Tab 1- Section One- Professional

Autobiography

Professional Resume

Standard Application

NAEYC Statement of Commitment

Program Standards

Clearances

Tab 2- Section Two- Philosophy

Philosophy of Education

Mission Statement

Tab 3- Section Three- Field Experience

Field Observation Log

Introduction Letter to placement teacher

Teacher Interview/ Placement teacher interview form

Observation Sheet For Discipline

Observation Form

Observation Journal Page

Classroom Observation ‘Look Fors” Sheet

10 Typed Observation Summaries

Final Journal Reflection

Tab 4- Section Four- INTASC Standards

INTASC Standards Sheets

10 Principles with Artifacts

Tab 5- Section 5- Miscellaneous Items

Certificate of Commendation

Unofficial Transcript

Psychology Major Project (Written in APA)

Teaching Posters/Statements

I would like to work on my

communication skills and to be patient

with myself and with others. My main

issue is that I get nervous sometimes when

I speak in front of people. I just need to

stay calm. I also need to work on patience.

I have to understand that nobody is perfect

and I need to accept that I will make

mistakes along the way.

My name is Joshua Evans. I grew up in rural Fredericksburg Pennsylvania. I lived with

my mother, father, and my half-sister who was my mother’s first child. My parents divorced

when I was just a young child. They were able to maintain a healthy friendship after the divorce.

This was a great thing because it helped to make my childhood a great time in my life even

though my parents were divorced. I lived with my father during this time because my mother

worked at night at the Hershey Chocolate Factory. I was able to see her just about every day

since my dad worked during the day at Ft. Indiantown Gap as a civilian employee. My half-sister

and I had a great relationship during our childhood and that has continued through to today. She

now has a child of her own whom I love very much. I went to the Northern Lebanon School

District my entire school career. It is a great school district with which I still have close ties to

today.

I knew I wanted to become a teacher at a very young age. I was always fascinated with

my teachers. I thought they had the coolest jobs in the world. I considered them my friends and I

also thought of them as my family too. As I grew up, I realized how much time and effort they

put into their work. I really respected that. The older I got the more I realized that I wanted to

become a teacher. I wanted to have the same impact on my students that my teachers had on me.

My teachers influenced me the most on making this decision. Once I got to the Northern

Lebanon High School, my teachers really helped me to realize that I wanted to pursue a teaching

career. They helped me foster my creativity and pushed me academically. For that, I can never

thank them enough!

I know one day I will become a great teacher. I hope to be as great a teacher as my

teachers were. They really were fantastic. I believe that I have a great leadership quality and I am

also very personable as well. I really understand what students are going through. I think I can

use that to my advantage. I am also very energetic and creative. I like to use some humor in my

every day activities and I like to keep things lively. This will be very helpful when it comes to

teaching. It’s always good to keep things interesting and fun. The students will learn more this

way.

My hobbies include bowling, reading history books, playing the drums for local musicals

and drum and bugle corps, and travelling the country and taking pictures. Another hobby of mine

is coaching bowling at Northern Lebanon High School. I bowled on this team for four years

during my high school years. I still hold the record for high game (300) and high series (795). I

have been the assistant coach there for three years now. I really enjoy it. Bowling has always

been one of my favorite hobbies and it is no wonder that I have become a coach now. Now I am

able to pass on my knowledge of the sport on to my players which is just an awesome feeling.

Currently, I am a student at Harrisburg Area Community College. I am majoring in

English Education and History Education. I plan on transferring to Lebanon Valley College in

the fall of 2012 and pursuing my Bachelor’s degrees in both subject areas.

Joshua Evans 152 Lake Side Drive Fredericksburg, PA 17026 717-865-4900 jre5422@hacc.edu

Goal/Objective: Certified Teacher in Secondary Social Studies Education and Secondary Humanities, Languages, and Arts Education

Dedicated, hardworking individual seeking to teach Social Studies and English in a secondary school, in order to give each child a quality education that will prepare them for college or the work force.

