Instruction

3a. Communicating with Students

Teachers communicate with students for several independent, but related, purposes. First, they convey that teaching and learning are purposeful activities; they make that purpose clear to the students. They also provide clear directions for classroom activities so that students know what to do; when additional help is appropriate, teachers model these activities. When teachers present concepts and information, they make those presentations with accuracy, clarity, and imagination, using precise, academic language; where amplification is important to the lesson, skilled teachers embellish their explanations with analogies or metaphors, linking them to students' interests and prior knowledge. Teachers occasionally withhold information from students (for example, in an inquiry science lesson) to encourage them to think on their own, but what information they do convey is accurate and reflects deep understanding of the content. And teachers' use of language is vivid, rich, and error free, affording the opportunity for students to hear language used well and to extend their own vocabularies. Teachers present complex concepts in ways that provide scaffolding and access to students.

The elements of component 3a:

Expectations for learning
Directions for activities
Explanations of content
Use of oral and written language

Lesson Plan Template 3

Document Description: For my Idaho Comprehensive Literacy #1 course, I created a lesson plan to teach students to blend vowel digraphs. Before administering the lesson, I clearly explained to the class the concepts and information we would be covering that day. I learned that when I vocalized the outcomes, it helped the students to better understand the content and their expectations. As I become a teacher, I will continue to present lesson topics to my students with clarity, accuracy, and while using precise academic language.

Document Description: During my off track semester, I volunteered in a special education kindergarten classroom. In the classroom, the teacher, the paraprofessionals, and the students communicated through an app on an iPad called Proloquo2go. The students carried around their own vocal output device (iPad) and used this app for their communication. I learned that communication comes in many different forms. For students who are non verbal, I learned Proloquo2go is a great way to connect on their level and teach them the directions for activities or expectations for learning. In my future classroom, I plan to incorporate a universal design for learning, so that all students can learn and understand in a way that is most fitting for them.

self directed iep

Document Description: For my Senior Practicum course, I attended Rigby High school. There, I was given the opportunity to interview a student for his IEP meeting. During the interview, I filled out this packet of information that the student would then use to conduct his own meeting. While interviewing the student, I asked him what his strengths and weaknesses were, what accommodations have and have not helped, and what his goals for the next coming year and after high school would be. I went through his previous IEP with him to remind him what was applied last year and options he can continue in the future.

This experience helped me to communicate and explain what resources were made available to him. It helped me to teach the student ways he could continue to receive help and ways he could independently improve in the future. I learned that open communication with the students helps them to clearly and accurately understand the information given to them. In the future, I plan to continue to involve my students in planning their IEP's to increase my open communication with them.

3b. Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques

Good teachers use divergent as well as convergent questions, framed in such a way that they invite students to formulate hypotheses, make connections, or challenge previously held views. Students' responses to questions are valued; effective teachers are especially adept at responding to and building on student responses and making use of their ideas. High-quality questions encourage students to make connections among concepts or events they previously believed to be unrelated and to arrive at new understandings of complex material.

Not all questions must be at a high cognitive level in order for a teacher's performance to be rated at a high level; that is, when exploring a topic, a teacher might begin with series of questions of low cognitive challenge to provide a review or to ensure that everyone in the class is "on board." Furthermore, if questions are at a high level, but only a few students participate in the discussion, small-group work, the quality of the students' questions and discussion in their small groups may be considered part of this component. In order for students to formulate high-level questions, they must have learned how to do so. Therefore, high-level questions from students, either in the full class or in small-group discussions, provide evidence that these skills have been taught.

The elements of component 3b:

Quality of questions/prompts
Discussion techniques
Student participation

Comprehension Portfolio

Document Description: For my Idaho Comprehensive Literacy #2 course, I made a chart that contains key terms and techniques used to increase comprehension and student participation. I highlighted specific questioning techniques both teachers and students can use to help enhance student understanding. While creating this chart, I learned how these strategies can be implemented within the classroom. One strategy I learned that seemed especially useful was the reciprocal teaching strategy. I learned that this strategy includes students grouping together to answer questions about the text. Teaching students ways to answer questions and work collaboratively is a skill I plan to take with me as I start my teaching career.

TSW 5.docx

Document Description: For my Evidence Based Practices course, I was assigned to read Classroom Instruction That Works and Teaching in the Savior's Way. Both of these documents aligned with one another and provided me with strategies on how to question and prompt my students during a discussion. I learned that asking questions where students have to think to figure out the correct answers is a strategy that Christ used as well as Marzano. I also learned that asking questions that assess understanding helps the teacher to know if the students are comprehending the material on a deeper level. As I move toward becoming a special education teacher, I plan to take the knowledge about questioning and discussion techniques and to use the techniques with my future class.

3c. Engaging Students in Learning

Student engagement in learning is the centerpiece of the Framework for Teaching; all other components contribute to it. When students are engaged in learning, they are not merely "busy," nor are they only "on task." Rather, they are intellectually active in learning important and challenging content. The critical distinction between a classroom in which students are compliant and busy and one in which they are engaged is that in the latter students are developing their understanding through what they do.

