Standard Five

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

Educators use the knowledge and skills to facilitate learning for students, including learning experiences that reflect individual contexts and local environments. Educators value collaborative practice. Educators recognize and understand the interconnectedness of all aspects of teaching and learning and employ a variety of instructional and assessment strategies. Educators communicate effectively in either French or English. Educators know when to seek support for their practice and students.

What did I learn? Why is it Important?

During my practicum, I learned many things about this standard and how vital it is for teaching. The biggest thing I am grateful for through this practicum is the help and encouragement I received from my wonderful CTs who supported me and my practice. I am also grateful for other teachers in the school who I was able to learn from and work with (including resource teachers) to help provide the best learning and development opportunities for my students. Throughout the entire practicum, I wrestled with finding ways to provide variety in instruction and assessment and be flexible for the different needs my students had in the classroom.  

Every standard is extremely important but this one is central to our role as teachers and how we learn and improve our practice. Being able to reflect on how we are upholding this standard (or failing to do so) is important for growth and improvement.

Standard Three Artifact:

There are many artifacts I could discuss that exemplify this standard but I chose to include a piece of work that I never actually gave to my students. During the first week of practicum, I was part of a discussion about assessment in high school math classes with my CT and another teacher in the school. During this discussion, the teacher shared the “Exit Ticket” format that they use to help with formative assessment. They liked the format because it was an efficient way to accurately determine the understanding of students without giving a stressful quiz or test that is a heavy load for students, and tedious to mark. They found that exit tickets were quick to give out at the end of class, prevented the use of AI or copying from friends and allowed them to give feedback regularly to the students. This teacher also shared that they like to make these tickets a 3 tiered system with questions increasing in difficulty.

After further discussion with my CT, I was inspired to design an exit ticket for my class. As I stated above, I never actually gave them out because the workload was heavy enough for my students and I struggled to find a way to integrate it into my lessons, however, I still like the idea and would love to implement it in a future class.

This experience is an example of collaborative practice and working to find a variety of ways to give out assessments and feedback to students to help in their learning.