TWS 8: Reflection, Self-Evaluation, & Professional

Development
Savannah Taylor
Lesson 1:
Section 1: Whole Class

A. This lesson impacted students in the areas of Science, reading,

comprehension, and writing. It helped the students to see that when
they read they can do a lot more than just read words on a page. The
students really did a great job on their individual lessons as they read
the information from the fact sheets on a specific habitat to get their
information for the lesson they needed to complete.
B. One instructional decision that I made was to have students go back to
their seat after the introduction on the line because I saw that some
students were having issues concentrating as I was giving the
introduction through an interactive PowerPoint and read aloud. This
also made the students work independently on their designated
lessons. I wanted to see what each student was capable of doing on
their own in order to get my information I needed for the post
assessment without having any interferences. This was also a very
good learning opportunity as they had to turn in their work to me and I
would direct them in the correct ways for when they got a question
wrong.
C. If I taught this lesson again, I would make the individual grade lessons
a little more challenging. All students did a very good job on their
lessons but they finished them very quickly. So, instead I might have
them work in groups to collaborate on a specific topic based on the
lesson objectives and might not make this a shelf lesson, but one
students needed to really take their time on and complete thoroughly
based on multiple habitats and not just one.

Section 2: Three Individual Students

A. For this lesson, the student who was most successful was a 3rd grade
girl. This students individual activity was to create a flipchart based of
of one specific habitat of her choosing. She chose the Ocean and also
worked with a partner to read the sheet (only to read) since we were
limited on the sheets and many wanted to do the same habitat. She
followed all the directions and not only put what was required of her,
but more onto each section than any of the other students. She also
drew more unique creatures that would have the Ocean as a habitat
with their correct name beside it also. This student is very high
performing in almost every area of the curriculum, so this really came
as no surprise to me. But, the creativity that she took control of and
how much she enjoyed doing this lesson is what really struck me
because you could visibly see the interest that she had in it and the
work that she had put into it.

a. I think that this student was appropriately challenged by the

lesson because it help her attention the entire time and she
really put a lot of efort into this project. I think that if anything,
for her, it could have been more challenging. She met the basic
requirements set by myself, and then went above and beyond in
her own mind to do more just because this was something that
really sparked her interest.
B. For this lesson, the student who was least successful was a 2nd grade
girl. This student struggles with comprehension of basic things and
through this disability, I think this is why she didnt do well. Her lesson
was to match the habitat picture with the habitat name on a premade
worksheet. This did involve cutting and coloring which did not help with
the focusing on any level. She understood the directions, but when it
came down to making sure the work was correct, she just couldnt
understand what she needed to do. I did have to assist her in the
saying of some of the names, but other than that she worked
independently on this with minimal help. I am not applauding her for
no help, as she needed it, but it just shows that she doesnt realize that
she is wrong. This student has also repeated 2nd grade one time before
and is still not performing where she needs to be.
a. One thing that I could do diferently in the future to improve this
students performance is to maybe work one on one with
students who are struggling, or to pair them in a group with
another student who is performing very well at a given task. This
would also help them to work with peers since a Montessori
classroom is very social anyways. Another thing that I could do
with instruction is to make sure I am not talking about their level,
but to them and to make sure I answer whatever questions that
the student might have, no matter how irrelevant it may seem at
the time.
C. The student who was average in their performance was a 1st grade boy.
This student struggles with writing correctly and absolutely hates to
write. So when planning this lesson, I made sure to have minimal
writing but to do so in a way that would get the lesson objective across
to the students. 1st grade was given the task to create a habitat on a
piece of paper, full of color. Students were told to draw the landscape
(what the habitat would look like), and then to draw at least 3 animals
that would live in that habitat since our main point was animals have a
perfect home. The student colored a landscape and did draw three
animals, but it was done very poorly and not neatly. He labeled some
things, which were not asked of him, but all of the other students in his
grade level labeled everything that they put on their paper.
a. Something that I could do diferently to better students
performance is to be very specific in all that I say when it comes
to lessons. If you dont tell them to do something, they wont do
it. Their brains just do not think that way and especially with 1st

grade I need to be more detailed in what I say when it comes to

giving directions on lessons for individual grade levels.

