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Section Five: Teacher Candidate Reflection Guidelines

Introduction

In this section, I have the opportunity to reflect on my educational journey, experiences,

and knowledge that I have developed during my time at Medaille, College in the Master of

Elementary Education program. Being able to be reflective is an important quality that is part of

the process in the development of professionalism as an educator. As I reflect on the Teacher

Education Accreditation Council, the Council for Accreditation for Educator Preparation, and the

Medaille College Department of Education Claims, I will make connections to my artifacts in

preparation to becoming an educator. I will make these connections by highlighting the skills and

knowledge I have obtained through course work and experiences at Medaille College.

Portfolio Project/Teacher Education Learning Experiences

While reflecting on the development of my educational portfolio, I realize the impact of

all of the assignments that I have done along the way and how they have given me a foundational

knowledge about teaching and best teaching practices. While accumulating my artifacts to

highlight in my portfolio, I realized how hard it was to just narrow down to eight. The artifacts

that I chose are ones that I felt showed my readiness to teach. Along with my assignments, I have

added to my development as an educator by receiving certification in diversity and violence in

the classroom, behaviour management systems, supporting special needs students, special

education technology, and suicide assistance training. These certificates have provided me to be

a more well-rounded equipped educator and prepare me to better support students academically

and socially.

Through my review of my work and certificates related to teaching, I was able to

recognize the areas that I demonstrate the most experience and knowledge in (Claim
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2: Medaille College graduates meet the needs of diverse learners through

effective pedagogy and best teaching practices). Through my experience as an Educational

Assistant, I feel that I have been fortunate to be exposed to many best teaching practices that

support diverse learners, along with creating a safe space for students within an inclusive

learning environment (Claim 3: Medaille College graduates are caring educators). I look forward

to continuing to grow as an educator and build upon my work experiences.

Over my time at Medaille College, both in person and online, I am grateful to the

invaluable amount of material I learned from some extremely passionate educators themselves.

My experience in EDL 650 ‘Assessment and Evaluation of Literacy’ has opened my eyes to a

new appreciation for literacy, effective assessment and evaluation, and the importance of

intervention early on in school. I went into this program thinking I would prefer to teach at a

junior level, but I now find myself interested in primary. This class proves how valuable

assessments are to aiding a teacher in their lessons and delivery to ensure a considerable amount

of learning and growth in literacy is happening in the classroom (CAEP - Standard 1: Content

and Pedagogical Knowledge The provider ensures that candidates develop a deep understanding

of the critical concepts and principles of their disciplines and, by completion, are able to use

discipline specific practices flexibly to advance the learning of all students toward attainment of

college-and career-readiness standards.). The common assignment allowed me to choose

assessments to complete with a student in order to evaluate their phonics, phonemic awareness,

spelling and reading comprehension skills. The overall experience allowed me to gain

confidence in the assessment process and exposed me to a variety of assessments. Through

reflection of these assessments I learned different interventions and instructional approaches in

preparing developmentally appropriate lessons that reflect curriculum standards. Along with this,
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I feel that I developed a greater understanding for how students may view assessments and that

providing them with a safe place where they feel comfortable, will ultimately ease them when

being assessed. This course provided me with numerous resources and assessments tools that I

know I will access and utilized in my career.

Another course that I feel impacted my learning while completing my Master of

Elementary Education, was EDU 571 ‘Technology for the Elementary Classroom’. This course

introduced me to various types of technology that can be used within the classroom. We were

shown various technology and applications that are used in engaging students and providing

formative assessments for students to optimize purposefully learning (Claim 2: Medaille College

graduates meet the needs of diverse learners through effective pedagogy and best teaching

practices). During this course, we developed a familiarity with the ISTE standards and how they

connect to the use of technology in the classroom. Using technology in the classroom can

significantly change the learning outcomes, I am grateful to have build upon my knowledge and

resources. Within this course, I created a Bitmoji lesson plan, a cyber safety presentation, and

was shown SmartBoard and how to access and create activities to add supplementary materials to

lesson plans (CAEP - Standard 1: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge The provider ensures that

candidates develop a deep understanding of the critical concepts and principles of their

disciplines and, by completion, are able to use discipline specific practices flexibly to advance

the learning of all students toward attainment of college-and career-readiness standards.). As I

move forward in my education, I look forward to implementing what I have learned and

incorporating it into my practicum teaching and future classroom.

