Practicum Plan

The practicum plan was an assignment that had good intentions, but needs improvement. There were many benefits to the practicum plan as well as many disadvantages.

Advantages:
-Helped me to organize the assignments that were due this semester and develop a timeframe for when the assignments should be completed.
-Helped me to start brainstorming ideas on how to meet the requirements of the assignments. For example what topics should be covered in a lesson. Some assignments were better suited towards my civics class I taught and others toward my World History class. The practicum plan helped me to split up assignment between classes I was teaching.
-Helped me to see which assignments overlapped between classes. Some lessons taught met assignments from multiple classes.
-Learning goals were extremely helpful in targeting areas of my teaching that I wanted to improve and how I was going to reach those goals.

Disadvantages:
-Very time consuming and repetitive and perhaps required too much detail such as asking for CSOs. Much of the practicum plan consisted of copying the practicum checklist.
-Requires to plan out the entire semester during the first couple weeks. My mentor teacher found the practicum plan to be frustrating because he did not have lesson plans developed for the entire semester.
-After completeling my practicum plan I did not refer back to it very often.

Overall, I do believe the practicum plan was beneficial, however, there are some changes that could be made to make it more effective. One idea is to break down the practicum plan into two assignments. Perhaps make a plan from Janruary to February and then develop a second plan for the months of March and April. This will allow you to see what you have completed and what still needs to be completed and will provide a sort of progress report. Secondly, I would not require CSOs to be listed, rather what topics will be covered instead. Last, reduce the practicum plan instead of having students list the same items two or three times in differnt charts.

Characteristics of a Novice Teacher

Characteristic 3: "We believe that the novice teacher should recognize that teaching is a professional, moral, and ethical enterprise, should understand moral issues and ethical practices in an educational environments, and should have developed ethical frameworks which facilitate effective teaching." This year I have one particular class where there are several students who have behavior problems and a behaivor management plan is needed and often implemented. The first step in my mentor teacher's behavior management plan I believe is very important and a step that I will include in my own behavior management plan. In the the first step that student is given an option to either continue with his or her current behavior and face the consequences or take part in a solution to solve whatever the problem may be. This allows the student to take responsibility for his or her actions. As young adults it is important to know that what we do affects those around us. Implementing a plan where students take responsibility for their own actions allows them to understand this concept and develop positive strategies for dealing with problems. Characteristic 4: "We believe the novice teacher should be a facilitator of learning for all students." One thing I love about teaching is meeting my students. Each student is different with their own personality and their own story to tell. Because each student is different I know that each student has their own way of learning. As I teacher I enjoy the challenge of differentiating my instruction to try and reach all my students. Differentiating instruction allows a teacher to be creative and explore new ways of teaching. During a lesson on the Renaissance I provided students different varieties of information and presented the information in several ways. TO begin the lesson students watched videos on the Renaissance. Then students were provided with a power point and copies of notes (this was more of outline that allowed students to add extra information) as we discussed important ideas, events, and people of the Renaissance. I was also able to find a song that discussed the Renaissance. I played the song for the students and we studied the lyrics to learn about the Renaissance. Students were also given the chance to work in groups on puzzles about the Renaissance. This lesson addressed the mutliple learning styles of students such as visual, auditory, musical, etc. This lesson also addressed some modifications I must make in my classroom. In class I have two girls that speak no English. Working in groups and providing pictures to the students are different strategies used to help the students learn the information.

Practicum Plans

Two of my learning goals on practicum plan were improving communication with my mentor teacher and including more technology into my lesson plans. I feel I have made great progress towards these goals. I communicate with my mentor teacher everday in regards to resources that can be used in the classroom, observations made of the classroom, reflection on lessons I have taught, and progress of assignments in the Benedum. The second part to improving communication with my mentor teacher was to have lessons prepared in advance for my mentor teacher to approve, and then have time to address and changes that may need to be made. So far I have not really had this chance. I have mostly taught from my mentor teacher's lessons plans. I usually have lesson plans from him by Friday for the following week. Over the weekend I usually look over the lesson plans and make changes if I wish to do so (I have approval from my mentor teacher to do this). The second learning goal I mentioned was to include more technology into my lesson plans other than power points. So far this semester students have used the library media center and computer lab to create commercials. Students have viewed videos, researched the internet for current events, and I have used power points from time to time. I have also used technology to produce review games for students when preparing to take a test such as jeapordy. My mentor teacher has also provided me with CD-roms that include activities, lesson plans, and notes to chapters found in the book. These CD-roms have been great resources when planning activities for the classroom.

As far as making changes the to practicum plan and activities listed, my mentor teacher and I have both been very flexible doe to snow days and two-hour delays as to when activities are completed. Some activities had to be shortened while others were just moved around. Overall, the practicum plan has helped my mentor teacher and I stay on task and complete assignments listed in the checklist.