Section Five: Teacher Candidate Reflection Guidelines

Introduction
As I enter section five of this portfolio it seems it would behoove me to use some of this

time to reflect on the process thus far. This section will contain my thoughts on the creation of

the portfolio, as well as my experiences through the Medaille Education program. These

reflections will be constructed in such a way as to speak to my readiness to become a teacher and

why I think I would be a great addition to any school.

Before undergoing the task of creating such a comprehensive portfolio it was clear that

this would not be an easy journey. Having undergraduate degrees in English and Philosophy I am

no stranger to writing and reading lengthy papers but I felt this was going to be a different sort of

project. I have good experience in writing papers for academia and even for argumentative

purposes in hopes to defend or even persuade readers; but this portfolio has demanded many

different types of writing. I have felt often during this writing process as if I were flexing mental

muscles that have not been used in long time, if at all.

Certainly, at times, this had originally led to frustration but I have learned that out of

strife comes growth. I can honestly say that now, after writing 100+ pages, I am better in many

aspects of my craft. This portfolio has made me look at who I am as a teacher, how far I’ve

come, and how much further I can still go. I strongly feel it is always important to have an honest

idea of where you stand in all facets of life and this paper has helped give me that knowledge.

As much as I feel I’ve given to this project I also have received so much in return. I have

enough life experience to know that with projects like this you get out what you put in. I’ll be

honest; many times throughout this paper I have struggled to sit down and put words down on

the page. Each section has had its own struggles and none the same the section before; but there

are two different perspectives on these struggles. The obvious perspective is to just believe that
the portfolio is hard and there’s nothing to do but put my head down and plough through. The

other perspective is to look at how overcoming each obstacle not only in this paper but my

entire time at Medaille has made me adapt and become more versatile than I ever thought

possible. This section will use that perspective to showcase my adaptability and versatility to

speak to my strength as a teacher.

Portfolio Project/Teacher Education Learning Experiences

first lesson plan I had been assigned to write, and teach to my cohorts. In my first semester, Fall

2018, we had been given the task of choosing a topic and completing a proper edTPA lesson plan

with the goal of teaching our lesson to our new classmates. Never being one to shy away from a

challenge I was the first to sign up without knowing fully what it was I had signed up for. After

learning the true nature of the task I had pretty instant regret but I steeled myself for the

challenge and started using he resources I had. I ended up designed a science lesson on

momentum and gravity in which the students had to create a marble maze using only the

materials provided to them.

My day to present came and I was very proud of the science lesson I had created; only to

find out hours beforehand that the lesson needed to be ELA based. There was no time to make a

new lesson so needless to say I was distraught and ready to pull my hair out. I knew there was

nothing to do but just make sure I gave a lesson so good everyone might forget that it was

supposed to ELA based! In the end the lesson I gave went very well, and while the professor did

not miss that my lesson was in fact science, my mark did not suffer, I was forced to teach under

an abnormally stressful situation, and I made it out alive.

easily. Frist of all, I want to bring up DOE Claim 2: Medaille College graduates meet the needs

of diverse learners through effective pedagogy and best teaching practices. I would like to think

this experience definitely showcased best my teaching practices and pedagogy by committing to

giving the best lesson possible even with knowing I had chosen the wrong topic. Furthermore

this experience exemplifies standard 1.4 of the CAEP Standards; Providers ensure that

candidates demonstrate skills and commitment that afford all P-12 students access to rigorous

college- and career-ready standards. The edTPA itself includes the need to use Common Core

Standards which were cited and followed in the making and teaching of the lesson.

The second experience that comes to mind is my time spent with Buffalo Prep Academy

at the University of Buffalo. These students were hand-picked for their exceptional intelligence

to be a part of the program, with the incentive of free private high school tuition. Overall this

seemed like an amazing opportunity for these students and it truly was. That being said many

times I would go into their classrooms to observe and I was often see a number of the students

zoning out, or not paying attention to the opportunity in front of them. After reflecting on this it

made me remember that at the end of the day you need to find more concrete, tangible ways to

motivate students. Even the teachers that had amazing classroom management techniques still

sometimes struggled with keeping their students engaged and it really made me realize how

adaptable we need to be as teachers in order to consistently keep our students attention.

