Over the span of your preparation program, as you complete course and fieldwork assignments, you will collect evidence of your performance and align the evidence to Performance Criteria of the Core Teaching Standards for Vermont Educators. The evidence demonstrates your performance of a specific Performance Criterion. Potential evidence (e.g. lesson plans, videos of teaching performance) for each Performance Criterion may be identified through the Educator Preparation Program materials or course syllabi).
This Evidence Chart is a mechanism for you to collect and curate your evidence that aligns with specific Performance Criterion. It is encouraged that you use an electronic platform for the evidence chart. You will collect evidence by title, which is hyperlinked to the evidence, and linked or tagged to a specific Performance Criterion. Each Performance Criterion must have at least one piece of evidence but may have many. One piece of evidence may address multiple Performance Criteria. Collate and organize all evidence cited in the evidence chart. For each piece of evidence, a rationale must be written to explain how the evidence demonstrates the Performance Criterion (2 or 3 sentences).
When you submit a Narrative for Part I, II, or III, you will provide the reviewer with access to all of your collected evidence for the Performance Criteria of that specific Narrative. Use your Evidence Chart as a cover page. The reviewer will check your Evidence Chart to observe the connection between your evidence and a specific Performance Criterion. A clear rationale makes this review more efficient.
Part II has required evidence (listed below). Each piece of required evidence must be aligned with a Performance Criterion. However, the required evidence does not have to be the evidence selected for analysis in the Narrative. Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) may align this required evidence with Performance Criteria in their individual programs.
Evidence & Rationale:
Cognitive-Based Assessment Lesson Plan
As a part of the "Elementary Math Methods" course that I took during the Spring of 2020, I had the opportunity to conduct interviews with students in a combined 2nd/3rd grade class at Weybridge Elementary School. During these interviews, my classmates and I used tasks developed by Michael Battista in the Cognition-Based Assessment (CBA) framework. We analyzed our student responses to create Student Mathematics Reasoning Profiles, which informed the lessons that we created to meet the needs of various groups of students. In creating my lesson, I applied my knowledge base of mathematical learning theories, drawing upon those of Tim Rowland and Michael Battista, among others. The interview process, analysis, lesson planning and teaching, and reflection collectively allowed me to gain experience in applying my knowledge of learning theories to design an appropriate learning experience.
Evidence & Rationale:
As a part of my "Elementary Literacy and Social Studies Methods" course in the Fall of 2019, I designed a lesson for a group of 4th/5th graders on the book Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson. I drew upon Vygotsky's zone of proximal development theory in order to meet the varying developmental needs of my students. According to this theory, the zone of proximal development is established when a student performs tasks that they have yet to master on their own with the support of a more knowledgable peer or teacher. In my lesson, the students were asked to map out the generational changes in the methods of resistance used by the women in Jacqueline's family. They recorded their ideas on a graphic organizer using words and/or drawings. I worked closely with one student, writing his ideas on a graphic organizer while he represented his ideas through drawings. All of the students, even those at more advanced writing levels, incorporated pictures into their graphic organizers. By supporting the student in his zone of proximal development, I was able to design an appropriate learning experience for all of the students in my group.
Evidence & Rationale:
In the spring of 2018, I took a class called "Models of Inclusive Education." In this class, I co-created a lesson plan with a group of classmates that was informed by our understanding of inclusive education. My group created a lesson based on the book Citizen by Claudia Rankine. Our lesson included multiple access points for learners, both physically and in terms of content knowledge. We incorporated a mini-presentation containing definitions of key terms, discussion questions, and a creative writing exercise. Additionally, we incorporated a Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) activity into our lesson, a teaching method that has the potential to increase accessibility for visually impaired students.
