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TPE3: At its best, I think education, especially the study of English, is a shared process of exploration into questions of metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology. What is the "good life," and how can we cultivate pockets of flourishing? What are humans actually for? What is truth? How can we apply (and delight in) the truths that we learn? These are the questions at the heart of the humanities, inviting us to cultivate a deeper sense of reality and personhood.
TPE3: At its best, I think education, especially the study of English, is a shared process of exploration into questions of metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology. What is the "good life," and how can we cultivate pockets of flourishing? What are humans actually for? What is truth? How can we apply (and delight in) the truths that we learn? These are the questions at the heart of the humanities, inviting us to cultivate a deeper sense of reality and personhood.
In light of these overarching questions, I aim to teach English with an interdisciplinary lens; English is so much richer when history, philosophy, psychology, natural science, etc., have a place at the table of literacy learning. As such, I design my lessons with the intent to help students learn the appropriate registers of academic discourse, make thoughtful, real-world connections to the text, and sensitize them to the power of language to convey meaning across all disciplines.
In light of these overarching questions, I aim to teach English with an interdisciplinary lens; English is so much richer when history, philosophy, psychology, natural science, etc., have a place at the table of literacy learning. As such, I design my lessons with the intent to help students learn the appropriate registers of academic discourse, make thoughtful, real-world connections to the text, and sensitize them to the power of language to convey meaning across all disciplines.
TPE 3.2
TPE 3.2
In this activity, I asked students to work in teams to complete a "Power of Punctuation" hierarchy. This got them to consider how punctuation alters/stops sentence flow.
This “Do Now” activity was highly successful because it forced students to reflect on how they’ve used (and misused) common punctuation in the past. It built on students' prior knowledge about the distinction between dependent vs. independent clauses (see below). During the review discussion, there were several differences of opinion between teams that I used as “teachable moments." For example students could not agree on how to use a semicolon. This gave me the chance to write down an example sentence and clarify why it is distinct from a colon.
TPE 3.5
TPE 3.5
Incorporate academic language within learning activities
In this handout, I gave students the first 5 minutes of class to identify the difference between independent and dependent sentences. To do this, students had to tap into prior knowledge about clauses and parts of speech.Then, I had them compare answers as I cold-called students to fill out the handout as a class. I created this worksheet for them to change up the start-of-class rhythm (the question of the day had started to feel stale) and offer some extra support to students whose written assessments reflected their lack of understanding of these foundational grammar rules.
TPE 3.8
TPE 3.8
Demonstrate knowledge of educational technology standards
To help my students review key concepts from prior units, I designed and facilitated Kahoot quizzes. Take a look at a few of the questions on the left. As you can see, these questions asked students to build on their prior knowledge about the difference between theme and topic, which, according to assessment data, was a literary distinction they regularly struggled with over the course of the term. In this way, I helped them consider prior in-class texts and adjusted my instruction to engage and accommodate the learners needing a little extra practice.
Take a look at how I structured the Research Project Unit below, which asked students to read and synthesize a variety of credible sources. Students spent a lot of time working independently on synthesizing their research into a coherent, engaging presentation. Among other skills, this unit fulfilled CCSS W.10.8, RI.10.6, and SL.10.5. Check out a student's sample annotated bibliography here, where they organized their citation, summary, and evaluation of each source according to MLA formatting.
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