Action Plan for "Sorrys"

Media Specialist Meeting
Although I met the media specialist and her team the first day at my student teaching placement school this semester, in looking back I wish I had not only met with her, but also made a longer appointment. I would have gone over this particular school's technology capability and system. I assigned a long-term project to my students and was not familiar with what the school actually had to offer. So while I am always open to learning about technology from students as they are more familiar with it in general, I found myself in an emergency scheduling situation with the media specialist in order to articulate the technology side of the assignment to my students. Within the next 10 days I will make an appointment to meet with the media specialist again and find out what my capabilities are for turning in assignments, making assignments, email accounts for students, etc. that are specific to my school. Now that the assignment mentioned above is almost complete, I was able to monitor and adjust my lesson plan in a way that allowed the students to turn their assignments in via the school's technology system, hard copy, or disk. However, the action plan I am implementing by meeting with the media specialist with a specific agenda in mind as to the school's technology capabilities will enable me to be more successful in making sure my directions and rubric are more accurate and easier to follow by the students.

Flexibility in Planning
When I first began the student teaching experience, I was over-planning as instructed, but I found myself being disappointed if I did not get all my objectives and assessments achieved. I have relaxed a bit in that regard. I will continue to over plan for alternate instructional strategies, improving the flow of the lesson as I teach and interact with the students. However, I am going to work on not letting it be a personal disappointment when I am, indeed, over-planning in the event of running low on instructional material. I am going to use the extra planning objectives as a flexible way to move into the next lesson, rather than as a plan to which I must follow to the letter. I am going to be more flexible in my attitude toward my lesson plans and view the lesson planning process to my advantage, easily moving further objectives to the next learning environment in order to still meet the goals I have outline in planning process.

Planning for One Student
My lesson plans are very thorough but lacked specific instructional material for individual students. Even among honors classes, students are individuals and sometimes lesson planning must entail specific strategies for individual learning styles. Often in theory I think of these types of strategies more appropriate for students with specific IEPs. But, adaptations can be applied to all levels of classroom instruction, including honors curricula. I began including these special strategies with unidentifiable names for confidentiality in my classroom in order to be a more effective teacher. I have implemented this plan for approximately 6 days, and it has improved the learning experience for the students mentioned in the lesson plan. It has made me more aware of special needs among these honors students that do not have formal accomodations in regard to instuction strategies. I am going to continue to this special section in my lesson plans in the future without hindering the overall lesson, but I am going to continue to be mindful that some students need different instructional stategies for success.