EVIDENCE #1 - Life of the Child Conference - "Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not All in Your Head," Workshop Itinerary & Guide.

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DESCRIPTION: I attended a two day workshop led by Dr. Carla Hannaford, biologist and educator. The workshop focused on developmental neuroscience research and techniques we could use as educators to enhance learning. Hannaford is a scientific and educational leader bringing into focus the paradigm of body/mind unity for optimal learning. The workshop took place at the Lake Champlain Waldorf School in Shelburne, Vermont in 2013. She has written a number of books including, Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not All in Your Head, which I will reference in my analysis below. This was an interactive workshop for educators with group and individual exercises to put into practice the key concepts covered to improve the quality of learning in our classes. Moreover, the workshop highlighted that the body/mind connection is of profound importance in understanding child development and education, thus I submit it for supporting evidence for Teaching Standard #1 regarding Learner Development.

ANALYSIS/REFLECTION: This was an inspiring, useful and enlightening workshop. The concepts we dove into resonated with me and reinforced some teaching approaches I have taken over the years such as engaging students through movement activities and using all the senses. As an artist, it is natural for me to utilize a variety of materials and supplies in my instructional activities. I also aim to set up instructional outcomes to successfully engage diverse learners and encourage deep inquiry, which utilizing movement in instruction supports. The "Life of the Child" conference tied in with educational training I had done previously, on a pedagogy called Universal Design for Learning with VSA Vermont, now known as Inclusive Arts Vermont. Universal Design for Learning focuses on differentiated instruction. Instruction is modified in order for the content to be accessible to all students through offering a variety of learning activities, materials and tools. In essence, there are different options to engage with the content, acquire knowledge and demonstrate learning.

Dr. Hannaford's overarching premise was that to cultivate successful, joyful learning for all, we must unlock the potential of the body to grow the brain. She asserted that simple and practical movement, enriched/appropriate sensory environments and human connection are key ingredients for establishing positive life long learning habits. We explored motor development in children, from before they are born to the feat of a baby raising its head to crawling for example, which is an important cross lateral activity. The reason that this is important, she pointed out, is because it directly impacts brain development, specifically of the corpus callosum (the nerve pathways between the two hemispheres of the cerebrum). Hannaford referred to the cerebrum as "Command Central," of the human brain. I learned about fascinating brain anatomy and of utmost interest to me was that the cerebrum is covered by the neocortex, a thin layer like that of an orange. The neocortex, while comprised of three types of neurons mainly, contains ten to twenty billion or more nerve cells and these are held together by eighty to one hundred billion "neuroglia cells," which form a supportive mesh. This mesh is very active, even if we do not feel it, using one and one half pints of blood every sixty seconds while burning 400 calories every day. The neocortex has unlimited ability to form new pathways and reorganize patterns from new experiences throughout life. The flexible nature of the brain was something I had heard about, its " neural plasticity," as it is referred to, but had not examined up close until then.

I believe this information is crucial to understanding how learners grow and develop so that when planning and preparing lessons and learning activities, movement can be integrated to help learners maximize meaning, nurture cognitive development and develop healthy learning habits. Dr. Hannaford stressed that movement "awakens and activates many of our mental capacities. Movement integrates and anchors new information and experience into our neural networks," (Hannaford, Carla. Smart Moves. Why Learning is Not All in Your Head, Great River Books, 2005. p.107). All this points to more engaged learners, which is one of the most important goals of my teaching. Movement also provides access to content for learners across diverse cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional and physical development levels. Lessons can be differentiated to support the success of different learners with diverse strengths.

I continue to learn more about this and plan instructional activities engaging the whole learner as often as possible. The summer following this workshop, I had the opportunity to lead a week long summer learning program for the Burlington School District in their Summer Soar program. I worked with over 200 elementary age students and their teachers. Many of the motor activities we practiced in the workshop, such as cross lateral knee to elbow matching called "The Cross Crawl" and drawing figure eights sideways, called "Lazy 8's" were integrated into my lessons. I also ask the learners and teachers participating if they have movements they would like to share, encouraging student initiation.

This evidence demonstrates my command of this teaching standard because it addresses how learners grow and develop through a workshop I attended and then use of the techniques learned in a teaching residency the following summer. As I grow as a teacher, I would like to learn more about movement and learning and continue to read about neuroscience and learning.

EVIDENCE #2 - High School French 1 Lesson. Created new unit and led lesson on theme of "The Home."

