Section One: Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project

Introduction, Overview and Rationale

I have always known that teaching is the profession I am meant to be in, and when I

began my teacher’s education at Medaille, this was solidified. Throughout my time in the Master

of Elementary Education program, I have learned how to create and execute successful lesson

plans that have a clear learning objective. In addition, I have learned how to implement

accommodations and modifications specific to the students’ needs and requirements on their

Individualized Education Plan. I have also been taught how to navigate technology that I will

utilize in my classroom. I successfully created a google classroom and am able to create content

and assessments for my students with confidence. Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to

develop several different assessments for math courses, science courses, and language courses.

Through all of these experiences, I feel that I am well equipped for instructing in an elementary

classroom.

In addition to my knowledge of instruction and planning, I have also been taught the

importance of creating positive relationships with my students by building a safe and welcoming

environment. I learned how important building relationships is not only for the students, but for

the educator as well. Through this relationship, we learn how we can best accommodate our

students, we learn what motivates them, and how to get them engaged an excited about learning.

I believe that the education I have obtained through my time at Medaille, as well as my personal

attributes qualify me as a well-prepared teacher. As educators, we have the power to inspire, to

encourage, and to lead. This portfolio is designed in such a way that it will reflect these qualities,

and how I reflect them. This will be showcased through six sections in this portfolio. The

sections are as follows: Portfolio Introduction; Teacher Candidate Background Experience;

Teacher Candidate Interview Video. Each of these sections are specifically designed to address

relevant experiences and assignments through a demonstration of work.

The knowledge that I have gained throughout my time at Medaille is invaluable. I have

gained a solid foundation to begin my career as an educator; however, I know I have a long way

to go. Even after my time in the MSED program, I will continue to advance my knowledge to

ensure that I am the best teacher I can be for my students. My education journey is not over, this

is only the beginning.

Portfolio Development
As mentioned in my introduction, there are six major sections that complete this

portfolio. Evidently, section one of this portfolio titled Portfolio Introduction is designed to

introduce potential employers to the contents of this portfolio. I begin with discussing my

educational experience at Medaille College and how it has provided me with a concrete

foundation to begin my teaching career. Additionally, I also discuss the importance of

developing positive relationships with students that benefit students and teachers. Furthermore,

in this section of the portfolio, I also include an analysis of three theorists that I believe are

extremely influential to the education field: Benjamin Bloom and his development of Blooms

Taxonomy. Jean Piaget and his theory of child cognitive development. Finally, B.F Skinner and

his theory of behaviourism. I believe that each of these theorists brings forward very interesting

perspective view on the approach to education, and each of them have influenced my journey in

education in some aspect.

Section two of my portfolio is titled Teacher Candidate Background Experience. In this

section, I will outline relevant work and education experience. This section will include my

personal resume, my educational experiences, relevant work experience, school observations and
classroom applications, and finally, my personal philosophy of education. Each of these

experiences highlight different aspects of my preparedness as a teacher candidate. My time spent

observing and working in the classroom has allowed me to learn a variety of teaching practices

and skills that I can utilize in my own classroom. This is something that I have reflected upon in

my philosophy of education paper. Additionally, each of these experiences has been extremely

influential in demonstrating that as teachers, we never stop growing, and our own journey

through education never truly stops.

In the third section of my portfolio Teacher Candidate Artifacts, I have included eight

different assignments that I believe showcase my best work from my time at Medaille. I have

chosen to include a guided reading lesson plan designed for a grade one classroom. The book

that I chose was designed to follow up with a

fieldtrip we took as a class. Another artifact that I am including in my portfolio is my Weebly

website which was designed for a grade two class. The components included on my website are a

welcome letter, virtual field trip, a tutorial on navigating google classroom, and a google form

for students to complete as a way for me to get to know them before our time together begins.

The third artifact that I have chosen to include is my Science Fieldtrip Proposal, which

showcases my ability to connect curriculum to experiences outside of the classroom. I have also

chosen to include my A fourth artifact that I have chosen to include is my classroom

management plan, which includes a welcome letter, classroom expectation letter, and survey

designed for parents to complete. My fifth artifact is a five-day literacy learning segment. The

sixth artifact that I have chosen to include in my portfolio is my survey assignment. In this

assignment, I asked several people about their familiarity and understanding of Ontario’s new

math curriculum implemented in 2020. I complied these results and discussed them within my
assignment. The seventh artifact that I have chosen to include is my Cyber Safety Presentation,

designed for both parents and students. This presentation is meant to educate parents and

students about internet safety. I have also provided suggestions for parents as to where they can

go for more information on this topic. The final artifact I have chosen to include in my portfolio

is my DASA (Dignity for all Students Act) certificate. This certification demonstrates my

knowledge of regulations surrounding bullying and harassment.

