CONTEXTUAL FACTORS

Community, District, and School Factors

Coastal Carolina University pairs with The Horry County School District for education

majors to gain experience in the teaching world by sending teaching candidates to classrooms to

complete a field experience. The Horry County School District is made up of 56 schools within

nine areas. These areas include Aynor, Carolina Forest, Conway, Green Sea Floyds, Loris, Myrtle

Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Socastee, and St. James. Between the nine areas, Horry County

Schools serves more than 45,000 students and thus is South Carolina’s third-largest school

district. Of the 56 schools in Horry County, 27 are elementary schools and 14 of those are Title 1

schools.

As a part of the Coastal Carolina University Elementary Education Program, all teaching

candidates are placed into a field experience for four weeks, 7.5 hours a day, Monday through

Friday. This semester, I have been placed at Socastee Elementary School, located in Socastee,

South Carolina. The town of Socastee is located on the North East coast of South Carolina; just

West of the Myrtle Beach International Airport, between Route 17 and the Waccamaw National

Wildlife Refuge. As of the 2020 United States Census, there are 22,213 people living in the town

of Socastee. About 73% of the population consists of Caucasian residents, 14% are

Hispanic/Latino,7% are African-American, and 4% are two or more races. According to

www.welfareinfo.org, about 21% of Socastee residents are living in poverty, and in correlation,

the public schools of Socastee are Title 1 schools. Additionally, Socastee’s crime rates are 58%

higher than the national average, making it one of the most unsafe towns in Horry County to live

in. Despite these challenges, Socastee’s high school graduation rate is 86% and about 75% of

those graduates go on to pursue a higher education.

 Socastee Elementary School serves 853 students from pre-kindergarten through fifth

grade. As mentioned previously, Socastee Elementary School is a Title 1 school. Because of this,

the students are provided with a plethora of technology, books, materials, and services that they

otherwise would not get the opportunity to have access to. All of the students come from

low-income households and receive free lunch, breakfast, and some even get dinner to bring

home for their families (based on need). Additionally, each student is given an iPad to use in

class for assignments and other creative work. Unfortunately, there is not much parent

involvement at the school. Many of the parents do not know English and feel uncomfortable

volunteering, and many other parents simply do not have the time because they have to work

multiple jobs and take care of multiple children.

Classroom Factors

For this semester, I have been placed into Mrs. Sanchez’s second-grade class. The room

is decorated in neutral tones, with some soft LED lights around the whiteboard, and an ‘explorer’

theme that highlights the importance of culture and exposes the students to inquiry-based

learning. The classroom itself and the teacher are warm and inviting, and make every student feel

safe, loved, and there is mutual respect among the teacher and students. The desks are arranged

into 6 groups of 4. Some students sit with their back towards the board, but if they need to see it,

they are allowed to move. Additionally, there are many flexible seating options such as tilt stools,

static stools, and floor cushions. There is also a small reading area with a rug and a small group

table in the back corner. The board at the front is a whiteboard with a SmartBoard touch screen

device connected to it. Students are often given opportunities to use the board. The daily

schedule is also listed on the board. The day starts with Family Time (social-emotional learning),
then Science or Social Studies, Work Stations, Reading, Writing, Lunch and Recess,

Mathematics, Small Group Mathematics, Family Time, and they end their day with specials.

Student Characteristics

There are 21 students in total in Mrs. Sanchez’s second grade-class. Of the 21 students,

11 are Hispanic/Latino, 3 are African-American, and the rest are Caucasian. 12 students are

female and 9 are male. Overall, the students are respectful and well-behaved. They are very

talkative because of their young age but will quiet down the first time they are asked. There is a

“noise” system put in place where each week, the word “noise” is written on the board and any

time the class gets out of hand, the teacher erases a letter. If students keep all of the letters by the

end of the week, they get a class prize; which is usually extra recess. Some common interests

shared among the students include Minecraft, Fortnite, and the television show Bluey.

Instructional Implications

My students learn in all different ways. The majority of them are behind grade level due

to the pandemic not allowing them to have any ‘normal’ schooling until now. About 50% of the

students learn visually, but some learn auditorily and some learn best from hands-on experiences.

In the classroom, I will be sure to make implications to my lessons that incorporate different

learning styles. For example, in reading, I may do a read aloud of a book where the students can

follow along in their own copy. They could hear me reading it, but they can also see the words

and the pictures in front of them. Continuing with that reading lesson, I would do a hands-on

activity after reading that relates to the book and it’s concepts. Another implication for

instruction needed for my class would be for my English Language Learners. This class has 11

English Language Learners, and although they are pulled out of class for some resource classes

during the day, they are still learning in the main classroom the majority of the time. For these
students, I would make sure to include pictures with reading activities so that if they are having

trouble with the English words, they can refer to the pictures for help. For example, if we were

learning new spelling words, I would provide pictures to go along with each word. Lastly, I have

a student with an intellectual disability that I would give them work that is more geared towards

their skill and ability level, and it may be different work than the rest of the class. For example, I

may give them a math worksheet with easier or fewer problems than the rest of the class would

have.

With all of these factors in mind, I will be creating lessons that are fun, engaging, and

filled with learning for each of my students. In my lessons, I will include auditory, visual, and

kinesthetic aspects into my lessons, as well as adapt my lesson materials as needed for ELL and

intellectually disabled students. For assessment, I will not only use formal methods of

assessment such as quizzes and tests, but I will also keep track of student progress through exit

slips, projects, and other student work that we do during the day.
LEARNING GOALS
This semester, I am teaching a unit of science in Mrs. Sanchez’s 2nd grade class at Socastee

Elementary School. This unit of science shifts student’s focus from weather to seasons. As an

overview, this unit addresses how different seasons exhibit different weather patterns, how the

Earth’s relationship with the sun causes the change of seasons, and discusses different types of

weather and natural events.

By the end of this unit, students should be able to:

● LG1: Compare the seasons and describe what each is like.

● LG2: Discuss and identify different types of clouds and what each means.

● LG3: Analyze and interpret data from observations and measurements to describe

weather conditions.

● LG4: Make predictions to determine the season based on temperature and weather

conditions.

The learning goals listed above are closely aligned with the South Carolina second-grade

state science standards 2.E.2A.1, 2.E.2A.3, and 2.E.2A.4. 2.E.2A.1 has students “analyze and

interpret data from observations and measurements to describe local weather conditions

(including temperature, wind,and forms of precipitation)”, standard 2.E.2A.3, has students

“develop and use models to describe and compare the effects of wind (moving air) on objects'',

and lastly standard 2.E.2A.4, has students “obtain and communicate information about severe

weather conditions to explain why certain safety precautions are necessary.” These three

standards are all incorporated into this 5 day unit of science lessons, but future lessons and

standards build upon this knowledge, so it is important that students fully understand the basics
of weather, seasons, and weather events before they can move onto the next unit that takes these

standards to a deeper level.

Types and Levels of Learning

The first learning goal addressed for this unit is aligned with Bloom’s second level which

is understanding. The first learning goal has students compare the seasons and describe what

each of them is like. Students have to have some background knowledge and understanding

before they can compare and describe, however, the last unit of science had students simply

identify different types of weather which correlated to Bloom’s first level which is remembering,

which did not expect students to have a lot of background knowledge.

The second learning goal also aligns with Bloom’s level of understanding. Learning goal

2 expects that students will be able to discuss and identify different types of clouds and what

each cloud type means/what kind of weather each one brings. This level of understanding also

expects that students have a little bit of background information, but that they still have a lot to

learn.

