Content Knowledge
Human Development and Learning
Diversity
Planning for Instruction
Learning Environment
Instructional Delivery
Communication
Assessment
Collaborative Relationships
Reflection and Professional Growth
Professional Conduct
Content Knowledge
The teacher understands the central concepts, methods of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) and creates learning experiences that make the content meaningful to students.Knowledge of content is vital for an elementary teacher. An effective teacher will have accurate and extensive content knowledge and will use this knowledge for prompting and questioning purposes. A teacher who demonstrates content knowledge will greatly impact their classroom by developing meaningful lessons while utilizing higher ordered thinking skills. This component of teaching allows educators to integrate and sew concepts across the curriculum, fostering a true sense of practical and useful practice for students.
Knowledge of content allows an educator to explore and create experiences for their students in deeper, meaningful ways. Effective teachers are then able to build on prior knowledge and to help connect and web existing schemas. I have realized through my interning experience that concepts or subjects can be applied across the curriculum, and when I created a truly integrated experience for my students, quality learning and application took place in the classroom. In order to make this experience real for students, an educator must make the conscious decision to thread together concepts in an integrated style through time and effort, achieving Charlotte Danielson’s domain of Planning and Preparation.
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Attached is clear evidence of knowledge of content that can be streamed across content areas from an integrated unit based on Women’s History Month. The document is a brief overview of two weeks of lessons.
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Human Development and Learning
The teacher understands how individuals grow, develop, and learn and provides learning opportunities that support the intellectual, social, and personal development of all students.Demonstrating a respect for learners of all ages, especially for children and adolescents, is a two fold promise. An effective teacher needs to advocate for all students as well as showing persistence and determination in helping all students learn. A teacher must comply with all of Charlotte Danielson’s domains for effective teaching in order to help all students grow. In following the four domains, an effective teacher will undoubtedly demonstrate a determination and passion for student success.
If at first you do not succeed, try, try again. This policy and commitment to learning must be believed by teachers and students alike. In my experience, I have realized that if the students see that the teacher deems what he or she is teaching to them as important and worth learning they too will believe it is important and, moreover, they will want to learn the concept. As stated before, all students do not think, learn, or experience things in the same way; therefore, goals and expectations may vary across a classroom. Extra effort, planning, and preparation is not an option for a teacher whose main concern is seeing their students succeed – it is a must. This persistent attempt to help students reach their personal excellence requires the use of abundant resources and strategies collected over years of teaching, one’s cohort, professional development opportunities, and the classroom teacher’s confidence to take risks and keep pursuing the art of education. Having organized resources, a plethora of ideas, and cutting edge strategies to encourage all students to develop their potential is another component of being an effective teacher.
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Clear evidence is shown through mentor teacher assessment that candidate demonstrates persistence in helping all students learn through use of extensive strategies and differentiation.
Assessment from Mentor Teacher
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Diversity
The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.
I believe that one of the key components of being an effective teacher entails one’s ability to set academic goals for achievement that pertain not only to the entire classroom, but to each individual student’s needs. Collecting data through pre-tests, informal assessments, and surveys are just a few simple ways to guide future instruction. By collecting concept-related data of where students are lacking and need clarification or re-teaching in order to fully develop understanding, an educator can better develop activities and lessons centered on deficient areas.
Not all students think alike – each students’ preexisting knowledge, developmental level, cultural background, personal interests, and learning modality (to name a few) vary from student to student. Therefore, an effective teacher must vary his/her style of teaching in order to maximize success and meet each students’ individual needs. Differentiation and highly engaging activities are vital attributes regarding meeting students’ needs. A teacher must use collected data to develop rich activities using a variety of resources in order to develop greater understanding of a specific concept. For example, in order to plan activities with effective results in Spelling each week, a pre-test of the words is given to the students on the Friday before the week the list of words is assigned. By analyzing the pre-test, I am able to identify high frequency problematic words that the majority of the students find troublesome. I am also able to identify the strategies used to spell a variety of words and create activities developing correct strategies and clearing up bad spelling habits. Through analyzing this data, I am able to develop more meaningful activities centered on the students’ needs for the following week.
