Jacque Wright
4/20/00
Danielson Reflection
Planning and Preparation
Our planning for this unit went fabulously. My team works well together
and we shared responsibilities to get everything finished. We had all our
activities, goals, and paragraphs written within our first two meetings,
and had an idea of what we were going to do for each lesson. Being prepared
helped to take some of the pressure off of us and allowed us to enjoy ourselves
and the students.
The Classroom Environment
Overall, our team established a great rapport with the students. When
we worked as a large group, the class respected our authority, but the children
weren't afraid to ask questions or volunteer answers. I had some trouble
in my small group keeping the students on task. I learned that the best
method was to separate my group from the others' groups to avoid distractions.
They stayed on task best when they were sitting at a table someplace besides
the classroom.
Instruction
I believe we used great instructional techniques. We have touched on
variety of strategies, including DRA, LEA, essay questions, poetry, and
Hyperstudio. The students communicated with me through responses in their
journals, and I wrote notes back to them. The students were able to answer
questions and discuss the book. They were actively participating in all
our activities and engaged in learning.
Professional Responsibilities
I think that I had a very professional attitude in this experience. I reflected informally after every lesson about things that went well and things I would change on the lesson. I also wrote a formal reflection after the first and last day of teaching. We kept track of the students, journals and filled out rubrics for each student. I also wrote a letter to each student's parent or guardian before the first lesson and after the last lesson.