The third learning goal integrates Bloom’s 4th and 5th levels of analysis and evaluation.

Learning goal 3 expects that students should be able to analyze and interpret data from

observations and measurements to describe weather conditions. This goal is important because it

has students applying their basic knowledge to a deeper level of thinking. They not only go more

in depth with the content, but they also are expected to collect or research data, but they are

expected to use it in order to think about things on their own without simply being told how

things are or should be.

 The fourth and last learning goal also aligns with Bloom’s 5th level of evaluation. The

5th goal expects that students will be able to make predictions to determine the season or weather

event based on temperature and weather conditions. This learning goal wraps up the entire unit

because it brings students to the point where they can make their own life decisions regarding

weather. What is meant by this is that students at this point would have the ability to look outside

or check the temperature and then make decisions for themselves on what to wear, protective

measures they may need to put in place, etc.

Appropriateness of Learning Goals

The learning goals in this unit build off of Bloom’s Taxonomy. They start at the lower

levels of remembering and understanding. As they learn more throughout the unit, they begin to

apply their new knowledge and analyze and evaluate it.

The learning goals for this unit are appropriate for my second-grade students because it

applies to their daily life as growing individuals. The last unit of science introduced them to

weather, which included what to wear when it is sunny, what to wear when it is raining, etc.

These goals take the next unit and bring it to reality by having students fully understand weather,

the different seasons, what causes seasons and why we have them, and also how to prepare for

each season and weather situation. This unit of science directly applies to their lives and it also

allows them to relate what they see in the real world to the scientific processes of it all. Up until

this point, the majority of my students have not really had to think about weather or seasons

because they have their parents do everything for them. This unit and these goals specifically

help students transition into a state of independence.

 All of my 21 students are at different levels of learning, thinking, and maturity. The

pandemic keeping them from barely attending school ever, to now being in a classroom everyday

has proven to be quite a challenge. Some of my students have not learned to write a sentence yet,

while others can write essays already. I have 1 student who has been diagnosed with ADHD and

getting him to sit down for a full lesson and to have him focus on a worksheet or assignment is

nearly impossible. For this reason, I have modified my lessons and designed my learning goals to

be flexible and allow a multitude of different activities to be used. For example, I will have

songs, videos, and hands-on activities rather than just lecturing and worksheets. This will keep

not only that one student engaged, but it will also be more fun for the rest of the class.

Additionally, 12 of my 21 students are English Language Learners who are just now beginning to

speak, read, and write in English because this is their first proper year of school. For those

students, I can modify the lesson or lesson materials to include more pictures or videos of what is

being discussed so that they can visually see what is being meant. Another modification I can

implement into my lesson is including charts that compares the spanish word to the english word

that matches it. Some of this new vocabulary will be hard to get down, especially if they do not

understand it even from just looking at a picture.

Due to all of these reasons, my goals are perfectly appropriate for all of my students as

learners because it starts from the complete basics and builds upon their knowledge step by step

so that all students can be on an equal playing field and have a chance for understanding and

success.
 ASSESSMENT PLAN
Learning Goals Assessments Format of Assessment Adaptations

Learning Goal 1: Compare Pre-Assessment Items 5, 6, 7, and 8 on ● Introduce the assessment and

the seasons and describe the Pre-Assessment the expectations of the

what each is like. contain fill in the chart students.

questions that ask the ● Read directions and

student to compare the questions aloud to ELL

seasons by describing students and students with

which type of clothing IEP accommodations. (12

you would have to wear students)

in each season. ● Provide a word bank for the

chart of english clothing

words for the ELL students

or allow them to draw

pictures of the clothing

instead.

● One student with ADHD

will be able to sit in a tilt

stool

Formative ● ELL students will be able to

Assessment Seasons Booklet draw the pictures and then

 describe them to me and how

they correlate with each

season instead of writing a

long page.

● For my student with

Intellectual Disabilities, I

will ask him to tell me about

each season and I will write

it in his page in highlighter,

and have him trace over it in

pencil.

Post-Assessment ● Introduce the assessment and

Items 5, 6, 7, and 8 on the expectations of the

the Post-Assessment students.

contain fill in the chart ● Read directions and

questions that ask the questions aloud to ELL

student to compare the students and students with

seasons by describing IEP accommodations. (12

which type of clothing students)

you would have to wear ● Provide a word bank for the

in each season. chart of english clothing

words for the ELL students.

 ● One student with ADHD

will be able to sit in a tilt

stool

Learning Goal 2: Discuss Pre-Assessment Items 13, 14, and 15 on ● Introduce the assessment and

and identify different types the Pre-Assessment the expectations of the

of clouds and what each contain matching students.

means. problems where the ● Read directions and

students have to match questions aloud to ELL

the picture of the cloud students and students with

to the correct name of IEP accommodations. (12

the cloud. students)

● One student with ADHD

will be able to sit in a tilt

stool

Formative “All About Clouds” ● Allow my ELL students and

Assessment worksheet my student with Intellectual

Disabilities to verbally tell

me about the different types

of clouds in addition to their

drawings instead of writing

 sentences about each.

● Introduce the assessment and

the expectations of the

Post-Assessment Items 13,14, and 15 on students.

the Post-Assessment ● Read directions and

contain matching questions aloud to ELL

problems where the students and students with

students have to match IEP accommodations. (12

the picture of the cloud students)

to the correct name of ● One student with ADHD

the cloud. will be able to sit in a tilt

stool

Learning Goal 3: Analyze Pre-Assessment Items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 16 ● Introduce the assessment and

and interpret data from on the Pre-Assessment the expectations of the

observations and contain questions that students.

measurements to describe require students to ● Read directions and

weather conditions. observe and analyze questions aloud to ELL

statements to determine students and students with

the season/weather IEP accommodations. (12

conditions. Item 16 is students)

 an open ended question ● One student with ADHD

that has students discuss will be able to sit in a tilt

what their favorite stool

season is based on their ● Allow my ELL students and

personal observations. my student with Intellectual

Disabilities to state a season

and verbally tell me why it is

his favorite instead of trying

to write in complete

sentences.

● Allow my ELL students and

Formative Weather Calendar student with Intellectual

Assessment Disabilities to work with a

“What’s the Weather? partner to complete the

Dress the Bear” game Weather Calendar

quiz ● Give ELL students a word

bank of weather vocabulary

in their native language to

help them identify the

weather for the game quiz.

Post-Assessment Items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 16 ● Introduce the assessment and

 on the Post-Assessment the expectations of the

contain questions that students.

require students to ● Read directions and

observe and analyze questions aloud to ELL

statements to determine students and students with

the season/weather IEP accommodations. (12

conditions. Item 16 is students)

an open ended question ● One student with ADHD

that has students discuss will be able to sit in a tilt

what their favorite stool

season is based on their ● Allow my ELL students and

personal observations. my student with Intellectual

Disabilities to state a season

and verbally tell me why it is

his favorite instead of trying

to write in complete

sentences.

Learning Goal 4: Make Pre-Assessment Items 1, 2, 3, and 4 on ● Introduce the assessment and

predictions to determine the the Pre-Assessment the expectations of the

season based on temperature contain questions that students.

and weather conditions. connect weather ● Read directions and

conditions and questions aloud to ELL

 temperature to each students and students with

season. IEP accommodations. (12

students)

● One student with ADHD

will be able to sit in a tilt

stool

Formative ● Allow my ELL students and

Assessment Weather Calendar student with Intellectual

Disabilities to draw a picture

Exit Slip on their Exit Slip to help me

see what they understand.