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A sample list of 3rd grade spelling words with tallies next to the words keeping track of incorrect words on the students’ pre-test of those words. Also attached is a lesson planned to target the high frequency missed words that students need work on. This is a clear example of setting goals for individual needs and using assessment to drive instruction.
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Planning for Instruction
The teacher understands instructional planning and designs instruction based upon knowledge of the discipline, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
In order to become an effective teacher, the educator must be aware of each individual child’s skills and knowledge. It is important for a teacher to know each individual’s strengths along with their needs in order to set appropriate goals and incorporate specific accommodations or strategies for success as needed. A teacher’s role is to foster learning and for many children that includes differentiation in planning to address and appreciate the ever-changing diversity among the young minds of today’s children. An effective teacher must be highly aware of a student’s growth and progress toward set goals at all times in order to fulfill Charlotte Danielson’s domain of planning and preparation successfully in order to scaffold a student for excellence in instruction.
In order for a teacher to be highly aware of students’ strengths, interests, and needs, one needs to form a meaningful and positive relationship with their students. Students need to view their classroom and teacher as a safe environment to learn and to share their ideas and to grow. Educators have the ability to cultivate this environment – not by students seeing their teacher as a friend, but by seeing them as an adult who cares about them and who wants to help them reach their goals and succeed. By forming this type of relationship with students, teachers are better able to gain the students’ respect by in turn, respecting them, which will benefit their learning experience drastically. This relationship with furthermore entitle the teacher as the person in the students’ lives to credibly set goals for instruction, primarily set around the child’s interests, and create pathways to help guide the student on the road to achievement. I feel as though it is highly important to speak of the teacher/student relationship, as it should be a non-threatening element of the school environment and helps factor success into the student’s educational experience.
Artifact Attached
Attached is clear evidence of candidate’s sincerity of Charlotte Danielson’s Domain of Planning and Preparation. The attached is a reflection on the components of planning and preparation in the classroom.
Reflection on Domain I: Planning and Preparation
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Learning Environment
The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.Classroom management pulls plenty of weight when it comes to understanding what factors affect learning in one’s classroom. Using appropriate guidance and discipline strategies to create a positive environment is at the heart of an effective teacher. By logically and systematically managing the classroom in an authoritative style, through clearly communicated expectations, a teacher can effectively teach in their classroom. A wide range of discipline strategies may be used to create this positive environment for student growth, including, positive classroom expectations, mild desists, consequences, and rewards. The classroom environment should also include a socio-emotional peace that is aligned with Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching regarding the domain of classroom environment.
It is through my experience that I have discovered that clarity and consistency are key in implementing a successful management plan. Starting within the first days of school, a teacher must clearly focus the students’ attention on classroom rules, policy, and procedures and model consistency while implementing that plan. The first few days of school set the tone for the classroom for the entire year. As the year progresses, I have found that it is important to change the behavior system slightly in the classroom by modifying the rewards or adding challenges for behavior to the students.
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I devised a plan with my 3rd grade students that involves a ticket reward system to reinforce positive behavior. The tickets are similar to 50/50 tickets or carnival tickets and are saved for a later date for a classroom auction. Students are then able to use their collected tickets to bid on various items. Typically we held one auction a month. Attached are pictures from that auction.
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Instructional Delivery
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
Well-planned lessons are another vital component to understanding what affects learning in the classroom. Lesson plans must have standard based instructional goals set in order to plan for the actual instruction. The lesson activity is merely the avenue in which these goals are met. The assessment/attainment of goals drives the instruction. The activity within the activity must be highly innovative, energetic, and at the peak of many interests among students. The anticipatory set and engagement into the lesson often times determines the amount of focus and concentration a certain concept may receive. On the same hand, lessons need to be carried out with smooth transitions, a positive attitude, clarity, and with enthusiastic sincerity (students understand that the teacher deems the concept important while teacher maintains upbeat energy about concept).
