Standard Six: Reading, Writing, and Oral Communication
The competent teacher has foundational knowledge of reading, writing, and oral communication within the content area and recognizes and addresses student reading, writing, and oral communication needs to facilitate the acquisition of content knowledge.
Artifact & Reflection
Both of these artifacts pertain to Standard Six: Reading, Writing, and Oral Communication. These artifacts are appropriate because they both incorporate reading strategies followed up by writing responses and sharing the historical information with their peers.
The first artifact is a Lesson Plan and PowerPoint about the many faces of President Andrew Jackson. This applies to Knowledge Indicator B: understands that the reading process involves the construction of meaning through the interactions of the reader's background knowledge and experiences, the information in the text, and the purpose of the reading situation AND Knowledge Indicator F: recognizes the relationships among reading, writing, and oral communication and understands how to integrate these components to increase content learning AND Knowledge Indicator H: understands how to use a variety of formal and informal assessments to recognize and address the reading, writing, and oral communication needs of each student.
This artifact is appropriate because it incorporates instruction of reading strategies and context clues, writing and processing of the content, and critical thinking through discussion. In the lesson plan, I have made the text red to indicate reading, writing, and oral strategies into the lesson. For example, students will draw from background knowledge and context clues to label pictures of President Jackson; classify political and social facts using their prior knowledge, textbook reading skills, and peers; and discuss, as a whole, their rationale of which face of Jackson represents his Presidency best (Indicator B). During the moments when students need to use context clues and reading strategies, the teacher will scaffold those strategies and walk around formatively assessing the use of these strategies as the students complete the worksheet (Indicator F+H). Throughout the entire lesson, students will critically engage in dialogue with their peers using the textbook and teacher presentation and end with a discussion of their supported opinions.
This artifact supports my growth as a teacher because I purposefully incorporated reading, writing, and oral communication skills into a history lesson. The interdisciplinary lesson demonstrates growth beyond my traditional content area. I am able to recognize and create lessons that implement and scaffold critical thinking strategies.
The second artifact is a Lesson Plan and Guided Reading Packet on Ancient India. This artifact applies to Performance Indicator E: uses modeling, explanation, practice, and feedback to teach students to monitor and apply comprehension strategies independently, appropriate to the content learning AND Performance Indicator H: integrates reading, writing, and oral communication to engage students in content learning.
This artifact demonstrates my growth in reading, writing, and oral communication skills, one year later, and is more appropriate than the first lesson plan. In this lesson, I am purposefully deciding to use this instructional method to teach reading skills for lower level students in a freshman history class (Indicator H). Prior to passing out the packets, I will review the reading strategies on a projected strategy sheet. The textbook will be open to the start of the chapter and I will first model the strategies then scaffold the strategies with the class. I will formatively assess their understanding while they work in groups on their assigned section in the reading packet (Indicator E). Not only do students practice their reading comprehension skills in this three day lesson, they will have to present their sections to the class. Thus, they get to practice their communication skills so their peers can take notes on the historical material.
This artifact demonstrates my growth because I have designated a three-day lesson heavily involving reading practice in a history classroom. Typically, teachers will use lecture to teach the students content, but in this lesson I am making them accountable for their learning, and they get to practice reading and communication skills. This is a great example of an interdisciplinary lesson.
The first artifact is a Lesson Plan and PowerPoint about the many faces of President Andrew Jackson. This applies to Knowledge Indicator B: understands that the reading process involves the construction of meaning through the interactions of the reader's background knowledge and experiences, the information in the text, and the purpose of the reading situation AND Knowledge Indicator F: recognizes the relationships among reading, writing, and oral communication and understands how to integrate these components to increase content learning AND Knowledge Indicator H: understands how to use a variety of formal and informal assessments to recognize and address the reading, writing, and oral communication needs of each student.
This artifact is appropriate because it incorporates instruction of reading strategies and context clues, writing and processing of the content, and critical thinking through discussion. In the lesson plan, I have made the text red to indicate reading, writing, and oral strategies into the lesson. For example, students will draw from background knowledge and context clues to label pictures of President Jackson; classify political and social facts using their prior knowledge, textbook reading skills, and peers; and discuss, as a whole, their rationale of which face of Jackson represents his Presidency best (Indicator B). During the moments when students need to use context clues and reading strategies, the teacher will scaffold those strategies and walk around formatively assessing the use of these strategies as the students complete the worksheet (Indicator F+H). Throughout the entire lesson, students will critically engage in dialogue with their peers using the textbook and teacher presentation and end with a discussion of their supported opinions.
This artifact supports my growth as a teacher because I purposefully incorporated reading, writing, and oral communication skills into a history lesson. The interdisciplinary lesson demonstrates growth beyond my traditional content area. I am able to recognize and create lessons that implement and scaffold critical thinking strategies.
The second artifact is a Lesson Plan and Guided Reading Packet on Ancient India. This artifact applies to Performance Indicator E: uses modeling, explanation, practice, and feedback to teach students to monitor and apply comprehension strategies independently, appropriate to the content learning AND Performance Indicator H: integrates reading, writing, and oral communication to engage students in content learning.
This artifact demonstrates my growth in reading, writing, and oral communication skills, one year later, and is more appropriate than the first lesson plan. In this lesson, I am purposefully deciding to use this instructional method to teach reading skills for lower level students in a freshman history class (Indicator H). Prior to passing out the packets, I will review the reading strategies on a projected strategy sheet. The textbook will be open to the start of the chapter and I will first model the strategies then scaffold the strategies with the class. I will formatively assess their understanding while they work in groups on their assigned section in the reading packet (Indicator E). Not only do students practice their reading comprehension skills in this three day lesson, they will have to present their sections to the class. Thus, they get to practice their communication skills so their peers can take notes on the historical material.
This artifact demonstrates my growth because I have designated a three-day lesson heavily involving reading practice in a history classroom. Typically, teachers will use lecture to teach the students content, but in this lesson I am making them accountable for their learning, and they get to practice reading and communication skills. This is a great example of an interdisciplinary lesson.