The fourth section is titled Alignment to Curriculum and Professional Standards this

section is designated to demonstrate my ability to align curriculum and professional standards to

my work. I will do this by identifying each of the artifacts that I have chosen to include, as

mentioned above, and then will attribute the required standards. I will be including both the New

York and Ontario standards. In doing so, this will prove my knowledge and understanding of

how to create successful lesson plans according to the required standards.

Section five is the Reflection aspect of my portfolio. Here, I will address my own

experience with writing the portfolio project, as well as the educational experiences I have had

during my time in the MSED program. I will also make connections to the Department of

Education TEAC/CAEP Claims. In doing so, this will showcase all of my abilities through

video, as well as my passion for education.

The final section of my portfolio is the Teacher Candidate Interview Video. This is a 10–

15-minute video done in an interview simulation. This simulation will include me answering

questions that I may potentially be asked during an interview. Furthermore, I will also make

connections to the work I addressed and completed throughout my portfolio. These include

connections to my artifacts, standards, alignment to curriculum and standards.

The theorists that I am going to discuss in this section are as follows; Benjamin Bloom,

Jean Piaget and B.F Skinner. After introducing each theorist individually, I will then discuss how

their work supports my personal view of education.

Benjamin Bloom developed the idea of Blooms taxonomy, which is described as a

“framework for educational achievement in which level depends on the one below” (Persaud,

2018). There are six levels of thinking in Blooms taxonomy. They were originally known as:

Remembering, Understanding, Applying Analyzing, Evaluating and Creating (Stanny, 2016, p.

5). Bloom has divided the levels of thinking into two categories: lower order thinking, and higher

order thinking. The lower order thinking category is comprised of Remembering, Understanding

and Applying, and the higher order thinking category is comprised of Analyzing, Evaluating and

Creating (Stanny, 2016, p. 5). The distinction between the lower and higher level of thinking

categories is the way in which students learn, and the level in which they learn at. His taxonomy

has been extremely influential in regard to the way that teachers structure their lessons and

assessments. Blooms taxonomy supports the work in my portfolio as demonstrated through my

lesson plans in Section Three, Artifact One.

Moving forward, I have also had the opportunity to explore theorist Jean Piaget and how

they impact education. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development includes four developmental

stages that he suggests all children pass through. These stages are sensorimotor, preoperational,

concrete operations and formal operations (Babakr et al., 2019, p. 518). Piaget believes that

“…Cognitive development is a continuous process and all children, even in different

environmental context and culture diversity around the world, have the same sequence of cultural

development” (Babakr et al., 2019, p. 518). I believe that Piaget’s theory impacts my views on
teaching because I will be working with children of varying ages and it is important for me to

understand their development and how it may impact their learning.

Finally, regarding B.F Skinner and his theory of Behaviourism. Skinner believes that

“Not all children and youth will respond the same way to scripted interventions” (Banks et al.,

2014, p. 53). Skinner’s theory attests to the fact that school is a place where children can learn

both academically and socially, which allows them to interact positively within relationships. He

also believes, however, that there is a need for a more “…Systematic approach to certain skills

related to understanding emotions and the relationship between cognition, behaviour and

emotion” (Banks et al., 2014, p. 53). I believe that Skinner’s theory is relevant to my views as a

teacher candidate because I believe that teaching our students to succeed academically, is just as

important as teaching them to success socially.

Conclusion

Being an exceptional teacher is much more than creating the perfect lesson plan, it is

about making real connections with our students that will impact them for the rest of their lives.

We need to be aware that lessons may not always go as planned, and if this happens, we need to

be able to come up with strategies to help our students. Throughout my portfolio, I will

demonstrate my readiness and passion for teaching by showcasing my knowledge of the field

through my work, and my experience. In Section One, I gave an overview of the contents of my

portfolio, and. Introduced three theorists that have influenced my education in some way. In the

next section of this portfolio, my background experience will be presented through my personal

resume, my philosophy of education. Each of these experiences have been extremely influential

in my development as an educator and are extremely beneficial in demonstrating the knowledge I

have gained in the field over time.

throughout my introduction, I know that this is just the beginning of my educational journey. It is

my responsibility to continue to further my learning so that I can meet the needs of my students

as expectations and standards evolve. As long as I am passionate, I know I will make a

difference in the lives of my students