Core Competencies

Classroom Management Creative Lesson Planning Curriculum Development Integration Technology

Standardized Testing/Scoring Learner Assessment Experiential Learning Special Needs Students/IEPs

Technical Integration and Proficiencies

Microsoft Word/PowerPoint/Internet/E-mail/Microsoft Excel/Google

Applications

Education & Credentials

Northern Lebanon High School

High School Diploma, 2009

Graduated Cum Laude

Awards/Achievements

Student of the Month in Elementary, Middle, and High School

Selected to be a Peer Mediator in Middle School

President of the Concert and Marching Bands

Team Captain of the Northern Lebanon Bowling Team

John Phillip Sousa Band Award Winner

Semper Fedelis Award Winner

Graduated Cum Laude in High School

Athletic Awards: Most pins as a Junior (bowling), Most pins as a Senior (bowling), Career High Game (School Record)-300 (bowling), Career High Series (School Record)-795, Number Seven on the list of Top Ten bowlers in school history

Assistant Bowling Coach at High School level-3 years

Professional Organizations and Community Initiatives

Band Member for local musicals- 2 years

Assistant Bowling Coach at High School level- 3 years

Mission Statement:

“To give every student a quality education and to prepare them for the tasks they will face in the future. This will be achieved through listening, discussing, discovering, and learning. In this type of learning environment, students will be able to become outstanding citizens in the community/world.”

My idea of a great teacher is someone who instills a great amount of knowledge to their

students and someone who fosters creativity in the classroom. These two qualities are a key

element in the world of teaching. Through this knowledge and creativity, we teach students the

information that we believe is going to make them successful once they graduate from school

and move on with their lives. It is the responsibility of the teacher to teach the students

everything we know that is relevant to them. It is also the responsibility of the teacher to help the

students out with whatever problems they may face. A teacher has many different roles in the

classroom such as a professional, an educator, a mentor, and a confidant. Overall, the

teacher/school is responsible for making sure the student gets a quality education and gets the

student prepared for what they will face in the future.

My ideal classroom is a place where creativity and educational discussions flow all

around the room. Students should feel welcomed when they enter a classroom. The classroom

should be a place of diversity. We want to teach students about as many different cultures and

ideas as we can. The classroom should also be a place of tranquility. It can be a place where they

can come and get away from all the stressful situations that may be happening around them.

The role of a student in the classroom should be to listen, discuss, and learn. The best

way to learn about subjects is to discuss them with your peers. By discussing topics, we learn

other people’s ideas and it makes our mind to think and expand from other ideas. Engaging a

student in the classroom is also a good motivational skill. If we engage them in learning and get

them interested, they will be motivated to learn more.

My goal as a teacher is to teach my students everything that I have learned over the years.

I want to instill the same knowledge in my students that my teachers did with me. I want to let

their creativity grow. I want them to enjoy coming to school each day. I want to make my

classroom a place of diversity and teach them about different cultures as well as implement many

different teaching styles like lectures, computer integration, guest speakers, etc. Overall, I want

them to strive to achieve success. It is through this success that they will experience the greatest

lessons in life.

To give every student a quality education

and to prepare them for the tasks they will

face in the future. This will be achieved

through listening, discussing, discovering,

and learning. In this type of learning

environment, students will be able to

become outstanding citizens in the

community/world.

Dear Placement Teacher,

Hello! My name is Joshua Evans. I am currently a student at Harrisburg Area Community

College (HACC) who is majoring in English Education and History Education. I am very

pleased that you are allowing me to come to your school and observe your teaching in the

classroom. Thank you for giving me this opportunity! This is a great opportunity for me because

it will help me to become an effective teacher. I plan to learn a lot from this experience and I am

sure that it will give me some great insight and ideas that I will be able to use once I have a

classroom of my very own. Now let me tell you a little about myself.

I became interested in teaching at a very young age. I felt very close to all of my teachers.

I considered them my friends. I was always fascinated with all the textbooks we had and I was

also very interested in all the grading that the teachers had to do. Once I grew up I realized that

teaching was so much more than just the textbooks and grading. Teaching was about making a

connection with your students and teaching them everything you know, not just about the subject

matter but about life itself. After these realizations, I realized more than ever that I truly wanted

to make teaching a life career for myself.