● Read the exit slip question(s)

to my ELL and intellectually

disabled students

● Allow my ELL students and

student with Intellectual

Disabilities to work with a

partner to complete the

Weather Calendar

● Introduce the assessment and

the expectations of the

 Post-Assessment students.

Items 1, 2, 3, and 4 on ● Read directions and

the Post-Assessment questions aloud to ELL

contain questions that students and students with

connect weather IEP accommodations. (12

conditions and students)

temperature to each ● One student with ADHD

season. will be able to sit in a tilt

stool

Learning Goal 5: Pre-Assessment Items 9, 10, 11, and 12 ● Introduce the assessment and

Understand the relationship on the Pre-Assessment the expectations of the

between the Earth’s contain questions about students.

relationship with the Sun the Earth’s relationship ● Read directions and

and the seasons with the Sun. questions aloud to ELL

students and students with

IEP accommodations. (12

students)

● One student with ADHD

will be able to sit in a tilt

stool

Formative Sticky Note Poll ● For the Edpuzzle, Allow

Assessment closed captioning from the

Edpuzzle Video video to be posted so that

way my students who are not

auditory learners can read

the words and learn from it.

Also so that my students

who learn at a slower pace

can look at the transcript and

not have to try to keep up

with a fast-paced video.

● Allow my students who are

hands-on learners to put a

sticky note on the board

under their answer so they

can physically see and touch

their learning.

● Provide ELL students with

spanish closed captioning

with the video so that they

can follow along with new

vocabulary in the video.

● Introduce the assessment and

 Post-Assessment Items 9, 10, 11, and 12 the expectations of the

on the Post-Assessment students.

contain questions about ● Read directions and

the Earth’s relationship questions aloud to ELL

with the Sun. students and students with

IEP accommodations. (12

students)

● My one student with ADHD

will be able to sit in a tilt

stool

Pre and Post Assessments

Assessment can be defined as the broad process of collecting, synthesizing, and

interpreting information. Assessment is a crucial factor in a classroom when creating an

effective learning environment. The assessment process is put in place in order to help the

teacher make appropriate decisions regarding how the curriculum is taught, how to teach

the standards, creating lesson plans and activities, and to know when to modify or change

up the instruction. Assessment is the key to seeing how much information students are

learning and retaining. For the purpose of this Teacher Work Sample, this paper will

discuss the Pre-Assessment, Formative Assessments, and the Summative (Post)

Assessment being implemented into a second-grade science unit about weather and the

seasons. This unit addresses the following South Carolina State Standards for Science:
● 2.E.2A.1 Analyze and interpret data from observations and measurements to

describe local weather conditions (including temperature, wind, and forms of

precipitation).

● 2.E.2A.2 Analyze local weather data to predict daily and seasonal patterns over

time.

● 2.E.2A.3 Develop and use models to describe and compare the effects of wind

(moving air) on objects.

● 2.E.2A.4 Obtain and communicate information about severe weather conditions

to explain why certain safety precautions are necessary.

There are many standards addressed in this 5 Lesson Unit, but some of the lesson

objectives and activities combine the standard objectives. These standards will continue

to be taught for the following weeks and be built up to a deeper level of learning.

The Pre-Assessment and Summative Assessment used for this unit of study are

the same. The Pre-Assessment was administered to the class prior to beginning the unit at

all that way I could see what they already know and what they do not know at all, that

way I could properly build my lessons; getting the most important information in, and not

spending too much time on topics that they already know. We spent the following five

days addressing the topics contained in the Pre-Assessment and doing a multitude of

different activities to ensure that each student, no matter how they prefer to learn, could

understand the concepts and meet the learning objectives.

When the students took the Pre-Assessment, I had the students follow along with

me while they took it. I read each question aloud to them, along with each answer choice.

I did not help them much other than this. There are a couple reasons as to why I read the
test aloud to them and had them all answer the same questions at the same time. First of

all, I have 12 ELL students, and 1 student with Intellectual Disabilities. Both groups of

students are usually pulled out of class for reading and writing, so it was unfair to think

that they could read and comprehend an entire assessment with new vocabulary enough

to even answer the questions. Along with this, the assessment was not designed to test

their reading skills, it was to assess how much they know about the seasons, so it is okay

that I read it to them. Additionally, there is only about 30 minutes allotted to science, so I

had to make sure that all of my students would be able to complete the test confidently

within that time frame.

To make the Pre and Post Assessments tailored to my specific classroom, I

created multiple sections. Overall, the test was worth 50 points. The multiple choice

questions related to weather conditions, seasons, and the sun. Each of the 8 multiple

choice questions was worth one point. The assessment also included a T-chart where the

students had to list one or two articles of clothing that they would wear for each season.

The fill-in T-chart was worth 12 points in total, but each section of it individually was

worth 3 points each. There was also a matching section where students were asked to

connect the picture of a cloud with the name of the cloud with a line. The matching

section was worth 10 points. Lastly, there was a short 1-2 sentence essay question.

Although second graders are expected to be able to write a lot by this time in the year, my

students are all very behind in their writing skills due to the setbacks of Covid-19; which

is why I let them write only a sentence or two. They had to answer what their favorite

season is and why. This question allowed them to connect to the learning material, and

elaborate on it further. The expectation was that they would talk about the weather
conditions or something physical about the season for the reason that they liked it best.

This section was worth 20 points. I would give the students 10 points if they could at

least tell me what their favorite season was.

14 students took the Pre-Assessment. I have 21 students in total, but 4 get taken

out for Resource during science class, 2 had ESOL testing, and 2 were absent that day. I

did not have those who were absent take the pre-assessment upon their return because by

then, we had already begun the unit and there was not enough time. The average grade on

the pre-assessment was 71%, which is great because my original goal was to have a class

average of 60%. The lowest test score was 10% and the highest test score was 98%. As

you can see, there is a wide variety of students in my class and some of them struggle a

lot more than the others. After going over the scores and areas that needed improvement

with my Cooperating Teacher, we agreed that the goal for the post-assessment scores is

for all students to score 80% or higher. This may not seem like a big improvement

compared to the first average, however, there were a couple students who scored below

40%. The main focus is on the students who did very poorly on the pre-assessment and

allow them to raise their scores on it in order to raise the overall class average. To do this,

I had to provide many different forms of formative assessments to address each learner

individually to help them succeed.

Formative Assessments

In order to sufficiently cover the majority of the material in such a short amount

of time, and get the concepts through each student’s minds, I created many forms of

formative assessment. For the first lesson about the seasons and describing the weather
conditions of each, I had my students create a Seasons Booklet, where they had to write

about each season and draw a picture to go with it. This activity shows me that they are

not only understanding the differences in the seasons and can describe them, but that they

can visualize them as well. This form of assessment is good for students who are visual

learners because they can visualize what the seasons look like and draw it in their own

way for them to remember and understand. For the second lesson, I had my students

engage in an Edpuzzle video. The video talked about how the Sun causes the seasons on

Earth, and stopped occasionally to ask a question. The students had to pay attention to the

video and understand what it was talking about in order to answer the questions. Since

this was in Edpuzzle, I can see exactly which students answered which questions

correctly or incorrectly, and average it to see where the class is struggling most. This

form of assessment is good for students who are visual or auditory learners. This activity

especially my ELL students who need to see pictures and visuals in order to understand.

