The first Characteristic
of the Novice Teacher that I looked at is characteristic 1. Characteristic 1 states that the novice
teacher should have a commitment to and skills for lifelong learning. In this characteristic, it is important to
never stop learning or developing your skills as a teacher. Even after graduating and while working in
the field, I believe that teachers should want to continue their education on
the newest instruction strategies and developments of education. Education, instructional strategies, and our
students are changing and developing every day.
It is important as educators to continue to learn and develop our
education strategies and philosophies to meet the needs of our ever changing
students. An artifact that I plan to use
for Characteristic 1 is my itinerary from the West Virginia State Council for
Exceptional Children Conference held in Morgantown. The conference was a great experience for me
to participate in with a professional community of individuals involved with
special education across the state. Attending
the conference gave me the opportunity to learn from professionals in the
special education field that are knowledgeable and have many experiences within
the field. From the different
presentations, I was able to learn and develop my knowledge of the special
education field to help me develop my own strategies and skills. I believe that by attending different
conferences that pertain to my field of study will help me to continue to
develop my own strategies and skills in the special education field along with
learning from experts in the field.
The second
Characteristic if the Novice Teacher that I looked at is characteristic 2. Characteristic 2 states that the novice
teacher should be an effective communicator.
I believe that being an effective communicator has many different
aspects that play a part in the characteristic.
To me, being an effective communicator means being able to communicate
with colleagues, students, parents, faculty, and administration. I have learned from many professors that
communication is the most important part of education and developing as an
educator. Communicating is very important
in regards to students, their learning and development, and teacher’s own
instructional and management strategies.
Working and communicating cooperatively with colleagues and parents will
be very important when meeting students individual needs and creating goals and
strategies to meet students’ individual needs.
One artifact that I believe addresses characteristic 2 is parent letters
and notes that I have created. During
last semester, I saw how important it was for teachers and parents to
communicate effectively to benefit the student and their learning. Opening a line of communication between
parents will allow for them to feel a part of the classroom and the instruction
that is happening. Through the Parent
Letters and Notes, I hope to communicate with parents about their students and
the development that I am seeing along with questions or concerns the parent
may have about the student, their development, or my instruction. I have sent home a Parent Welcome Letter in my
PDS classrooms to introduce myself and help open a line of communication
between the parents and myself, and throughout the semester, I will write
Parent Notes to update the parents on the instruction I have been teaching and
the students learning and development throughout my instruction. I believe communicating effectively will
allow for a close community environment in the classroom where the parents are
actively participating and communicating with the teacher about their child and
their learning and development.
The artifacts that you have chosen are great artifacts for Characteristic 1 and 2. Keep several so you can use the best one for your portfolio.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
Brittany, your choices of artifacts for Characteristics 1 and 2 are great! Especially the itinerary from the WVSCEC Conference. I love how professional that document sounds under Characteristic 1!
ReplyDeleteAnother artifact that you could use for Characteristic 1 could be any your reflections/observations/notes on something new you've implemented into your classroom, for example, your positive points jar. I think that shows you are committed to being a lifelong learner because you are trying a new strategy/technique in the classroom to enhance instruction and student learning. I even used your idea in my own classroom because I thought it was so inventive! I also knew I wanted to try something with classroom/behavior management and since you had success with it I thought I would give it a try.
Another artifact that you could use for Characteristic 2 are any email exchanges about planning with your mentor teachers. Those will show your open communication about your assignments, lesson plans, planning and collaboration with your host teacher which is very important as a pre-service teacher.