Section 3: Reflection

Through this lesson on habitats, students were able to gain factual

knowledge that would not only help them in this lessons objective, but
would also help them in the future. Students did have a small
background on what a habitat was, but through this whole class
introduction and individual grade level lessons, these ideas were
reinforced. When planning this lesson, I made sure that I had an
accurate knowledge on the content that I would be teaching so when
questions arose I would be able to answer them accurately. I made
sure to prepare this lesson in plenty of time to work out any kinks that I
saw in the instruction process and allowed for changes to be made.
One instructional strategy that I changed over the course of time was
to make this a whole group and an individual grade level lesson with
lessons to be completed after the whole group time. I felt like this
would be appropriate to the students developmental levels and would
really reinforce the lesson objectives. The lesson objectives were
definitely met because through the results of the post assessment, I
could see that students had a clear understanding of what a habitat
was and how animals pick their perfect home. In teaching this lesson
today, I learned that my students are capable of a lot more than I give
them credit for. Through this I have learned to challenge my students
and to push their mind to learn so much more than just surface content
and I will use these strategies in future lessons.

Section 4: Reflection for Professional Development

From this lesson, I have learned that I need to focus a lot more on my lesson
development and strategy for introducing lessons. One specific way that I
plan on better developing my lessons for individual grade levels is to really
focus on pre assessment results and to span my pre assessment over a
couple of days to get the desired results to create new and inviting lessons
for each individual grade level to complete after the introduction to a new
objective. In order to create lessons, I must have a catchy introduction that
strikes students interest to a certain topic. I would like to learn how to
introduce specific topics without using the normal PowerPoint, read aloud, or
information just being given to them. In order to better these strategies I
would collaborate with other teachers and utilize all the technology which is
now available to students. I feel like thorough these resources that I would
better my instruction strategy for introduction and lesson creation.

Lesson 2:
Section 1: Whole Class
A. This lesson impacted students in the area of English Language Arts and
writing. By showing students the explanation of what Similes are and
how they are used in everyday speech, they had an opportunity to get
reinforcement on what they could have already known or have learned

something else. This lesson was designed to have students create their
own at the end of the presentation by working independently. All
students were given the same worksheet, but the number of sentences
to complete was based of of their individual grade (1st: 5, 2nd: 10, and
3rd: 14)
B. One instructional decision I made while teaching this lesson was to
have 1st grade stay with me on the carpet to work a little in a small
group. A lot of them were getting the concept of the lesson objective,
they were just having a really hard time putting their own together and
them actually making sense in a way that an outside person would
understand. So we worked in small group together and bounced ideas,
then they wrote them independently (but we were still in small group)
and once they were done I looked at their sheet and they went back to
work.
C. If I had to teach this lesson again, I would not have done it all whole
group. I would have diferentiated my instruction for small groups of
each grade level. I came to this realization at the end of my lesson
when most of the 1st graders were really struggling to see the full
concept when putting what they learned into practice.
Section 2: Three Individual Students
A. For this lesson, the student who was most successful was a 3rd grade
girl. She fully understood what a Simile was and did a great job in her
pre, during, and post assessment. She answered questions when asked
and was focused the entire time when I was giving them instructions
on what to do. Each grade level was given the same worksheet, but for
3rd grade they needed to complete 14 questions of of the worksheet.
This student completed them, used like/as, and also created similes
using clear ideas.
a. I do think that this student was appropriately challenged by this
lesson, but from her past exposure to figurative language, she
did have a small background of what a simile was. As did all the
students in my class. This student works very well independently
or in small groups and always does well on all lessons completed
throughout the week.
B. The student who was least successful was a 2nd grade boy. This student
completed the assignment, yes, but in the correct way? No. This
student lacks focus in a lot of areas and really doesnt complete any of
the lessons assigned to him throughout the week. He is constantly
asked to get back on task, and doesnt manage time wisely. During the
lesson, he did pay attention, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that
it wasnt being comprehended. On his worksheet he did use the words
like or as, but didnt use complete sentences or ideas. Nor did his
similes make any sense, which was another big thing that we spent a
lot of time talking about.
a. One thing that I could do diferently to benefit this student in
learning this lesson objective would be to possibly work one on

