Analysis & Reflection Showcase
These artifacts show how I analyzed results from assessements and reflected on what my students learned and how my lessons went.
Vivian Paley’s Unique Way of Inquiry
Teachers have more items on their to-do lists and ideas in their heads than time in the week, let alone the day. This causes teachers to often times skip a crucial step in the process of teaching- reflection. I am guilty of this myself, even though I know the positive effects reflection can have on my teaching and my student’s learning. Vivian Paley made reflection very evident in her inquiry in the research text, The Girl with the Brown Crayon. She developed a specific way of inquiry that allowed her to critically think about not only how she teaches and how her students learn, but also how she learns. She specifically focused on her written reflection in her journals. In this paper, I discuss the benefits Paley experienced because of her reflection.​
Evolution Unit Formative Assessment Analysis and Reflection
In education today, so much importance is placed on pre-assessments and summative assessments with standardized testing and teacher evaluation. A lot of time and focus is spent on these types of assessments that formative assessments are being put on the back burner. I designed and implemented three formative assessments for three different points along with a scoring rubric for a unit regarding how the first organisms on earth evolved throughout different time periods. I then carried out these formative assessments, collected data, analyzed the data for student growth, and reflected on how the formative assessments allowed me to identify misconceptions, strengths, and weaknesses and how I would modify my instruction the next time I taught the unit.
Modeling the Moon Phases Lesson Analysis and Reflection
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) focus on eight science and engineering practices that students are to master to be successful at learning science concepts. These practices require science instruction that differs from what is traditionally used. This instruction is inquiry-based, which focuses on allowing students to engage in multiple experiences that will aide them in developing the necessary knowledge of the science concepts. I developed and implemented inquiry-based activities to guide my students in mastering the NGSS performance expectation where students are to be able to make and use models of the moon, earth, and sun to explain what causes the moon phases. Once I finished teaching, I analyzed formative assessment data and reflected on what students understood, how they were/were not successful, what I would change the next time I taught the lessons, and how I would follow up.