Currently, I am a single male who still lives in my hometown of Fredericksburg

Pennsylvania. I work part-time at Blue Mountain Sports Arena located at Ft. Indiantown Gap

which is just ten minutes from my house. There, I help out around the gym with various sporting

events as well as help maintain and clean the gym for the National Guard troops that come there

to workout. In my spare time, I bowl in three sanctioned leagues in the area. I bowl in two

leagues at Cedar Lanes and one at the Fredericksburg Bowling Center. My average is about a

195 at the moment. I have had a perfect game of 300 and a high series of 795. Also, I am the

assistant coach of the Northern Lebanon High School Bowling team. I bowled for the team all

four years in high school and have been the assistant coach of the team for three years. My

hobbies include, reading history books, playing the drums for local musicals and for drum and

bugle corps, and travelling to different areas of the country and taking pictures.

I hope this gave you a little insight into my life and let you know why I have decided to

become a teacher. I look forward to working with you in the future!

Sincerely,

Joshua Evans

This interview was conducted on 4/16/2012 with Mr. Jesse Shay who

teaches Social Studies at Northern Lebanon Middle School.

1. What factors contributed to your teaching this subject? Mr. Shay had a very good history

teacher when he was in school. This teacher taught him that history was more than just

names and dates. He wants to pass this on to his own students. He wants to pass his

knowledge and love of history on to his students just like his history teacher did with

him.

2. What do you enjoy most about teaching this curriculum? What do you enjoy least? He

likes it when the students see the exciting parts of history. He likes to get the students

involved in history. Something he doesn’t like is when he has to schedule around the

standardized testing. He says it costs him about 25 hours each year. That is 25 hours that

he could be using for his own teaching.

3. How do you go about selecting what content and skills to teach? Mr. Shay gets to write

his own curriculum. He needs to get approval for it though. First it gets approved by the

principal, then the superintendent, and then finally the school board. There have been

instances where the principal and superintendent have approved the curriculum but the

school board did not. He also gets to choose what textbook to use in the classroom.

4. When do you do your planning? The year before, the night before, as the bell rings? Mr.

Shay used to do his planning the week before class. That was when he first started

teaching. Now, in his 10th

year of teaching, Mr. Shay does a rough draft the day before.

He pretty much knows by now what the schedule is like.

5. Do you integrate other subject areas into your program? Yes. He incorporates pretty

much every subject into history except for health and physical education. For example, he

teaches how the Greeks performed math and science is incorporated into history because

of evolution.

6. How do the school district’s “official” curriculum and the textbook shape your decisions.

Like before, Mr. Shay has to go through an approval process for his curriculum. As far as

the textbook, he decides what to use. He says that the curriculum needs to drive the

textbook.

7. Can you make your own decisions as to what topics to teach, or are you confined to the

“official” school curriculum? Mr. Shay is able to decide what to teach but it has to be

approved through the school district. For the most part, the topics that he wants to teach

are approved by the school district.

8. Do professional associations influence your decision? Mr. Shay is head of the teacher’s

union at the Northern Lebanon School District. Being in this position, he says that it

helps to provide guidelines when in difficult situations.

9. Do parents or students participate in deciding what is taught? Mr. Shay says anyone is

able to look at his curriculum. If there are any issues then they are to bring it up to the

school board. The school board will then make the decision whether the curriculum is to

be changed or not.

10. Are selections made by you alone or with others in your department or grade-level team?

Mr. Shay meets up with the other history teachers in the middle school a couple times a

year to make sure everything is being covered. He also meets up with the high school and

elementary school social studies teachers to make sure to avoid gaps and overlaps in the

content.

11. Do you try to offer different perspectives on these topics? Yes. He tries to look at as

many primary documents as possible and presents these to the students. However, this is

hard for ancient history since there are not many primary documents available and for

ancient history there are not many different perspectives available.

12. Are there areas of this subject that are controversial? How do you handle these “hot”

topics? Religion is an area that is controversial in history. It is also a big part in history.

He teaches about many different religions. When teaching these different religions, he

gives a little disclaimer saying that you do not have to believe these in these religions. It

is up to them what religion, if any, they decide to follow. His job is to just give them the

gist of each religion.

Date: 4/16/12 7Th

Grade World History

The lesson started out with Mr. Shay, the teacher, giving the agenda for the class period. He

writes it on the white board before every class so the students know what to expect. On this day,

the students are supposed to work on a packet that is supplementing their current topic of ancient

times in the Middle East. In this class the students had a lot of questions about the work to be

done in the packet. Instead of answering the questions for them, the teacher made the students

answer their own questions. Mostly the questions they asked were not needed because all the

directions they needed were in the packet. The teacher was very upbeat and happy the entire

class period. Every couple of minutes, the teacher would get up from his desk and walk around

the classroom. That was a good way to keep the students on task. At one point, the teacher made

a phone call. While making the phone call, the teacher faced the classroom the entire time. He

never turned his back away from the classroom. Once the students were finished, they were able

to read a book or talk quietly with other students who were finished as well.

