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Section Five: Teacher Candidate Reflection Guidelines
Introduction
Learning is a lifelong process and teachers have the honor of being able to teach a wide
range of subject matter. Teachers also continuously learn from their students, colleagues,
research conducted, and themselves. Teachers consider all aspects of the classroom from their
students abilities, resources available, arrangement of desks and chairs and many different
factors. It is important for teachers to be able to look back on past experiences, lessons, and
knowledge in order to progress in the future. This allows teachers to discover useful techniques,
strategies that may not work well, and use past information to make improvements for the future.
Reflection is important for teachers because it makes teachers aware of the way they teach, how
effective it is, consider the needs of individual students and the classroom as a whole, and many
other aspects. In this section I will reflect on my experiences at Medaille College, the lessons
Ive observed and skills Ive gained and improved upon during my teacher education program. I
will also discuss my overall preparedness and readiness to be an elementary educator.

Portfolio Project/Teacher Education Learning Experiences

Assembling this portfolio has given me the opportunity to review my experiences in life
and at Medaille and connect them to my goal of becoming a teacher. This portfolio project was
not challenging, but required time and careful consideration. It is not something that cannot be
done without planning and attention. The artifacts in this project not only reflect my capability
and skills, but they also demonstrate my enthusiasm for teaching (TEAC Claim 3: Caring
Educator). The instructors at Medaille were a great source of wisdom for a teacher candidate.
They fostered our critical thinking skills and challenged us to submit exceptional work. They did

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their best to demonstrate what it is like to be a teacher and provided us with real-world
applications of the concepts we learned. They were available in many different ways such as
email, phone, on-campus, and Skype.
During my time at Medaille, I went through the process of planning, instructing and
assessing a lesson. I further developed lesson planning skills I learned while complete my
Certificate in English Language Training to Adults (CELTA) and was able to learn how to draw
teaching points from curricula and standards. Ive developed skills in accommodating students
different needs, while creating a fun, engaging lesson (TEAC Claim 2 Pedagogy, Best Teaching
Practices for Diverse Learners). Ive learned how to integrate Blooms Taxonomy into my
planning to ensure that there are cognitive, psychomotor, and affective objectives being met
during lessons. I was able to practice instructing lessons Ive created in a mock classroom setting
to give me rehearsal with delivery and instruction. These opportunities gave me the chance to
manage a classroom, provide feedback, accommodation, differentiated instruction and other
things I may face in a classroom of my own in the future. The microteaching opportunities also
allowed me to demonstrate my knowledge of subject matter, technology integration, and
developing cross-curricular lessons in the classroom (TEAC Claims 1: Subject Matter).
My time at Medaille has also shown me how effective and resourceful it is to have
colleagues. Some assignments were completed in a group and this allowed creative collaboration
to occur. It was insightful to see how others approach techniques and to integrate our different
working and learning styles together. It has shown me how important it is to work with others in
a professional manner and to have an open mind when sharing ideas and techniques. The
instructors at Medaille were able to facilitate this by providing assignments and time in which

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groups could work together. This group work in addition to assignments completed individually
has given me the opportunity to learn from others and share my skills.

Readiness to Become a Teacher

The Master of Science in Education: Elementary Program has given me the skills,
experiences, and techniques need to be an elementary educator. This program has enabled me to
broaden my technology skills and learn ways to integrate technology into the classroom. It has
taught me how to apply best teaching practices, be a caring, supportive educator, and
accommodate the needs of my students. I am confident in my abilities to not only work as an
individual, but as part of a team working towards a common goal.
Teaching is not only about what happens in the classroom, but also before and after. It is
important to plan and prepare for lessons to ensure objectives are met. Ive improved my ability
to plan for assignments, lessons, research papers, and many other aspects. Planning is a critical
part of a teachers job. There are many different aspects of teaching that need to be thought of
before a lesson such as the diverse needs of students, how one lesson fits into a learning segment,
and how the lesson aligns to curriculum and standards. I have had the opportunity to go through
both the New York State and Ontario curriculum standards to prepare for lessons. Its also
essential to consider the outcome of a lesson. When students learn material there needs to be an
attainable goal they need to reach. Teachers need to consider how students will be assessed after
lessons and learning segments to ensure that students have understood the material. These factors
and many more are all done before stepping in to the classroom and teaching students.
After observing teachers in classrooms, having class discussions, teaching micro lessons
for my fellow teacher candidates, I believe I am competent and prepared to be an elementary

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educator. As someone who grew up in a multicultural city and went through a diverse school
system, I understand the need to be culturally responsive when teaching. It is important to
consider the prior experiences, cultural references, and cultural knowledge of the students in our
classrooms to ensure that no student feels disrespectful or left out. This also makes a lesson more
effective and appropriate for all students in the classroom. Culturally responsive teaching is
especially important in todays classrooms because students are from diverse backgrounds and
cultures. It is also vital to guarantee that no student is discriminated against for his or her
religion, sexual orientation, gender, race or any other factor. This creates a safe, secure, and
caring school environment for each and every student.
I am also prepared to teach using technology that many students today are familiar with. I
am technology savvy and feel confident when using iPads, Smart Boards, computers, projectors
and other types of technology. I think that technology integration is an effective way of teaching
in the classroom and there are many different learning styles that can be accommodated and
enriched through the use of technology. Using technology in the classroom requires active
classroom management to ensure students are not using anything inappropriately. Classroom
management is something that is unique to each and every teacher. I believe I have learned and
witnessed examples of great classroom management techniques that I can try to incorporate into
my own classroom in the future.
The teachers who had the most influence on me were those who cared about me
individually as a student and made me feel safe and excited to come to class. I want to be a
teacher that students know cares about them in the classroom and outside as well. I believe its
important to make real connections with students and see them as more than just in the classroom
to get an education about Math, Science and other subjects. The classroom is a mini community

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where students learn about themselves, how they interact with others, how to listen to authority
figures, make decisions and many other aspects they will encounter throughout life. As a teacher
I would like to be a positive force in students lives and be a positive role model. The artifacts
that I have included in my portfolio project demonstrate my capability and readiness to become
and elementary educator.

Conclusion
In this section I reflected on my experiences creating this portfolio project and at
Medaille College. I discussed the influences my instructors at the college were and the ways in
which I am prepared be a teacher. I aim to be a professional, well-rounded teacher who
collaborates with colleagues and also develops further in the profession. I would like to be a rolemodel and positive influence for my students by effectively preparing and planning lessons to be
taught in the classroom. I also believe it is important o integrate technology and students
interests into lessons to make them more engaging and fun. In the next section I will answer
specific questions and showcase my work in a mock interview video. The video will provide
background information about myself, highlight my skills, and answer particular job related
questions.

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