Running head: REFLECTIVE PLANNING

Reflective Planning and Instruction

Caitlin Flack
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2015

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Introduction

Teaching is only effective if changes are being made based on the learners needs.
Students learn in different ways, so lessons need to be taught in different ways. Preassessments are a great way to figure out what a student knows before a lesson begins.
Post-assessments show what students have grasped and what needs to be retaught. It is
also important for teachers to reflect on themselves. Every teacher should evaluate
whether or not he or she is doing a sufficient job.
Rationale for Selection of Artifacts
To demonstrate reflective planning and instruction, I included a copy of the prepost assessment and my lesson plan. My pre-assessment consisted of three two-digit
addition problems with carrying. This concept had not been taught to the group at school,
but I wanted to see if any of the children had ever worked with regrouping before. There
was one student who was able to figure out all of the problems. She is very advanced in
math, so I wasnt surprised, but this showed me that she needed to be challenged more.
The rest of my students werent able to solve the questions. Most of them were adding
straight down resulting in three or four digit answers as displayed in my artifact. This
showed me that they were completely new to the topic, so I could begin with an
introduction.
My lesson plan features instruction for the first day of teaching this concept. To
begin the lesson, I gave the students the pre-assessment. After that, the students watched
a video on addition with regrouping. While the video was playing, I quickly looked over
the pre-assessments to see how much the students already knew. My lesson continued
with instruction followed by a fun activity where the students demonstrated whether or

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not they grasped the concept. If they were having difficulty, I intervened to explain the
concept one-on-one. For my one student who was already able to complete two-digit
addition with carrying, I gave three-digit addition problems with carrying for her to solve.
After the activity was finished, each of my students completed an exit ticket that featured
three different addition problems with carrying. This gave me the opportunity to see who
I needed to give more attention to during the next lesson.
When I finished teaching the concept, I gave my students a post-assessment that
featured the same three questions from their pre-assessment. My advanced student got the
same test, but I added in digits in the hundreds column as shown in my artifact. This
allowed for her to receive work that challenged her a little bit more. The results of the
post-assessment showed that each child was able to grasp the concept. I had two students
who missed a problem, but they just added incorrectly. When I had them look back at the
problem, they were able to correct themselves.
Reflection on Theory and Practice
Proverbs 18:15 says, The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears
of the wise seek it out. We are told to seek out knowledge. Knowledge leads to growth,
which helps us become better people and better followers of Christ. By reflecting on our
teaching practices, we are able to understand how we can improve and better help our
students. During my time at Regent, my professors were constantly saying that reflection
is extremely important when it comes to teaching. They reminded us that our teaching
styles might not fit our students learning styles, which could potentially result in a
classroom without learning. We must regularly examine what has worked and what
hasn't in the classroomthen take your answers and turn them into positive, resolute

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statements that give you concrete goals on which to focus immediately (Lewis). The
ultimate goal in teaching is to help your students advance their education. This cannot be
done if a teacher is not checking his or her progress and examining if their teaching style
has been conducive to learning.
Upon reflecting on my own teaching, I have realized that one of my strengths is
questioning the students. I believe that it is very important for students to be able to
understand how they got to an answer and not just what the answer is. In order to teach
my students how to think this way, I frequently ask them to explain why or how they got
something. This allows them to really think about their thinking, which develops a better
understanding of the matter. One of my weaknesses would be finding the balance
between spending too much time on one lesson and not covering a topic enough. I am
still learning how to tell if the students are grasping a concept as I am teaching. With
that being said, this is something that my cooperating teacher and I are working on, so I
am hopeful that I will improve in this area soon.

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References

Lewis, B. (n.d.). The Value of Self-Reflection for Success in Teaching. Retrieved March
27, 2015, from
http://k6educators.about.com/od/professionaldevelopment/a/self_reflection.htm