one with the students who are having issues in a small group. I
could also seat the student to where his distractions would be
minimized and so that I would be at his disposal id he does need
my help. This student is a great child, but he just has a lot of
focus issues which I think hindered him during this lesson.
C. The student who was average in performance was a 3rd grade girl. This
student really tries her hardest in all she does in the classroom, but
doesnt always succeed. She listens attentively, but doesnt
comprehend everything that is taught to her. For this lesson, she did
use like/as, did use complete sentences occasionally, and her ideas
were somewhat clear. Her issues with this lesson were normal for a
student with very small knowledge about this subject.
a. Something that I could do diferently to help this student would
be to provide accurate feedback, and have more activities that
the students can practice the lesson objective on. I think that by
doing these things that this student would go from average to
above average in many lessons.
Section 3: Reflection
- Through this lesson on similes, students were able to gain factual
knowledge that would not only help them in this lesson objective, but
would also help them in the future. The students were being introduced
to similes in more detailed through this lesson and through the
PowerPoint and the time they had to practice creating their own.
Students with diferent learning styles also were at an advantage
because all of the activities that were involved in this lesson. I made
sure to plan and gain an adequate amount of knowledge on this topic
so I could answer any questions that could potentially arise during the
lesson. Some adjustments and modifications that I made during this
lesson was to meet with 1st grade individually to reinforce all that was
taught in the introduction lesson. I knew that they were going to need
more help in the comprehension area and I made sure to meet with
them to guide them in the instructions for their specific lesson. The
lesson objectives were met and I got these results from the post
assessment after all the students turned in their worksheet. I think that
I did prepare and manage my time in an efficient way because
instructional time was maximized and all answers that students had
were answered. After they completed the worksheet, students were
asked to get back on task and to finish working on their daily work
plan. From teaching this lesson, I learned that some students need
more help than others and that through that I need to ofer
individualized instruction in order to benefit these students. Some
figurative language is hard to understand and I need to make sure they
understand one concept before moving on to another.
Section 4: Reflection for Professional Development
: From this lesson, I have learned that I need to focus on allowing students
more opportunities to practice a given lesson objective, and to become more

knowledgeable on the content that I am teaching. In order to better my

students time with practicing, I will create fast and efective lessons that can
be completed by each grade level to reinforce the lesson objectives. I think
that when you keep children going at a high pace, you leave out time for
distraction. This would be keeping students attention and will help them to
practice what they have just been introduced to. In order to create these I
will need to do a lot of research and really utilize the resources that I have to
create these lessons. In order to have a better knowledge of the content I will
be teaching, I really need to take my time when planning and not throw
together lessons with minimal efort on my end. I need to create lesson plans
that will benefit all students and will maximize their ability to learn and to be
creative with my lesson presentations. In order to do this, along with more
planning, I will also need to utilize resources that are ofered to me through
technology, other teachers, and administration who may have ideas of their
own.

Lesson 3:
Section 1: Whole Class
A. Students were giving the material needed in order to accurately look
up words and other information in the dictionary.
B. This lesson did not go as planned and about half way through the
lesson I realized that we werent going anywhere and that I just needed
to let the students go back to work and regroup myself. The students
were getting frustrated and so I knew we wouldnt get anywhere with
things going the way they were.
C. If I had to teach this lesson again, I would most definitely have more
practice time for the students and probably wouldnt do it just in one
day, I would break the lesson down and have it over the course of 2-3
days. The students had a very small background in dictionary use, but
when it came down to actually practicing, they had no idea. Also, I
would have something for them to take home to practice also. When
coming up with this lesson plan, it looked very simple and looked to be
successful but it wasnt. Not due to planning, but the instructional
strategies just werent what the students needed and from that I know
now what I would do if I ever had to teach this lesson again.
Section 2: Three Individual Students
A. This lesson did not allow me to get the needed information from my
students for this section. After starting the lesson, I made the decision
to stop the lesson and regroup because, I wasnt getting anywhere with
the students and they were getting very frustrated. I let the students
go back to work, and Mrs. Jenkins picked up on this lesson at a
diferent time on the following day.
Section 3: Reflection
This lesson was planned to enhance student learning and their
background knowledge of dictionary usage and when it is appropriate to use
them. As I began this lesson, I felt like everything was going very well and

