Artifacts and Characteristics of a Novice Teacher

If there is one thing that I have learned from my mentor teacher this year, it is that all students are able to learn and that a teacher should try everything he or she can do to try and get a student to learn. This falls under characteristic #4 which states "We believe the novice teacher should be a facilitator of learning for all students." The artifact I used for this looks like a simple worksheet that we use often in my Algebra Support Class, but its not the worksheet that is different but how I used it in class. Our Algebra Support class is a small class for students who have had trouble in mathematics and have been "passed along" through their classes. Through observation my mentor teacher and I have noticed that some students are fine with just a lecture and a worksheet but others are objective towards these methods and tend to disrupt class. We've noticed that these particular students will do the work if they are receiving a lot of attention, so we came up with a method that will keep everyone happy. The worksheet is designed for students to be working individually but also I would allow students to come to the board and work on them for the whole class. One student who is objective usually in class and rarely does work had a great time using this method and really started to learn in the class. This came about because my mentor teacher and I did not give up on the student and found a method that helps him to better understand the mathematics and enjoy doing the work. The worksheet was also good because a student did not have to do the boardwork if they did not want to, so they would be learning through their own way. I believe this covers characteristic #4 very well because we showed that all students can learn and it is the responsibility of a teacher to find ways to accommodate all students to learn.