The third lesson focused more on analyzing and observing data. For this, I had my

students fill out a Weather Calendar where they would look up the temperature for each

day in February and from that, they would have to determine the weather conditions and

log it into the calendar. This activity is good for students who need to be able to connect

science to aspects of real life in order to comprehend. Science is one of those subjects

where a lot of the content is either hypothetical or we cannot literally see it happen, but

with weather, we can and it is important for students to get that. We continue with the

same standard and objectives for the fourth lesson. On this day, my students will be

completing an exit slip with the question, “Looking at weather from the past week, what

do you predict the temperature and weather will be tomorrow?” For my ELL learners, I
can have them vocally tell me instead of trying to write out their answer. This form of

assessment is important to the unit because it shows me if my students are

comprehending the content enough to take it a step further and have a deeper level of

thinking. The last, and fifth lesson of the unit, students will be learning more about the

clouds portion of weather. The formative assessment for this day will consist of a fun

coloring worksheet where students will have to draw each type of cloud and briefly

describe it. Additionally, students will get to play a kahoot that sums up the entire unit.

Overall, all of these forms of assessment, (Summative and Formative), will help

me, as the teacher, to structure my lessons so that I can see how much my students are

learning, if my methods are effective, and what they need the most help with. Without

these forms of assessment, I would not be able to monitor student progress or create an

effective learning environment in my classroom.

DESIGN FOR INSTRUCTION
Results of the Pre-Assessment

Learning Question SCCR Science Topic # of Students who

Goal Standard Answered
Correctly

1 #5 2.E.2: The student will Compare the 13/14 (93%)

#6 demonstrate an seasons and 10/14 (71%)
#7 understanding of the describe what 11/14 (79%)
#8 daily and seasonal each is like 9/14 (64%)
weather patterns.

2 #13 2.E.2: The student will Discuss and 2/14 (14%)

#14 demonstrate an identify different 2/14 (14%)
#15 understanding of the types of clouds. 3/14 (21%)
daily and seasonal
weather patterns.

3 #1 2.E.2: The student will Analyze and 8/14 (57%)

#2 demonstrate an interpret data from 11/14 (79%)
#3 understanding of the observations and 14/14 (100%)
#4 daily and seasonal measurements to 9/14 (65%)
#16 weather patterns. describe weather 8/14 (57%)
conditions.

4 #1 2.E.2: The student will Make predictions 8/14 (57%)

#2 demonstrate an to determine the 11/14 (79%)
#3 understanding of the season based on 14/14 (100%)
#4 daily and seasonal temperature and 9/14 (65%)
weather patterns. weather
conditions.

5 #9 2.E.2: The student will Understand the 12/14 (88%)

#10 demonstrate an relationship 0/14 (0%)
#11 understanding of the between the 5/14 (36%)
#12 daily and seasonal Earth’s 5/14 (36%)
weather patterns. relationship with
the Sun and the
 seasons

For this semester’s field experience, I had been placed into a general education 2nd grade

class at Socastee Elementary School. I decided to do my Unit of Study on science, covering the

South Carolina State Standard: 2.E.2: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the daily

and seasonal weather patterns. Within this standard, we focused instruction on weather and

seasons. Prior to administering the pre-assessment, I did not know much about my students skills

and length of knowledge. I knew that they had not learned a lot about the seasons very much, but

they had been introduced to weather concepts in kindergarten and first grade. My students'

pre-assessment scores were relatively all over the place. Some of my students who are

High-Flyers or Gifted and Talented scored extremely well on the pre-assessment despite not

learning the concepts in the classroom yet, while my other students, including English Language

Students scored much lower. After putting together the table and looking at the data that I

collected from the pre-assessment, I was able to see what areas my students struggled with most,

and what areas they already had knowledge of.

The first learning goal was assessed in questions 5, 6, 7, and 8 on the pre-assessment,

which expected the students to be able to compare the seasons and describe what each is like.

These questions were more abstract and required students to know characteristics of each season

to answer the questions. The questions asked students to talk about what they might wear in a

particular season and students had to write their answer in the blank provided. Over 50% of my

class got all four of these questions correct. This told me that the majority of the class could tell

me what the weather is like during each season, and how to dress accordingly. I knew that I

would still need to teach this, but that this learning goal did not have to be my main priority.
 The second learning goal was assessed in questions 13, 14, and 15 on the pre-assessment,

which expected students to be able to discuss and identify different types of clouds. These three

assessment items asked students to match the picture of the cloud to its correct name/type. On

average, only about 16% of my students answered these questions correctly. This stuck out to me

like a red flag and told me that I need to spend more time talking about cloud types, what their

names are, what they mean, etc. This is not a bad thing, because my students have not learned it

yet, but it has helped me narrow down my instruction to focus on things that they do not know

yet.

The third learning goal was assessed in questions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 16 on the pre-assessment.

This learning goal expected students to be able to analyze and interpret data from observations

and measurements to describe weather conditions. Items 1 through 4 were multiple choice

questions that required the students to be able to be able to observe the season and describe the

conditions. Item 16 required students to write about their favorite season that they have

experienced in South Carolina and describe why using weather condition vocabulary. Over 50%

of my class answered the items correctly, which showed me that I did not need to focus as much

time on describing weather conditions, however the responses also showed me that many of my

students mix up Fall and Spring, so I would have to spend more time addressing that.

The fourth learning goal was addressed in questions 1, 2, 3, and 4. This learning goal

expects that students can make predictions to determine the season based on temperature and

weather conditions. As described in the previous paragraph for learning goal three, the majority

of my class answered these items correctly but I will still need to go over it in more detail during

the unit.
 The fifth and final learning goal was addressed in items 9, 10, 11, and 12 on the

pre-assessment. This learning goal expected that students could understand the relationship

between the Earth’s relationship with the Sun and the seasons. Less than 50% of my students

answered these items correctly, which told me that I need to focus more of the unit on the Sun

and the Earth’s relationship and how the seasons are caused.

By looking at the data of the pre-assessment results, I was able to plan the rest of the unit

with a better understanding of what my students know and do not know yet. I was made aware of

misconceptions that I did not even consider. For example, some students believed that God

changed the seasons and that it was not a scientific process. With this in mind, I knew to teach

the unit in a way that did not undermine religious beliefs, but also taught them fundamental facts.

Overall, I was able to see that I would need to focus on learning goals 2 and 5 the most.

Unit Overview

Day Topic Activities Learning Goal

Monday Weather and Seasons Pre-Assessment 1-5

Pre-Assessment

Tuesday Comparing the 1. “Seasons Song”

seasons and Video on 1
describing what they YouTube.com
are like. 2. Seasons Booklet

Wednesday Explaining how the 1. Stick Note Poll 5

Earth’s relationship 2. Edpuzzle Video
with the sun affects and Discussion
the seasons.

Thursday Making predictions 1. Weather Calendar 1, 4

 about the weather 2. Predicting
based on local Weather Exit Slip
weather patterns. 3. Dress the Bear
Game

Friday Identifying and 1. Cloud Video 2

comparing different 2. Cloud Kahoot
types of clouds.

