Areas for Growth & Plan for Improvement
The Inquiry Cycle
The Inquiry Cycle
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Another item that I would like to focus on for the next school year is increasing my knowledge and use of the inquiry cycle during our Unit of Inquiry. As this was my first year being introduced to the inquiry cycle, I didn't feel completely comfortable using it confidently with my students. Now that I have more experience, I would like to become more of a risk taker and guide my students more throughout the inquiry cycle.
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In order to better achieve and reach this goal, I have borrowed the book, Classroom Connections by Kath Murdoch. This book provides information about each element of the inquiry cycle. I am eager to read and learn more about the integrated learning. I will feel more prepared and eager to begin during the next school year.
Mini-Lessons
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One goal that I want to set for myself is my time management during mini-lessons. Right now I feel that I spend too much time at the beginning of my lessons teaching and sharing with the students. This leaves us with a shorter amount of time to work and write indepdnently. I would like to get better at setting up a better timed structure for mini-lessons that includes a lesson, independent work time with conferencing, and time to share at the end. In order to achieve and work towards this goal, I will create timers for myself and create Smart Notebook presentations to have these elements along with time allotted for each activity. By doing this, I can hold myself accountable, as well as my students.
Clear Instructions
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Being a homeroom teacher to students whose first language is Mandarin, there is always something more that I can do to enhance my lessons and activities to promote more success from my EAL students. I want to ensure that I am setting my students up for success in all areas of academics. One element that my EAL students have difficulty doing is following multiple step instructions. In order to help my students remember the instructions while working independently, I will begin to write the instructions on the board, including materials that they will need and what to do when they are done with a task. By posting the instructions on the board, this will give the students more independence and a chance to be responsible and successful on their own.
