For this standard I was observed twice during two units. The first unit was Simple Harmonic Motion. Throughout this unit, students learned about waves, vibrations, and other concepts relating to cyclical motion. On the day of the observation, the students participated in a lab. Using springs and weights, the students explored the relationship between mass, spring constant, and displacement. After reflecting on the feedback I received, I identified two areas that need the most improvement. The feedback I received noted that my use of technology was inconsistent and may have detracted from instruction and learning. I used the smart board to work out some homework problems with students. Working the problems out meant that my back was turned to the class for quite a while and it took a significant amount of class time. Per my supervisor’s suggestion, throughout the rest of the semester, I worked out problems ahead of time and went over them with the class using the document camera instead. This saved class time and allowed me to still be engaged and connected with students instead of talking into the board.

The second area of improvement was that I rely on a singular form of assessment to gain knowledge about student learning. For this standard I used a lab activity sheet and report. To address this, for my second lesson, I used a project that allowed students to work in different ways to meet the learning goals, as well as a quiz. The project gave students the opportunity to decide how they wanted to complete the task and they had a choice in how to present the information to the class. This, in combination with the quiz, allowed me to gain knowledge of students’ content knowledge without relying solely on one or the other.