4F: Showing Professionalism This was one of several name cards made by Van Buren's principal and instructional coach. I believe this fits as an artifact for Professional Responsibilities because the words that are written around my name show what my fellow staff know about me and also how I present myself as a person and fellow educator. I feel that the principal and instructional coach listed the qualities that make me both an effective educator and also someone who works well with other colleagues and the community as a whole.
4A: Reflecting on Teaching Here are some observation notes from my practicum supervisor from the College of Idaho. The notes presented here represent a somewhat off day. My students were a little restless during this period, but we pressed forward. My supervisor noted how I was able to maintain the room, even when it was chaotic at certain points. I am including this as an artifact for this domain because one of the biggest duties we have as professional teachers is reflecting on our teaching. It is never guaranteed that a lesson is going to go completely well, but all lessons, good or bad, are great tools for re-evaluating certain aspects of our teaching and determining what can be done better for the next time. Taking that time to reflect on one's teaching is crucial, otherwise it causes our practice to suffer and it is of little to no benefit to our students or us.
4A Reflecting on Teaching, 4D: Participating in the Professional Community, 4E: Growing and Developing Professionally, 4F: Showing professionalism Here are some sheets from a peer observation that was conducted during my first semester at Van Buren. Every teacher that went to observe received this first sheet, where everyone listed the teacher and subject that they were observing. In my case, I observed a reading lesson from one of the 2nd Grade teachers. Throughout our observations, we wrote down what we saw, what we liked about the lesson, and what we could use from the lesson in our own classrooms. Then, each teacher was given the second sheet to write down our appreciations to the one we were observing and state what we liked about the lesson. I believe this is an important professional development tool because you are getting the perspectives of other teachers that visit the room and you get a chance to hear from your colleagues about what went well or what can be improved, while also getting the chance to make that same input yourself.