The elements of component 3c:

Activities and assignments
Grouping of students
Instructional materials and resources
Structure and Pacing

Document Description: For my Assessments course, I was assigned to teach a lesson to fifth graders at Lincoln Elementary. My lesson introduced shapes such as trapezoids, hexagons, pentagons, and rhombus'. The structure of the activity created an appropriate pace for the lesson that was able to keep the student's attention. To engage the students in learning the shapes, I used cotton swabs which I learned to be a fun, hands on manipulative. The students seemed to enjoy the lesson as they were actively creating shapes and discussing their shape's properties. I learned that not only were they having fun during the activity, they were also developing a deeper understanding of the lesson. In my future teaching career I will include individual activities during lessons, to help the students to be involved in their learning process.

Document Description: At Temple View Elementary, I observed a small group of students working on the chrome books each day. I noticed that their math chrome book assignments were embedded into a game. They had to chose a person to battle and their scores were dependent on how well they answered the math questions. I learned that the website, Prodigy Math, engaged the students in their learning process and made learning fun and exciting for the students. I plan to implement technology into my future classroom by using fun math programs to encourage students to want to learn.

3d. Using Assessment in Instruction

Assessment of student learning plays an important new role in teaching: no longer signaling the end of instruction, it is now recognized to be an integral part of instruction. While assessment of learning has always been and will continue to be an important aspect of teaching (it's important for teachers to know whether students have learned what teachers intend), assessment for learning has increasingly come to play an important role in classroom practice. And in order to assess student learning for the purposes of instruction, teachers must have a "finger on the pulse" of a lesson, monitoring student understanding and, where feedback is appropriate, offering it to students.

The elements of component 3d:

Assessment criteria
Monitoring student learning
Feedback to students
Student self-assessment and monitoring of progress

*Names are changed or whited out to ensure confidentiality.

Progress+Monitoring+to+IEP+experience (1).docx

Document Description: For my Junior Practicum Course, I was assigned to work at South Fork Elementary in Rigby. There, I collaborated with the teacher and was taught how to use progress monitoring data to update the students present levels and how to change their IEP goals. Based off of the assessment criteria, I learned the student was now able to read on average 18 words a minute with 80% accuracy. Monitoring the students learning and progress, helps teachers to stay aware of the current information the student needs in order to keep progressing towards their goal. From the information I learned that the students new goal should contain more words per minute with increased accuracy. Learning how and when to push students to the next level, is a skill I plan to take with me as I begin my teaching career.

progress monitor

Document Description: At Temple View Elementary, I assessed a student on her IEP goals. I used this progress monitoring sheet to collect current information on her progress. The data allowed me to identify areas of difficulties and to then give that feedback to the student. I learned the importance of offering help to the students when they are struggling to meet their IEP goals. From the data I collected, I learned how to write a draft IEP for the student based off of the results. During this process, I learned about assessment criteria and how to monitor student learning.

3e. Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness

"Flexibility and responsiveness" refer to a teacher's skill in making adjustments in a lesson to respond to changing conditions. When a lesson is well planned, there may be no need for changes during the course of the lesson itself. Shifting the approach in midstream is not always necessary; in fact, with experience comes skill in accurately predicting how a lesson will go and being prepared for different possible scenarios. But even the most skilled and best-prepared teachers will occasionally find either that a lesson is not proceeding as they would like or that a teachable moment has presented itself. They are ready for such situations. Furthermore, even when confronted with initial setbacks, teachers who are committed to the learning of all students persist in their attempts to engage them in learning.

The elements of component 3e:

Lesson adjustment
Response to students
Persistence

Unit lesson plan.docx

Document Description: For my Assessments course, I was assigned to teach a lesson about angle names and angle measurements within shapes. I administered a pre-test to assess their prior knowledge about shapes and angles. The information collected from the pre-test showed me that the students did not know the names of the basic shapes. Once I analyzed the data, I knew I needed to adjust my lesson plan. I was responsive to the needs of the students by changing the lesson to meet their present level. I was surprised by the results of the pretest. This was a learning experience to never assume what the students know and to be flexible and willing to change my lesson. I was committed to their learning of the shapes, so I redesigned the lesson to meet their needs. As a future teacher, I will continue to be mindful of my students present levels and be open to adjustments if the lessons do not turn out the way I plan.

Document Description: At Temple View Elementary, I taught a lesson about sentence structure to a small group of students. I wrote sentences that were more complex and others that were more simple to meet the needs of the students differing ability levels. I handed out segmented sentences to the students to put together based on their abilities. As I was monitoring the students during the lesson, I noticed that the advanced learners finished sooner than I expected. I was responsive by giving the students extra sentences to complete, that I had prepared earlier. I learned the activity was too difficult for some, so I was flexible in my grouping and had those students work together in groups. Overall, I learned to be responsive to different scenarios by being flexible and adjusting to the students needs.

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