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.
JFGTradeBookEssay.pdfJFGBooklistEssay.pdfThis essay was written for my Edu 311 Literacy In the Disciplines course at Trinity. For this essay I chose and discussed a trade book that I could use in my own English Language Arts classroom. I discuss the skills that are promoted through reading it, the style the book is written, and the students/classrooms that the book would be appropriate for.
This essay shows that I am able to "evaluate teaching resources and materials for appropriateness" (2I). This essay also shows that I am able to "use differing viewpoints and methods of inquiry in teaching subject matter concepts" (2J). This essay shows proof of this through my explanations on what grade levels the text would be appropriate for and my explanations on how the author's choice of writing style promote students to think critically as they read and work with the topics/issues presented throughout the text.
By writing this essay I learned how to determine what texts/materials are appropriate for the students in my own classrooms in addition to what skills/abilities can be developed as my students read the texts/materials I choose to introduce and read in my classroom. The ability to choose appropriate texts/materials is important for an educator to be able to do since different texts/materials promote the growth of different skills/abilities. As an educator I have to be able to choose the correct materials that promote educational growth for my students in the classroom in addition to being able to determine if a text is appropriate to be read in class regarding content appropriateness and relatability to my students.
This booklist essay was written for my Edu 312 Middle Grades Literacy course at Trinity. For this booklist essay I researched and created a list of 10 Fiction and 10 Non-Fiction texts that would be appropriate for use in middle grade through high school classrooms. I discuss what the content of each text is, how each text may be relatable to real scenarios and interests of students, and how the texts connect to other content areas and life experiences.
This booklist essay shows that I "understand the relationship of knowledge within the disciplines to other content areas and life applications" (2D). It also shows that I am able to "evaluate teaching resources and materials for appropriateness as related to curricular content and each student's needs" (2I) and that I can "facilitate learning experiences that make connections to other content areas and to life experiences" (2N). This essay shows proof of this through my explanations of how other content areas are present in the text. The essay also shows proof in my explanations on what life experiences' my students may have encountered or are currently living that are represented and discussed in the texts.
By writing this essay I learned how to incorporate other content areas into my own classroom through the texts that my students may read. I also learned how choose relevant texts that contain real life experiences that my students may be facing/experiencing in their own lives both inside and outside of the classroom. This is important to my development as an educator because if I am aware of and incorporate other content areas into my own classroom it opens the possibilities of collaboration with other teachers from other disciplines/subjects and I am also able to help my students to see other people's viewpoints who are facing the same real life experiences/issues as they are in addition to stimulating students' interest in the materials/texts being read in class.