At the semester’s conclusion, students presented a reflection on their professional growth.  The focus was on areas of improved practice and deeper connections between personal goals and program standards.  In five-to-ten minute sessions, students used their portfolios as tools to help them talk about their progress over the semester.

They also submitted written self-evaluations in response to this prompt:

Reflect on your growth as a teacher during this semester and give specific examples for the following questions: *In what areas have you progressed? *In what areas do you wish to make improvement? *What are your short term goals for student teaching and your long term goals as a professional?

In addition, I would like you to answer one more question, either as a separate paragraph or as an integrated part of the self-evaluation:

How do the educational philosophy, the UW standards, and your teaching practice relate to one another?  Has your understanding of this changed or clarified this semester?

The quality of the presentations and written reflections was quite varied. These examples represent a continuum of student responses, from relatively shallow to deeper reflection and ownership.