Personal Statement: Scaffolding Strategies In The Classroom

more consistent with using the popsicle method, as I can see how it can also be a beneficial strategy for classroom management as well.

Areas of Growth (with evidence):

I feel like I have grown in my ability to work in a classroom with students with diverse needs (Goal 6). I think I have grown in my ability to teach lessons so that students who are academically stronger, and students who need more support are able to understand the lesson. For the students who still struggle, I have one-on-one conversations with them where I re-explain concepts that they are struggling with. However, I do need to think about other strategies to help support these students’ understandings; I think learning about scaffolding techniques and then applying them

Also, I would like to become more comfortable understanding the First People’s Principles of Learning, and applying them to my teaching practice. Another aspect that I would like to include even more so into my lessons and classroom environment is a spirit of inquiry (Goal 7). I would like to improve upon my own skills of asking higher-level questions, and lead by example. In addition, I want to continue to work on my teacher presence in the classroom, while being mindful of my tone, and what I say in the classroom. For example, sometimes I can make comments that are sarcastic without even being aware that I am; it is important that I am not sarcastic in my classes because not every student understands sarcasm. I need to work on “responding respectfully to all students (Goal 6) and modeling respectful

I understand that not every student is at the same level, and I try to do my best to check in with every student, and make sure that they are on the right track with their assignment. It is important to me to respect the dignity of each learner (Goal10), while also challenging them and helping them to grow academically. On the ‘Get to know me’ questionnaire that I gave to each student, many students said that they do not feel comfortable speaking up in class. I do not want these students to feel uncomfortable in my classroom therefore, I try to do my best to tell them that I will be calling on them for certain questions before I say their name in front of the class. I also have conversations with the students letting them know that building their oral language skills is important. During my pre-conference with Mandeep after one of my lessons, she suggested getting students to read the short stories out loud to the class to practice their oral reading skills. Another one of my strengths is my ability to encourage interpersonally sound working relationships among students (Goal 9). I repeatedly tell students that they will be doing group work with each other so it is important to be respectful to each other and cooperate. I want to continue to work on encouraging all students to contribute to the group discussions or the activity-taking place actively. Furthermore, I would say that I am