Evidence and Commentary of
Classroom Practices

E1: The evidential artifact I created during my demonstration teaching is a Chapter 20 Close Reading Practice. After we read chapter 20 in A Thousand Splendid Suns as a class, I wanted students to examine a passage from chapter 20 to define the tone of a key relationship in the story using diction, imagery, and syntax. I believe that this showcases my competency in the instruction of the following academic language in the classroom: examine, tone, diction, imagery, and syntax. 

E1a: Chapter 20 Close Reading Practice demonstrates my competency in this area, because I understand how important the learning objective was in the lesson, which was the following: Students will be able to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings. Students will be able to analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone. Since I understood the learning objective, I decided to create a close reading practice to allow students to use their knowledge on how to define to the tone of a passage by using diction, syntax, and imagery. 

Chapter 20 Close Reading allowed students to practice defining the tone of a passage by using diction, syntax, and imagery. Since students already learned about tone, diction, syntax, and imagery in a previous lesson, I decided to give them a brief definition on the close reading for students to reference. I believe that this helped them define the tone of the relationship in the passage, since these academic languages were listed above and clearly defined. During the activity, students were engaged and participated in the activity individually. Once students were finished with their Chapter 20 Close Reading individually, they turned them into me, and I graded them based off of what they annotated and took notes on. Most students received a mastery score of 90% or higher. For the students that did not receive a mastery score or higher, I wrote specific feedback on their close readings and made a note on which students needed more guidance in mastering the academic language. 

E1b: For future use, I would have had students highlight diction in yellow highlighter, syntax in green, and imagery in blue. This way I would understand exactly which students understood what section of the passage was diction, syntax, or imagery. Therefore, I would gain data on which students mastered the learning objective and used the academic language correctly. 

E2: The evidential artifact I created that showcases differentiated instruction in the classroom are sentence stems for an online journal called Connections Notebook. This online journal is a place where students reflect on what they have written. This Connections Notebook specifically asks students to utilize an NPR article we read in the beginning of class about women and education, and write about how that connects to education in Afghanistan today. I wrote the sentence stems below to accommodate three students with autism. Sentence stems are one of the accommodations that these students have, so I decided to write sentence stems to get them started on their Connections Notebook. 

E2a: Writing sentence stems on the board to accommodate these students with autism demonstrates that I understand how to differentiate instruction to all students, including students with IEPs and 504s. Since I met with the co-teacher, we created a plan and discussed all modifications and accommodations for all students with IEPs and 504s. Since I was competent to understand this knowledge, I included writing sentence stems on the board into my lesson plan. 

All three of these students utilized these sentence stems, as well as students who did not have an IEP or 504 plan. Providing these sentence stems allowed students to organize their thoughts and focus on their writing vs. worrying about how to organize their ideas. As a result, these students felt more confident in writing in their Connections Notebook. I noticed that these students wrote more than they ever had in a Connections Notebook. I believe that the sentence stems were highly effective and I plan to use them in the future. 

E2b: Since the sentence stems were highly effective, I will absolutely use them in the future. The only thing I would modify is instead of writing them on the board, I would have them displayed on the PowerPoint presentation in order for the font to be bigger and visible to all learners. If the font is larger, then all students in the classroom, including the students with autism, and see the sentence stems better. 

E3a: Connections Notebooks demonstrates my competency in the area because I understand the platform of Google Docs. Google Docs are collaborative online documents that allows people to share their writings. I decided to have students share their Google Docs with me, because this platform allows me to highlight sections and make comments on student work. 

Connections Notebooks are highly engaging because it not only allows students the time to reflect on their own learning, but it also generates collaboration between the student and the teacher. Once students finish their Connections Notebooks, I read each entry and make comments on their work. This feedback is extremely benefitial because it lets students know what they need to work on and what their strengths are. It also prepares them for tests, quizzes, and larger writing assignments. 

E3b: In the future, I would invite students to collaborate on their Connection Notebook entries with their peers. Since I was the only one commenting on their entries, I believe that peer feedback would have been beneficial for students, since it provides cohesion, collaboration, and an opportunity for students to practice giving feedback. 

E4a: This email demonstrates my competency in professional communication with students' families because I am polite, professional, and provide them with what I will be doing in the classroom. I also provide my email if parents have questions or concerns in order to maintain that communication during the process. 

E4b: In the future, I would have continued to email parents to give updates, especially during my two week classroom takeover. I would have also loved to have a weekly newsletter to update parents on learning objectives, goals, and student work. I believe that communication and collaboration with parents is key to their child's success in the classroom.