Monday Identifying different 1. Severe Weather 3

types of severe Powerpoint
weather and how to 2. DIY Severe
stay safe. Weather Kit

Tuesday Weather and Seasons Post Assessment 1-5

Post Assessment

Description of Specific Learning Experiences/Activities

The first activity that I would like to discuss was the Seasons Booklet. This activity was

done on the second day of the unit; the first being when my students took the pre-assessment. For

this activity, students received a blank paper booklet. Every other page was blank, and the

corresponding pages had lines for writing. Students were to draw a picture displaying each

season and write a description of each. Their descriptions had to include weather condition

vocabulary words as well as key characteristics of each season. For example, for spring, students

would have to write something along the lines of, “Spring is cooler than Summer but warmer

than Winter. In Spring, the animals come out of hibernation and the flowers bloom.” Although

this may sound challenging for the first day of the unit, we watched a video talking about the
seasons prior to this activity, and students have been learning about weather conditions and

vocabulary in class before my unit. This activity was aligned with learning goals one and three

because it was having students compare the seasons and describe what each is like, as well as

analyze observations (what they have seen in their own lives) to help them describe weather

conditions. I was able to see that students met these goals because their booklets were detailed;

they were clearly able to describe each season and draw an accurate picture of them.

The second activity I would like to discuss is from learning day 2 of the unit. This

activity was aligned with learning goal 5, which expected students to be able to understand the

relationship between the Earth’s relationship with the Sun and the seasons. This activity was a

sticky note poll. How this worked was that I displayed a question on the board and four answer

options underneath it. The question I asked was: “Why is it hotter in the Summer than in the

Winter?” I read out each answer option and then I gave each student a sticky note. I had students

predict what they thought the answer was and place their sticky note under the answer they think

is correct. I did not require students to write their name on the sticky notes. I had students explain

why they thought their answer was the correct one. We counted up how many sticky notes were

under each answer and recorded the data. After that, we watched a video that talked about the

Sun’s relationship with the Earth and that seasons are caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis, and as it

rotates and revolves around the sun, different parts of the Earth receive more direct sunlight than

others, creating the different seasons. After watching the video, I asked students if they wanted to

change where their sticky note was on the poll and I reread the question and the answer options.

Many of my students then moved their sticky note to the correct answer option. We compared the

results of the first poll to the second poll and I was able to see that the majority of my students

learned the new concept. I also had them explain the answer and talk about the poll answer and
the video concepts in their own words, which they were able to do. This activity was a success

because it was not only fun and engaging, but students also met the learning goal.

The final activity I would like to discuss in this paper is the EdPuzzle Video activity that

was aligned with learning goal 2. Learning goal 2 expected students to be able to discuss and

identify different types of clouds and what each means. Because my students did so poorly with

the items on this section of the pre-assessment, I decided that it would be best for my students to

learn about the cloud types through watching a video about them that was specifically designed

by scientists and science teachers to teach students since I was not as knowledgeable on the

subject content yet. For this activity, we did something called an Edpuzzle which takes a

YouTube video and you can add your own questions to go along with the video as the students

watch it. We did this activity as a whole group. My students gathered at the rug in front of the

SmartBoard and we watched the video. Periodically, the video would pause and ask a question

relating to something that was just discussed in the portion of the video. The questions were

multiple choice and true or false, and I would have students think about the question and the

possible responses before calling one of them to the board to select the correct answer. My

students were very excited to get the opportunity to touch the board which in turn, kept them

more engaged with the lesson and they paid attention to the content more than they would have if

it had been just a video. I was able to see that my students met the learning goal because they

were able to answer the questions that the Edpuzzle asked them, and they were also able to

discuss it and help their friends answer the questions by giving explanations in their own words.

Technology
 Over the course of my 5 day unit (not including days for the pre and post assessments), I

used technology for about 50% of the teaching time. I believe that technology can enhance

student learning when it is used appropriately and in the right time, however I tried to scale back

the amount of time students used technology because they are on their iPads for the majority of

the day in their other subjects. I used technology through PowerPoint Presentations, YouTube

videos, Edpuzzle, as well as partially for my Sticky Note Poll, however when the students were

doing activities on their own, I had them create things and learn without technology which

allowed them to get creative, work with their hands, and take a break from staring at a screen. By

limiting the use of technology with my lessons, students were more engaged and eager to learn. I

was able to see this through the amount of effort and thought that they put into their work such as

the Seasons Booklet, Sticky Note Poll discussion, and their Emergency Weather Survival Kits.

The one main lesson that utilized all technology was the Edpuzzle video discussed in the

previous paragraph regarding the third activity. This piece of technology was helpful though

because it not only engaged students by showing them a video, but it would periodically pause

and ask them questions relating to the video and students had fun getting to use the SmartBoard

to answer the questions.

INSTRUCTIONAL DECISION MAKING
Introduction

Although I planned my lessons to the best of my ability with all of my students strengths

and weaknesses in mind, it is still a challenge to teach every student in a way that they all grasp

the concepts and meet the learning goals with the same instruction. This semester, I was placed

into a second grade classroom at Socastee Elementary School. I was given the opportunity to

teach a science unit for my Teacher Work Sample during my time there. During the course of my

instruction, there were a couple instances where my students' learning or response to instruction

caused me to modify my original design for instruction.

Modification 1

On the fourth day of content instruction, we focused on Clouds. The clouds lesson

focused on South Carolina State Science Standard 2.E.2, which states that the students are

expected to demonstrate an understanding of the daily and seasonal weather patterns. The

learning goal addressed in this lesson was Learning Goal 2, “Discuss and identify different types

of clouds and what each means.” From the lesson, I expected that my students would be able to

know and talk about types of clouds; including their names, what they look like, and what kind

of weather we experience when we see certain clouds. To start this topic and lesson, I first had a

discussion talking about clouds. I asked my students what different types of clouds they have

seen in their lives before, i.e., white clouds, gray clouds, small clouds, big clouds, rainy clouds,

etc. I made sure to have this opening discussion with my students to get them thinking about

today’s topic and help them connect new knowledge to their own personal experiences. After our

discussion, I played a video for the whole class called Types of Clouds - The Dr. Binocs Show

from YouTube on the board. After watching the brief 4 minute video, we talked about the types
of clouds Dr. Binoc discussed. I could see that my students were struggling to answer my

questions and talk a lot about the video but I moved on and decided that perhaps they would do

better with the Kahoot game I had planned. Following the video discussion, I hosted a Kahoot

Game for my students to play that quizzed them on the types of clouds. The Kahoot questions

would show them a picture of a cloud or use words to describe a cloud’s characteristics, and

students would have to select the correct cloud type that was displayed. Unlike what I had hoped

for, my students did poorly on the Kahoot game. As of this point, my students had not met the

learning goal and I knew I would have to modify my instruction and add something that I had not

originally planned to do in order to help them learn and succeed.

I went back to the YouTube video and paused the video on each type of cloud, going

more in depth about its characteristics and what each looked like. I would pause the video and

ask the students questions as we went along, also making sure to connect it to their own lives. I

had students look out the window and tell me what kind of clouds they saw and why they

thought it was a specific type of cloud, and what the weather was or was going to be like because

of the way the clouds looked. After going back over the video and explaining the types of clouds

to my students in ways that they could better understand and allowing them time to absorb each

concept, we were able to have one more brief discussion where they were able to tell me about

each cloud type and that is when I knew that my class had met the learning goal.

Modification 2

That was not the only time I had to modify my instruction to support student learning.

During the first instructional lesson after the pre-assessment, I started with teaching my students

about the seasons and the common characteristics of each one. This lesson aligned with South
Carolina State Science Standard 2.E.2: which states that the students should be able to

demonstrate an understanding of the daily and seasonal weather patterns. The learning goal

addressed in this lesson was Learning Goal 1, which wanted students to be able to compare the

seasons and describe what each is like. To introduce the lesson, I started with a discussion and

asked the students to tell me what they already know about the seasons and the weather. I asked

questions in a way that allowed students to connect new concepts to prior knowledge and

experiences. However, I had already noticed at this point that some of my English Language

Learners were lost in the discussion and did not understand. I told the class that it was okay if

they did not know much about the seasons yet because we were going to learn about them today.

