Standard IV- Teachers Facilitate Learning For theit Students.
Element IVa. Teachers know the ways in which learning takes place, and they know the appropriate levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students.
- PLT: I work closely with my PLT partner to share lessons, discuss data, and adapt instruction based on the needs of our students. This year required us to work together even more. Each lesson needed to be adapted to the virtual environment. We had to work and learn together!
- Collaboration: I work with ESL, SPED, and AIG to ensure my students are being appropriately challenged.
- Differentiated Instruction: I provide differentiated lessons to meet the needs of individual students
- Data Driven Instruction: Using data gathered from formative and summative assessments, we created lessons targeted for our students.
- Reteaching: When the need arises, I reteach skills that have not been mastered. For example, after taking our first quarter baseline assessment, the data showed that students were struggling with plot structure. During our next unit, we adapted the lessons to include the plot structure of each chapter of the text Lyddie. Click here to see an example of an assignment guiding our students through analyzing the chapter's plot.
- EL Curriculum: I adapted the EL curriculum to meet the needs of the students in my classroom while continuing to provide standard based lessons.
- Varied Assessment Styles: Due to the wide range of skills associated with English Language Arts, I assess students in many different ways. For speaking and listening, I assess using presentations, seminars, and videos. For Writing, I assess by having the students write creatively and persuasively. For reading, my assessments are mostly written, but do include EOG styled multiple choice questions.
- Instructional Methods: Common classroom activities include direct instruction, collaborative work, PBL's, inquiry, and assignments that allow students to create and think critically.
- Instructional Tools: Below I have listed various instructional tools that I have utilized this year.
- Google Slides
- Google Docs
- Google Forms
- Google Classroom
- Google Meet (Breakout Rooms)
- PearDeck
- FlipGrid
- Padlet
- Flippity
- Kahoot
- Gimkit
- Quizlet
- Distance Learning: This year all instruction was hosted through Google classroom. Student's assignments took the form of Google Docs, Slides, Forms, videos, and more! This year really encouraged me to expand my knowledge of educational technology! I look forward to using what I learned this year in the future.
- Continued Professional Learning: To expand on my understanding of technology, I took several courses through Kyte Learning.
- Facilitated Professional Learning: I helped to facilitate a "Tech Tuesday" on organizing your Google Drive. During this time, I was able to share with staff some tips for making Google Drive more accessible and user friendly!
- Abolitionist Children's Book: This performance task required students to research a noted abolitionist and turn their biography into a story intended for children. This required students to think creatively and critically about the language that they use, their audience, and their story's appeal. Click here to see the slides associated with this performance task.
- Collaboration: I use many types of collaborative work within my classroom where students learn how to work together and have the opportunity to fine tune their leadership skills. Listed below are a few examples.
- Peer Editing Protocols - Click Here to View
- Peer/Self-Assessment (To reflect on their work both as individuals and as a group/pair) - Click Here to View
- Discussions
- Research Teams
- Digital Communication: I regularly employ a number of methods to communicate with students and parents including my email, Talking Points, Google Classroom, and interims.
- Physical Communication: In the classroom I have posted expectations, assignment instructions are always written on the board/slide, homework calendars are given out weekly (example), and all students are provided with a syllabus on the first day of class.
- I use assessments to inform my instruction. I maintain an up-to-date data spreadsheet to track student progress.
- Formative Assessments
- Exit Tickets
- Fist to Five
- Multiple Choice Quizzes
- Class Discussions
- Self Assessments
- Summative Assessments
- End of Unit Assessments
- PBL's
- Formative Assessments