T: Knowledge of Teaching

Teacher candidates have knowledge of teaching, which is evident through:

1: the use of standards-based assessments, which are analyzed using formative, summative, and self-assessment strategies.

2: intentionally planned lessons that are personalized.

3: the use of multiple instruction strategies, which are conscientious of students’ ability levels and cultural backgrounds.

4: the use of integrating effective technologies to create technologically proficient learners.

My understanding of standard T:

Standard T is concentrated on the teacher’s ability to teach with awareness of their students. To positively impact students learning the teacher must be aware of actual student comprehension. When teachers “test” student comprehension using formative assessments, summative assessments, and self-assessments strategies the students have fair advantages to be able to display their knowledge gained. Assessment allows the teacher to gather how well he/she is helping the students meet the learning targets or whether he/she needs to pick up the slack where instruction might not have been clear. All students deserve instruction that is personalized, culturally responsive, and appropriate. Teachers can do this through differentiated instruction and using multiple teaching tools, which helps challenge all students, but still allows all students to succeed and meet objectives. Being aware of student needs and abilities needs to happen before differentiated instruction will be effective. The use of technology in a classroom is essential, at times and if applicable. The teacher should stay current with technological advances, what technological opportunities the school provides, and how to use technology to create technologically proficient learners. How technology can work within each classroom is something all teachers should have in their toolbox.

T1: When I was in high school my favorite classes were English, where I never remember having any large accumulative tests after reading novels. When I started my internship I was very surprised by the large tests that my mentor teachers gave their tenth grade core English students. It took me a few weeks to understand the rationale behind it. After a week of daily discussions on George Orwell’s 1984 were I tracked my students learning through “checking for understanding” questions on the larger novel concepts, themes, motifs, and symbols, I decided it was time appropriate within the novel to stop and give a short quiz on the details. Most of the students were able to follow along during discussion and add to the conversation, but when I graded the tests a large percentage of the students who were actively participating in class did not know the basic plot line and failed the assessment. I struggled with why they were not getting it. The next week I asked students to take two sticky notes and place one up at the top of the page of where they were in the book. The issue was that most of them were not reading! Being able to feed off the questions I was asking them and the study guide questions they were answering was enough to help them understand the text enough to fool me into thinking they were caught up within the novel.

Giving quizzes on vocab and basic plotline, and a final test over the whole novel, while also having students write short essays, do in-class projects, and participate in small and large group discussions should help me understand where students are struggling. Whether students are not getting the material because they truly do not understand, due to my teaching abilities, or whether they are not reading should be apparent through multiple assessment strategies.

While reading novels the students are given formative assessments, like Word Vomit prompts as bell-ringer activities, “check for understanding” questions, which I provide during discussion, and also “I learned…” and “clear and unclear” statements are also helpful to gain awareness of student proficiency. Summative assessments, like tests and quizzes, keep me knowledgeable on how I can help students by giving them more one-on-one help or in-class reading time to catch up on readings. Some students don’t have conducive reading environments at their homes, and so it is sensitive to provide weekly in-class reading time for those students. Lastly, I have asked students to complete self-assessments after large group discussions to help facilitate their own learning and this helps me understand if they were prepared for the discussion or not.

*Example of Sticky note placement

**Example of self-assessment on large group discussion

T2: Within my school district we have a semi-flexible curriculum guide, which requires (in the English Department) certain novels to be read, certain essays to be written, and certain terms and concepts to be mastered. Since there are limited books and all the English teacher of the same grade must teach the certain novels the teachers have to sign up to use the novels throughout the year. This is what caused issues for me while trying to help students set relevant and doable goals for the novel units.

For instance, I have four classes of tenth grade core English classrooms. My first period class I would call high functioning students. My fifth and sixth period classes did have some low level learners and some high functioning students, but the majority of students were middle level. Those classes were able to complete reading, learn terms and concepts, and have meaty discussions in a regular pace. Those classes were expected to keep track of daily work, due dates for assignments and reading, and if they have questions on grades they were expected to inquire before or after class. My fourth period class is the smallest class of twenty five students—usually around twenty due to absences, counselor appointments, and truancies— who are mostly low level learners. These classes needed extra time on discussions, extra time on assignments, and more one-on-one help. I was able to provide more help to these students by discussing their grades with them and asking them how they could improve. I was able to give more one-on-one instruction. Yet, the issue of slowing down the curriculum to match their needs was not possible because whether they were low or high learners the next teacher on the list to receive the novels was expecting all the books on the same day. This caused great angst for me while trying to accommodate all students and their needs.

Example of Standard Based Learning

T3: The population at my school is mostly middle to upper-class Caucasian or Asian students, but every year the minority population is rising. The school is less than twenty years old and the condition is pristine and has little effect of the school budget cuts. Although the school has a clean polished look and most other district envy the student opportunities the school I am interning at has the same problems as all the others: lower test scores and reading and writing difficulties. In hindsight, I wish I would have compiled my classroom and student characteristics form in the first week in school. This would have given me a greater opportunity to know which students had IEPs, 504s, and ADHD and what their needs were, but I completed and had this discussion with my mentor teachers toward the middle of my internship. When I start my own classroom this will be my first priority.

Classroom and Student Characteristics

Out of all of my classes, my first period class has the longest attention span, which is probably to do with them being half asleep. My fourth, fifth, and sixth period classes have short 10-15 minute attention spans so the more diverse in my teaching strategies I am the more my students stay engaged on the topic. I have learned to keep my lectures between fifteen and twenty minutes maximum, otherwise the classroom behavior starts to come loose at the seams. On the other side of the pendulum, I have learned that switching instruction methods more than three times during a period can cause a high-strung and anxious environment, where the students are confused. I have come to a happy medium where the students flourish. Having a bell-ringer activity up on the overhead when they come in, then having direct instruction, followed by our activity or discussion keep students engaged and interested.

T4: Technology within a school system is invaluable as much to students as to teachers. As a professional in any field it is important to stay updated on new technology advances that can help benefit your own career. As expressed regularly to students their career is school. They are required to be there five days a week and to complete their tasks. For technology to be applicable to students they have to be able to understand what types of technological advances can help benefit their daily school life.

For my students to be able to do their job correctly, which are their daily, weekly, or unit goals I use different avenues of technology. At the beginning of every class their daily objectives are up on the document camera, which is my most used piece of technology. Students are able to benefit from this device by not only being able to visually see what I am asking them to do, but also it is a way to share peer work and give visible instruction and examples.

Another example of the use of technology to help my students with their daily academic lives is the use of the Zangle online system. Students are able to access their grades online from school and from outside computers so they can track their grades, their homework assignments, and chat with peers to exchange notes missed from class (when absent). This helps students stay accountable.

One way technology has helped us to further our understanding of the uses of English in the “real-world” is by daily writing assignments on Dell Notebooks. The last two weeks we have delved into the world of Journalism where we are dipping our fingers into what it is like to writing different types of newspaper articles, have deadlines, to interview, and a few other applicable newspaper jobs. We have been able to use Dell Netbooks, which are mini-laptops, in the classroom each day where we complete a new article per day. We have also been using these computers to upload documents to my personal “drop box”, so our assignments are turned in through the network share system. We have gone “paperless”.  Students have also used Microsoft Publisher to create their personal newspaper. Students are able to see and create a direct correlation between the written English language, technology, and a career application.

*****Example of student rough draft article written for newspaper