Standard 2 - Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge

Trigonometry  Functions Lesson

Description: This is a lesson that I created during my student teaching, in a co-taught classroom, and it was a big step in proving my knowledge when it came to a higher level math lesson. Due to the nature of a math class and following a math curriculum, it was the next lesson to teach based on the material being taught in the course. I also learned that it was okay to follow the curriculum and to accept an issue(s) that come up for students that will struggle more or less than others. I did not have any problems when presenting this and made sure to allow for students to start their homework assignment during class to allow for as much time to ask questions while attempting the work themselves.

Connection to Illinois learning standard 2: This assignment connected well to this standard as it is one of many math concepts I am versatile in. This formative assessment allowed for a "we do" portion of an "I do, we do, you do" format. This allowed for me to circulate and interact with the students 1:1 and see that they could perform steps with guidance. In order to do this I needed to "understands the theory behind and the process for providing support to promote learning when concepts and skills are first being introduced" which is knowledge indicator, (2G). Which makes sure I have a grasp on all the latest updates to effectively teach. 

Self-evaluation: This lesson was a higher level of math, but seemed to be understood by the majority of the class. Since this was a co-taught classroom, I was able to keep a good pace during the lesson where students were not needing me to slow down or repeat myself too much. However, I always do encourage students to tell me to slow down or to stop me to explain a concept in more detail. Learning and knowing how to properly pace along with my class was an important part of being fully competent in my content area.

Point Slope Form Lesson

Description: This lesson was for a self-contained instructional class that I taught during my student teaching experience that only hand 5 students on my class roster. This lesson plan was something I implemented as an intended way to get the students up and out of their seats. I chose to use it because it taught me another lesson about adjusting for the sake of my students and their lack of interest and attention due to being a small class size. I intended to have a lesson that included this active assignment as a way to get more practice problems in before the a summative assessment at the end of the week. Students were to hand in their work the following day. After checking in their assignment and grading them, it was clear to me that the majority of the class did not need more practice and were ready to move forward with their test at the end of the week.

Connection to Illinois learning standard 2: This connected to this particular learning standard because I was able to really adjust to the pace and understanding of my students and their peers. In addition, this lesson allowed me to get a better understanding of gauging student progress. Students were also able to see positive growth in their learning and focus due to the classroom interaction that they were not used to. Since I had planned for a chapter test to be completed soon I had to adjust my lesson to meet the needs of each student. This lesson "engages students in the processes of critical thinking and inquiry and addresses standards of evidence of the disciplines" from performance indicator (2K). 

Self-evaluation: When looking over the completed assignments, I was able to really reflect on not only my students, but myself. My students were able to show me their proficiency in the material that was going to be tested and students showed me how they were able or not able to independently stay on task. This gave me a good idea of how I could adjust future lessons based on how long student stayed focused. With this I had confidence and data to prove that positive progress had been made for most of the students.