Monday, February 11, 2013

Characteristic of a Novice Teacher #7 and #8


         The first characteristic of the novice teacher I chose was characteristic number seven, which states the novice teacher will effectively integrate content and pedagogy. The main idea from this characteristic is to have different content areas integrated within one lesson plan using a variety of sources. Having main concepts that can be applied over at least one other area will benefit the students when transferring their knowledge to the real world. For example, one artifact that can be connected to this characteristic is the technology special education toolkit that was created fall semester of the participant year. This artifact connects to this characteristic because the toolkit is integrating several content areas, as well as integrating five different pieces of technology. For example, Prezi is an online source that can be used to introduce new materials, and there are many websites that allow students to use clickers to complete surveys/gather data. Gathering data shows students how to graph data in other areas, thus implementing mathematics in another core content area, like English.

        The second characteristic of the novice teacher I chose was characteristic number eight, which states the novice teacher will be a reflective partitioner. The main idea of this characteristic is that a teacher should always reflect on which lessons work well, and which lessons could be improved. In addition to improving lessons, reflective on classroom management strategies, and other theories utilized in the classroom is how a novice teacher exemplifies this characteristic. One artifact that would address this characteristic would be the inquiry of context project that is completed the participant year. This artifact is greatly influenced on what goes on in the classroom, and how one perceives the context in the classroom. The inquiry project completed for Education 410 and 411 connects to this characteristic because the project entails observing the context of the classroom and reflecting on what works and does not work. For example, how the classroom is set up, and the people in the classroom greatly influence how the students learn. Reflecting on the set up, and changing when one thing does not work will exhibit the novice teacher characteristic of being a reflective partitioner.