Throughout the Master of Elementary Education program at Medaille College, other

courses such as Literacy, Math, and Science provided myself and my colleagues with
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opportunities for meaningful skills and growth in these subject areas. These courses aided in a

deeper understanding in the creation of lesson plans, learning segments, and re-engagement plans

that are aligned with the Ontario and New York State curriculum standards (Claim

1: Medaille College graduates know the subject matter in their certification area(s)). These

courses and the presentations of lesson plans were invaluable experiences that offered

opportunities to practice, implement, and reflect on my teaching practices. They provided me

with confidence as I enter my teaching practicum where I will build upon the content knowledge

I have learned thus far. Along with this experience, I have been introduced to various

engagement strategy websites, books, texts, articles, and websites that reflect different subject

area materials. All of this allows me to feel equipped to plan, implement, and deliver math,

science, and literacy lessons and learning segments. While developing lesson plans and learning

segments, the focus on developing appropriate objectives was through the use of Bloom’s

Taxonomy. This is to provide all learners with the same opportunity to achieve the objective with

consideration and attention to any modification or accommodations that may be needed to

support all learners (Standard 4: Program Impact The provider demonstrates the impact of its

completers on P-12 student learning and development, classroom instruction, and schools, and

the satisfaction of its completers with the relevance and effectiveness of their preparation).

These courses also provided an in-depth overview of the use of formative and summative

assessments and how to use the findings as a reflection of my what the learners truly understand.

Ultimately allowing us as educators to reflect on our teaching. Overall, these courses provided

opportunities to familiarize ourselves with content across grades 1-6 and how different strategies

and differentiation changes between the grades. Ultimately, these courses have provided us with

an enormous amount of resources to carry forward as we move into our teaching careers.
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Readiness to Become a Teacher

As I reflect on the artifacts that are presented in my portfolio, I believe they provide

exemplars of my knowledge I have gained through my experiences that I have had working on

my Master of Elementary Education at Medaille College. All of the components of this portfolio

provide a true representation of who I am as an educator. The artifacts that were chosen,

showcase and demonstrate my readiness to become a teacher. They are a compilation of my

work that best reflects my understanding of the importance of being an effective teacher. My best

teaching practices are portrayed through the quality and assortment of my artifacts.

Through my lesson plans, I demonstrated my abilities to provide accommodations and

modifications to all learners and to incorporate technology to assist in engagement and a further

understanding. These artifacts also display the integration and importance that being a culturally

responsive teacher is to me, along with providing inclusion within lessons and the classroom.

Although my lesson plan demonstrations were online versus in front of my classmates, I

appreciated the feedback they provided me with, as it allowed me to strengthen my teaching

skills and gain confidence in my delivery. I gained a greater understanding of making sure to

scaffold during lessons and checking for understanding throughout. This program has provided

me with opportunities for observation, learning, and implementing best teaching practices, all of

which have aided in my readiness to become a teacher.

My experience in education has taught me that my role as an Educational Assistant,

supporting children, is only as great as it can be when a student feels safe and comfortable to

gain a rapport. Throughout my course work, it has been instilled that an educator’s relationships

with their students are truly important and have a significant impact on what the classroom

environment ultimately looks like. Creating a culturally responsive, inclusive classroom is

My philosophy of education has been deepened and remains student focused. I have gained a

better understanding of teaching strategies and best practices and how to implement them. I have

learned about many theorists and their theories and how they have impacted education and how I

will connect this to my personal beliefs and display in my classroom management and delivery.

Developing my own philosophy has also assisted me in my readiness to become a teacher. Along

with this, I recognize and welcome the role of also being a lifelong learner myself, to stay

committed to changing and developing my lessons as new strategies and curriculums are

introduced.

Lastly, my years of being an Educational Assistant have also provided me with a lot of

opportunity to build relationships and be part of classroom and school communities. These

experiences have provided me with flexibility and team building skills, which both are assets in

the education field. These contribute to my readiness to become a teacher, along with my

collaboration with a student services team and teacher – EA partnerships. Working as a team

displays the professionalism I intend to transfer over into becoming a teacher. As shown

throughout my portfolio, I am dedicated to providing a culturally responsive, inclusive, and

caring learning environment for students with all abilities.

Conclusion

My dedication, experience, and enthusiasm has led me to this journey of becoming a

teacher. Throughout the experience of completing my Master in Elementary Education, I have

learned philosophies and best teaching practices, along with the type of learner that I am. This

program was very intense as I balanced working at the same time, but knowing it was allowing

me to reach my goal of becoming a certified teacher made it all worthwhile. I provided a clear
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look at my concentration and devotion to developing my skillset and am looking forward to

implementing all I have learned into starting my career as an educator.

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