2. Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge

This paper was created in my Literacy in the Disciplines class in the fall of 2016. This paper focuses on art as a discipline and it's connection to literacy. Through this paper, I lay out the ways in which reading in the subject of art is different than reading in other subject areas. I discuss various strategies, theories and creative-process students must use in order to create pieces of art, read art literature and engage in the artistic process. By doing this I show that I understand "the cognitive processes associated with various kinds of learning (e.g., critical and creative thinking, problem-structuring and problem-solving, invention, memorization, and recall) 2 and ensures attention to these learning processes so that students can master content standards" (IPTS 2C).

I also focus on comparing art to other disciplines and the similarities and differences between them in my discipline specific paper. I explain the overlap of the various disciplines and how these skills can be translated and generalized to real-life application. By doing this I show that I understanding "the relationship of knowledge within the disciplines to other content areas and to life applications" (IPTS 2D).

This paper emphasizes the importance of literacy within the discipline of art, the acquisition of literacy skills and how it helps students form and produce language as well as read and interpret it. It goes on to prove that by using literacy skills within the discipline of art, it also encourages and supports students in their literacy development in other areas. By doing so, I have proven that I understand "the relationship among language acquisition (first and second), literacy development, and acquisition of academic content and skills." (IPTS 2H).

In my discipline specific paper, I have included several strategies, recourses and differentiation ideas to make learning literacy in art and the transfer of it accessible to all students. By interpreting, citing and evaluating several strategies and techniques for teaching literacy within art and the transfer of literary art skills to other disciplines, this paper shows that I am to able to evaluate "teaching resources and materials for appropriateness as related to curricular content and each student’s needs" (2I) and apply and adapt "an array of content area literacy strategies to make all subject matter accessible to each student" (2Q).

By completing this paper, I learned how art and literacy can be used together, how students can apply the same skills in both art and literacy and how each discipline has a specific language. I researched and discovered many strategies that can be used in both disciplines. Finally, I learned that art can engage students in a way similar to that of reading and that both skill areas can be used to enhance a student's learning and growth.

I created these 15 math questions for third graders for my Math Methods course in the fall of 2016. I created these questions in preparation for two sets of interviews I would conduct with third graders. Each question had a low, medium and high level so that I was prepared for all learners and I chose which question to ask the student based on the way they answered previous questions. After conducting the interview I wrote a paper where I reflected on the way the interviews went and what I learned from the experience.

When creating these problems, I varied the way each question was phrased, creating some that required mathematical memorization and others that required the students to use manipulatives and mathematical reasoning. By diversifying the types of questions so that students were able to showcase their knowledge and skills, I show that I "understand the cognitive processes associated with various kinds of learning (e.g., critical and creative thinking, problem-structuring and problem-solving, invention, memorization, and recall) and ensures attention to these learning processes so that students can master content standards (2C)".

After students answered the math problems that I presented to them, I had them explain their answer, walking me through their process to show they understood their answer. By having students explain their answers, I show that I "engage students in the processes of critical thinking and inquiry and addresses standards of evidence of the disciplines (2K)". By allowing students to use a white board, manipulatives, or pieces of paper, I also show that I "uses a variety of explanations and multiple representations of concepts that capture key ideas to help each student develop conceptual understanding and address common misunderstandings (2M)". Lastly, I created each question to be relatable to the students life experiences, allowing them to envision the problem in their head and connect it to personal experience. By doing so, I show that I "facilitate learning experiences that make connections to other content areas and to life experiences (2N)".

Through the creation of these questions, the conduction of the interviews and the completion of the reflection paper, I learned how to create mathematical problems that are accessible for all students. I used differentiated questions and several different materials to support the students so that each student was able to show their knowledge and skills. I was able to work with two different groups of students and see how they reacted to the questions differently, the types of material they used to figure out the problems and the areas in which they struggled. Through this project, I learned how to properly prepare mathematical materials, make the curriculum accessible to students of all levels and reflect on what works and what does not work when teaching mathematics.