Evidence & Rationale:
History of Disability Rights PowerPoint
As a part of my Culturally Responsive Pedagogy class in the fall of 2018, I designed and co-taught a lesson on ableism for my classmates, who pretended to be 5th graders for our instructional purposes. My co-teachers and I aimed to craft a lesson made up of a series of activities that would provide students with different access points into the content. For example, we introduced the lesson with a presentation on the history of disability rights in North America, introducing an indigenous perspective on ability. Next, we did a vocabulary activity where students in small groups came up with a visual representation of a vocabulary word, and then presented their visual representation to the group. We also did a scavenger hunt around a building, asking students to record their findings on a paper and then share with the class as a whole.
Evidence & Rationale:
I designed this lesson to review different types of angles that the class would be working with throughout the unit. In my design, I drew upon various teaching strategies, including a partner activity, a class collaboration to create definitions, and a review game of angle-themed "Simon Says." This lesson fostered active participation from 100% of the class by providing students with different access points to the material.
Evidence & Rationale:
As a part of my Elementary Literacy and Social Studies Methods course in the Fall of 2019, I designed and implemented a lesson on the Emancipation Proclamation as a part of a unit-inquiry surrounding the question, "How is resistance central to slavery?" The 4th and 5th grade students had the opportunity to work together to make educated guesses in order to match different facts with three historical people involved in the Civil War effort. The lesson that I engaged my students in included a review of the "Classroom Agreement" that is posted around Weybridge Elementary. Together, we read through and added onto the agreements, providing us with a common understanding of the expectations and standards to which we would hold each other throughout the semester. During the lesson, the students engaged in respectful discussion in order to collectively make their best guess, defending and challenging their own and others' ideas. The success of collaborative activities such as this lesson stems from the development of a classroom community rooted in mutual trust, respect, and kindness.
Evidence & Rationale:
This was a science lesson focused on the role of one species, the little brown bat, on ecosystems. In designing this lesson, I drew upon the NGSS crosscutting concepts of cause and effect, and stability and change. Through a read-aloud and a game, I engaged students in learning about the habitat needs of little brown bats, investigating what happens to bat and insect populations when a disease affects bat populations.
Evidence & Rationale:
During my professional teaching semester, I designed and taught an IB unit with the central theme of "Sharing the Planet." On the first day of the unit, I led the class in a discussion about what they think they know about natural hazards. I recorded students ideas in the "I think I know" portion of the chart. I determined via this conversation that students were using the terms "natural hazard" and "natural disaster" interchangeably. Based on this incomplete understanding, I designed a lesson that addressed the distinction between a natural hazard and a natural disaster.
Evidence & Rationale:
I took a course called Elementary Literacy Methods in the fall of 2019, during which I observed twice a week in a 6th grade classroom at Weybridge Elementary School. Based on a student question regarding the debate about reparations for slavery in the United States of America, I created and presented a PowerPoint about the reparations debate. I portrayed various pro- and con- points responding to the central question, "Are reparations a viable response to slavery and the reprecussions of slavery?" This presentation engaged students in a national issue by presenting students with perspectives from various viewpoints, such as social scientists, economists, and journalists.
Evidence & Rationale:
Eruption! Opinion Writing Packet
Student Work - Presentation Video
As a part of my IB inquiry unit on "Sharing the Planet," I designed and implemented an opinion writing scenario that involved a role-playing scenario. Students utilized a variety of cross-disciplinary skills, including writing, researching, perspective-taking, critical thinking, and communicating, in order to engage in this project. The final day of the unit, students presented their opinion pieces at a mock Town Hall meeting.
Evidence & Rationale:
Student Work - More Packs of Pencils Assessment
Multiplication Strategies Poster
During our unit on multi-digit multiplication and division, I designed an assessment (More Packs of Pencils) to gauge student understanding of a strategy for solving multi-digit multiplication problems. Based on the information in these assessments, I determined that there was varied understanding of this strategy. In response, I created groups of students who were operating at similar levels of understanding. While the class was working independently on math review packets, I met with groups of students and worked through problems that I had selected for each group in order to best support their learning. This provided me with the opportunity to further assess by listening to student thinking and reasoning.
