Artifact Reflection Artifact Title: Informative Speech Outline Date: Spring 2012 ARTIFACT DESCRIPTION

My informative speech on students with special needs was one of the four required speeches I gave during the Speech Communication for Teachers class. This was my fourth and final speech for the course. The outline helped me organize my ideas with focus on the main points. I delivered this speech in front of my peers and received feedback that I had adequately informed them about the subject matter. ALIGNMENT REFLECTION

Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment The informative speech I gave aligns to Standard 6 Communication is: The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom. I chose standard 6 because my presentation involved movement around the classroom in a logical and deliberate manner. The reason why I walked around the classroom in a deliberate manner was to make sure that all of my peers were involved in the activity. This also allowed me to explain what was on the PowerPoint without me being the focus in front of the classroom. In addition, I thought my speech was appropriate for this standard because I incorporated a variety of meaningful technologies into the lesson, and I used nonverbal hand motions to emphasize and to enhance the points I gave. In order to keep my classmates actively engaged in the lesson, I frequently asked questions, probing them to see if they had prior knowledge about the topic. This speech helped me improve my speaking skills, my nonverbal skills, and the way in which I engaged students in a classroom setting. I was able to execute a clear and expressive speech, proven by the grade that I received for the assignment. During my speech I had students pair up into groups to talk about what ways students will be a hindrance and a resource to us everyday. I had them talk about what they could do in order to create a good and effective learning environment to make sure that every student that they teach either ELL, LD or exceptional will get the most out of their class and want to continue learning everyday. Also, to make sure that my students were even more involved and engaged in learning I added a PowerPoint and documents that they had to fill out so that they have a sheet of what each acronym means and how each student can be helped. This way the students will

have a worksheet to go back to if they need help writing a lesson plan and trying to involve each disability. In my future classes I plan to use the techniques that I learned during my speech and also add a couple things. I know that no matter what is going on during that day in class I need to move around the classroom. This will allow me to see what students are doing if we are taking notes or working on a project. If I see a student struggling with something I will be able to stop and help them out. Being able to communicate both verbally, either through written word or through speech, and non-verbally will be important because each student is going to learn in a different way. For example one of my students might learn better when I have notes typed out for them and another might like it better if I read the notes out loud for them. The biggest thing that I am going to work on when I start to teach classes is to work on fostering active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in my class. Keeping my students engaged and interested in the material that I am learning is one of the biggest goals I have for my classroom. This not only will help in my classroom management but it will also keep my students happy. By working in groups and looking more in depth in the material they will learn some life skills. They will learn how to cooperate and how to handle conflict but they will also learn that there is way more out there then what I teach. If they want to become a better citizen they will need to look further into topics then what they just hear people talk about. UW Platteville School of Education Knowledge, Skill, Disposition Statement Alignment KS3.a. Communicates clearly and accurately is: The candidates spoken and written language are correct, expressive and clear, with well-chosen vocabulary that enriches teaching and communicates thoughtfully, responsively, and effectively for a wide range of student understanding and encourages appropriate student language development. The informative speech I gave expressed how students learn differently and I used teaching vocabulary like ELL, LD and the autism spectrum. I made sure while I was giving my speech to include what each of those acronyms stood for and how they effect each one of use in the future when we teach. I also made sure I brought up RTIs and how they will influence what we as teachers do in our classrooms and how we will teach. Secondary KSD Alignment KS3.b. Uses Questioning and Discussion Techniques KS3.c. Engages Students in Learning KSD3.d. Provides Feedback to Students KSD3.e. Demonstrates Flexibility and Responsiveness KSD4.f. Shows Professionalism What I learned about teaching/learning:

I learned that it is important for teachers to be able to communicate effectively with their students so that the students understand the information. In addition, I learned that teachers should find ways to teach their students through speaking, through nonverbal cues, and through the use of technology. The more ways that teachers find to communicate subject matter to their students, the more the students will be able to comprehend the material. While delivering a lesson, a teacher should strive to get every single student involved, therefore engaging the entire classroom and providing an atmosphere conducive to learning. What I learned about myself as a prospective educator: This speech taught me the importance of using verbal techniques, nonverbal cues, and incorporating technology in a variety of different methods in order for every student to understand the material. Using these techniques ensures that there will not be students who fall behind in the material. This speech also emphasized the correlation between student participation and learning. By encouraging my students to actively participate in my lessons, I will be ensuring that the students pay attention to the material and have an opportunity to process the information.