4A.1: Reflective Practice
Evidence #1: “Mr. Porcella seeks feedback in a consistent and timely manner, both in his lesson planning and his conduct of class. He sends lesson plans, as agreed, on the weekend before classes, and he makes changes based on the feedback of his supervising practitioner. He regularly offers assessments of his own performance, and is never hesitant to confront problems” (P. Weyler).
Evidence #2: “Mr. Porcella redesigned this class based on student behaviors in the two weeks leading up to it. He sought feedback even for those revisions, and afterwards demonstrated a real desire to think about the results and consider them for his future plans” (P. Weyler).
Evidence #3: “I feel that Mr. Porcella’s reflective practice over the course of his practicum has been nothing short of exemplary. In his weekly teaching journals and lesson debriefings with mentors, he is honest, detailed, and thorough in his analysis of the ways in which each lesson succeeded, and the ways in which it could be improved upon. He has also continued both to host and attend “teaching rounds”, always participating very actively in the post-round discussions of each lesson, and offering insightful feedback to his MAT peers as well as welcoming constructive criticism from his colleagues and mentors. Since our formative assessment meeting, Mr. Porcella has also solicited the feedback of his students, both through the student survey required by the state and through a more open response feedback form that he designed himself, and he has used all of this information to inform and improve his practice (for example, when he learned that some of his 11th graders answered “disagree” in response to the question “In this class, students are allowed to work on assignments that interest them personally,” he made a point of including more opportunities for students to choose paper topics and in-class roles, as well as working to build discussions around the themes or questions in a texts that were proving most interesting for students). He also reflected upon how he was progressing towards the practice goals that he set for himself back in December, as well as regularly setting new goals for himself and his students, and strategizing how best to achieve them, in his teaching journals” (H. Roberts).
Explanation: In what is perhaps my biggest area of strength, I have practiced my teaching reflectively this whole year, constantly thinking about the things I have done well and the things I can do better. I keep a reflective teaching journal as part of the practicum, with 26 three-page entries. I also have a personal teaching journal that I use for outside the program, and this has 300 hand-written pages from this year. Additionally, I reflect on each lesson plan that I implement, which this year totaled roughly 250 plans. Though you can never step into the same river twice, you can certainly still build a raft.