Round Two Corps Member Reflective Guide

In preparation for your observation and meeting with your PD, use this guide to:

  • Gather and analyze data related to student outcomes
  • Reflect on how your actions are impacting your students’ progress towards the big goal(s)
  • Reflect on where you are now, where you want to go, and the plan that you have in place to get there
  • Enable your Program Director to support you

After you’ve recorded your thoughts, e-mail the completed reflective guide and supporting documents to your Program Director by the given deadline. (Supporting documents include: tracking system, TAL Rubric Worksheet and the most recent summative assessment you gave your students.)

1. RELATIVE PROGRESS SINCE ROUND 1

1a. Reflecting back to the prioritized TAL teacher action that we identified in Round 1, what progress have you made in this area?

My prioritized TAL action was I-1: Investing students in “I can.” At the beginning of the year, I had them read an article about malleable intelligence, and made sure to praise my students when they worked hard, but they still thought that they would never be successful in school. They often complained that I was wasting my time by pushing them because they would just never get the material.

I knew that I had to invest them very quickly in order for us to reach our big goal by June, so I immediately decided to start conveying to them that success is a product of hard work. First, in order to start the discussion, I administered a questionnaire to students that asked them, among other things, if they believed in “I can”-related statements, such as “I like challenges” and “Students who make the honor roll are smarter than others.” Then, I devoted one full lesson to malleable intelligence. I gave a 20 minute lecture about how working out your brain builds brain “muscle,” making you smart. I explained that since tackling challenges builds brain muscle, they should crave challenges (and if they aren’t challenged, they should find ways to challenge themselves). I then involved the class in a discussion in which they identified times when they or someone they know worked hard to achieve a goal. For their homework, I asked them to sign contracts, in which they committed to increasing their effort by studying at least 4 hours a week, being focused and prepared for class, participating and asking me questions when they are confused about something. The next morning, I posted their contracts around the classroom. At the beginning of each unit and before each exam I point to their contracts and remind them “You can all master all of the material of the unit if you follow your contracts.”

When a student has improved quite a bit in a short period of time, I make sure to praise him or her individually after class. They often then tell me how they were able to do it, and lately they relate their success to working hard. For example, a student who struggled at the beginning of the year got her first 100 on last week’s quiz. She told me that she mastered all of the objectives that were tested on last week’s quiz because she made sure to ask me questions she had about each day’s lesson, and because she read ahead in the textbook to familiarize herself with the material before I taught it!