DESCRIPTION: This took place during a teaching internship I arranged in the winter of 2019 at Middlebury High School. It brought up some relevant developmental questions in terms of content and lesson preparation. Through this process, I prepared a unit plan and led the introductory lesson on the theme of "Home." The teacher, Madame Steele, was fabulous to work with and I learned much from her mentorship through observing, teaching, discussions with her and another foreign language teacher at the school, as well as from participating in her day to day responsibilities. I also learned from some of her students, one of whom assisted me in learning how to create a Google slide show. She needed to finish verbal assessments with many students on this day, so she asked me to lead the class, while she would be in the adjoining nook.

Up until this point in the collaboration, I had been co-teaching parts of classes with her, thus, this was a great opportunity for me to plan and lead an 80 minute class of 18 high school students. In preparation for the class I sent her a few emails and asked, "how many students, general "atmosphere", how often do you have to get their attention etc..? What kind of cues do you use to indicate transitions?" This was crucial information to gather in advance for proper planning in line with the Danielson"Cluster #1 Focus," clarity of instructional purpose and accuracy of content, according to the Framework for Teaching clusters.

She let me know, "there are 18 students, big class, mixed group, some behavior issues/kids who don't want to be there. Generally they are good with a little redirection, they have assigned seats for that reason! I teach mostly in English in French 1, except if I am doing CI or TPRS. I often have them repeat things after me like you did with the geography lesson the other day. "

In addition to the above information for planning and preparation, I asked for input regarding how to appropriately address the topic of "family," which would be part of the unit plan about "The Home." I learned some strategies to avoid getting into territory that might be challenging for some students. The information conveyed below by Madame Steele, helped me address several points in my planning regarding Danielson's Domain 3 of Instruction, specifically 3a, 3b, and 3c pertinent to "Student Intellectual Engagement."

Madame Steele let me know that she could, "talk more about the family unit and sensitivities, I have a couple of strategies I use, but the most important being that I never really ask them to describe THEIR families. I use a lot of pictures of famous families (like the Incredibles, the royal family) and use those as prompts. No family tree assignment...."

Here's a chronology of what I planned for this French I class comprised of various grades. In communicating with my mentor teacher ahead of time to address instructional points 3a (Communicating with Students including expectations for learning, directions and procedures, explanations of content, use of oral and written language), 3b (Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques including quality of questions, discussion techniques, student participation), and 3c (Engaging Students in Learning including activities and assignments, student groups, instructional materials and resources and structure and pacing,) I was able to prepare and lead an engaging class.

ANALYSIS/REFLECTION: In order to grasp the composition of the class, to prepare for instruction, I communicated with the teacher in advance to gather information. This was important to recognize the development level of the class I was preparing for, anything to be aware of,especially since I did not have prior relationships with the students.

I learned it was a multi-grade class with some behavior challenges. I also learned to veer away from specific family stories in my learning activities when teaching the content knowledge. I researched the standards and planned several different student centered activities for the class that were developmentally appropriate and engaging learning experiences.

In an effort to make the class informative, successful, challenging and enjoyable the lesson included group work, getting up and moving around, and the start of a final project to be carried out throughout the unit. According to the assessments at the end of class, the project activity proved to have a high level of appeal. See these "Exit- Tickets," under Teaching Standard #6: Assessment.

While the student group work established interaction with the vocabulary of the class lesson, and reflected pride in student's effort, I could see I needed to work on strategies for transitions between different class activities. I noticed some time was lost on explaining directions for the project, which began 2/3rds of the way into the 80 minute class. Madame Steele provided helpful feedback at the end that in addition to verbalizing the directions to get started, having them in writing as well would be beneficial in the future. She also supported me with managing student behavior from one youth that joined the class midway through and needed a number of re-directions.

Relating to the theory of "Bloom's Taxonomy," the second level of learning is to understand, after remembering. Thus the actual writing and drawing of new words learned, translated into this competency and provided an avenue for active intellectual engagement in an engaging, collaborative way.

Overall, Madame Steele's input was very valuable both before and after the class. This reflects my proficiency with understanding of how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually (within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas), to design and implement developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences because of careful planning, creation and delivery of the lesson. In the future, I will clarify expectations in advance, for students joining part way through a class to minimize disruption. I also will provide directions in both written and verbal format for clarity and to reach different types of learners.

Click here for Teaching Standard 2