Student success is a broad term that encompasses emotional maturation, cognitive development, and growing social and emotional intelligence. If classroom practices do not enhance learning and student achievement, then those practices need to be changed. If there are better practices that are more effective, then those should replace less effective means of teaching. Quality indicator 2.2 of the MoSPE standards states that the candidate must understand effective instructional and assessment practices and the use of curricular materials that result in meeting the learning needs of all students. I have uploaded as one of my artifacts a presentation on my philosophy of assessment to demonstrate this understanding. The students and the teacher need to have a clear understanding of the end goal, the learning objectives. In the pursuit of proficiency, many informal and formal formative assessments will be beneficial to mastery of these goals. Teachers should always make sure they are teaching to the learning objectives and not deviating from them. I have seen the results firsthand when students and teachers are both working towards the same goals. This is the most effective use of our time in helping students to learn. Common assessments between teachers, frequent formative assessments, and collaboration among teachers are steps to maximize student learning. This is emphasized by Reeves in his …show more content…
This is necessary no matter the readiness level of the student or perceived limitations or advantages/disadvantages that a teacher might think exist. High expectations held by every adult in the school must be present. We must get rid of “deficit thinking” and create “asset-based thinking” (Carr, 2011). Teacher must collaborate and school administration should communicate this plainly to all teachers so that they can all have the same high expectations of students from the first day of school. With the need of having high expectations for students is also the realization that all students find a different way to meet these learner goals. Providing for differentiation in lessons before students even enter the threshold of the classroom is a way to ensure all students can be successful in the classroom. In the artifact I have provided of a backward design unit plan are methods to provide differentiation and realize the quality indicators of 2.2 and 2.4 in the MoSPE standards. Realizing students have different readiness levels and recognizing strengths and weaknesses in students will lead to their success. Knowing students, their backgrounds, their likes and dislikes will help build a professional relationship with them that will be beneficial to both the teacher and the