Every 10 minutes or so, Mr. Shay would let the students know how much time was left in the

class period. I thought this was a very good idea. It let the students know how much time they

had left to work. The students in this class worked very well on the assignment. They all were on

task the entire time. The teacher did not have to discipline anyone during the entire class time.

Noise was never an issue in this class. At the end of the class period, the students put their

packets at a specified area. Then the teacher grabbed all of the packets and dismissed the

students. He graded the parts of the packets that were finished throughout the day. The entire

packet didn’t need to be completely finished. The students would be working on them

throughout the week.

I thought the classroom management style the teacher used was really good. The students knew

exactly what they were supposed to do and knew that if they did not follow directions that there

would be consequences. Again, I really liked the fact that the teacher kept track of the time and

told the students exactly how much time was left in the class period. He managed the time well.

This management style worked really well and because of his great technique and overall

teaching, the students were able to accomplish a lot in terms of working on the ancient history

packet.

Date: 4/16/12 7th

Grade Art Class

The lesson started out with the art teacher counting up to 3 to get everybody’s attention. This was

a good attention getter that I think I would like to use when I have my own classroom. The

introduction for the class started out with having a review for a quiz coming up the next day.

They talked about some of the different art styles they had been talking about. The teacher would

ask a question and the students would answer by raising their hands. This turned out to be a good

way to review the material and make sure the students knew the material. This can be done in

any class. After the review the teacher talked to them about what they were going to be learning

about today. They were going to be going over figure drawing, contour drawing, and line

drawing. She told this to them verbally. The lesson started out with a little lecture. The students

were asked to pay attention because they would be doing these drawings in a few short minutes.

Some of the learning activities that the teacher used were group learning activities and individual

learning activities. She brought all the students around her and they watched her do a drawing

first. Then she asked the students to go back to their seats and do the drawings themselves. She

went around the room and helped each student individually. The students were engaged with the

drawings for the entire class period. This is a good way for students to show their creative side.

Only once in the class period did she have to reprimand anyone. It was to one student for his

noise level. She politely asked him to quiet down and the student did. At the end of the class

period, the teacher went up to the front of the class and flipped the lights on and off to get

everybody’s attention. She told the students that the class period was just about over and that

they should start to clean up the materials and when finished line up at the door. All the students

followed the directions well.

Overall, I thought the class behaved very well. I liked the classroom style the teacher used. She

had control of the classroom the entire class period. The learning activities she used were great

and it kept the students engaged the entire time. I also liked that the teacher counted to 3 to get

everyone’s attention and also the light flipping was an effective technique as well. All in all, it

was a very good class.

Date: 4/16/12 7th

Grade Science Class

The lesson started with the teacher reviewing the lesson that was given to the students on Friday.

After they did a quick review of the material, the teacher handed out a reading guide (packet) and

explained to the students what would be going on in today’s class. Today the students would be

using the laptops and going to a certain website and filling out the packet that was handed out.

The students were able to work in pairs or independently. It was their choice. Every couple of

minutes the teacher would walk around the classroom and make sure the students were working

on the packet. He would also answer any questions that the students had. The teacher also

explained to the students that they would not be able to finish the entire packet today.

The learning activities the teacher included in the class period included a short lecture and then

used technology to help out with the lesson. In this lesson, the teacher made a good choice in

using technology to help engage the students in the lesson. The students were engaged the entire

time. It was good because it helped to tie everything together. The packet was also a good idea.

This was a good formal assessment to make sure that everyone understood the material.

The class closed by having the teacher let the students know that they only had a couple minutes

left in the class period. He gave the students another mini-lecture and told them how to properly

shut-down the laptops. He told them that he would check all the laptops and make sure they were

all shut-down properly. If they were not then there was going to be a consequence. All the

students in this class period followed the rules and the teacher didn’t have to discipline anyone.

Overall, the class behaved really well. The classroom management the teacher used worked

really well. There was little to no down-time for the entire class period. You could tell that this

teacher has been teaching for quite some time. It was a great class to come and observe.

