000 and got married right away. I moved away and forgot
about my priorities about going to college. I never attended college until I got divorced and I had
no choice. My older brother also pushed me into going to college because I’m a single mom and
I’m lucky to have my tuition paid for. I wanted to better myself. Not only me, but for my son as
well. In the beginning of attending college I was unsure of what field of education I wanted to
teach so I substituted for about two years. I got to feel and see the different challenges I would
have to face and encounter and I felt that Early Childhood Special Education fit the best for me.
In the meantime I work at Dora Romero Elementary as a Kindergarten Aide and I love it so
much. I know I was born to be a teacher. The joys I feel when I know I’ve taught one of my
students is priceless. To be an educator is not easy. You will have problems/challenges, but they
can be resolved. It’s always been my dream to become a teacher. Now, my father is the high
school counselor at Los Fresnos High School, my mom is currently retired, my older brother is a
History Teacher at Veterans High School, my younger brother is a PE Coach at Burns
Elementary and my sis has her degree in Kinesiology, so I guess my whole family was born to be
educators. It’s all we’ve ever known and have become. Like I said before Education is a big part
of my life and my dream is to be nothing more than a teacher and teacher young minds to be
leaders.
Student XXXX
EDCI 4327
Reflection and Self-Evaluation
TWS Standard 7: The teacher analyzes the relationship between his or her instruction and student learning in
order to improve teaching practice.
The learning goal in which students were most successful in achieving was LG2. Students were expected to
compare and contrast the lives of the Pilgrim settlers and the Wampanoag tribe in the Plymouth Settlement. I
believe they were the most successful in achieving this goal because this was the goal that they all had the most
prior knowledge in. Of all the learning goals, they scored the highest in the pre-assessment and post assessment for
LG2.
They were the least successful in achieving LG3. For this goal, students were expected to analyze the
significance of the of the first Thanksgiving dinner. They scored the lowest on the pre-assessment for this LG3.
None had a clue what the significance of the first Thanksgiving dinner was. They all thought it was to eat turkey
like they think the purpose of Thanksgiving is today. They scored higher on the post assessment for LG3 but the
results of this post assessment was the lowest in comparison to the post assessment of LG1 and LG2.
Overall, I believe the students achieved all three learning goals due to the graphic organizers I provided for
them. The power point I presented had minimal, explicit text with plenty of visuals and a URL link that contained
more visuals. My assessments were appropriate for my students’ cognitive levels gave them all an equal chance for
success. I kept my students engaged throughout the entire lesson.
Reflection on Possibilities for Professional Development:
I felt my lesson was appropriate and engaging for the students. Even though some students scored lower
than others on both the pre-assessment and post assessment for LG1, LG2 and LG3 everyone achieved the learning
goals I had set for them. As I conducted my lesson, I felt I there were things I could have changed and should
improve on for future lessons.
As I was presenting my power point presentation to the class, I found myself grow nervous. My voice
sound shaky and not confident. I mispronounced several vocabulary words and made numerous verbal errors. I
believe if I had rehearsed my lesson a couple of more times before I had presented it then I would have been able
to conduct it more smoothly.
I also had a classroom management issue with my students. There were several students who were
extremely disruptive throughout my lesson. They were very high functioning and scored the best on the
pre/informative/post assessments for LG 1-3 but they kept making silly remarks when I would ask questions. I
tried a new seating arrangement but that didn’t work. I tried redirecting those students every time they would make
an irrelevant comment but they just continue to be disruptive. I think if I had strategized early enough then I would
have been able to stop the misbehavior early on.
Overall, I really enjoyed the entire process of teaching the students a new concept, pre-assessing them,
formatively assessing them, post assessing them, and analyzing their assessments as well as every factor that came
into play when deciding how to best teach these students. It was a good experience for me and a good sneak peek
at what my semester of student teaching will have in store for me.
Think Aloud Project Reflection
Name:
Course Number: EDLI 6320
Course Name: Adolescent Literacy
Your Program(s) of Study which have been approved: C&I focusing on Digital Literacy
Date artifact was completed: November 6, 2013
MRT or MTT Domain(s) and Competency(ies)
I am not in the MRT or MTT program, so I will connect this assignment to my program of study and career goals
focusing on reading, listening, speaking and writing.
Name of Artifact
Think Aloud Project
Reflective Statement
Connection to MRT Domains and Competencies (for EDLI classes)
The completion of the Think Aloud has helped me to understand how important it is for students to think aloud as
they read through difficult texts. The five techniques of predicting, visualizing, analogy, expression of confusion
and fix-up strategies assist students with building their schema and reading skills.
Reflection on Children’s Learning
Completing this artifact is important to children’s learning because the students were to use their higher order
thinking skills to analyze a difficult text on their exam. Some of the students had difficulty with vocabulary words
because it was at a higher reading level. Modeling was very important in this project in order for the students to
understand the task assigned to them. It was a wonderful lesson to present to my English 2 classes because they
needed to work more on their reading skills and prepare for their STARR exam.
The project made for outstanding class discussions and worked well with all individuals. The use of media in the
classroom was excellent to project the passage used in the lesson. The students were able t also use the laptops and
Google search engine to define the words they did not know.
Applications to Teaching
I learned from this assignment that it is really important for me as a teacher to apply different reading strategies so
the student is able to strengthen their comprehension skills. By viewing the results from their Benchmark Exams, I
realized I cannot assume that all students know how to read well. I need to use all the resources available and
expose my students to a variety of strategies to use. I notice that students become more comfortable reading
knowing that they are able to think aloud. The level of thinking going on during this lesson was at the highest
level. I feel visuals, media and text is a must in all classrooms.
Applications to Leadership
I can apply this to my present or future leadership position in a school or district by stressing the importance of
using media and various readings in the classroom. Students grow up with so much technology around them and
educators need to realize that is how the students are able to focus and learn. Our TEKS require us to teach all
skills and objectives in order for our students to be successful on state exams. The problem is that not all districts
require technology in the classroom which is hindering our students’ learning. I feel more trainings focusing on
reading strategies will assist our district on state exams. I feel this project can be applied to all subject areas, not
only in English classes.