Standard 2 - Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge – The competent teacher has in-depth understanding of content area knowledge that includes central concepts, methods of inquiry, structures of the disciplines, and content area literacy. The teacher creates meaningful learning experiences for each student based upon interactions among content area and pedagogical knowledge, and evidence-based practice.
The Science of Ice Cream
Rationale: This artifact is a video I created intended to explain the science behind making ice cream. It has a little bit of math, science, and most importantly how to make ice cream! Students get to see how the three states of matter change with temperature, as well as the meaning of both endothermic and exothermic reactions and their relation to making ice cream.
Connection to IPTS Standard: This project coincides with Illinois Professional Teaching Standard 2 by expressing how the competent teacher has in-depth understanding of content area knowledge in order to create meaningful learning experiences that make connections to other content areas and life experiences.
Self-Evaluation: I learned so much creating this experiment. I learned that this lesson can promote lots of rich discussions. Students can hypothesize why the ice melts so quickly. Students can also make predictions about the outcome of adding salt. It is also very important to understand that you have to be knowledgeable of the material in order for students to understand your lesson, which is why I had to do some thorough investigating before I created this video lesson.
Click to see The Science of Ice Cream
Poetry SIOP Lesson Plan
Rationale: My second artifact is a reading SIOP lesson plan I created that includes both Language Arts and WIDA Illinois standards. The objective for this lesson plan is to analyze poetry by looking closely at the lines, stanzas, rhyme, and rhythm.
Connection to IPTS Standard: This artifact is aligned with Illinois Professional Teaching Standard 2 because in this lesson plan I have expressed "in-depth understanding of content area knowledge that includes central concepts, methods of inquiry, structures of the disciplines, and content area literacy".
Self-Evaluation: I learned the importance of bridging when it comes to English language learners. When students listen to instruction in both languages, their decoding and L1 and L2 language comprehension is further developed.