Artifact: Teacher Work Sample (External Artifact)

Performance: 4(a) Effectively uses multiple representations and explanations that capture key ideas in the discipline, guide learners through learning progressions, and promote each learner’s  achievement of content standards.

4(f) Evaluates and modifies instructional resources and curriculum materials for their comprehensiveness, accuracy for representing particular concepts in the discipline, and appropriateness for his/her learners. 

4(h) Creates opportunities for students to learn, practice, and master academic language in their content.

Essential Knowledge: 4(l) Knows and uses the academic language of the discipline and knows how to make it accessible to learners.
4(n) Has a deep knowledge of student content standards and learning progressions in the discipline she teaches. 

Critical Dispositions: 4(o) Realizes that content knowledge is not a fixed body of facts but is complex, culturally situated, and ever evolving. She keeps abreast of new ideas and understandings in the field.
4 (r) Is committed to work toward each learner’s mastery of disciplinary content and skills.

Description: My Teacher Work Sample (TWS) is an entire unit on quadratic equations taught to  my period three blue day students at Mt. Blue High School. The TWS includes five lessons, handouts, pre-assessments, formative assessments, a summative unit exam, reflections, and other instructional decision making tools. My TWS contains clear learning goals and objectives linked to the Common Core Math Standards and Common Core Teaching Standards.

Rationale: My TWS uses a variety of assessments, activities, explanations, graphic organizers, in class practice sheets, and other planning documents designed with the intention to have my students meet all of their learning goals. Each lesson was aligned and designed to meet content standards and help students progress and master the academic content and terminology in the math classroom. My large amount of formative assessment reflects my understanding that instruction must not be fixed but responsive to student needs to better serve them. My use of reflection tools an the ability for students to assess my teaching strategies demonstrates that I am working towards constantly modifying my instruction and becoming a more competent professional. 

Artifact: Self-Made Graphic Organizers and In Class Problems

Performance: 4(b) Engages students in learning experiences in the discipline that encourage learners to understand, question, and analyze ideas from diverse perspectives so that they master the content.
4 (g) Uses supplementary resources and technologies effectively to ensure accessibility and relevance to all learners.

Essential Knowledge: 4(k) Understands common misconceptions in learning the discipline and how to guide learner's to accurate conceptual understanding.
4 (l) Knows and uses the academic language of the discipline an knows how to make it accessible to learners.

Critical Dispositions: 4(p) Appreciates multiple perspectives within the discipline and facilitates learners’ circle analysts of these perspectives.
4 (q) Recognizes the potential bias in her representation of the discipline and seeks to appropriately address the problem of bias. 

Description: Throughout the semester for each of my six classes I created numerous graphic organizers and in class problems to help my students learn the terminology, systematic process, and key skills in each of their individual lesson and units. Using my knowledge of my students I created guides that highlighted misconceptions and important information to help them develop stronger note taking and information gathering skills.

Rationale: After I gave my students a survey at the beginning of the semester about their learning preferences and other personal information I noticed that many of the students were struggling to do the self-guided learning required in a flipped classroom. In order to better serve my students I began creating my own in class practice problems and graphic organizers to help students organize and understand information as they learned new skills. Incorporating graphic organizers and other in class problems allowed me to modify them to meet my students needs and highlight areas of difficulty for my students and remove misconceptions and increase the use of proper terminology. Creating these documents and getting student reactions from them allowed me to see where they were struggling compared to my knowledge of the subject and let me look at the problems with a different lens.