After the discussion, I played a video for them from YouTube on the board called Seasons Song.

Since I am with second graders, they really love to watch videos, especially music videos where

they can sing and dance along while they learn. After the video played and my students sat

down, I introduced the activity. For the activity, students received a blank paper booklet. Every

other page was blank, and the corresponding pages had lines for writing. Students were to draw a

picture displaying each season and write a description of each. Their descriptions had to include

weather condition vocabulary words as well as key characteristics of each season. For example,

for spring, students would have to write something along the lines of, “Spring is cooler than

Summer but warmer than Winter. In Spring, the animals come out of hibernation and the flowers

bloom.” I modified this for my lower-level students and they only had to write a key word or two

such as “it’s cold” or “flowers bloom”, etc. I also provided an example of a completed one that I

did myself. I showed the entire class, and then put it at the front of the classroom so that my

students could refer back to it while they were working. I went around the classroom, observing

each student's work and I noticed that my English Language Learners were still struggling to
write or even describe to me orally what each season was and what each was like. The video I

played for them was probably too fast for them to keep up with translating and they could not

understand any of the concepts. Here is where I modified my instruction.

I took my 5 English Language Learners that were struggling and had them sit in a small

group with me at the back table. I got a simple book that talks about the seasons and has pictures

of each one. I went through the book with them slowly and had them look at each season’s page

and talked about what happens in each season and I asked students to point out pictures of each

characteristic to build their vocabulary. All in all, I made this modification because if I did not

provide extra instruction for these students, they would not have accomplished the learning goal

and would have been struggling for the entire unit.

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT LEARNING
Whole class

The table below shows the results of the pre and post assessments from the whole class in

relation to each learning goal addressed in the unit of study.

Student LG1 LG2 LG3 LG4 LG5

Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post

Alvin 75% 100% 100% 100% 50% 75% 50% 50% 75% 50%

Emily 0% 100% 0% 33% 50% 100% 50% 100% 50% 100%

Emma G 100% 100% 33% 33% 100% 100% 100% 100% 50% 75%

Angel 100% 100% 33% 33% 100% 100% 100% 100% 25% 25%

Grisell 0% 25% 0% 33% 0% 20% 25% 25% 0% 50%

Jasendy 75% 100% 33% 100% 75% 100% 50% 100% 25% 50%

Gabriel 100% 50% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 25% 75%

Amelia 100% 100% 0% 33% 100% 100% 100% 100% 75% 100%

Camila 75% 100% 0% 100% 100% 75% 100% 75% 50% 50%

Kevin 25% 25% 33% 33% 20% 50% 25% 50% 25% 50%

Emma R 100% 100% 0% 0% 75% 100% 50% 100% 50% 100%

Leslie 100% 100% 33% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 50% 25%

Daisy 100% 100% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 50% 75%
Greyson 100% 100% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 25% 50%

This unit of study focused on South Carolina State Science Standard 2.E.2, which states

that the students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the daily and seasonal weather

patterns. To work towards meeting that standard, I created five learning goals, which broke the

standard up into smaller pieces and created goals for students to meet. As you can see from the

data table above, the class as a whole improved from the pre-assessment to the post assessment.

My goal was to have each learning goal section average an 80% between all students, this would

tell me that students have overall grasped the concepts and become proficient at the learning

goal. 11 out of the 14 students that took the post assessment made a score of 80% or higher for

Learning Goal 1. As shown in the data table, the class averaged an 80% with Learning Goal 1

which met my goal. Only 6 out of 14 students scored higher than an 80% on Learning Goal 2 and

the class as a whole averaged a 60% on this section. 10 out of 14 students scored higher than

80% with Learning Goal 3, and the whole class averaged an 85% on this section. Similarly to

Learning Goal 3, 10 out of 14 students scored higher than 80% with Learning Goal 4 and the

class averaged an 85% in this section. Finally, only 3 out of 14 students scored an 80% or higher

with Learning Goal 5. Many students were close and earned 75% on this section, bringing the

class average to a 63% on Learning Goal 5. Although Learning Goals 2 and 5 did not meet my

goal of at least an 80% or higher, I still considered them to be successful in comparison to the

pre-assessment scores. On the pre-assessment, students averaged a 10% on Learning Goal 2, and

a 38% on Learning Goal 5, so overall they showed good improvement.

As a whole class, students were most successful with Learning Goals 3 and 4. Students

surpassed my goal of an 80% average, and made an 85% average with both learning goals. Also
by looking at the data, I was able to see that my students made the biggest improvement with

Learning Goal 2. As stated previously, although the class did not meet my goal of scoring an

average of an 80% or higher for the learning goal, their score average went up 50 points from the

pre-assessment to the post assessment which is a major achievement.

From the analysis of student learning and looking at the data, I am able to come to the

conclusion that my students as a whole group progressed wonderfully towards the mastery of not

only the 5 learning goals, but also to the science standard. Though not all learning goals met my

goal, my students made a large improvement from the pre-assessment to the post assessment.

The data shows me that my students may not have started with a lot of knowledge about certain

topics, but that they left the classroom with an abundance of knowledge on the subjects. This

data also reassures me that I was an effective teacher and that I am still learning to become a

better teacher and hopefully meet my goal with all of the learning goals I set for my next unit of

study.
Subgroups

While analyzing the data and looking at my class, I decided to group my students into

two subgroups: students who are proficient in English, and those who are English Language

Learners. I was placed at Socastee Elementary School, where approximately 51% of the student

population consists of English Language Learners. In the second grade class I was placed in, 12

of the 21 students I had were ELL. I feel that language proficiency plays a big role in the success

of students and it is important for teachers to recognize this. Out of the 14 students that took the

assessments, 8 are ELL. English Language Learners face many challenges while learning in a

general education classroom. There are a couple reasons as to why someone would expect to see

a difference between the performance of ELL students and English Language Proficient students.

First off, the class is taught in primarily English, which they do not fully understand yet, but also

because my students are still so young (second-grade), they do not fully know their native

language either so translating new words and concepts in a way that these students can fully

understand them is challenging, especially in science because a lot of science concepts require

abstract thinking. Additionally, ELL students are not proficient in reading and writing English.

They may understand concepts while learning them, but on assessments, they may be unable to

regurgitate their thoughts into writing, and may have trouble reading questions. While

conducting my unit of study, I tried my best to effectively teach all of my students the same

concepts, differentiating instruction as needed to meet the needs of my ELL students.

 The bar graphs above show the average assessment scores between the English Language

Learners and English Language Proficient students in my class on the pre-assessment and post

assessment for Learning Goal 1. For this section of the Analysis of Student Learning, I am going

to focus strictly on Learning Goal 1. Learning Goal 1 asked students to be able to compare the

seasons and describe what each one is like. I am choosing to focus the comparison on this

learning goal because I feel that it was the most important one. Students at this grade level need

to know each season and be able to describe and compare different types of weather and

characteristics of each season. This is not only an academic necessity, but it is also important for

life skills so that students know what clothing to wear during different times of the year, as well

as understanding the passage of time and change. There were four questions (items 5-8) on the
pre and post assessments that addressed this learning goal, and almost every lesson in the unit

worked toward reaching this goal.

