Kyleah Wallace

2/21/2022
TEL203

Section 1 (2-3 paragraphs): How you developed the plan using teaching best practices
and learning theories (look back to Modules 1 and 2 for ideas) Sources from Module
1 and 2 should be cited in this section.

One big thing that really stuck with me throughout this course was a quote from
the Marzano 13 Teaching Best Practices article. Which said, “Providing students with all
materials needed to complete an assignment” (Cornelius, 2015.) This is why I put so
much emphasis on the worksheet I had them complete. There were three different
sections to my worksheet that I made, the first two were for them to practice and
understand the material. The last section was to help my students prepare for their
exam.

Another thing that stuck out to me in the Marzano 13 Teaching Best Practices
article was “The best strategies to use in your classroom can largely be determined
based on how extensively you use technology” (Cornelius, 2015.) This is why I closely
examined what form of technology I was going to have each individual student using
depending on their preferences and tendencies. I gave the students the option to use
whatever technology that they felt most comfortable with and would utilize the most but
emphasized which form I thought was best for them. In the end all three of them chose
to use their cell phones for the assignment. We also conducted this lesson via an online
communication platform which integrated even more technology into the class.

Section 2 (2-3 paragraphs): How you went about differentiating for your learners as
humans and based on their learning needs- specifically reference your learner profile
(See Module 3 and 4) Sources from Module 3 and 4 should be cited in this section.

For this project I really took their true color survey results into account when
building and differentiating the lesson plans. This was very beneficial for me because it
gave me so much quality information about each individual person. Including; good
things about them, difficult things about them, things that they need, things that have a
tendency to stress them out, and lastly the best way to support each of them. (King,
n.d.) I found all of this information to be vital in completing a thorough lesson plan that
attributes to each of the students and their differences.

Some of the ways that I differentiated my learning plan for each of them was by
suggesting the different events that I thought would be most beneficial for each of them
to add to their personal calendar. Here are the following examples that I used in my
lesson plan,”For Dylan I would suggest adding his work schedule. I would also suggest
that he adds important dates and also any appointments that he may have. For Kierra I
would suggest that she adds her work schedule, her school schedule and assignment
due dates and also the practice and game schedule for the softball team she is
coaching. For Kim I would suggest adding her work schedule and specific meetings
required of her. I would also suggest adding appointments. As well as days that certain
bills are due or pay days to help her manage finances as well.” This gave them not only
an understanding of what I am looking for as the teacher but also how this is going to
directly apply to each of them individually. I wanted to focus on making this part of the
lesson as personable as possible so they can understand how using a calendar can
benefit each of them in their own ways.

Section 3 (3-4 paragraphs): Watch your video and provide specific description of
teacher actions that were positive and negative when it came to your lesson. Provide
time stamps for when things occurred. You should provide at least 2 areas of excellence
with time stamps, and 2 areas of challenge with time stamps Sources from Modules
1-4 should be cited in this section.

The first negative thing that I noticed while watching the video was that I talked
insanely fast during my introduction. Which took place from the beginning of the video to
about 45 seconds in. I think that this was due to nerves and stress but got better as I
went on with my lesson. I realize that this negatively impacts my students because I’m
not providing them an adequate learning environment when I am not communicating
properly with them. My main concern regarding this is that I don’t come off as confident
to my students and they won’t trust what I am teaching them, and their trust directly
correlates to their learning. “Trust is allowing students to continue to create learning
opportunities for their own learning journeys.” (Klimcak, 2022).

Another negative thing that I noticed occurred around 15:43 minutes into the
video. This is when I was having Kim share her screen via zoom for her section of the
assessment. She had trouble getting the screen to share and because I am not super
knowledgeable about zoom I couldn’t help her. She was using zoom on her phone and I
had never done that so I had to find a way to help her especially because I am in
quarantine currently. Luckily Dylan happened to be in the same room as her and was
able to help her. I should’ve looked into zoom a little more before using it so I could
know how to troubleshoot these kinds of issues because this makes for a bad learning
environment for my students.

One positive thing that I did was giving my students material and then having
them write out their answers. Then I would ask them individually to read out their
answers to me. This began 8:05 minutes into the video. This allowed them to process
this information orally and well as visually. “GIVE TIME TO TALK. All learners need time
to process new ideas and information. They also need time to verbally make sense of
and articulate their learning with the community of learners who are engaged in the
same experience and journey” Alber, 2014).

