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EDU 6528 Initial Reflection

After looking at the instructional framework for your district, what area do you wish to improve on in terms of either content or pedagogy (i.e. teaching, lesson planning, specific instructional strategies, etc)?
More specifically, write a 3-5 paragraph self-assessment indicating:
  • Your area(domain) of strength,
  • Area (domain) you will focus your professional goals
  • Be sure to connect to your framework’s specific domain or equivalent area. If you teach in a private school, then choose one of the linked frameworks to work from.

Initial Reflection

After taking some time to review the Danielson Framework and consider my teaching practices regarding this framework, I believe my strength is currently in Domain 1: Planning and Preparation.  Organization and structure are very important to me, so I continuously work on making sure I am also organized within my teaching practices.  Designing instructional units and lesson planning is one of my greatest passions.  I love searching for new ideas and working with existing curriculum to make a cohesive and engaging unit.  I also enjoy working with student data and using it to set goals with my students and for myself.  I am a “big picture” kind of person, and I try to bring that strength into my teaching as well.  One example of this is creating a curriculum map for my team.  Before I joined the team, there was a packet of general things we could do each month, but it was not very specific and didn’t list specific weeks/times the units should be taught.  I took this information, blended it with our district’s curriculum “at a glance” information, and made a timeline curriculum map for our team.  We now are on the same page with a lot more lessons and can collaborate more effectively.  While I chose this area as a strength, I look forward to learning more about how I can work with others to help them learn to love this area of teaching as much as I do. 

One domain that I would like to focus on throughout the teacher leadership program is Domain 3: Instruction.  While I don’t necessarily feel as though I am struggling in this category, there is just so many components in this domain that teachers do daily.  It also is one of the domains that most directly effects students.  While I feel like I have a good grasp of what I should be doing regarding instructional techniques and communicating with students, it is hard for me to always follow through or choose the correct technique/interaction for the exact moment. I do try my best to plan for a variety of situations and students; however, so much of teaching is being flexible and changing your instructional strategies each lesson to meet the needs of your students.  I would like to work on knowing which technique in my “toolbox” to pull out and when. 

Another aspect of Domain 3 that I would like to focus on is differentiating within my instruction.  I feel as though my undergraduate experience did a great job for setting me up for what differentiation is and how it can be used within the classroom.  Right now, I do the basics within my classroom as far as differentiation like creating workshop style lessons for reading, writing, and math.  This helps me pull flexible and small groups so that I can meet the needs of my diverse learners.  One struggle that I run in to with differentiation is the work load that sometimes accompanies it.  When I really try to focus on differentiating a particular lesson or unit, I find that my workload doubles and it becomes hard to keep up with each week.  I’d love to gain some more insight into how to create concise and effective differentiated lessons that don’t require a lot of planning or prep work. 

While I chose Domain 1 as a strength and Domain 3 as an area to improve, I know that I have a lot of room to grow in all four domains.  I look forward to venturing into this program to strengthen each domain for myself and gain some skills to help others do the same.  

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