Educational Administration Artifact Reflection

Artifact Title: Copy of Weekly Lesson Plans

Date of Experience Completed: October 14 through 18, 2013
Artifact Description:
My artifact is a copy of the lesson plan I created for the week of Monday,
October 14, 2013 through Friday, October 18, 2013. The Darlington
Community Schools requires that teachers submit weekly lesson plans the
Friday before implementation. The first three pages include grade levels,
subjects, objectives, materials, assessments, and standards. The lesson
plans are connected with 7th and 8th grade English/language arts and 8th
grade mathematics Common Core Academic Standards per school
requirements. The final two pages include step-by-step handwritten plans
for three groups during Response to Intervention time, one to two groups of
7 grade reading and language arts, two groups of 8 grade mathematics,
and two to three groups of 8 grade reading and language arts. As the
document shows, there are a variety of lessons for each section. It also
shows a variety of tools used during instruction. In this lesson plan,
worksheets, discussions, tests, and technology were used to assist in student
learning.
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Wisconsin Administrator Standard Alignment:

This weekly lesson plan best aligns with Wisconsin Administrator Standard
1.8 which states: The teacher understands and uses formal and informal
assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual,
social, and physical development of the learner.
This weekly lesson plan best aligns with Standard 1.8 because it
demonstrates understanding of selection, construction, and use of
assessment strategies and instruments appropriate to the learning outcomes
being evaluated and to other diagnostic purposes. The learning outcomes
and Common Core Academic Standards (CCAS) of this lesson plan are listed
on pages one through three of the artifact. Students are evaluated on their
ability to demonstrate their understanding and application of the learning
objectives and CCAS. The students have the ability to demonstrate their
learning and application abilities through teacher observation, formal
assessments, and informal assessments. Examples of these assessments
are included on pages seven through 16 and pages 19 through 24 of the
artifact. More specifically, page 24 of the artifact is a formal spelling test.
Students are required to demonstrate their understanding and application of
the objective that reads; Student will know the meaning of and correctly
spell high frequency words to meet the CCAS that reads, Demonstrate
command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation,

and spelling when writing. This lesson plan also aligns with Standard 1.8
because it demonstrates the value of ongoing assessments as essential to
the instructional process and recognizes the many different assessment
strategies, accurately and systematically used, are necessary for monitoring
and promoting student learning. The spelling test on page 24 of the artifact
is an example of an ongoing assessment. Students are given a new list of
words weekly which includes both high frequency words and new spelling
words. Students are assessed at the end of each week on their ability to
understand, remember, and spell the words from their list on their test.
Student progress is monitored weekly through means of the spelling tests.
Pages 12 through 16 of the artifact also demonstrate ongoing assessment.
These pages are an example of one type of math pre-assessment and postassessment. Before beginning each unit, students complete a preassessment focused around the upcoming unit. After being taught the unit,
students are given the same assessment as a post-test. Again, student
progress is monitored throughout math units. Alignment with Standard 1.8 is
also demonstrated based on the appropriate use of the variety of formal and
informal assessment techniques to enhance knowledge of learners, evaluate
students progress and performance, and modify teaching and learning
strategies. Examples of informal assessment in this artifact includes: daily
observation, parts of speech activity (page 6), parts of speech (verbs)
worksheets (pages seven through nine), and Freak the Mighty guided reading
questions (pages 17 through 19). Examples of formal assessment in this
artifact includes: parts of speech test (pages 10 and 11), math postassessment (pages 12 through 16), Freak the Mighty novel test (pages 20
through 23), and unit 7 spelling test (page 24). By means of these informal
and formal assessments as well as modifications to teaching and learning
strategies, students knowledge and performance improves.
What I learned about administration/teaching/learning from this
experience:
This experience taught me many things as an educator, including balance
and planning. Balance is important in education. Throughout the past few
years, our students have been bombarded with informal, formal, and
standardized assessments. Students have been losing a significant amount
of class time due to state testing and progress monitoring tools. Students do
not want to take the WKCE in the morning and take their seventh grade
science unit test in the afternoon. Finding the balance between the need for
assessment and student quality of assessment as an educator is key.
Balance also needs to occur between classroom informal and formal
assessments. Educators need to be able to assess their students in various
ways. There should not always be a novel test at the end of a unit. As
educators we have the ability to assess students knowledge through
observation, worksheets, activities, discussions, projects, papers, etc.

Educators can also give students the opportunity to choose how they will
demonstrate their understanding and application of the content.
This experience also taught me planning. Objectives and standards are
listed on all of my lesson plans, but what am I truly looking for at the end of
each unit? As I end my third year of teaching, it has become easier to create
and/or find assessments for my students. Though, I learned throughout the
past three years to create and/or find the assessment before the beginning
of the unit. Too often educators, especially beginning educators, teach a unit
and assess based on what they have taught. I have learned it is better to
create and/or find an assessment first. Then, teach the students in a variety
of ways so that they have the ability to demonstrate their knowledge and
application of the information. As an educator, ask yourself what is it that I
want my students to be able to do as a result of this unit? Answer that
question, create the assessment, and educate the students based on their
needs.
What I learned about myself as a prospective administrator as a
result of this artifact:
As a prospective administrator, this weekly lesson plan taught me that
assessments are not the end all, be all in education. I realize the pressures
of statewide assessment and high-stakes testing for students, staff,
administration, and school districts. These assessments have a great impact
on funding, waivers, college acceptance, etc. However, I continue to believe
they are not the end all, be all. We are beginning to give our students the
impression that their futures are solely based on their performance on these
assessments. In some cases this is true, but in most cases it is not. WKCE
testing, Badger Assessment, MAP testing, and Fountas and Pinnell
Benchmarking are not the sole indicators of whether a not a student will be
successful after graduating from high school. Other factors play into their
success, such as: confidence, work ethic, real-world experience, hands-on
experiences, etc. Additionally, who are we to determine the definition of
success? Is success the 4.0 grade point average, 30 ACT scoring, AP,
football all-American student attending UW-Madison next year? Or is success
the 2.5 grade point average, 24 ACT scoring student pursuing their dream of
attending Southwest Tech to become an auto technician? Could success be
defined as the 3.5 grade point average, 22 ACT scoring, star play performer
forced to take over the farm after graduation? Do we dare say success is
defined as the 2.4 grade point average, 18 ACT scoring student with a
significant cognitive disability being able to function independently daily
after high school? Which of these students is most successful? I believe
each student is successful in their own way. I also believe high-stakes

assessments, on their own, did not determine the students success.

Assessments combined with other factors, qualities, and characteristics
define an individuals success. These individuals, then, are the only ones to
determine their own rate of success in life.