By looking at the data shown on the bar graph above representing Learning Goal 1, you

can see that although the English Language Proficient students scored higher on most of the

assessment items than the English Language Learners, there was not a huge discrepancy between

the two subgroups. On the pre-assessment, both groups scored similarly to one-another,

excluding item 8. On the post assessment, both groups showed improvement for all items, 5

through 8. The English Language Proficient group showed mastery of the learning goal by

scoring correctly on all 4 questions. On items 5 through 8, the ELP group brought their average

from an 83% to a 100% on each question. Although the ELL group did not show mastery per

say, they did show major improvement that is consistent with the ELP group. On item 5, the ELL

group improved their average by 6%, bringing their 80% to an 86%. On item 6, they improved

by 5%, bringing their 75% to an 80% . On item 7, they improved by 12%, bringing their 63% to

a 75%. Finally on item 8, the ELL group improved their score by 26%, bringing their 37% to a

63%.

The data from the groups’ scores did not surprise me. Due to challenges that the ELL

students face, learning new concepts is more difficult. ELP learners do not go through as many

challenges when learning new material and concepts, hence why it would be expected for them

to score higher on assessments.

Individuals

For the final portion of the Analysis of Student Learning, I am going to compare two

individual students. For my comparison, I have chosen to compare Gabriel and Grisell. Both of
these students are ELL, however they both scored very differently on the assessments. Both of

these students get pulled out of the class for ESOL, as well as reading and writing intervention.

Gabriel moved to the United States from Portugal a couple of years ago, and has parents that

speak English. Gabriel is very outgoing and loves to talk, make friends, and participate in class.

Grisell moved to the United States from Guatemala a little before Gabriel did, but her parents do

not speak English. Grisell is quiet and reserved in the classroom, but has many friends that she

will speak in her native language to during lunch and recess. She is very polite and friendly, but

is not outspoken like Gabriel. I chose to analyze and compare these two students because I think

it is important to see that not all ELL students are alike and learn in the same ways.

On the pre-assessment, Gabriel scored a 37/50 (74%). On the post assessment, he raised

his score by 12%, making a 43/50 (86%). Grisell scored a 5/50 (10%) on the pre-assessment and

a 6/50 (12%) on the post assessment. Grisell did not make much improvement from the

pre-assessment to the post assessment. This does not mean that Grisell is inferior or dumb.

Perhaps the material was not taught to her in a way that she could understand, or that she just has

trouble taking tests. I did my best to help teach all of the ELL students in a way that they could

understand and I took time to meet with them in small groups during the lessons. Both Gabriel

and Grisell did well on the formative assessments. Grisell got an 80% on her Seasons Booklet,

Gabriel got a 100%. Both got a 100% on an exit slip asking her to predict the next day’s weather

conditions and temperature based on previous data. Overall, it came down to the summative

assessment and I am not sure if she did not know or understand the material, or if she was afraid

of being wrong, could not get past misconceptions, etc.

Looking at Learning Goals 2 and 5, both Grisell and Gabriel made improvements from

the pre-assessment. Learning Goal 2 asked students to be able to discuss and identify different
types of clouds and what each means. Learning Goal 5 asked students to be able to understand

the relationship between the Earth’s relationship with the sun, and the seasons. These two

learning goals brought completely new material and no students (ELL or not) were unlikely to

have any background information on them, which made it more difficult. Grisell scored a 0% for

Learning Goal 2 on the pre-assessment, but brought her score up to a 33% on the same section

on the post assessment. On Learning Goal 5, Grisell also scored a 0 on the pre-assessment, but

she brought that up to a 50% on the post assessment. Although these scores are relatively low, it

shows that she improved greatly over the course of the unit. Gabriel also scored a 0% for

Learning Goal 2 on the pre-assessment, but he brought that up to a 100% on the post assessment.

For Learning Goal 5, Gabriel first scored a 25% on the pre-assessment, and then raised his score

to a 75% on the post assessment. Similarly to Grisell, although these scores were not great, he

did show great improvement from the pre-assessment to the post assessment.

Overall, from the comparison of these two students, I can conclude that not all ELL

students have the same needs. Gabriel hears more English at home and speaks more English at

school than Grisell does, so he was able to master Learning Goals 2 and 5 more easily because

he knows more vocabulary. Gabriel loves and is eager to learn. He takes academic risks and

learns from them quickly, despite there being a language barrier. All in all, this demonstrates how

ELL learners have different strengths, weaknesses, and needs. They should not all be grouped

together and taught in the same way because what works for one student may not work for

another. The teacher should get to know each student personally to find the best way to teach

them so that they can become successful in and out of the classroom.
REFLECTION AND SELF EVALUATION
Introduction

As the Teacher Work Sample reaches completion, I am to conclude with a reflection and

self evaluation. This entire process of creating learning goals, an assessment plan, teaching in the

field, and analyzing student data has contributed greatly to my growth as a future teacher. Of

course, there are still things I need to work on in order to grow as a teacher. Two goals that I

have set for myself to work towards in order to become a more effective teacher are as follows:

1. Work on time management and know how long it takes students to do certain things.

2. Work on differentiated instruction.

I will discuss these goals in more detail towards the end of this paper. In this reflection and self

evaluation, I am going to discuss the success and weaknesses of my unit’s learning goals,

insights of effective teaching, and lastly my implications for future teaching.

Learning Goal Where Students Were Most Successful

From gathering and analyzing all of the data from work in the field, I was able to see

which learning goals my students mastered, and which learning goals my students fell short with.

Overall, my students were most successful on Learning Goal 4. Learning Goal 4 expected that

students would be able to make predictions to determine the season based on temperature and

weather conditions by the end of the unit. On this learning goal’s section of the post test, the

class averaged am 85%, showing me that the majority of my students met the goal. For this

section of the pre-assessment, the average was 75%. Although the pre-assessment average is not

very low, my students brought their average score up by 10 points from the pre to the

post-assessment, showing adequate growth. As you can see, my students improved greatly,

which is why I believe my students were most successful with this learning goal.
 There can be many possible reasons as to why my students were the most successful with

Learning Goal 4. One reason I believe that my students were most successful on this goal is that

students were able to easily relate and connect these concepts and material into their personal

lives. My students were learning about the different types of weather directly prior to beginning

this unit so it was still fresh in their minds to be able to relate them to the seasons. Additionally,

all of my students have experienced seasons just by living so they were able to connect that to

new concepts. A second reason I believe that my students were most successful on this goal is

because this goal was taught with the most elaborate activities that included a good amount of

modeling. During my instruction that addressed Learning Goal 4, we did a lot of hands-on visual

activities. For example, we would look at the weather conditions and temperature each day and

log it to make predictions about the next day, the weekend, and the rest of the week and season.

To go along with that, we did activities where students would have to look at weather conditions

by seeing pictures or the words describing weather conditions and have to tell me what season it

could be and why. On top of all of that, we also did activities where the students were able to

draw, color, and write about different seasons and weather conditions to really tie everything

together and enforce the concepts. Students were able to better retain the information relating to

Learning Goal 4 because we did a range of activities and the concepts were easier for students to

relate to and remember because of that. So although I would like to believe that I did an amazing

job teaching, my students’ success can also be attributed to their prior knowledge about weather

and the seasons.

Going off of that, I do believe that Learning Goal 4 was less challenging than the other

learning goals. This learning goal addressed topics that students could have possibly already

learned either from home and their parents, life experiences, or in prior grades. I feel that I did a
good job scaffolding students’ learning, however, this topic came rather naturally to most of my

class.

Learning Goal Where Students Were Least Successful

On the other side of the spectrum, my students were least successful on Learning Goal 2.

