CEO Reflective Journal Template Sample

The Three-Step Process Outline CEO topic: Professional Development Type of Reflection: Date:12/2009
Process Steps	Description
Step 1: Description	List the activity, based on the PD plan. Examples of discussion items might be:

What was read?

What workshop was attended?

What activity/lesson was performed?

What was discussed with the mentor?

What was observed while shadowing?

What other PD activities were completed?

Geometry and Measurement Workshop; Education Development Center
Steps 2: Analysis	Briefly describe the activity or item listed above, providing an overview of the item/activity using your professional judgment as it relates to your CEO program.

I decided to participate in this on-line workshop because I wanted to increase my understanding of mathematics pedagogy in teaching geometry and measurement. I wanted to understand how students best learned this sub-domain and come up with ways to implement it into my geometry and measurement unit. The workshop lasted for 6 hours. The workship consisted of six sessions, including understanding levels of geometry reasoning using Van Hiele's theory; examining student work and prediciting what level of understanding each falls into; understanding area, surface area, and spatial reasoning; perimeter and area relationships and how to get students to understand the difference; why students do not need to rely on formulas; and putting it all together. The workshop consisted of a combination of video presentation, group discovery, and reflections of current practices.
Step 3: Reflection	Reflect on how the previous activity or item helped you or your students.

This step should communicate three effects:

How did you do on the activity/how were you affected by the activity?

How did the students do on the activity/how were the students affected by the activity/information gained?

What worked well/what changes would you make?

While I listed this pd activity to be at the awareness, application, and management levels, it actually also went to the refinement level as I created my geomtry and mearsurement unit. I found that the second lesson on analyzing student work was perhaps the most useful part of this workshop. In discovering what level students perceived the material, it was easier to decide how and what to teach for the following lesson. In order for students to truly understand geometry and measurement, they have to apply their knowledge on a consistent basis. This workshop gave me some ideas for how to get students toward that more in-depth level of reasoning.

Joining this workshop was very beneficial for my CEO project. I felt that I was able to satisfy my first goal (increased student knowledge in geometry and measurement and increasing pedagogy in geometry and measurement). I also felt that I was able to help my second goal (project-based learning) in having a better understanding in the analysis of student work.

They students were affected positively because of my improved analysis. Through my pre-assessment I was able to identify that approximate 85% of my students were having difficulty specific skills (area) of geometry. Some (15%) had an understanding of area, but when given examples of the area of irregular polygons, they were unable to answer correctly. By creating lessons and through formal assessments such as exit slips, homework, and student group projects using tiles, I was able to identify weaknesses and growth. I was able to utilize my cooperative teams to bridge gaps for my students. During my summative assessment, there were 85% who were able to master the skills. This was a complete turn around. For those who were unable to be successful, I was able to identify specific tutoring skills needed during ESS and for in-class mentoring time.

My cooperative groups worked very well. Based upon the Kagan model we were using, students were held accountable for presenting various answers to questions. The groups allowed for student and teacher coaching throughout to assist prior to answers being demonstrated.

A change I would make (and did make) is to make more checks throughout my lessons. I discovered that the more I checked and provided feedback to the students and parents, the more involved my students were.

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Reflective Journal:

rbrown

2009-08-27

EPSB