Generic, stale, boring lessons are out. Students are craving interactive/engaging forms of learning and they are looking at their effective teacher to bring them the means to learn this way. A teacher must be knowledgeable of students’ interests and work with appropriate teaching strategies to fuse their interests with instructional goals and strategies to form meaningful, constructivist lesson plans. A teacher must be willing to think outside of the box and take creative risks to reach their students. Thorough lesson planning, where effective teachers anticipate questions, plan inquiries, an ensure higher ordered thinking is taking place through their preparation, will scaffold students to reach their goals by creating meaningful experiences and opportunities for them to achieve their best.
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Clear evidence is shown of highly creative lesson planning through mentor teacher assessment and photos. Lesson introduces novel to class through constuctivist framework.
Assessment From Mentor and Photos
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Communication
The teacher uses knowledge of effective written, verbal, nonverbal, and visual communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.
An educator, while demonstrating knowledge of content, must also demonstrate effective use of communication tools. These tools include written documentation to a parent or student that shows high enthusiasm of student success and holds a high regard to learning. Verbal communication must be acute and present in a classroom, as well. Reinforcing good thinking, excellent behavior, and personal excellence in the classroom must be communicated to students. Students must also verbally understand directions, instructions, and expectations. The third component of communication, nonverbal body language, is exceptionally important in letting students understand the teacher’s attitude about the content being taught and the students’ general disposition. A teacher’s body language can tell a student a great deal about the teacher’s attitude toward the content being taught and the teacher’s feelings on the disposition of the students.
In my experience with my third grade students, I made it a point to write positive and enthusiastic notes that encouraged and supported the students’ thinking. I would also take the time to point out examples in the students’ work that I believed were exceptional and used my communication with the students to foster their learning. By giving my students feedback on their work, via written, verbal, or nonverbal support, I am able to personally communicate with each student and help guide their learning progress in order to attain their individual goals. An effective teacher must be a proficient communicator with parents, students, and staff following Charlotte Danielson’s domains of classroom environment, professional responsibilities, and instruction.
Artifact Attached
Attached is clear evidence of positive communication with a student regarding their innovative thinking on a specific assignment. Also attached, is clear written communication to a student regarding reinforcement of learning goals and expectations set individually for that student.
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Assessment
The teacher understands various formal and informal assessment strategies and uses them to support the continuous development of all students.A vital component of understanding what affects learning in the classroom entails the utilization of multiple assessment strategies. Assessment is the key piece that drives instruction by allowing an effective teacher to set goals for their students. In order to get a full, genuine glimpse at the capabilities of a student, a teacher must allow a student to perform in various lights. Assessment must align with learning objectives and must be present in many forms. It is crucial to assess students taking into consideration multiple intelligences, performance based assessment, formal and informal assessments, summative/cumulative assessments and higher ordered assessments.
Students need a variety – variety in their lunch, their seating arrangements, their lessons, assignments, and even assessments. For their benefit, teachers need to vary their assessments as well, in order to get an accurate scope on the needs of a child. In my classroom, we use a variety of assessments – pretests, chapter tests, challenge lists, essay/short answer assessments, rubrics, multiple choice, surveys, etc. A variety of resources are used to collect assessment data and an analysis of the data takes place to form goals, lesson, and make use of needed strategies in the classroom or on a one-on-one basis with students.
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Student work is shown as clear evidence. An accumulated portfolio on the novel Mr. Popper’s Penguins shows student work for 3 weeks as concepts and ideas develop throughout book.
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Collaborative Relationships
The teacher understands the role of the community in education and develops and maintains collaborative relationships with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the community to support student learning and well-being.
