reflective statement for las #3
TRANSCRIPT
8/6/2019 Reflective Statement for LAS #3
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I think this standard wants me to recognize the importance behind using a variety of
instructional strategies as a part of each lesson. Not only does this make the learning more
engaging and meaningful, but using different instructional strategies within one lesson also
addresses the set of diverse learner needs present in a classroom. Furthermore, these instructional
strategies should include a combination of lecture, small group and whole-class discussion,
activity, and written and oral work. Through these different strategies, it is important to
encourage critical-thinking about the material by using probing questions and having students
summarize for comprehension in addition to a teacher-based summary. However, this standard
also highlights the importance of constructive feedback in addition to the variety of instructional
strategies. Constructive feedback is a vital component to helping students improve their learning
by encouraging personal reflection through positive criticism and improvement
recommendations.
For this standard, I chose to use a video of myself teaching as the artifact to demonstrate
my understanding and application of the standard. In this video, it is evident that I ³understand
how to use diverse instructional strategies and assessments that include an appropriate balance of
lecture, discussion, activity, and written and oral work.´ Following the warm-up discussion, the
presented lesson is introduced with a lecture reviewing previously covered material. However,
the students are then broken into pairs to discuss pictures of children soldiers from the Civil War
and quotes spoken by these soldiers about what life was like during the war. By working in pairs,
each student is given an opportunity to actively participate in a discussion on the material. They
are asked to write down their ideas discussed and then, as a pair, the students orally present their
assigned picture and quote for the rest of the class. Following each presentation, I generally
asked a couple questions to check for student comprehension. These actions demonstrate that I
8/6/2019 Reflective Statement for LAS #3
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understand how to ³conduct effective classroom discussion by managing groups, asking
questions, eliciting and probing responses, and summarizing for comprehension.´ Although I
have used this artifact in practice, my teaching will change in the future to further meet this
standard by providing more constructive feedback to help students improve their comprehension
and presentation of information. Additionally, the class in the video did not have many students
whose first language is not English. However, in the future, it will be important to ³assist
students who communication skills may be impeded by learning, language, and/or cultural
differences, especially those whose first language is not English.´ The instruction may need to be
adapted for those students. For example, in this case, students whose first language is not English
should be paired up with a student who can effectively present the information discussed.
Therefore, these students¶ thoughts are still included in the activity, but the individual
requirements are slightly different.
After demonstrating how to use a variety of instructional strategies as a part of each
lesson, I feel more prepared to teach and learn in a diverse society. µDiverse¶ can be defined in
multiple ways. For one, it can be interpreted as linguistically diverse environment. With a
linguistically diverse student population, it is important to use a variety of instructional
techniques so that these students are still actively included in the learning environment. µDiverse¶
can also be interpreted as an academically diverse environment. By satisfactorily meeting this
standard, I have demonstrated how to use different materials and teaching strategies to enhance
the instruction for students who are below-grade-level, on-grade-level, and above-grade-level.
During instructional planning time, it is therefore necessary to consider the diverse student
population and how to enhance the instruction for each individual student. This will prepare me
as a prospective teacher to provide the best education for a diverse group of students. I look