Sami Auster
Art Educator/Artist/ Student
Teacher Quality Standards Reflection
Quality Standard I: Teachers demonstrate mastery of and pedagogical expertise in the content they teach.
For standard 1, I believe mastering pedagogical expertise has been an ongoing process throughout my student teaching. I
believe that no teacher ever can truly be a master within their content area because there is always room to grow and improve. Although, I do believe I did a good job of making my lessons connect back to my students. I also created lessons that connected what my students were learning in their classroom to our art projects. For example, I had my second graders participate in a lesson where they became illustrators! They illustrated their persuasive essays that they wrote in english! I believe that in the future I can continue to improve!
Quality Standard II: Teachers establish a safe, inclusive and respectful learning
environment for a diverse population of students.
This standard is one that I feel I have reached mastery in. During my time as a student teacher I always went above and beyond to create an environment for my students that was safe, inclusive and respectful. When first starting each of my student teaching experiences I always was sure to go over my expectations about respecting each other with my students. Within the classroom I had a zero tolerance policy for any type of bullying. When creating projects for my students I made sure to use artists that my students could relate to, artists that came from similar backgrounds and cultures of my students.
Quality Standard III: Teachers plan and deliver effective instruction and create an environment that facilitates learning for their students.
I believe that I have done very well with this standard. During my time student teaching I consistently created lesson plans that met the colorado academic standards, were age appropriate and were also engaging! Before each lesson I taught I made sure to lay out materials that my students would use and divide the materials among tables. Diving out materials before class helped me to create an environment that facilitates learning by allowing students to have more time to work on their projects instead of having to wait for materials to begin. I also ensured that each of my lessons were differentiated and scaffolded in order to properly meet the needs of each of my students.
Quality Standard IV: Teachers demonstrate professionalism through ethical
conduct, reflection, and leadership.
Throughout my time as a student teacher I consistently demonstrated my professionalism. I was faced with multiple situations where I had to demonstrate ethical conduct. For example, when one student confided in me about thinking his neighbor was being abused I was able to immediately report the situation to the proper authorities and reassure my student that he did the right thing by reporting the situation to me. As a student teacher I have also done a great deal of reflection, after teaching each of my lessons I have made it a habit to write down how I thought the lesson went and what improvements I can make when I teach it in the future! I have also had ample opportunities to demonstrate my ability to lead. During my student teaching I jumped on any opportunity I could to lead my students whether that be in a lesson or in before school programs such as basecamp. Overall, I believe I have reached mastery within this standard, however I still believe that there is always room to become even better.