Date: 4/16/12 8th

Grade History Class

For this history class, the teacher started the lesson by having the students take out their

textbooks and open to page 349. While they were doing that, the teacher handed out a worksheet

that they had completed in class on Friday. Once they got their packets back the teacher did a

quick review of what the students learned about on Friday. They then proceeded to go over the

worksheet together as a class. The worksheet talked about the Mormons and their move across

the United States. The teacher would call on the students and ask them to answer the questions

on the packet. He would give them feedback as well. The students were engaged the entire time.

A couple times during the class period there was a good discussion going on between the

students and the teacher about the topic. The students were really fascinated about this topic.

After they finished with the worksheet they then moved on to the next lesson which was about

the Texas Revolution. They read the section together as a class. The teacher would pick students

to read certain parts of the text. He tended to pick on the students that were not as active as the

other kid which I thought was really good.

Most of the class period focused on review and also a lecture on the new material. There was

some informal assessment used at the beginning of the class with the use of the worksheet. He

asked the students questions to make sure they understood the material. At the end of the class

period, he summarized the day’s learning and gave a brief description of the lesson for

tomorrow’s class.

Overall, the class was well behaved. There was some lively discussion throughout the class

period which I thought was really good. I liked the informal assessment he used to make sure the

students knew the material. The classroom management was really good for this class. If the

students wanted to go to the water fountain, the teacher would give them 30 seconds. This was a

good technique. I also liked the fact that there was little downtime. The entire class period was

used effectively and kept the students engaged the entire time.

Date: 4/16/12 8th

Grade History Class

In this history class, the teacher did the same lesson just like the class period before. I thought

this was good because it keeps everything the same in every single class. For the introduction,

the teacher told the students to open their books to page 349 while he passed out the worksheets

they completed on Friday. Then they went over the worksheet together. The students were asked

to raise their hands to answer the questions. This was a good way to keep the students engaged.

Almost every student in this class raised their hands to answer the questions. They were very

involved in the lesson. Again, this class had a couple of good discussions about the topic. It was

very good and then after a little bit the teacher would continue on with the worksheet. After the

worksheet was done then they moved on to the next lesson on the Texas Revolution. They read

the chapter together as a class. The teacher would stop every once in a while to give some

additional information. The students were engaged the entire class period. I think this was

because the teacher would call on random students to make sure they were following along with

the lesson.

I liked the informal assessment the teacher did with the students in this lesson. It helped him to

make sure that the students understood the material. I also like that the students read the chapter

together as a class. This way the teacher knew that everyone was doing what they were told. This

might not happen if they were able to read the chapter on their own. At the end of the class

period, the teacher summarized the day’s learning and told them what they would be doing in

tomorrow’s class period.

Overall, the class was well behaved. I have found this to be the case with most of the classes I

have observed at Northern Lebanon. I thought the discussions the teacher and students had in the

class were good. They never got off subject. I also liked the classroom management. There was

no downtime. The teacher had everything ready to go before the class started and kept them on

task the entire class period. Overall, the class time was used effectively and the students were

engaged for the majority of the class period.

Date: 4/26/12 7th

Grade History Class

This class I observed was a 7th

grade Ancient History class. The teacher began this class by

writing down the class agenda for the class period. The teacher told the class to take out the

paper that they got the day before. The paper was a list of ten things they were supposed to write

about as they watched a video on the Crusades. The students had to write down 10 things that

they learned from the video. This was a good technique to make sure that they paid attention

during the video. During the video, the teacher would add some additional information. The

teacher gave me some tips about showing videos to children. He said that you always need to

watch the video before-hand. He also said that you should write down some comments about the

video that you will want to bring up to the students. He said it was to the point now that he

doesn’t even have to pay attention to the video but he knows where he is supposed to make his

comments. During the video the teacher caught up on some paper work. He faced the classroom

the entire time to make sure that everyone was awake and paying attention. He would also walk

around the room every once in a while as well. This was a really good idea. It let the students

know that he was making sure they were paying attention. If he didn’t do this then maybe the

students would not pay attention to the video. He ended the class period by summarizing the

video and telling the students what they would be working on tomorrow.

The classroom management for this class was really good. There was no down time in the class

period. Also, the students were engaged with the lesson. They watched the video and paid

attention. They did really well. I liked how the teacher used a video to change things up a bit.

