The competent teacher has foundational knowledge of reading, writing, and oral communication within the content area and recognizes and addresses student reading, writing, and oral communication needs to facilitate the acquisition of content knowledge.

Discipline Specific Paper: This artifact was designed in my special education class towards the beginning of my teaching program. This artifact highlights the importance of literacy strategies incorporated into my specific discipline which is physical education and the benefits it has on students learning.

Performance Indicator 6S states that the competent teacher stimulates discussion in the content areas for varied instructional and conversational purposes. This artifact prompted my thinking as a student much like I would do for my own students in the classroom.

I learned a lot from this artifact on how listening, speaking, reading, writing, and visual components of literacy enhances their learning and the ability to make deeper connections to their specific content area. It is important to understand the vocabulary associated with the specific content area as well so students can understand a health article more effectively when they are reading.

Shanahan Article Reflection: This artifact highlights approaches to improving literacy rates among our K-12th grade students because of the lack of reading and writing abilities our students have.

Knowledge indicator 6B states that the competent teacher understands that the reading process involves the construction of meaning through the interactions of the reader's background knowledge and experiences, the information in the text, and the purpose of the reading situation. As educators we have to use assessments and prior student knowledge to see what our students already know and what needs to be reviewed again.

I am a firm believer in that if we understand the reason why we have to do something then the "how" becomes much easier.