Another positive thing that I did was provide more than one visual aid for my
students. The first visual aid I gave them was my personal calendar, starting 54 seconds
into the video. Showing them my calendar allows them to get an understanding of what I
am looking for when I grade and how it will apply to them. The second visual aid that I
had was the worksheet that I had them fill out during the lesson, starting 4:14 minutes
into the video.. This allowed them to visualize their events and add the details that they
would need. They could also use this to help organize and prepare for their
assessments. “USE VISUAL AIDS. Graphic organizers, pictures, and charts can all
serve as scaffolding tools. Graphic organizers are very specific in that they help kids
visually represent their ideas, organize information, and grasp concepts such as
sequencing and cause and effect.” (Alber, 2014).

Section 4 (1-2 paragraphs): Describe what you would change if you were to teach this
lesson again. Be specific and give at least 3 changes. Sources from Modules 1-4
should be cited in this section.

If I could teach this lesson I would focus more on supporting my students. This is
something that I prioritized while making my lesson plan, but didn’t end up utilizing when
giving my lesson. I think that this was because I knew each of my students so well so it
didn’t feel natural to speak in that way to them. “By understanding students’ true colors
we can group them strategically, meet their needs, and understand where they may
struggle.” (LoveLanguageVs.TrueColors, doc). I knew their colors but I didn’t use this
information to help me meet their needs.

If I could reteach this lesson I would’ve used children and taught a different
lesson. This would have been more relevant to my future and personal education. This
is because I am wanting to focus on early childhood education and this could’ve been a
great opportunity to gain some experience teaching children. The students that I did use
in my lesson were people who I live with so it was convenient and I was comfortable
around them as well.

The final thing I would do differently if I could teach this lesson again is be more
interactive. I realized when I was watching my video that I did a lot more talking with my
students than I did interacting with my students. I should’ve done a better job at making
it more relevant to each of them to keep them interested and engaged. I think that this
also would’ve led to my students asking more questions and feeling more involved and
improving their education. “So, to hold and deepen students’ interest in all the topics
you cover, make sure that your classroom is one where all questions are consistently
encouraged and embraced.” (Cornelius, 2015.)

Section 5 (At LEAST 1 paragraph for each teaching element and 1-2 paragraphs
summarizing overall changes to the list, citations must be included in each
paragraph): Throughout the course you were able to wrestle with the ideas surrounding
the 5 most important elements of teaching. LOOK BACK at your pre-assessment that
you turned in during module 1. In this section you will provide your final five elements
with justification for each based on ALL of these: Peer feedback, instructor feedback,
your recorded lesson, course readings, etc. This list should demonstrate your learning
in the course comprehensively. Justify your selections with supporting evidence. Include
a 1-2 paragraph description of the changes from your pre assessment list to this list.
Modules 1-4 should be cited in this section.

My original 5 most important elements of teaching were; passion, work life

balance, content knowledge, teaching climate and classroom management. With all the
knowledge that I have gained throughout this course I still agree that all of my elements
are important to teaching but I don’t think that I would consider all of them the most
important elements. I would now switch out classroom management for cultural
understanding. I feel as if this is more important and also I think that classroom
management can be included under teaching climate because it is connected to the
overall learning environment.

Passion is an element that I believe is essential to being successful in anything

you do. Being passionate about your work makes an even bigger difference because it
will bring you joy and you will have more interest. It is important to be passionate while
teaching because your passion will convey to the students. “Since strong relationships
with young people can lead to a better understanding of our students’ unique identities
and their needs, educators must learn and continue to cultivate these relationships.”
(Klimcak, 2020)

Work-life balance is also important in teaching because this will help the educator
not be consumed by their job. If they are consumed by their job they may grow to resent
it and it can impact their students. “Teachers enter the profession because they hope to
change lives, but they often find that there are obstacles in their path, and the
expectations teachers face can seem impossible to live up to. Finding the sweet spot
between achievement and work-life balance can help teachers build a long, happy, and
healthy career.” (Barile, 2022).
 Content knowledge is also very important in education because you need to
know what you are teaching the newer generations of our society. Especially with
children, they look up to you so knowing that you are teaching correct materials and
lessons is essential. “Our own content knowledge affects how we interpret the content
goals we are expected to reach with our students. It affects the way we hear and
respond to our students and their questions. It affects our ability to explain clearly and to
ask good questions.” (Lappan, 1999).