Maybe the students they don’t do well with a lecture did well with the video. Overall, the

students did very well and were very well-behaved. It was a good class to observe.

Date: 4/26/12 8th

Grade History Class

In this lesson, the history teacher had the students sit down and take out the questions that he had

them answer the day before. He had them turn that in right away. Then he had them go over the

questions and answer them verbally. He called on the students and had them answer the

questions independently. This was a good informal assessment to use. He had the questions up

on the smart board so the students could see them. After the students went over the questions the

teacher told them about what they would be working on during the class period. The students

would be taking out the school’s laptops and playing a game called “Gold Rush”. They would be

playing as different characters and trying to strike it rich during the gold rush. It went along great

with what they were learning. It was a good way to incorporate technology into the lesson. The

students were engaged the entire time. They had a great time with the lesson. The students were

able to work along or with a partner. Most students actually worked alone with this lesson but

talked to their friends throughout the class. The teacher walked around the class the entire time

and gave the students tips for playing the game. He would also tell them how much time was left

in class.

Close to the end of the class period, he had the kids put away the laptops properly. Then he told

the kids to sit down. They then did a little review on the chapter and talked about the test that

would be coming up for them tomorrow. He did an informal assessment by asking the students

questions. Most of the students knew the answers to the questions. The teacher explained what

type of questions would be on the test. There would be some multiple-choice and fill in the

blank. The review took them until the end of class.

Overall the classroom management for the class was good. Student engagement was also very

good. The students had a good time with this class. There was no down time in the class at all.

The teacher had everything planned out well. Again, the students were well behaved the entire

class period. I think this has everything to do with the teacher’s teaching style. He was a very

good teacher.

Date: 4/26/12 8th

Grade History Class

In this lesson, the teacher started out by having all the kids sit down in their seats. He then told

them that they have 5 minutes of silent reading to review for the test that they would be taking

today. They each have a paper that was given to them by the teacher. It is a review of everything

that they have learned over the past couple weeks. The paper is made up of facts that they will

need to know for the test. After that, the teacher instructed the students to go and pick a laptop

and log into the textbooks website. He then gave them specific instructions as to where to access

the test. The test he gave them was through the textbooks website. He did not make the test

themselves. It took a while for the laptops to boot up. Once they were logged on, the students

were then to take the rest of the class period to take the test. For most of the students, it only took

about 15 minutes to take the test. After they were finished, the teacher told them that they should

begin reading the next chapter which was on the Civil War.

One thing that I thought was really neat was that the students were able to see their test grades

right away. They got immediate feedback from the website and the teacher. Throughout the day

the teacher put up the test averages for each class period and showed the other classes what the

averages were. I thought it was a good idea.

Unfortunately, there was not a lot of teaching going on during this class period. However, I was

able to see how technology was used to test students. I thought it was effective and it was able to

give the students immediate feedback which I thought was also useful. It saved time for the

teacher and it saved time for the students as well. They didn’t have to wait to find out their test

scores. They could find out almost immediately.

At the end of the class period, he had the students put away the laptops and sit at their desks and

wait for the bell to ring. Overall, the classroom management was good. The teacher made sure

the students had plenty of things to work on. Most of the students followed the rules and looked

over the next chapter. The students were well behaved, like all the other classes, and it was a

great class to observe.

Date: 4/26/12 7th

Grade History Class

In this class, the students came in to their seats and sat down. They then passed up their daily

questions that were from yesterday. This was a formal assessment used to make sure the students

understood the material. Next the teacher told the students to take out their worksheets from the

day before and take 10 minutes to finish them up. The teacher allowed the students to work in

groups if they wanted to. The students worked ok in their groups. Some groups did better than

others. Overall, I think all the groups were able to finish the work. Next, the teacher and the

students went over the worksheet together. He had the students answer the questions and gave

them feedback on their answers. This was the teacher’s informal assessment to make sure the

students understood the material. I think for the most part, all the students in this particular class

understood the material. For the last 8 minutes or so of class, the class reviewed for their test that

would be coming up tomorrow. Again, the teacher asked questions and the students answered

them. Sometimes, to get the students to answer the questions he would give them a hint. This

was a good thing because it gave them a little push.

