Time Log Field Experience Reflections

Maintain a clinical experience notebook where you record detailed notes during each field experience. Immediately after the clinical experience, use your detailed, descriptive notes to describe what you saw and heard, interpret and reflect on the field experience, and to answer the reflection questions in My Time Log.

You will use three types of writing in the My Time Log clinical (field) experience reflections: descriptive writing, analytic writing, and reflective writing.

· Descriptive writing TELLS what you see without any additional interpretation. Examples:

· There were 15 girls and 17 boys in the classroom. The students were working on a math assignment using manipulatives. The objectives of the assignment were x, y, and z.

· The direct instructional part of the lesson took 10 minutes and the teacher said/did… The students did…

· The teacher continually checked students understanding by…

· The closing activity took 5 minutes and the teacher/students said/did……

· Analytic writing REVIEWS evidence with interpretation and is supported by the evidence. Use the descriptive notes, and if applicable, work samples or other data, and come to conclusions about instructional effectiveness, classroom environment, and how you know students were learning.

· Reflective writing considers what you saw/heard/did/noticed during the field experience and the decisions you make about those experiences. Reflective writing will show the intentional connection between what you learned from the clinical field experience and how you will use that information to guide your future teaching practices.

Let’s take a deep dive into each My Time Log reflection question. What is the question asking of you?

· “What did you observe?”

· Take formal, descriptive notes while in the clinical field experience classroom and transcribe the notes to thoroughly answer this question in My Time Log.

· Determine the focus of the observation/experience and how you will document it. Use descriptive notes to document what you observed during the clinical field experience.

· When addressing this question, reflections should be thoughtful descriptions of the content taught, lesson sequence/activities, specific instructional strategies seen in action (name the strategies: ex. think – pair – share, 4 corners, etc.), how the teacher used them to engage students in learning, and specific classroom management techniques used. Some questions to consider:

· What were the learning targets/objectives of the lesson and how were they met/not met?

· How did the teacher set the stage for learning?

· How did the teacher present the learning targets for the day?

· Tap into prior knowledge

· Build background knowledge

· How did the teacher scaffold the lesson?

· How did the teacher transition students from one activity to another?

· How did the teacher re-direct students when necessary?

· How did the teacher keep 100% of the students engaged 100% of the time?

· How did the teacher gain students’ attention, when necessary?

· How did the teacher group students?

· What specific techniques were used to differentiate the curriculum to meet the needs of all students?

· What did you notice about the teacher’s pacing of the lesson and time management?

· What subtle teacher moves occurred during the lesson to keep the learning moving forward?

· How did the teacher take a pulse of student learning/understanding throughout the lesson?

· Analysis of what was seen during the observation. Provide explanations of what was effective/ineffective and WHY.

(What were some of the teacher interactions with individual students and groups of students and how did the interactions impact student learning? What were some of the student-student interactions, and how did those interactions impact student learning? At the middle school & high school level when observing the same lesson taught multiple times, consider: did interactions differ, how did they differ, and how did that impact student learning? How did students use their knowledge of content to think like a scientist/historian/engineer/etc.?

· “What went well?”

· Choose a few examples from the descriptive notes to intentionally analyze and reflect on the clinical field experience. Connect specific course content you have learned with what you saw happening in the classroom. Explain how you know the various elements of the lesson went well. What did you see and hear that let you know students were learning? What evidence did you see that students reached the learning targets?

· “What could have been improved?”

· This response is not meant to be critical or negative, but rather is another analysis and reflection of the experience. There is always room for improvement, whether it is adding technology, timing, less/more resources, etc. Answer this question based on what you are learning or have learned in courses.

· The question “what could be improved” is an opportunity to demonstrate application of all that you have learned in the program (knowledge, skills, and dispositions). The reflection for this section should always include something that could be improved and why. Even if the lesson seems “near perfect,” there will always be room for changes that lead to increased student learning and/or interaction. The question to ask as you go into your student teaching and later, into your own classroom, is ‘What specifically could have been done differently to improve student learning?” It might be groupings, use of technology, additional time for student interaction, or something else. Keep an open mind as to how you might make changes to a lesson in the future, even small changes, to improve student outcomes.

· “What did you learn or gain from the experience?”

· Look at the descriptive notes you took and choose a couple specific examples that you found useful and can apply to your professional development as an educator. Be sure to intentionally connect the reasoning behind your choices (connection between coursework and instructional practices in the classroom setting).

· “Influence of school, family, … grow and develop as a teacher?”

· Make connections between course readings and assignments to what you saw and experienced in the host teacher’s classroom. For additional insight, consider probing the teacher on what they consider are important influences on their students’ learning.

· Instructional technology:

· With 21st Century learning, Instructional Technology (IT) is an integral part of education. Based on what you are learning or have learned in courses, the response for the technology question should answer what (if any) IT was used, why it was (or was not) used, and how it improved student learning and outcomes. The response should also answer what, if any, additional IT could have been used during the lesson(s) to improve student learning and outcomes.

For examples of model My Time Log reflections, review the Model Field Experience examples.

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