The first Characteristic of the Novice Teacher I would like to explore is characteristic number four; be a facilitator of learning for all students. I think that the big idea of this characteristic is that all students in the classroom are different learners. These students bring different learning styles and abilities when they enter your classroom and as their teacher you must adapt curriculum and activities so everyone can be successful; no matter what the ability level is. As a teacher you must consistently evaluate students work and how you teach to be sure that each student has the exact opportunities for success. I think a good artifact for this characteristic would be the differentiated lesson plan we had to write for SPED 460. This assignment was to write a lesson plan and then take the same lesson and differentiate it by learning style, ability level, and the product the students created. This directly links back to the characteristic because by adapting a lesson plan for learning style, ability level, and product you are making the lesson accessible for all students to have success. The second characteristic I would like to explore is Characteristic number eight; be a reflective practitioner. I think that the big idea for this characteristic is that a teacher must always be reflecting on what he/she can do differently to ensure the success of the whole classroom. This means that after a lesson, activity, or situation the teacher thinks about what he/she could do differently next time or what went well. This helps the teacher because the next time he/she is faced in a similar scenario the teacher will know how to handle his/her actions. I think a really great artifact for this would be our teacher researcher notebooks. We have to reflect on our experiences in the classroom everyday that we attend our PDS. This strongly agrees with the characteristic because it shows that we are constantly reflecting on how we can become better teachers.
