The ability to make content meaningful to students is crucial to their understanding of basic concepts. Through the use of varying teaching methods, teachers can keep their students interested in the material; repetitive strategies will cause students to lose interest in the subject matter, and will likely lead to poor performance. The first INTASC principle exists to ensure that educators have a deep understanding of the content they will be teaching, and that educators are capable of creating lessons and classroom experiences that will make the material taught in class meaningful to all students. Planning a variety of learning experiences includes much more than different lessons; the lessons need to differ not only in content, but in the exercises students undertake to learn content. Teachers are expected to be knowledgeable of the subject they will be teaching, but their knowledge should not be limited to the material they will be teaching the students. Students ask questions in every class period, and questions asked by students are unpredictable. Because teachers are unable to predict their students questions they must have subject knowledge that is greater than simply the curriculum material. The role of the teacher in the classroom is to facilitate student learning, whether it be through direct instruction or a constructivist student centered approach. In order to maintain the attention of students in the classroom, activities must frequently differ. For example, although reading may be required for a portion of the lesson, the inclusion of group discussion, silent reading, graphic organizers, and whole class discussion can break up the routine exercise of reading. Using different instructional methods in the classroom can have incredible benefits. Students that are continuously using the same strategies in the classroom will quickly dislike the class, and may also begin to dislike the subject. The ability to use different instruction can prevent students from labeling school as a routine activity.
Artifact A is a unit plan that was created during a class I completed at Towson University. The unit plan was intended for a class that had students at varying proficiency levels. This artifact demonstrates my proficiency in this principle because I have included specific examples of material I want students to learn. With knowledge of English comes the knowledge of what is important within the subject, and I have included these important things within my unit. The unit plan guides students through the novel The Giver while also teaching them tools that are essential to becoming literate in the content. For instance, while students are reading The Giver in its entirety, they are also summarizing portions of the text in order to both demonstrate their comprehension of the novel and practice locating and recognizing important information within texts. My knowledge of my content area allowed me to recognize the importance of students being able to successfully summarize long and difficult texts. The goals I have set for students align directly with state standards of education. Students' ability to summarize and paraphrase texts are included in the state curriculum. While only a small portion of the English content area can be taught in a single school year, the knowledge efficient instructors have of their content allow them to distinguish what is important for their students to know to prepare them to continue school or enter the workforce. This unit plan has a positive impact on student achievement because it ensures they are meeting goals that I have set for them that align with state standards of learning. Various methods of assessment are included to allow the instructor to see the progress of their students. Instead of simply using summative assessments toward the end of the unit and novel, students are frequently assessed in order to determine what areas of student learning need more attention. The unit plan uses informal methods of assessment to allow students to openly express their knowledge of the content that they may not feel comfortable writing about. Informal discussion allows students a medium of talking to the instructor and relaying problems that they may be having. This unit plan demonstrates the "planning instruction" aspect of the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle because I used information gathered in classes and real world experience to plan an effective unit for my students. Planning instruction allows instructors the opportunity to assess their own work, and allows time to include methods of differentiating instruction for learners of different proficiencies. The artifact demonstrates my ability to plan instruction with the intent of reaching students of different ability levels, and my ability to plan instruction that adheres to state standards of education to ensure students are learning necessary skills.
Artifact B is a unit plan that was created during a class I completed at Towson University. The unit plan was intended for a class that had students at varying proficiency levels. This artifact demonstrates my proficiency in this principle because my unit plan contains many different methods of teaching, and contains many different types of assessment. By using different methods of instruction, students do not find themselves dreading the same boring class. Students will find themselves interested in the content of the lessons if direct instruction is not consistently used. When students are put in charge of their own learning they find that the material is more important to them. While direct instruction has content being given to students with a one way method, students teaching themselves can lead to different types of learning. My unit plan also includes varying types of instruction which will also help with motivating students, and ultimately making the content more meaningful. Students that find themselves completing the same tasks repeatedly will not put forth their best work. Students will figure out what the teacher wants to hear and abandon higher level thinking in an effort to write formulaic responses that instructors want to read. By allowing student different mediums to share what they have learned, students will find themselves more interested in sharing their learning, and will not find the exercises repetitive and unimportant. This unit plan has a positive impact on student achievement because it makes an effort to make content meaningful to all students. Students that are actively engaged in the classroom have an incredible advantage over students who are consistently learning through direct instruction. Highly motivated students are more interested in classroom content, and perform at higher levels than those who are not motivated to be in the classroom and to learn. The unit plan makes an effort to appeal to all students. Students with high reading proficiency and low reading proficiency are both considered, and the content is adjusted to ensure all students feel important in the classroom. This unit plan demonstrates the "planning instruction" aspect of the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle because I used information gathered in classes and real world experience to plan an effective unit for my students. Planning units allows time for instructors to consider all of the students in their classroom. With planning, teachers can ensure that the material they are sharing with their students is interesting and important. Students that do not see the meaning behind content are unmotivated and unlikely to learn. Planning based on the needs of students allows teachers to consider these factors and plan accordingly.
