5. The competent teacher differentiates instruction by using a variety of strategies that support critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, and continuous growth and learning. This teacher understands that the classroom is a dynamic environment requiring ongoing modification of instruction to enhance learning for each student.
Rationale
The artifact I created is a short screencast of a presentation created in Google Slides and screencasted with Screencast-o-matic. It is intended for students in fourth grade to meet the Illinois Priority Learning Standards & Evidence Statements 2020-2021 in ELA, Standard Rl.1, "Refer to examples and details in text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text." The presentation contains the standard and an explanation of the R.A.C.E strategy to guide students through meeting the above standard requirements in written responses to literature and text. The artifact also explains why students need to meet the standard and the differences between an earlier grade written response and a fourth year written response. The presentation also contains a practice exercise where I read a short text and we create a written response to a question that meets Standard 4.Rl.1. A quiz created in Google Forms is included to assess the comprehension of the Flip Lesson. This artifact was produced during the last week of my Technology for Educators 209 class at Trinity Christian College. The purpose of the assignment was to use some of the technological skills learned throughout the course in an educational context to practice creating original content for the purpose of teaching my intended audience.
The importance of this artifact with regard to Illinois Professional Teaching Standards (2013) , Standard 5 Instructional Delivery specifically, is that this lesson is created with technology in such a way that it can used to teach students in a traditional classroom either as a group or independently or at home during remote learning which is extremely relevant in the pandemic situation in which this lesson was created. The Flip Lesson was created to be visually consumed with a slide show and text explanations. Audio is included as well to explain for learners who need to hear things with out being in the classroom. A practice question is included where I model the correct way to use the R.A.C.E. strategy to meet the standard for learners who need more guidance. This intentional compilation is intended to meet Knowledge Indicator 5A and 5D. Performance Indicator 5I is met by this teaching strategy as it can be rewatched as many times as the student wants or needs. I introduced the students to a new concept, or strategy to meet the learning standard, playing the role of instructor. I also facilitated and coached the students through a practice problem along with providing a quiz to meet the teaching standard of becoming audience to the students learning. I believe these roles I filled meet standard 5K. Teaching standard 5M is met by the nature of the presentation as it can be consumed by different levels of ability, readers and non-readers. This flipped form of instruction also "models and facilitates effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning" (IPTS 5O).
The act of completing this assignment to create a Flip Lesson and multiple choice quiz to assess the learning taught me how time consuming creating content is and how intentional I must be in the designing of the lesson as well as the assessment. The teaching and learning standards are very precise and this is for a reason. These standards were created by experienced professionals which is what I aspire to be. I am thankful for the guidelines they provide, but this lesson taught me how much more there is to learn and I am looking forward to the methods class so I can learn, improve and become more fluent in creating my own content for students. I also learned usage and fluency in technology which is a department I am challenged in, not so much conceptually, but I am not very patient with technology so this class and assignment taught me to take and make time to learn new technology. I also learned that I must do this on my own and it is not as overwhelming as I thought. Additionally, I learned about creating assessments, specifically the pre-planning that goes into it (if pre-planning is a thing). My lesson did not lend itself well to a multiple choice style assessment which is what the assignment called for. I did my best but I worry the questions may be a bit convoluted for fourth year students. This entire assignment/experience has given me opportunity to pay attention to areas of instructional delivery and assessment that I was not aware of before. I believe it is another step forward in my development into a teacher and definitely starts me on my way to having an individualized future classroom that I feel connected with. This was one of my concerns, that I would have a lack of connection to my students or what I would be teaching in the future. Exercises like this help remedy this problem as I feel I will be invested and intentional in my teaching content, methods and instructional delivery by practicing assignments like this.
Flip lesson - ELA Standard 4.Rl.1
Flip/Google Forms - R.A.C.E. Quiz
Another example of an Instructional Delivery Exercise:
Digital Story - Weather and Graph Skills