The teacher ended the lesson by telling the students to study for the test. Overall, this class

worked very well together. They were able to work together well in groups. The classroom

management was good in this class. There was not down time that I could see. The teacher tried

to keep the students engaged for the entire class period. Again, the students behaved quite well.

Date: 4/26/12 7th

Grade History Class

Before this class even started the teacher told me that this was his class that caused the most

problems. I would soon see this for myself. The first thing I noticed was that he had one

individual sitting by himself at the front of the classroom. I think it has been like this since the

beginning of the school year. For the start of this class the teacher had them turn in their daily

questions from yesterday’s lesson. Next, he told them to take out their worksheets from

yesterday and take 10 minutes to finish them. In the class before, the teacher allowed the students

to work in groups. He did not let this class work in groups. He told them that the day before they

were allowed to and they did not work well. He took away that privilege today. They worked

well independently. Once the 10 minutes was up they all discussed it together as a class. The

students discussed about what they wrote down on the worksheet. This was the informal

assessment for the class period to make sure they understood the material. The students were

engaged during this part of the lecture.

To end the class period, the teacher reviewed with the students to get ready with the test coming

up tomorrow. The students did ok with the review. In this class, he actually waited for students to

answer, especially the ones that don’t talk a lot. He did not do this in the other classes. Overall,

this classroom management was really good especially since this was a tough group of kids to

work with. The teacher did really well. I liked how he changed things up a little bit with this

class to make sure they kept up with their studies. For the most part, the students worked well

together. They just needed some guidance. Also, for the most part the kids were well-behave.

Things did not get too out of control while I was there.

Journal Reflection

I have finally completed my 10 observation hours that were required for Education 110-

The Education Professional. I have learned so much in those 10 hours. I have seen a lot of things.

Some of the things that I have learned is things like how important classroom management. This

is a big thing that you have to think about. Having good classroom management could mean that

you will have good class behavior as well. I have also learned that you need to be flexible. You

don’t want to get flustered because the students will pick up on that. Something that my

placement teacher does is that he stays positive for every class. He is always upbeat and happy

for very class that he has. This keeps the students focused and engaged. He also keeps calm even

in tough situations. That is how he is able to deal with unexpected distractions. This is what I

want to do when I have my own classroom. I also want to keep the students engaged as much as

possible. The more they are engaged the more information they are likely to learn.

My teacher(s) are also doing a good job of addressing higher order thinking skills. My

original placement teacher makes sure to not answer the questions for them unless he really

believes they can’t. He wants them to think about things first and more than likely they are able

to answer their own questions. As far as learning differences are concerned, the teachers try and

use many different lessons and techniques as possible. They do games, projects, lectures, etc.

They try and keep things fun and diverse. It is a good technique that this school uses in all of its

classes.

Overall, I am feeling pretty good about the teaching profession. I still want to become a teacher. I

am learning how much work is involved with teaching. For the most part, everything went well

in my observations with the exception to a couple a minor technological errors. Those happen

from time to time. The students and the teachers made me smile during my observations. The

teachers are pretty funny and keep things lively throughout the day. I think these observations are

really going to help me to develop as a teacher. I have a better idea about what it really means to

be a good teacher. I have these observations to thank for that.

History and History Related Courses Taken

History 103- United States I

History 104- United States II

History 201- Western Civilization I

Anthropology 101- Introduction to Anthropology

Philosophy 101- Introduction to Philosophy

Humanities 201- World Mythology

Sociology 201- Introduction to Sociology

Geography 201- World Geography

Psychology 101- Introduction to Psychology

English and English Related Courses Taken

English 003- Strategy-Based Reading III

English 101- English Composition I

English 102- English Composition II

English 206- World Literature II

English 207- Introduction to Literature

Speech 101- Effective Speaking

Spanish 201- Intermediate Spanish I

Artifact: I have taken Psychology 101 at HACC that deals with

human development and learning. In this course, we look at the

development of humans staring from birth and going all the

way up into a person’s death. We learn about theories that let

us know why humans behave the way that they do and also

look into theories and concepts about how we learn. Another

artifact that goes with this principle is the School Observation

Diary that I have included on the following pages. When I was

observing in the classroom, I observed the students interacting

in the hallways of the middle school and observed their

“culture”.