Making Content Meaningful
A. Understands the central concepts of the discipline to be taught, and
B. Plans a variety of learning experiences that make subject matter meaningful for ALL students
Reflection
Reflection on INTASC 1.docx
- Details
- Download
- 13 KB
The ability to make content meaningful to students is crucial to their understanding of basic concepts. Through the use of varying teaching methods, teachers can keep their students interested in the material; repetitive strategies will cause students to lose interest in the subject matter, and will likely lead to poor performance. The first INTASC principle exists to ensure that educators have a deep understanding of the content they will be teaching, and that educators are capable of creating lessons and classroom experiences that will make the material taught in class meaningful to all students. Planning a variety of learning experiences includes much more than different lessons; the lessons need to differ not only in content, but in the exercises students undertake to learn content. Teachers are expected to be knowledgeable of the subject they will be teaching, but their knowledge should not be limited to the material they will be teaching the students. Students ask questions in every class period, and questions asked by students are unpredictable. Because teachers are unable to predict their students questions they must have subject knowledge that is greater than simply the curriculum material. The role of the teacher in the classroom is to facilitate student learning, whether it be through direct instruction or a constructivist student centered approach. In order to maintain the attention of students in the classroom, activities must frequently differ. For example, although reading may be required for a portion of the lesson, the inclusion of group discussion, silent reading, graphic organizers, and whole class discussion can break up the routine exercise of reading. Using different instructional methods in the classroom can have incredible benefits. Students that are continuously using the same strategies in the classroom will quickly dislike the class, and may also begin to dislike the subject. The ability to use different instruction can prevent students from labeling school as a routine activity.Artifact A
Unit Plan (For Portfolio).docx
- Details
- Download
- 23 KB
Artifact A is a unit plan that was created during a class I completed at Towson University. The unit plan was intended for a class that had students at varying proficiency levels. This artifact demonstrates my proficiency in this principle because I have included specific examples of material I want students to learn. With knowledge of English comes the knowledge of what is important within the subject, and I have included these important things within my unit. The unit plan guides students through the novel The Giver while also teaching them tools that are essential to becoming literate in the content. For instance, while students are reading The Giver in its entirety, they are also summarizing portions of the text in order to both demonstrate their comprehension of the novel and practice locating and recognizing important information within texts. My knowledge of my content area allowed me to recognize the importance of students being able to successfully summarize long and difficult texts. The goals I have set for students align directly with state standards of education. Students' ability to summarize and paraphrase texts are included in the state curriculum. While only a small portion of the English content area can be taught in a single school year, the knowledge efficient instructors have of their content allow them to distinguish what is important for their students to know to prepare them to continue school or enter the workforce. This unit plan has a positive impact on student achievement because it ensures they are meeting goals that I have set for them that align with state standards of learning. Various methods of assessment are included to allow the instructor to see the progress of their students. Instead of simply using summative assessments toward the end of the unit and novel, students are frequently assessed in order to determine what areas of student learning need more attention. The unit plan uses informal methods of assessment to allow students to openly express their knowledge of the content that they may not feel comfortable writing about. Informal discussion allows students a medium of talking to the instructor and relaying problems that they may be having. This unit plan demonstrates the "planning instruction" aspect of the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle because I used information gathered in classes and real world experience to plan an effective unit for my students. Planning instruction allows instructors the opportunity to assess their own work, and allows time to include methods of differentiating instruction for learners of different proficiencies. The artifact demonstrates my ability to plan instruction with the intent of reaching students of different ability levels, and my ability to plan instruction that adheres to state standards of education to ensure students are learning necessary skills.Artifact B
Unit Plan (For Portfolio).docx
- Details
- Download
- 23 KB
Artifact B is a unit plan that was created during a class I completed at Towson University. The unit plan was intended for a class that had students at varying proficiency levels. This artifact demonstrates my proficiency in this principle because my unit plan contains many different methods of teaching, and contains many different types of assessment. By using different methods of instruction, students do not find themselves dreading the same boring class. Students will find themselves interested in the content of the lessons if direct instruction is not consistently used. When students are put in charge of their own learning they find that the material is more important to them. While direct instruction has content being given to students with a one way method, students teaching themselves can lead to different types of learning. My unit plan also includes varying types of instruction which will also help with motivating students, and ultimately making the content more meaningful. Students that find themselves completing the same tasks repeatedly will not put forth their best work. Students will figure out what the teacher wants to hear and abandon higher level thinking in an effort to write formulaic responses that instructors want to read. By allowing student different mediums to share what they have learned, students will find themselves more interested in sharing their learning, and will not find the exercises repetitive and unimportant. This unit plan has a positive impact on student achievement because it makes an effort to make content meaningful to all students. Students that are actively engaged in the classroom have an incredible advantage over students who are consistently learning through direct instruction. Highly motivated students are more interested in classroom content, and perform at higher levels than those who are not motivated to be in the classroom and to learn. The unit plan makes an effort to appeal to all students. Students with high reading proficiency and low reading proficiency are both considered, and the content is adjusted to ensure all students feel important in the classroom. This unit plan demonstrates the "planning instruction" aspect of the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle because I used information gathered in classes and real world experience to plan an effective unit for my students. Planning units allows time for instructors to consider all of the students in their classroom. With planning, teachers can ensure that the material they are sharing with their students is interesting and important. Students that do not see the meaning behind content are unmotivated and unlikely to learn. Planning based on the needs of students allows teachers to consider these factors and plan accordingly.Content