M7U1A2

Thu Nguyen

Cohort 01/2016

M7U1A2

MEETING SUMMARY

As a full time Lower School Art teacher at ICSA, I worked with thirteen classes including 240 students from PreK to grade 5. This meeting was conducted with my mentor, Mrs. Freeman – the PD director - in her office. The following points were covered in our meeting.

1. Personal Progress Update

I debriefed my mentor - Mrs. Freeman- the overall status and my personal progress with Teach-Now, also mentioned the permission for my early clinical.

2. Teaching standards

For my particular subject, AERO 2007 is used. This is a snap shot of my account in Atlas Rubicon.

However, I also presented to Mrs. Freeman the ten standards, which were required by Teach-Now program to be covered in the eighth module and, which would evaluate me. These ten core standards, which were set by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), through its Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC), set a model core teaching standards that all teachers should know and be able to do to be effective in today’s learning context.

http://www.ccsso.org/Resources/Publications/InTASC_Model_Core_Teaching_Standards_A_Resource_for_State_Dialogue_(April_2011).html

3. Teaching plan

As a teacher of a special subject, I had my teaching units and lessons monthly and weekly for each grade level updated in the school system. So I shared a summary sheet mentioning what would be covered during my official clinical starting from March to May 2016.

At the beginning of the year, regardless teacher’s opinion, the school management decided to adopt a system called Renweb for grading and wanted to use it for planning lessons and sharing lessons with parents. After the first semester, they were convinced that this system was functioning well only for grading and reports, but not for planning lessons. As its result, teachers had to come back to work with the previous system, Atlas Rubicon.

4. Classroom expectations and routines

We did not include classroom expectations and routines in this meeting. Although not being a homeroom teacher, I did set a general rule and its consequences for all lower school students from the beginning of the school year. My mentor was pretty clear about this.

My schedule with each class followed four-day rotation. Students were accompanied to my classroom and picked up by teaching assistants; then we spent forty-five minute each period we met. Students were aware of our agreed rule and its consequences. The rule was visible inside my classroom. However, I also made some regular reinforcements and expectations in some special cases when greeting them at the entrance door.

5. My experience and impression with the course

I highlighted some insightful experiences and impression that I have had with the program. 

In short, the meeting went briefly and was very pleasant. Mrs. Freeman has always had plans for each teacher and teaching assistants in this school since she began this position last school year. She suggested me to select some online courses for my professional development, and I chose Teach-Now on my path to become a certified teacher. Working in the same school with my mentor was a privilege for me. I was able to meet with her, to seek for any advice, and to have her observe my class. As its result, she was able to witness my growth and provided