Educators implement effective planning, instruction, assessment and reporting practices to create respectful, inclusive environments for student learning and development.

Bringing it all together!

Standard five for me has been included in all my teaching experiences but I found that it became especially evident in my final 491 practicum. I felt this way because since we were now given longer periods of time to work with students as well as being introduced to writing larger unit and long term plans there was more time to not only plan but also carry out those plans. For example, in previous practicums, we were creating connected lessons and mini units but now we had more room to not only make plans but to connect them and reflect on them. When I refer to reflection for myself I believe this can connect to in-the-moment reflection but also reflection after a unit is finished. In the moment reflection could look like dropping or adding a lesson from your unit depending on how your students are doing, and this is also connected to assessment for learning. If you are in the middle of a unit and you know your students need some extra time to understand the material then you might add in an extra review lesson to help this. This is what I enjoyed about being in a classroom more long-term because you have the time to start with getting to know the students so when you head into larger unit plans you know your students well enough to understand when they are not ready to move on or are ready. This is also important when it comes to engagement because not every class is going to be the same and they may respond to different things. This knowledge of what your students respond well to is also something that comes with time and is really founded on building relationships with your students. Overall, I think that this standard is very connected to the process of teaching in the formal sense of what we do as educators, but also rooted in knowing what is good for your students and what will work best for them.

This image makes me think of standard 5 because the whole of standard five for me represents the formal process of teaching which when working together is layered but a cohesive unit. Underneath though, is the groundwork and the events, actions, decisions and moments that support the teaching and learning process. I also like how this image brings about ideas of fluidity because this is how I view learning as well.