School Observation Diary Reflection

While I was doing my observations, I decided to scope out the local school culture. I wrote down

my observations which you will see on the following page. When walking in the school you could tell

that there were different groups. It was mostly broken down into boys and girls but there were groups

where the genders were mixed together. In this school there was not a lot of time to talk in the

hallways. I could tell that the student’s behavior could be based on what they were wearing. The

students that were wearing shirts with bands on them were a little loud whereas the students that were

dressed nice were social and not as loud as the other students. For the most part, this student body was

well-behaved. They were not really disruptive and noisy.

For the most part, the students used their time in the hallway to get to class on time. The

hallways were always crowded and it was hard to walk through the hallway without getting bumped

into. In the cafeteria is where the students were really able to talk to each other. I wasn’t able to witness

this firsthand but at one point during the day I could hear the students in the cafeteria. They were a little

on the loud side. I think this is normal for a middle school cafeteria.

I think I have a better insight now into the school culture. They are really social and just like to

be able to have time to talk. But they also need to understand that there is also a time where they need

to get their work done. I will be making sure that the students have some time to talk with each other

every day. It will be just enough time to get it out of their systems and maybe it will help them to focus a

little better while working on their studies.

Artifact: In our Education 110 class, we were asked to give a presentation on a section of

Chapter 5 in our textbook. In my group we decided to give a PowerPoint presentation and put the

highlights of our section on the presentation along with some various pictures. We decided to go

with a lecture type of presentation for those students that are used to that type of instruction. We

also decided to go with the PowerPoint presentation to help teach the students who learn visually

instead of auditory. I have included my part of the presentation below.

Artifact: The Diversity Iceberg was a collaborative assignment we did in class where we

drew an iceberg on a big sheet of paper. Half of the iceberg was on top of the water while the

other half we put below the water’s surface. Once we did this, we put on different types of

diversity that we see in the classroom on put them on the paper. If they were types of diversity

that we believed to be out in the open and that everyone knew about, we put them on the iceberg

above the water. An example of this type of diversity was race. Mostly everyone knows what

race they are. This is a big diversity that we will encounter in the classroom for our entire

teaching career. If there was a type of diversity that we thought was in between being out in the

open and not out in the open, then we put that example on the water’s edge. It was on the border

line of being submerged and not being submerged. An example of this type of diversity was

LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender). This is something that is becoming more

recognized in the classrooms and school districts today but not all school districts really inform

their students about this type of diversity. Finally, if there was a type of diversity that we

believed was not easily recognized and was not known about in a lot of classrooms, we put in on

the iceberg below the water’s surface. An example of this type of diversity was people who have

a multi-racial background. It was mentioned in our textbook “Teachers, Schools, and Society: A

Brief Introduction to Education” by David Sadker and Karen Zittleman that schools do not

always honor the background of multi-racial individuals. Instead, we either give them a simpler

label that people will understand instead of truly talking about their diverse backgrounds.

Teachers and schools need to bring this type of diversity out into the open so that everyone feels

that their background is being honored in the proper way.

Artifact: For this Principle, I have included a print-out of my

Wiki space page that I created for my online Technology in

Education course that I am currently taking at HACC. This is an

example of something that I could do for my own classroom one

day to help to integrate technology into the classroom. On this

page the students can log online and look at assignments,

communicate with other students through a blog, and I can put a

link to videos they can watch that will go along with the lessons.

There are many options I can take with an online page such as

this one.

Artifact: For this Principle, I have included an example of a

lesson plan from the Red Lion School District. This lesson plan

is called an EATS Lesson. EATS stands for different areas of

the Lesson. Those areas include: Essential Questions, Activating

Strategy, Teaching Strategies, and Summarizing Strategy. This

is something that a lot of schools are doing today. This is

something that I can use to help me plan a lesson for my class.

Artifact: For this Principle, I have included an assessment that I

created myself that I could use in a future class of mine. It is an

essay assignment on President John F. Kennedy. It asks the

students to do a little research and answer some of the questions

I have come up with. Some of the questions include what was

his greatest achievement and why and also what might have

happened if he wasn’t assassinated in Dallas Texas. This is a

good assignment to help me see whether the students understand

the topic that they are learning about.

Psychology Major Project By Joshua Evans

This paper will look into the events during my transition from high school into college life. In the

paper we will look into stress and Erikson’s theory to explain some of my emotions and

behaviors during the time period. You will be able to see how much influence stress can have on

a situation.