Practicum Project

Please follow the sequence below:

1. Preparation

A. Contact your cooperating teacher early in the quarter and ask him/her when you will be able to teach, what topic you will likely be addressing with the students, and how many lessons (or days) you will be teaching (at least three consecutive lessons with the same class of students).

B. Prepare a series of lesson plans (typically about three days worth). Use the same format we have used for microteaching.

C. Schedule a pre-conference with the TA if you have questions about your lessons before teaching.

2. Doing the teaching

A. Make the necessary arrangements with your cooperating teachers for teaching the lessons. If you can coordinate this with one of your University Supervisor’s visits, this would be ideal!

B. In order to provide feedback at the post-conference evaluation, it is necessary for you to videotape 2 of your lessons. Many schools have video cameras and personnel who are trained and willing to run them for the purpose of providing teachers with feedback on their instruction. Your cooperating teacher may be willing to do this for you, or you may have a colleague who is assigned to the same school do the filming. You are expected to bring the videotapes for viewing at your post-conference evaluation.

C. Collect sample student work from all students in 1 class period. Photocopy the students work and remove at least their last name from their work. For each student you should have copies of 1 assessment of prior knowledge and 1 assessment of learning related to the lessons you taught (this doe not necessarily have to be one that you gave to the students).

3. Make notes on the lesson plan

  1. After teaching your lesson, please make notes in the margins to indicate

Strengths in your lessons,

Surprises that you encountered,

Concerns that you have

Include not only notes about “how smoothly” things went (or didn’t), but also about what you learned about student thinking

Also, write down two questions that you want to ask your peers during the critical response group session

Don’t revise your lesson plan at this point.

Practicum Product 1: Student Learning Reflection

Review your lessons & samples of student work and please answer the following 3 questions. We recognize that you may have little choice in what or how you teach during your field experience and we will not evaluate these answers based on how or what was actually taught. You will be evaluated on the degree to which you incorporate ideas we have learned about in class & the degree to which you use examples from the student work in your responses. (1-2 typed pages, 12 font, single-spaced)

  1. Choose one of the teaching strategies we learned last quarter. Which strategy was incorporated into your lesson and how effective was it? OR Which strategy could have been incorporated into your lesson and in what way? Use evidence from student work and from your lesson to support your answer. Your answer should also provide evidence that you understand the goals for the strategy you chose (see handouts from last quarter or website).
  2. 4 Strategies: eliciting students’ ideas, direct instruction, guided exploration, skill building
  1. Review the 5 phases of inquiry. Were their parts of your lessons that emphasizedor supported any of the 5 inquiry phases?

If so, what were they and what do you think your students learned?

If not, how would you re-conceptualize this lesson such that it could be a part of a larger inquiry project?

Use evidence from student work (if applicable) and from your lesson to support your answer. Your answer should also provide evidence that you understand the phases of inquiry (see handout or website).

  1. Choose one of your objectives for the lesson and describe how you know that your students worked toward or mastered that objective. If your students did not display evidence of learning, what might you do differently next time? Use evidence from student work and from your lesson to support your answer.

Practicum Product 2: Videotape Analysis

  1. You will be assigned to a group de-briefing with the TA and six classmates. You will participate in a critical response experience similar to those that we engaged in after each of my microteaching demonstrations. For this critical response session, you may select any 5 minute portion of your video to share with colleagues (this does NOT need to be the same lesson that you did for the Student Learning Reflection). Select something that you are comfortable showing, but that also illustrates a situation you want to have some dialogue about. Be prepared to introduce the segment you chose (provide relevant curriculum background), why you chose the segment, and 2 questions that you would like the group to focus on while they watch the video.
  1. After the critical response session, write a 2 page narrative that is a reflection on the process of creating, teaching, and having a dialogue about that teaching. The first paragraph should BRIEFLY describe the segment you chose, why you chose it, and the 2 questions that you brought to the group. The remainder of the paper (1.5 pages) should be a thoughtful synthesis and analysis of what you learned from this process.
  1. Make revisions to your lessons based on feedback from the TA, your peers, and your own learning.

DUE DATE:Give the revised lesson and the reflective narrative to the TA within 1 week following the critical response session.

Check list: Please place in this order & label each piece.

Practicum Product 1: Student Learning Reflection (1-2 typed pages, 12 font, single-spaced)

Practicum Product 2: Videotape Analysis (2 typed pages, 12 font, double-spaced)

Revised lesson plans (post critical response with peers)

Original Detailed Lesson Plans for 3 days (include notes from yourself & classmates in margins)

Photocopies of sample student work from all students in 1 class period (1 assessment of prior knowledge and 1 assessment of learning)

Name:

Practicum Project

In packet / Not in packet
3 lesson plans
Pre & Post assessment for all students in 1 class
Performance level 4 / Performance level 3 / Performance level 2 / Performance level 1
Practicum Product
1
Student Learning Reflection / Answers strongly & clearly relate to content in this course (strategies, inquiry, objectives) & provide clear examples of this relationship; Answers strongly integrate a reflection on student work & your lesson / Answers clearly relate to content in this course (strategies, inquiry, objectives) & provide examples of this relationship; Answers integrate a reflection on student work & your lesson / Answers relate to content in this course (strategies, inquiry, objectives) yet the connections are not well-formulated and do not provide clear examples; Answers weakly integrate a reflection on student work & your lesson / Answers are purely descriptive & lack thoughtful reflection on student work and on the content from this course
Practicum Product
2
Videotape Analysis / Descriptive piece is short & clear; Synthesis and Analysis discuss the 3 elements of the process cohesively and are based around 1-3 central themes / Descriptive piece is short & clear; Synthesis and Analysis loosely discuss the 3 elements of the process and are based around 1-3 central themes / Descriptive piece is short & clear; Synthesis and Analysis loosely discuss the 3 elements of the process and central themes are not well formulated / Descriptive piece is short & unclear; Synthesis and Analysis very loosely discuss the 3 elements of the process and central themes are difficult to distinguish