Hannah Nicole Taylor
Reflection & Development
Feedback
Hannah strives to always deliver her best and reflected on her teaching together with the supervising teacher to develop herself professionally.
- Debbie Smit (Year 1 Mentor)
We are an IB/STEAM magnet school and Hannah was very tuned in to what that meant to her planning
and delivery of lessons.
-Caroline Starnes (Year 2 Mentor)
Hannah is not only well-informed about recent developments in teaching, but actively brings these developments to bear with intentionality and deliberation within the classroom.
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- Jason Wilson & Martin Van Hooijdonk (Year 3 Mentors)
After looking at the work from the previous lesson you recapped what the chd had done last time and restated what your expectations of the chds work was, and areas of misunderstanding evidenced in the previous work. A good way of ensuring that the child do what is expected of them.
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- Martin Van Hooijdonk (Year 3 Mentor, Lesson Observation Feedback)
Hannah ensured that she was kept up to date in regards to practices and activities that would inform her teaching and learning outcomes. She went out of her way to provide or collect information that would benefit her students. As distance learning became the “norm” Hannah hand to make numerous changes to her intended course of study along with numerous changes to the way that this would be delivered. She did this admirably, asking for assistance when required otherwise following her vision.
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- Martin Van Hooijdonk (Year 4 Mentor)
Year 4
Experience & Self-Assessment
The gamified unit I designed is a great example of my development in this competency. From the planning to the teaching to the research, this unit required me to critically analyze and reflect on everything I did. Previously, I had created an outline of what I would create if I designed an IPC unit. However, actually designing and implementing the unit resulted in multiple cycles of trial, error, feedback, and change. When planning the unit there was both self-reflection and feedback from my mentors that I considered. As new aspects of the unit began to be implemented, it was necessary for me to be flexible and efficient in making changes to classroom management, time management, and how the students were handling the material. Changes often occurred during the lesson itself, others were mental notes for the next lesson. Regardless, there was never a moment that I stopped reflecting on what had happened and how I could make it better for the students.
Main Quests (IPC) ZIP
Differentiated Main Quests ZIP
Basic Training (Core Subjects) ZIP
Charts & Classroom Displays ZIP
Evidence of Development
Internship Feedback:
"This TP saw Hannah faced with a multitude of new challenges. As part of her thesis on holistic development through gamificatíon, Hannah worked exhaustively for several months to prepare a unit that not only appropriately covered the objectives and curriculum for the class, but also took into account the special educatÍonal needs of a number of students, all the while offering students choice and independence in their learning. Hannah delivered this content with maturity and confidence, ably anticipating the majority of student's questions and issues, and showing a superior ability to troubleshoot and adapt her material, sometimes at a moment's notice. lt is worth noting that Hannah never rushed her decisions- if a fix was not needed right away, Hannah took time to consider it appropriately, and to consult with her Mentors for additional input, which she was able to capably take into account. All of the above is already impressive and well within the performance criteria for a fully-fledged teacher, however, at the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, Hannah was forced to adapt her unit to an entirely online and distance-led context, a task which Hannah was able to perform with remarkable adaptability and aplomb. So robust was her initial planning that the greater majority of her content, as well as her gamified approach, was preserved through the change-over, which played a highly significant role in helping the children to speedily adapt to their new learning setting with enthusiasm and excitement. Hannah, there is a school out there which will be very, very lucky to have you. You will be greatly missed!"
- Jason Wilson (Principal and Mentor at ISTwente)
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"Congratulations Hannah on completing a very successful teaching practice in which you not only taught your students a great deal but you made contact with them each and individually and developed strong professional relations. They will always remember Ms Hannah. I have had the pleasure of seeing you develop as a teacher over the last 18 months. You have worked incredibly hard to ensure that your learners receive the best education possible. You have done an incredible job with your Space Explorers unit, developing resources to cover every possible situation, learner and level. What you did to impliment your learning in the classroom was amazing and then to have to turn around and “redevelop” all of your work to accommodate distance learning was equally impressive. You can rest assured that you are fully equipped to handle any situation that may arise in your classroom!
You have developed strong relationships with colleagues, students and parents alike and always made yourself available to assist students, support staff and teachers alike. It has been a pleasure being part of your gamification unit Hannah. Thank you for sharing this and I wish you every success in the future."
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- Martin Van Hooijdonk (Mentor at ISTwente)
Job Interview Lesson Observation:
I was encouraged by the principal of ISTwente to apply for an open position as an Early Years teacher and was invited for an interview. This was my first teaching interview ever. I was asked to teach a lesson to the EY class which they would observe. It had been a long time since I had worked with that age and although I knew I could do it, I was quite nervous. I had planned a CLT activity for their Sand and Water unit which focused on developing students' ability to describe and question objects around them. On paper, the lesson seemed sound except I only had 15 minutes to teach it. After coming from a Year 5/6 class to a Year 0/1 class, it may not be surprising that I underestimated the time I had. Although the lesson had to end early and there were some other bumps, the feedback I received was still quite positive. I had asked for any notes they had written but unfortunately they lost them after the interview. Their main piece of feedback was exactly what I had noticed as well: there was too much planned for time available. As we were walking back to the meeting room I explained what I would have done instead: Break it into two lessons with one focusing on the activity as a group and then a second where the students try it on their own. Among the positive feedback was that I did very well at guiding the students' discussion with the questions I was asking. Unfortunately, as ISTwente is a public school I was unable to be hired without teaching credentials.
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Reflection & Future Development
After my previous internship I mentioned in my reflection that wanted to ask for more written feedback from mentors. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 I was unable to request as much as I would have liked. It was often not possible for them to observe a lesson because we needed all hands on board. Though, I think I could have still asked for more written feedback regarding my collaboration, unit design, or other aspects of my teaching.
Still, there were significant instances where I reflected on verbal feedback from my mentors and my own notes to ensure the unit and lessons were better each time. I hope that in future experience I will have more opportunities to receive written feedback to look back on as I continue to grow as a teacher.