Evidence & Rationale:
Student Work - Geometry Pre and Post-Assessment
Student Work - Check-In 1
Area and Perimeter Lesson Overview
AS has an incredibly creative mind, and staying engaged in class is a challenge for her in all subjects, as she often doodles on her paper or fidgets with objects on her desk. Throughout my month-long geometry unit, I drew upon multiple instructional strategies in order to engage AS more effectively. After introducing and playing a "Simon Says" game to review different angles, AS performed strongly on an assessment, exhibiting her understanding and ability to provide evidence to support her understanding of three of the five angles. I used AS's success to inform my design of another kinestetic learning experience later on in the unit, for students to reinforce their learning of area and perimeter. AS's geometry post-assessment shows growth in her conceptual understanding of angles, polygons, and lines, as well as area and perimeter.
Evidence & Rationale:
In anticipation for my maximum solo teaching time, I planned two weeks of instruction in each of the core subject areas, based on the Common Core standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts, NGSS standards, and Learning For Justice standards, along with an IB unit of inquiry focused on the transdisciplinary theme of "Sharing the Planet."
Evidence & Rationale:
Throughout my professional teaching semester, I noticed that students were having trouble recalling basic multiplication facts that they had theoretically mastered earlier in the year. I had also observed students' enthusiasm for math games. Using this knowledge, I taught students a game called "Pathways," designed to help students practice multiplication facts. This game included five different game boards, A-E, which got successively more advanced; this allowed for differentiation between students at different levels of multiplication mastery. This game provided students with a new and engaging method for practicing their multiplication facts and critical thinking.
Green Up Day is a Vermont state-wide initiative observed on the first Saturday of May, during which Vermonters pick up roadside trash. To raise awareness and enthusiasm for this event amongst our third-and-fourth graders, Alyssa Crogan, a student teacher in the 3rd grade class at Salisbury, wrote a skit that explained the history and purpose of this event. Drawing upon our knowledge of our students' enthusiasm for teacher-perfomances, the two of us performed this skit. Our two classes subsequently engaged in a trash pick up on the road outside the school. This skit proved to be an engaging way to cultivate feelings of social responsibility and agency within students.
Evidence & Rationale:
During my professional teaching semester, I taught a unit on geometry. Over the course of several weeks, students were given opportunities to learn and practice the concepts of geometry in a variety of ways. The first day of the unit, I introduced a game of "Simon Says" which we played throughout the unit in order to review the important types of angles. When reviewing the concept of area and perimeter, I cut four 12-foot long strings. Students went outside to the field nearby our classroom and constructed a square with the four strings. We calculated the area and perimeter we had created, and each student walked around the perimeter of the square. Students also engaged in multiple practice worksheets, both independently and in partners, throughout the unit.
Evidence & Rationale:
Student Work - Identity Gingerbread Template
This lesson built off a read-aloud that the class had completed. Extending the learning that students had engaged in during the read-aloud, students brainstormed different identities that the main character held. I then modeled the activity that students were going to complete after reflecting on their own activities, using both the main character and myself as examples. With appropriate scaffolding, students were able to apply their understandings of identity to themselves, demonstrating a meaningful application of the knowledge they had developed through the read-aloud and the subsequent lessons on identity.
Evidence & Rationale:
In the fall of 2019, during my "Elementary Literacy Methods" course, I observed twice a week in a 6th grade classroom at Weybridge Elementary School. Following a class discussion that led to a student question about the reparations for slavery debate in the United States, I took initiative to plan and teach a presentation that provided pro- and con- points regarding the question, "Are reparations a viable response to slavery and the reprecussions of slavery?" This project exemplified self-directed, professional learning.
During my professional teaching semester, my cooperating teacher and I engaged our students in a series of lessons on the concept of white privilege, beginning during Black History Month and continuing throughout the rest of the semester. Our decision to integrate this concept into our curriculum was motivated by our own beliefs in the importance of engaging children in conversations surrounding race and racism, and much of our planning required us to conduct our own research on issues such as redlining and police brutality.
