Elliot Maxwell Sibert-Sweeney's Education Portfolio

Guided Notes Sheets

Close Reading Strategies Primary Source Notes

     

Mr. Earle understands his students and their level of education and understanding, so when he interprets their work and provides feedback, it is at that level, however I also find that he underestimates his students. When I provided them with guided notes that required them to do more than just fill in the blank, to write full sentences as I lectured, they all did so much better than I expected and showed that they were capable of following along and writing things down in a more pedagogically powerful way than fill in the blanks. This squares with my understanding that students rise to the level teachers place on them, to the labels that they perceive are placed on them. I provided them with trust and belief that they could do more than just fill in the blank notes and I was rewarded, and if I had the ability to keep at it and to work with them and develop their ability to do my style of guided notes, I’m certain I could get them all to master them aside from, perhaps, the one girl wh...

When I created my notes sheets for my lesson plan, I was afraid that students might not be able to follow along with them since they weren’t fill in the blank guided notes, but they actually wound up doing an incredible job, and I could tell by looking at it what portions of the lesson students understood based on which portions of the notes were filled out. I could visibly see where I lost students, where I didn’t explain things as well, and where students walked away presumably having learned something. I have also seen the assessments of my peers recently, and there has been an emphasis amongst them on practice rather than repetition, on doing rather than memorizing, and I believe that my notes sheets are like that, requiring students to write out full thoughts instead of single words or phrases or dates or names. I wish I could have gotten a chance to try out my exit ticket, but I believe that, with how my notes went, it would have gone very well. I have also seen Mr. Earle’s asses...