Learning Goal 2 expected that students would be able to discuss and identify different types of

clouds and what each means. On the pre-assessment, my class averaged a 10% on this learning

goal. Although this average is on the low side, it was expected because the concepts addressed in

the learning goal were completely new to students and none of them knew that there were

different types of clouds and that they have different names, etc. On the post assessment, my

students were able to raise the average to a 60%. Although they increased the average by 50

points which is a huge accomplishment, my students still did not master the learning goal.

Learning Goal 2 had the lowest percent average out of all 5 learning goals on the pre and post

assessments, making it the area my students were the least successful with.

There are a couple different possible reasons for this lack of success. One reason why I

think my students were least successful on this goal is because I did not provide them with

enough instruction time. As stated previously, this learning goal addressed a topic that was

completely new to my students. My students did not have any background information or many

personal experiences to relate to. Some knew that clouds made different shapes and could look

different when it was storming versus when it was sunny out, but nothing further than that. There

was a lot of information and topics we had to cover in this 5-day unit, so I was unable to spend a

lot of time with this concept. Looking back, I should have structured another day or a part of

another day to help students further their understanding of clouds since they already knew about
the seasons and weather pretty well (Learning Goal 4). Another reason as to why my students

were least successful on this goal is because it is not a concept that students can have prenotions

of, making it harder to learn. Knowing the different names of the clouds is not something people

have to know to get on with their life on a daily basis, therefore it is not really taught outside of

the classroom. Many students could not grasp an understanding of the different names of the

clouds. The cloud types, cirrus, cumulus, and stratus all sound very similar and to my students,

especially my ELL students, it was difficult to differentiate the three types. It was also difficult to

pick out the types of clouds because they are harder to see. Sure, you can look up at the sky and

see the clouds, but children this young really cannot begin to point out the visual differences

between types of clouds yet. Furthermore, since students did not understand the concepts well,

they did not find it fun to learn or do activities with because they were struggling. They were not

as engaged with Learning Goal 2’s activities as they were with the others, and that could partially

be my fault and I should have created them to be more engaging.

For all of these reasons, this learning goal was more challenging than the other ones.

Unfortunately, I did not spend as much time as I should have teaching students the concepts of

this learning goal. Overall, not only were the students less familiar with the content from the

beginning, I was rushed for time and I was not as thorough as I should have been. In my eyes, I

felt that the seasons and the weather were more important concepts to learn than the clouds

because it affects their daily lives, i.e., what to wear for certain weather, certain characteristics of

the seasons, what causes the seasons, and overall the concept of time continuously moving and

changing. I believe that all of these reasons may have accounted for the students’ lackluster

performance on Learning Goal 2.

Future Instruction

All in all, there were some strengths and some weaknesses in my unit. There are many

things that I could do to improve my students’ performance for next time and have effective

instruction. Effective instruction is a combination of many different components. I believe that to

create effective instruction, the teacher must provide direct instruction, indirect instruction where

students get the opportunity to make their own discoveries, providing questions for focusing,

prompting, and probing, and above all, providing feedback during instruction. I believe that I

incorporated all of these aspects of effective instruction into the unit that I taught in my field

experience. Despite this, there are things that I still need to work on in order to become an

effective teacher where my students master all of the learning goals I create for them. The two

goals I have set for myself mentioned in the beginning of this paper are a good start to that

growth.

One thing that I will do in future instruction is to structure my time more efficiently.

During my unit, I noticed that I was having trouble managing my time. It was a challenge to

figure out how much time my students would need to do certain activities and I often over or

underestimated that time. Instead of letting my students cut and glue pieces of paper for 20

minutes, we could have done a different activity that could have been just as effective in teaching

the concepts without a huge loss in time. Overall, I need to know where to spend the most time

with things and where it is okay to breeze over some concepts that students already know.

Along with that, another thing I will do better to improve my students’ performance is to

differentiate instruction more. In my classroom, we had a very diverse set of students. Half of my

class were ELL students and I also had a couple GT students as well. These two groups alone

were on very different levels of learning, but for the most part I had them doing the same
activities on a middle-level. This created some challenges because my lower-level students were

still struggling, and my higher-level students were bored. Additionally, some students would

finish activities way before the rest of their class, including finishing the ‘early finisher’ work,

while other students would take the full 30 minutes to do one activity. In the future, I will make

sure to create activities that can be done in different ways to accommodate for each of my

students so that they can learn to the best of their ability with all of their needs met.
NARRATIVE LESSON REFLECTION (video)
This semester, I have been placed into Mrs. Sanchez’s second-grade class at Socastee

Elementary School. My time here has been amazing thus far and I have grown very fond of all of

my students as well as my Cooperating Teacher. In my class, there are 21 students in total, 12 of

which are English Language Learners and 3 students who have ADHD/intellectual challenges. 3

of my students leave to go to a support class during reading.

For my narrative video lesson, I got the opportunity to teach a reading lesson. I was very

excited about this because it is the only subject I have not taught with this class so far. For this

unit of reading, we are focusing on South Carolina ELA Standard 11.1, which states that students

should be able to “identify and analyze the author’s purpose.” The goal for this lesson is that by

the end, my students will be able to determine the meaning of unknown words by using the text,

as well as identifying the author’s purpose while reading a given text. Today’s lesson consisted

of a read aloud of the article, Should Birthday Treats Be Banned From School Parties?, and then

asking discussion questions to go along with the reading that address the author's purpose. This

lesson is the third lesson in a series of author’s purpose questions. By now, my students should

be able to recall and describe each of the four purposes; persuade, inform, entertain, and explain.

They will be expected to figure out which of those four purposes this text exhibits.

As I teach more, I am starting to actually see myself in a classroom as a full time teacher.

I believe that my lesson went very well and I am happy that we accomplished the goals I set for

my students. My students all love and respect me and I feel that I have made a real connection

with them and my Cooperating Teacher this semester, and this is shown through how my

students interact with me in the classroom and while I teach.

Now that I have been able to see myself actually in the classroom, I realized that I have

the potential to be a great and effective elementary school teacher. With all of these lessons and
assignments, I can only get better and being able to watch myself teach on video has made me

see my strengths and weaknesses from a better perspective. During my lesson, I did a good job

reading aloud, walking around the room, and keeping the lesson interactive within what the

lesson would allow. Something I need to improve upon for my future lessons is to gain

confidence in myself. One way I can work on this is to practice and prepare my lessons more

before doing them. By practicing, I can make sure I am pacing myself correctly, using the right

terminology and phrasing to sound correct, and to overall feel more confident in myself. If I am

feeling confident in my teaching, then my students will also believe that I know what I am doing,

and that I deserve their attention and to be respected.

For the most part, my students were engaged. I know this because some of them started to

read along with me, and they were able to comprehend what I was reading to them and answer

questions related to the content. During the lesson, I would walk around the room, use a nice

clear voice while reading, and I would direct questions to all of my students. I believe that for

this lesson specifically, it was important to include as many students as I could in the

conversations so that way I could keep them all engaged; hence why I asked questions that all of

my students should have been able to answer. There were a couple of students who were not

engaged and were distracted with toys and water bottles at their desks, or just not paying

attention. Reading is done in the beginning of the day, almost right before lunch. Many of the

students were more focused on what they were going to have for lunch or what they were going

to play at recess and were getting a bit antsy in their chairs. I tried to get the students back on

track by quietly tapping their desks while I read so that they would know to start paying

attention, and I was not distracting the rest of the class or stopping instruction to address it.
 The YouTube link to view my lesson is attached here: https://youtu.be/QWDm5Okzq5Y

SEASONS POSTER