Teaching climate is important in education because it is the environment that the

learning will take place in. This has to do with the emotional atmosphere of the space
and how everyone is feeling individually and as a whole. “Our students need to feel
supported in responding to their current circumstances and empowered to impact the
world meaningfully.” (Klimcak, 2020).

Cultural understanding is important in education because it allows you to

comprehend and connect with people on a deeper level when you learn more about
what makes them, them. “we’ve found that projects that weave in each students’ unique
and intersecting identities, heritages, and cultural backgrounds hold meaningful weight
for each student” (Klimcak, 2020).

Section 6 (2-3 Paragraphs): Your Final Thoughts- What are your key takeaways from
this course? What surprised you or challenged you? What do you want to learn more
about or improve in after this experience?

I learned a lot during this course, not only about the material but also about
myself. This course really challenged me and took me out of my comfort zone which
allowed me to broaden my understanding of education as a whole. This is hands down
the most difficult course and consuming course that I have taken so far at ASU. Not
necessarily that the material was difficult to comprehend but that there were so many
different ways to look at things. This is the kind of course where there aren't a lot of
wrong answers. The purpose was more to understand and be able to explain your own
thinking, which isn't a class structure that I have experienced before. This really
challenged me and made me look harder into the resources and my own work to make
sure I was covering my own bases and getting as much information out of it as I
possibly could.

This course also made me rethink my future career path as an educator. The
video project was something that was out of my comfort zone but gained a lot of
knowledge through. I struggled with this because I was teaching people that I knew very
well, I used my mom, brother and my brother’s girlfriend. If I could redo this project I
would’ve tried to use people who I’m not as familiar with. The reason I didn’t do this
originally was because of the pandemic but I definitely would have completed this over
zoom with other people as well. Using people I know had a negative impact on my
teaching because I wasn’t using my learning engagement strategies as much or taking
their personalities into account and acknowledging them. This was because I already
know them so well so I was just communicating with them naturally as I do in the typical
day to day world. I should’ve put more emphasis on their learning styles as I would if I
were teaching someone I didn’t already know.
A very positive aspect that I gained an understanding of throughout this course
was how much a person's personality directly correlates with their learning styles. Also
how you can use this information to learn more about their individual learning styles and
from that find the appropriate engagement strategies to better their learning. This is
something that I will definitely keep in mind if I chose to further my journey into
education because it would help me learn so much about those I am teaching and also
help set not only myself up for success but also those who I am teaching.
Resources:

Alber, R. (2014, January 24). 6 scaffolding strategies to use with your students.
Edutopia. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber

Barile, N. (2022, February 15). How to achieve work-life balance as a teacher. Hey
Teach! Retrieved February 26, 2022, from
https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/how-achieve-work-life-balance-teacher1807.html#
:~:text=Teachers%20enter%20the%20profession%20because,%2C%20happy%2C%20
and%20healthy%20career.

Cornelius, S. (2015, September 24). Marzano 13 teaching best practices. Edmentum

Blog. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from
https://blog.edmentum.com/marzano-13-teaching-best-practices

King, A (n.d.). True Colors [Google Slide]. Canvas.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/173WyqkIk7l8met4edgEKU-UvjSvp7Su5PCSfcrI
Ely8/edit#slide=id.ge5527eccc5_0_

Klimcak, S. (2022, January 20). How to build strong relationships with students using
culturally responsive teaching. Rethink Together. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from
https://xqsuperschool.org/rethinktogether/how-to-build-strong-relationships-with-student
s-using-culturally-responsive-teaching/

Klimcak, S. (2022, January 21). Building caring, trusting relationships in a remote

learning world (pt. ii). Rethink Together. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from
https://xqsuperschool.org/rethinktogether/building-caring-trusting-relationships-in-a-rem
ote-learning-world-pt-ii/

Lappan, G. (1999, November). Knowing What We Teach and Teaching What We Know.
Nctm.org. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from
https://www.nctm.org/News-and-Calendar/Messages-from-the-President/Archive/Glend
a-Lappan/Knowing-What-We-Teach-and-Teaching-What-We-Know/#:~:text=Our%20ow
n%20content%20knowledge%20affects,and%20to%20ask%20good%20questions.