then suddenly the small group of 2nd graders I was with took a turn and we
just couldnt get back on track. I then made the instructional decision to stop
the lesson and ask students to return back to their normal work cycle and
that we would pick up on this lesson at another time. If I were to reteach this
lesson I would focus a lot more on my introduction and not so much on my
post assessment. Luckily, Mrs. Jenkins did plan on reinforcing my lesson on
the following day so the students did get the lesson objectives presented to
them, just not through my planned instructions. Through this lesson I learned
that my students needed a lot more help than I planned on giving them
through this lesson. The small group did have a little bit of a background with
using a dictionary, but I needed to break up my instruction over a couple of
days in order to fully maximize students learning potential.
Section 4: Reflection on Professional Development
From this lesson, I have learned that I need to focus on my planning
and delivery of lessons and their objectives. This lesson when taught in my
clinical classroom was horrible to say the least. The students werent being
receptive to what I was saying and I felt as if I was going around in circles
and getting nowhere. In order for this to not happen again, I will focus a lot
more on my planning and to really think out of the box when it comes to
activities and post assessments for lessons. In order to do this, I need to take
more time in planning and really try to create or find lessons that have what I
need and not a lot of unnecessary things that dont benefit students. I also
need to focus on the delivery of my lesson and in order to better this
technique I think that I should observe other teachers and get advice from
them on how they present new objectives to students in interesting and
interactive ways that accommodate to all learning styles if possible.

Lesson 4:
Section 1: Whole Class
A. This lesson impacted students on their ability to write a friendly letter
using all the proper parts that one would have. All assessment data
was wonderful and almost all students preformed at a mastery level of
this lesson and the given objectives.
B. One decision I made during instruction was to give students lined
paper instead of notebook paper in order to guide them in their letter
writing. This paper only had lines as to where writing needed to be.
This helped the students to stay focused and also helped them to see if
they were missing any of the 5 parts that we had talked about in our
introduction.
C. If I had to teach this lesson again, I would make it more challenging
and wouldnt give them a specific prompt, but let them choose what
they wanted to write about. The students did an exceptional job at
writing their own letters and did have a couple small prompts to help
them get started. I also think that diferentiating prompts between
grade levels would have been beneficial also. I think this because a 3rd

grader and a 1st grader can write about so many diferent things, so
why narrow it down to only one thing? I think that this would broaden
their horizons on topics to write about and also challenge their writing.
Section 2: Three Individual Students
A. The student who was most successful in this lesson was a 3rd grade
girl. This student creatively wrote a friendly letter and correctly used all
5 parts that were taught in the lesson. This student also used clear
sentences, correct spelling, and punctuation. Even though she, like all
of the students, had a small background about writing letters, she did
exceptionally well in other aspects to write a correct letter.
a. I think that this student did so well on this lesson because she
did have a small background on how to write a letter and is very
creative when it comes to writing. She always is willing to write
journals, and like most 8 year old girls, loves to doodle and draw
(which she did on the outside of the envelope around the
address). All in all, I was very pleased with this student and her
post assessment results!
B. The student who was least successful in this activity was a 1st grade
boy. This student is very low in reading which results also in his writing.
He knew that he needed to have all 5 parts, but when completing this
independently, he would get so of task and would completely forget
what he was doing. He is on medication, but at the time of this lesson,
his dosage wasnt up to meet his weight so wasnt helping. This
student doesnt complete the required journals for the weeks and is so
OCD that he wont write because he is afraid he will spell something
incorrectly.
a. Something that I could do diferently in the future to help this
students performance is to give them a specific prompt in order
to put it around words he can spell. Also, by working in small
group or paring the student up with an older more advanced
student would also help in a situation like this. This student has a
lot going against him, but in time some of these factors will be
self-corrected which result in better performance.
C. The student who was average in performance on this lesson is a 2nd
grade boy. This student does well on the lessons assigned to him
throughout the week, but when it comes to formal writing and
composing writing samples with complete thoughts and ideas, this
student struggles.
a. One thing that I could do diferently to help this students
performance would be to help this student to break down
prompts and to create organized thoughts through graphic
organizers and to structure his writing around that. Also helping
students to look up words in the dictionary would also help when
it comes to composing writing samples.
Section 3: Reflection

