Evidence 1. STEM Lesson PlanThrough a collaboration with the science education department at Virginia Tech, I worked with four biology education students to write and present an engineering design lesson that incorporated both biology and algebra I standards. In this lesson, students were tasked with developing a natural filter that would lower the turbidity (transparency level) of water in the Duck Pond, a local body of water. To do so, students investigated slopes of various filters (representing the grade of certain locations) and modeling practical situations with equations.
This relates to Standard 7 because I planned instruction that supported every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of my content area and curriculum. This lesson was designed for students in Algebra I and Biology. I recognized that not all Biology students are in Algebra I, so I planned the mathematical content to be slightly more challenging than what is generally expected of an Algebra I student. I made sure that these lessons were still accessible to every student, but the learning goals were rigorous. For example, the students were modeling their data with linear, quadratic, and exponential regression equations. Algebra I standards only cover lines and curves of best fit, but I felt that it was important for students to see that not all real world scenarios can be modeled with lines and curves. This shows that I base instruction on goals that reflect high expectations, conceptual understanding of the subject, and the importance of learning. In this lesson, students were also given various slopes and were tasked with determining how to set up their filters at the given slope. This drew upon their knowledge of slope from middle school mathematics. To design this lesson, I had to understand what prior knowledge my students would have about the content. This shows that I link objectives for instruction to prior student learning. I included standards from multiple mathematics courses in this lesson plan to show that I select appropriate student objectives for lessons consistent with division guidelines and the Virginia Standards of Learning. The connections I made to previous mathematics courses also shows that I match content taught to overall curriculum scope and sequence. I also planned instruction that supported every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon cross-disciplinary skills and the community context. I worked on designing this lesson with four Biology education students. Together we had to determine how to highlight both mathematics and biology learning goals. We explicitly stated the objectives for both content areas in the lesson. This shows that I design appropriate learning activities that are clearly connected to instructional objectives. We also designed this lesson in a way that related directly to the student’s community. The problem we gave them was about water quality in a local body of water that our students would be familiar with. The EPA letter we gave students to introduce the problem gave them a real-world context from the very beginning of the lesson. The water students were testing was even taken directly from the Duck Pond. This shows that I use available resources to link student learning to the community. This lesson was intended to be taught over three class periods. We had to be explicit in how long each activity would take and which class periods we expected tasks to be completed. Every part of the lesson includes actions the teacher is doing along with actions the students are doing. We also provided students with a rubric that explained our expectations for their final presentations and individual written work. This shows that I develop lesson plans that are clear, logical, and sequential. In addition, this lesson shows that I support every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon pedagogy and knowledge of learners. In this lesson, we listed accommodations we would make for various learners, including struggling learners and EL students. We also planned to group students based on their prior knowledge. For example, since I was expecting students to do more advanced mathematical work than what is generally expected of Algebra I students, I intended to place students who were in higher level mathematics courses in different groups so that students could support one another in learning throughout the lesson. This shows that I plan for learning opportunities that accommodate different learning styles and performances modes. This evidence is important to me because it really did challenge me in the design process. I was not very comfortable with the Biology content when we first started planning and had to rely heavily upon my teammates for this aspect of the lesson. As the only mathematics teacher in the group, the mathematical pedagogical decisions came down to me. I had to be assertive and confident in my ideas to make sure that the mathematics was not lost among the four Biology teachers contributing to the lesson. This planning process encouraged me to think outside the box and look at mathematics from a different perspective. I enjoyed being in the position of both a student and teacher throughout the process. |
Evidence 2. Calendar PlansDuring my full student internship, I worked on long range planning by writing calendar plans for every month that I was teaching. In these plans, I listed the mathematics unit, activities students would be doing, assessments, homework, and the SOL that would be the focus of each class period. I wrote these plans knowing that they would change as the month progressed, but it was nice to have a place to start when writing each individual lesson plan. I had these calendar plans completed before the start of the month.
This relates to Standard 7 because it shows that I plan instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas and curriculum. To write long range plans, I had to understand exactly what my students needed to learn and how much time it would take for instruction. In the Math 8 calendar plan, you can see that I wrote in specific guidelines directly from the Virginia Curriculum Framework on the types of transformations students would be expected to learn. This shows that I select appropriate student objectives for lessons consistent with division guidelines and the Virginia Standards of Learning. I also planned to introduce concepts with investigative tasks that develop conceptual understanding before moving to procedural understanding. To do this, I needed to understand the mathematics content and how to best present it to my students. This shows that I base instruction on goals that reflect conceptual understanding of the subject. Having a plan that extends across the entire month shows that I match content/skills to overall curriculum scope and sequence. While these plans did not always match the final product of my daily lesson plans, it helped me to look at the big picture and plan the order of instruction within each unit. I also had to take into account factors such as field trips and SOL testing days. This shows that I develop lesson plans that are clear, logical, and sequential. This evidence is important to me because my calendar plans became the center of my planning. Every day I would review the plan and make notes on how the lesson had changed based on what I had originally planned. Green days are lessons that I got to implement and yellow days are lesson plans that were already written and ready to be taught. I constantly edited my plans to keep them aligned with what I was actually doing in the classroom. Both my cooperating teacher and the two special education teachers I worked with referenced my plans frequently to stay updated on what I was planning for the classes. It helped keep me focused on the big picture as I wrote individual lesson plans as well. I could focus on writing purely investigative tasks without worrying about procedures because I knew that I had already planned for practicing the skills later in the week. It was a great organizational skill that gave me direction and ease in lesson planning. |
Evidence 3. Geometry Lesson with 5 PracticesI designed this lesson as an investigative activity for students to develop the formula for finding the sum of the interior angles of a convex polygon. Students were asked to look for patterns in the sum of the angles of various convex polygons. It is an open ended task that the students were able to approach in multiple ways. I wrote out possible student solutions and how I would sequence these strategies during the class discussion ahead of time so that I was prepared for using the students’ ideas throughout the class. I also included accommodations for ELs, students with ADHD, gifted students, and struggling learners.
This relates to Standard 7 because it shows I plan instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, and pedagogy. In this lesson, I had an explicit learning goal that I wanted students to reach, but I allowed them to approach the given task in multiple ways so that they were in control of their own learning experience. As an open ended task, this was more challenging, but I had planned questions to ask to help advance students. This shows that I base instruction on goals that reflect high expectations, conceptual understanding of the subject, and the importance of learning. In this lesson, I also planned instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon the community context. I started out the lesson by giving my students a real world application, in which they had to determine how many degrees a tour guide would turn on their tour of Virginia Tech. This relates to the student’s community because as high school students they are going on college tours and this was written for students in the Blacksburg area, who are familiar with the college campus. This shows that I use available resources to link student learning to the community. Finally, this lesson shows that I plan instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of learners. I included accommodations in this lesson plan for multiple types of students. For example, ELs would be encouraged to use pictures to explain their thinking, gifted students would be given less guided questions, and struggling learners would be given a chart to help organize their thoughts for the exploration. This shows that I plan for learning opportunities that accommodate different learning styles and performance modes. This evidence is important to me because it shows my ability to design open-ended, investigative tasks for all types of learners. To write this lesson, I had to think about how each individual student would approach this task, what questions would help advance their thinking, and what accommodations certain students would need. There were a lot of components of this lesson and I was proud and the connections I made to help each student reach the learning goal. |