Evidence & Rationale:
In a course that I took in the spring of 2018, I took a course called Models of Inclusive Education. In this course, I co-planned and taught a lesson on the book Citizen by Claudia Rankine. The central topics of this lesson were race an racism, microaggressions, police brutality, and the toll of racism on victims' physical and mental health. My classmates and I designed this lesson based on our interpretation of inclusive education, providing learners with multiple access points by implementing multiple teaching strategies. The topic of the lesson in addition to the decisions made regarding inclusive teaching methods exemplify legal and ethical teaching practice.
During my professional teaching semester, I took active steps to learn how to work in a legal and ethical manner as a classroom teacher. I worked closely with the school guidance counselor and the school clinician in order to support the needs of individual students, adhering to the confidentiality guidelines outlined in Addison Central Schools District's Policies & Procedures. My cooperating teacher speaks to my ethical conduct on pages 2 and 3 of her final evaluation.
Evidence & Rationale:
Copies of Email Correspondances
Cooperating Teacher Final Evaluation
During my professional teaching semester, I exchanged emails with a student's parents and the school guidance counselor regarding an increase in concerning behaviors that were impacting the student's learning. Through several conversations with the guidance counselor that followed, I participated in implementing new supportive strategies in order to support this child's learning and well being in the classroom. In the third paragraph of the second page of my cooperating teacher's final evaluation, she speaks to these interactions, in addition to other collaboration I had with para-educators, the principal, and other specialists at the school.
Evidence & Rationale:
Cooperating Teacher Final Evaluation
Throughout my professional teaching semester, my cooperating teacher and I planned and taught several lessons on white privilege, highlighting three specific systems in which this privilege manifests: the healthcare system, the justice system, and the banking system. This demonstrated advocacy for anti-racism, social justice pedagogy, as well as collaboration between my cooperating teacher and myself. My cooperating teacher speaks to this work in her final evaluation, at the end of page 2 into page 3.
Almasi, J. F., & Fullerton, S. K. (2012). Teaching Strategic Processes in Reading. 2nd Ed. New York: Guilford Publications.
Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2013). Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People (1st ed.). Delacorte Press.
Battista, M. T. (2012). Cognition-Based Assessment & Teaching of Place Value: Building on Students’ Reasoning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Boaler, J. (2009). What’s Math Got to Do with It? How Parents and Teachers Can Help Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject. London, England: Penguin Books.
Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2006). The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades. First edition. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Brown, B. A. (2019). Science In The City: Culturally Relevant Stem Education. Campbridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Emdin, C. (2016). For White Folks Who Teach In The Hood...and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Fountas, I., & Pinnell, G. (2006). Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, Talking, and Writing about Reading, K-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But That's Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Theory into Practice, 34(3), 159-163.
Morris, Monique W. (2015). Push Out: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. The New Press.
Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Rankine, C. (2014). Citizen: an American lyric (1st ed.). Graywolf Press.
Rowland, T., Turner, F., Thwaites, A. and Huckstep, P. (2009) Developing Primary Mathematics Teaching: reflecting on practice with the Knowledge Quartet. London: Sage.
Swan, K., Lee, J. & Grant, S. G. (2018). Inquiry Design Model: Building Inquiries in Social Studies. National Council for the Social Studies and C3 Teachers.
Teaching Tolerance. (2016). Reading Diversity: A Tool For Selecting Diverse Texts. Teaching Tolerance.
Ukpokodu, O. (2006). Essential characteristics of a culturally conscientious classroom. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 19(2), 4-7.
Van de Walle, J., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J. (2012). Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally. 8th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: the Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Zembal-Saul, C., McNeil, K. L., & Hershberger, K. (2013). What’s your evidence? Engaging K-5 children in constructing explanations in science. Pearson.