Subject Matter Knowledge

According to DESE's Candidate Assessment of Performance, an educator is deemed proficient in subject matter knowledge if they "demonstrate sound knowledge and understanding of the subject matter and the pedagogy it requires by consistently engaging students in learning experiences that enable them to acquire complex knowledge and subject-specific skills and vocabulary, such that they are able to make and assess evidence-based claims and arguments."

Photo from Kenneth C. Zirkel

As a math major at WPI, I had a good understanding of what I was teaching. One of the bigger challenges I had was presenting my knowledge at a grade-appropriate level. To do this, I was required to find the most important underlying concepts, and link them with what we had learned previously.

The best way I found to present formulas and theorems was to describe them using symbols, then show examples of how they are used. Here, for one of my Pre-calculus classes, we are introduced to the three properties of logarithms, then slowly begin to use them one-by-one.

3-3 day 1.pdf