In my effort to meet all of the characteristics of a novice teacher, I will continue to look at past artifacts that I have completed throughout my professional education.
The 6th characteristic says that a novice teacher should have in-depth knowledge of content. I have taken numerous English courses during my time here at WVU, and have completed a number of assignments that have tested my knowledge of the content. Just recently I had to compile a Content Area Portfolio for my C&I class, which required me to look back all of the work I have completed so far and rationalize how I meet certain characteristics. In doing this activity, I was allowed to see how much I have grown over these past couple years. Any number of these pieces would work to show my knowledge of English content in order to successfully teach it to my future students.
The 10th characteristic states that the novice teacher should be liberally educated. Just this past week I taught the graphic novel American Born Chinese to my 10th grade Honors students. I like the idea of introducing new types of literature and storytelling to my students, and the class reacted very positively to this genre of text. Although they were skeptical at first, I had students genuinely showing interest in the novel and showing excitement when we would read together in class. I want to keep an open mind when it comes to the types of materials I use in the classroom so that my students can have the ability to explore interests when they leave my class.
I am by no means proficient in any of the characteristics of a novice teacher, but these artifacts show specific areas in which I am improving in. I will continue to meet and improve upon these characteristics as I enter the intern year and beyond.
I'm glad the C & I Content Area Portfolio allowed you to see the growth from years past up until today! The artifacts you provided would be a great way to represent this 6th characteristic as you said.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of the graphic novel you mentioned, and it definitely sounds interesting. I'm happy to hear your students took an interest in it. I definitely think graphic novels are a great way to interest students. I desire to use them in my teaching practices, even in the elementary school grades.