The time is approaching for my student teachers to be evaluated. They will be asked to complete a self- evaluation using the same criteria that will be used for their midterm reports. Deciding how they rate themselves in each of the categories will not be an easy task. It might be helpful to write a reflection on each of the categories of the report to critically examine experiences, thoughts and attitudes that have occurred since the start of the practicum.
Here are are some questions to guide this critical reflection:
- What is my current attitude towards being a teacher? Has it changed over the past 6 weeks?
- How do I feel about the comments (criticisms or positive feedback) that I have received so far?
- How would I describe my relationship with the students, my sponsor teachers, and other teachers on staff?
- What is my level of connection to the school community?
- How successful have my unit plans and lesson plans been so far? Have I made adjustments?
- How engaged have students been in the activities that I have planned so far? Has there been a good variety of activities?
- What accommodations have I made for a diversity of learners?
- What areas of lesson plans ( ie. opening, main activities, conclusion) have been working well? What areas need improvement?
- What practices have I incorporated to actively and continuously monitor student learning?
- How effective have these practices been to indicate if instructional goals have been met?
- What systems have I developed to evaluate student work and maintain records of their marks? Are these systems working effectively?
- What aspects of assessment am I currently doing well? (ie. formative or summative? “assessment “of” learning, assessment “for” learning) What aspects need improvement?
- How organized and prepared do I feel at the start of each class?
- How responsive have the students been to me and my lessons and activities?
- What aspects of classroom management have I been trying? Which of these have been effective? Which of these have not been working?
- Am I developing positive and respectful relationships with most of my students? What types of students do I work well with? What types of student do I find the most challenging?