This experience really seems to speak to CAEP Standard 1.1 and in particular the section

mentioning mastery over using/implementing the 10 inTASC Standards. Standard 8 of the

inTASC Standards says: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to

encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to
build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways. Through no fault of the teachers it just

seemed that these students could have really benefited from a change in dictation and motivation

in order to promote that deep and meaningful learning, and sometimes when you’re the one

teaching it is hard to see that.

While on the subject of Buffalo Prep I want to talk about another related experience I had

that helped me learn a very important lesson in classroom management. The science teachers at

the academy had always impressed me; they always seemed well versed, enthusiastic, and very

prepared. That being said, one day the teachers were clearly very excited for a particular science

experiment and begun to get ahead of themselves. The experiment was very fun sounding but the

issue was that they had started handing out the materials before they were finished explaining the

lesson. Immediately the students stopped paying attention and the room devolved into chaos

which was quite the stark comparison to how the class was normally run.

The obvious take away from this is to never hand out materials before you are done

explaining. But I feel there is a deeper meaning to this story that can be exemplified by standard

1.1 of the CAEP Standards and more importantly Standard 1 of inTASC standards: The teacher

understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and

development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and

physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging

learning experiences. The way in which these teachers had set up their activity they clearly did

not have an effective learning environment in mind and what was going to be an extremely fun

and effective activity was ruined by carelessness.

Reediness to Become a Teacher

is not the goal. This section, as well as this whole portfolio is about showing that I am not only

ready to become a teacher but I am ready to be a great teacher. The mere constructing of this

portfolio helps show my commitment to my craft, as well as showcases many of the abilities I

can add to the classroom. Each section was crafted with the goal of setting myself apart from my

peers.

Throughout this portfolio you have heard much of my backstory and road to where I am

today. This road was winding, meandering, and at times filled with obstacles. At the very least

these stories have added credence to my fortitude, and determination. Overcoming a fear of

public speaking due to a severe speech impediment was no easy task. Now, not only am I not

afraid of public speaking, I no longer stutter and I long for the opportunity to speak. I am far

more comfortable talking than being silent. A strength in public speaking is something that is

inherently hard to express in written word but I hope through my vocabulary and prose you are

able to form your own opinions.

To compliment this skill I have also shown a strong command over all manner of NYS

teaching standards. A strong public speaker may be able to hold a classrooms attention but

without a deep understanding of the standards nothing of value would be conveyed. In section

three I included many of the lesson plans I have created during my time at Medaille, each lesson

plan referencing one or more standards. A deeper reading of the lesson plans would reveal that I

am also able to take these standards and find fun, effective, and creative ways to implement them

into my classroom. These lesson plans span over three different types of content, and use

everything from crafting to technology.

showcased my skills applying technology in the classroom. My Pechna Kucha presentation

shows my willingness to stray from the norm as well as my fluency in Microsoft Powerpoint. My

Weebly website was designed all by my own hand and I would argue would be a fantastic

resource for any classroom. These don’t include the other technology I am fluent in such as

Kahoot’s for assessment, and Scratch for coding.

Conclusion
. As I said before the goal should not just to be ready to be a teacher, but ready to be a great
teacher; and in this respect I also think I have proven I deserve a chance to prove how great I can
be. My portfolio is a living, breathing document that does a very good job of speaking for itself.
With it being a living document, it will change, and update with every new accolade or
philosophy I pick up; this reflects how I will conduct myself as a professional as well. Once my
time at Medaille is over I won’t stop learning and improving. I will always be a work in progress
in some ways, but the goal will be perfection.