Including families in the educational process in an effective way is a key component to the educational success of my students. Students spend 1/3 of their day with their teacher and the other 2/3 of their day with their families. Generating interest in academics, classroom activities, and school-wide functions at home is just as important as gaining that interest in the classroom. By communicating with families using a variety of methods, such as, newsletters, personal notes home, class webpage, phone calls, e-mails, and positive interaction as students come and go from school, an effective teacher is able to plant the educational seeds at home.
If students are able to see that their family is involved in their education, they very well may start developing their own sense of responsibility for their education. Also, it is important to let parents know what their children are learning at school and what their children are being exposed to on a daily basis. Empowering parents as to what will transpire in your classroom weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, through the use of a class newsletter will increase the opportunities for school related conversation at home and active participation at school. A school cannot function as a separate entity from a family. School is a main part of a student’s life and works hand-in-hand with family as the child grows as a member of a school. Attending school-wide functions as well as developing family centered functions in the classroom setting reinforces the what-should-be seamless fusion between families and school in the child’s educational process.
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Clear evidence is attached to support my strong advocacy in the participation of families in the educational process.
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Reflection and Professional Growth
The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates how choices and actions affect students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community and actively seeks opportunities to grow professionally.Contemplative thought upon one’s actions and the effects of those actions with the intent of ensuring students success is at the heart of the reflective school of thought. Reflecting on one’s teaching forces one to step back and look at what worked and what did not work in a lesson. Reflecting on what transpired throughout one’s day allows the teacher to adjust their teaching style or make meaningful decisions based upon the reflection. It is important to constantly think reflectively about one’s teaching in order to keep the focus on student success and effective teaching in the classroom.
It is important to have an action plan as a result of the contemplative thought upon a lesson. Action statements further commit the teacher to doing rather than just thinking about possible improvements. These changes must be appropriate and proactive to student learning and future instruction. Reflective thinking is a major component to effective teaching. This is the component in which a teacher realizes how to be effective, creates a plan, and follows through with improvements to impact student learning in a meaningful way. Constant reflection written on lessons planned, lessons implemented, a teaching journal, a response to a critique from a fellow teacher or principal, or viewed through a video taped lesson are just a few avenues one is able to reflect on their teaching. Reflection should take place daily in order to prepare for future instruction to be implemented the next day, week, or even at times, for the next month.
Artifact Attached
Modification to teaching style due to mentor teacher’s suggestion as noted in mentor’s assessment.
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Professional Conduct
The teacher understands education as a profession, maintains standards of professional conduct, and provides leadership to improve student learning and well-being.I believe that it is highly important for an effective teacher to develop positive working relationships with their teaching cohort, school service team, educational support staff, and the university supervisor. In order to develop these positive relationships, an ongoing mindset of Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching, specifically Domain 4 – Professional Responsibilities, must be present. Any person that is involved with the education of any of my students – currently, in the past, or possibly in the future – should be sought after. And moreover, any person who may benefit my student to reach their full potential as a life-long learner must seriously and sincerely be approached in a positive and mature manner. Fellow teachers are a resource for creative thinking, lesson planning, materials, and advice. Maintaining a positive/familial outlook with such a cohort will in return benefit my students. Working collaboratively and effectively with administration and service teams will ensure the success of my students through a variety of avenues available at a service level.
Another key person that I have successfully communicated with and have effectively portrayed a positive disposition with is my Professional Development Liason/Illinois State Teaching Supervisor, Michael Muren. By developing this relationship, I have realized the abundant advantages in utilizing his resources and moreover, his experience and advice. By creating this positive relationship, Mr. Muren is able to critique and support my lessons in a comfortable, non-threatening way. These critiques and guidance only help my students and better develop my teaching along the road of effectiveness. He is able to scaffold my teaching and mold my abilities in order to align them with Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching. By maintaining a positive, working relationship and environment with Mr. Muren, I am therefore keeping in mind the best interest of my students.
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Michael Muren has assessed my lessons in a live setting using Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching as the rubric. Attached is an assessment that displays the positive reinforcement, encouraging suggestions, and the obvious freedom to openly propose honest feedback.
