Jessica Thimm
5th Grade Teacher
Life-Long Learner
Showcase of Work
In my classroom, I want students to be as successful as possible. To do this, I have made sure to continue my education and become a life long learner. I have looked into understanding important aspects of teaching, how different students learn, and different resources available. I have divided my work into three categories: Understanding Learning, Understanding Students, and Understanding Resources.
Understanding Learning
What is Inquiry?
Being a teacher, I think it is important to understand the ideas about education and how they can affect a school and classroom. I wanted to have a better understanding of how the education system has come to be so I looked at what inquiry is and how is it important to education. I was able to look at John Dewey and his views on education as well as compare traditional to progressive education.
Reflective Inquiry
Being a life long learner, there are certain things we teachers must do. One of these things is to be reflective of ourselves and our classroom. I look into different aspects of educational inquiry and focused on the importance of reflective inquiry. In terms of studying education, reflective inquiry should be the most supported approach to understanding our craft.
Understanding Students
Motivation
Motivation is a key to helping students learn and develop inside and outside of the classroom. I wanted to look into how motivation can affect a student's reading ability. I was able to give a motivation assessment and compare the results to the student's reading level to see if there was any correlation.
English as a Second Language
Living near Washington D.C., has provided me a lot of experience in dealing with a variety of cultures. A lot of my students are English Language Learners, speaking a different language as their main means of communication. During this project, I was able to discover who one of my students was as a literacy learner. I was able to dig deep into their home and emotional life as well as develop a literacy plan that would be most beneficial to the student.
Challenging Behavior
This project was a great way for me to look at a student in my classroom with a challenging behavior and how I could help him. I was able to get to know this student on a much deeper level through identifying and understanding the problem to develop a plan to implement. Then I was able to evaluate the plan and discuss my professional stance on the challenging behavior.
The Case of Sarah
Being able to look at assessment data and develop goals for instruction is important in helping each student reach their maximum potential. In The Case Of Sarah, I was able to define specific goals to support Sarah and her learning as well as find instructional strategies that would be beneficial for the teacher to help Sarah reach her goals. I spent a lot of time finding strategies that would be best for Sarah based on the results of her assessments.
Understanding Resources
Technology in Math
Professional Books
Having good quality resources is important for any classroom. Finding these resources can be hard especially resources incorporating technology. This online resource library of math technology breaks down resources by big idea from number sense to geometry and then evaluates each resource. This library was created by me to provide a collection of quality math technology resources that would be beneficial to use in the classroom.
Teachers have many different professional books at their finger tips. Being able to read a professional book, discuss it with my peers, and write a reflection was beneficial in helping me to really comprehend and use the ideas presented. I chose to read Comprehension & Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action because I know that a lot of students struggle with comprehension. Below is my review and reflection of the book.