This lesson connected to the students in the way of writing and proper
letter formatting. The students did have a small background in what a
letter was and how to create one but this lesson was mainly designed
to reinforce the proper way to create a friendly letter by using all 5
parts. The activities I chose to accompany this lesson was an
introductory PowerPoint (to appeal to the visual and auditory learners),
then a time for the students to practice writing their own letter using
the information that they gained through the PowerPoint (this is for the
hands on learners). One instructional modification that I made to this
lesson was to provide the students with special paper that has lines in
the designated areas where the 5 parts should go. This was to
eliminate error and to help the students to visually see where the parts
go. The lesson objectives were met and I discovered this after I got the
post assessment results back and was able to see the letters that were
created by the students. I believe that I did prepare and manage my
time so that instructional time was maximized because students were
given enough time to practice what they learned and also had time for
questions, but then were able to get back on track and finish their work
cycle for the day. Through this lesson I learned that I have a very
creative group of students who really are strong in the areas of
creating writing samples when given the freedom to pick whatever
topic they would like to. I was very pleased with the end results and
feel like the students really gained a lot from this lesson.
Section 4: Reflection for Professional Development
From this lesson, I have learned that I need to focus on bettering successful
lessons and creating better ways to assess post assessment data. This lesson
was actually my most successful and I enjoyed teaching this objective so
much. In order for me to continue on with this success, I need to learn how to
better this lesson for future instruction in order to benefit my future students.
Just because something was done greatly in the past doesnt meant that it
will always be and I believe a successful teacher learns how to grow on
specific lessons and to diferentiate instruction to benefit students. Also, from
successful lessons, I need to learn better strategies in order to assess and
organize post assessment results. By learning how to do this, I will better
instruction based on these results and diferentiate based on what is seen.

Lesson 5:
Section 1: Whole Class
A. This lesson impacted students ability for reading comprehension and
critical thinking. Through a read aloud, students were probed to think
critically when looking at the underlying meaning of the story Stand
Tall, Molly Lou Melon As we read the book as a class students were
also asked to work independently on a writing sample and on a
classroom flower that told all the reasons as to what made them so
special apart from everyone else in the classroom. We also built on

vocabulary through the words: critical, unique, self-esteem, and selfworth.

B. As the diferent grade levels started writing, I used diferent
terminology to set up their writing prompts. For 3rd grade I used a more
complex way of asking them what to write about (like something they
would see on a standardized test) and then eliminated parts for 2nd and
1st. That way all of the students were challenged, but in the means of
their own grade level and what they already knew about looking at a
writing prompt.
C. If I had to teach this lesson over again, I would have had a better way
of looking at their post assessment. I think that all students did very
well, but I wish I would have had a rubric in mind while planning this
lesson so I could tell students exactly what I was going to be looking
for in the writing sample and the flower creation. Even though students
arent given this information when they write for standardized test, I
feel like it would have helped the younger children in my class to
organize their thoughts in a better way if they knew exactly what I was
looking for.
Section 2: Three Individual Students
A. The students who were most successful at this lesson were those who
have a wild imagination and who embrace their uniqueness in every
way possible, which is all 27 students in my classroom. These students
are creative, and free flowing with ideas and are true children with
their obscene ideas and lack of filter. This lesson was one of my
favorites because I got to see an insight to each of my students and
why they think that they are special and what contributions that they
make to benefit our classroom
a. I think students performed well on this lesson because they were
given complete control and were allowed to let their imagination
flow. These students were given one single flower petal and
were told to decorate it and write their unique trait in any way
they wanted to. The end results were so creative and really
impressive!
Section 3: Reflection
- This lesson was a reinforcement lesson that was designed to build on
character traits that have been learned about in the past through their
own classroom character development. The strategies and activity that
I planned for this lesson enhanced my delivery by engaging students
the entire time and to really have them think critically about character
traits that they saw presented in the book and in their own selfs. My
knowledge and understanding of the content being taught helped me
in preparation for my lesson by allowing me to help students when
they might have struggled when thinking about things that make
themselves unique. By asking certain questions that were related to
them, they were able to come up with some unique characteristics.
One adjustment that I made to this lesson was to have students write a

small writing sample instead of a full 30 minutes worth so they could

do the other activity and get back to working on their normal work
cycle for the day. The lesson objectives were met because the post
assessment results were great and really exceeded expectations.
Through teaching this lesson, I learned that I have a very creative
group of students who are very unique and important in their own way.
This lesson made the students think creatively and really helped them
to see how important they are to our class!
Section 4: Reflection for Professional Development
From this lesson, I have learned that I need to focus on building character
education within my classroom and providing appropriate lessons to
accompany. I want to have character lessons at least once a week and not as
seldom as it has been done in the past. So, for this I will create units of study
that builds on each other to help build character education within my class.
In order to do this, I will do a lot of research and utilize the resources within
the school that I have such as guidance counselor and reading coach. After
units have been created and planned, I will then need to really think of
activities that will accompany the unit well and reinforce lesson objectives. I
also need to realize not all lessons need to be curriculum based, but by
allowing the students to think freely and critically, I will allow them to
experience so much more and really maximize learning for character
education and other areas in the classroom!