Standard #7: Planning for Instruction
The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.
Artifacts:
Reflective Statement:
Most days, a teacher can be found after school hours planning and preparing for the next day. Much thought has to go into every lesson. This standard emphasizes the importance of careful planning. Teachers must select from many different resources in order to try to reach every student in their class.
The artifacts that I chose are from my student teaching experience at Dyersville Elementary School. My artifacts relate to standard seven because each artifact shows my well thought out lesson plans that pull in both content and curriculum knowledge. My lessons clearly show how much time and effort it takes to teach a lesson. Most of the artifacts state the time in which the lesson will be occurring, along with the steps of the lesson. At the start of my placement, my teacher and I talked about each lesson and planned together. By doing this, she was able to give me more knowledge about the curriculum, since she had taught it already, and give me advice on what does and does not work. Now that I am further along in my placement, I ask my cooperating teacher questions if needed and run different ideas by her. I have discovered that she is a valuable resource in my planning. She knows the ultimate goals of the curriculum, and the pace of the students' learning. As I plan each lesson, I have to think how I will be able to address every student's learning needs. When planning, I try to use many different resources. Using a variety of instructional methods such as videos and activities where students get to move around, engage students a lot more than just lecturing at them. I have found my lesson planning to be vital to my teaching. Anyone can pick up a book and start teaching from it, but not everyone can make sure that the students actually learn the content. My lesson plans help to break down the content into the most important parts. They also help me see where I am going to have to differentiate my instruction. By making these well thought out plans, I am able to see where some students are going to struggle more than others, and thus make adjustments to my teaching.
These artifacts show my development as a teacher in a number of ways. First, I have learned how prepared one needs to be in order to teach a lesson. The teacher needs to have mastered the content in order to teach it. Second, I have learned all of the different elements that go into planning a lesson. Aspects such as objectives, time, learning differences, and classroom management all go into preparing a lesson. Lastly, I have learned how important it is to use different resources. These resources include different mediums, books, and my cooperating teacher.
The artifacts that I chose are from my student teaching experience at Dyersville Elementary School. My artifacts relate to standard seven because each artifact shows my well thought out lesson plans that pull in both content and curriculum knowledge. My lessons clearly show how much time and effort it takes to teach a lesson. Most of the artifacts state the time in which the lesson will be occurring, along with the steps of the lesson. At the start of my placement, my teacher and I talked about each lesson and planned together. By doing this, she was able to give me more knowledge about the curriculum, since she had taught it already, and give me advice on what does and does not work. Now that I am further along in my placement, I ask my cooperating teacher questions if needed and run different ideas by her. I have discovered that she is a valuable resource in my planning. She knows the ultimate goals of the curriculum, and the pace of the students' learning. As I plan each lesson, I have to think how I will be able to address every student's learning needs. When planning, I try to use many different resources. Using a variety of instructional methods such as videos and activities where students get to move around, engage students a lot more than just lecturing at them. I have found my lesson planning to be vital to my teaching. Anyone can pick up a book and start teaching from it, but not everyone can make sure that the students actually learn the content. My lesson plans help to break down the content into the most important parts. They also help me see where I am going to have to differentiate my instruction. By making these well thought out plans, I am able to see where some students are going to struggle more than others, and thus make adjustments to my teaching.
These artifacts show my development as a teacher in a number of ways. First, I have learned how prepared one needs to be in order to teach a lesson. The teacher needs to have mastered the content in order to teach it. Second, I have learned all of the different elements that go into planning a lesson. Aspects such as objectives, time, learning differences, and classroom management all go into preparing a lesson. Lastly, I have learned how important it is to use different resources. These resources include different mediums, books, and my cooperating teacher.