IL Professional Teaching Standard 7 Artifact: Jennifer Government Booktalk

This artifact was chosen because I believe it reflects my ability to use "effective written, verbal, nonverbal and visual communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration and supportive interaction in the classroom".  This booktalk was written to publicize one of the book selections nominated for the  Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award as well as introduce students to some of the themes in the book.  This book was chosen for its potential to spark conversation amongst students and their peers and I believe that my use of props related to the theme would encourage classroom participation in addition to the questions I would ask.  In addition, I  believe the accompanying flyer effectively communicates the intended theme of the book.  This booktalk was created and presented in a class on school librarianship in the spring of 2009.  I have learned that booktalking is a great way to not only generate interest in literature but to get students actively thinking and talking about books and the themes found in them as well. 

IL  Professional Teaching Standard 8 Artifact: Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism: In-Text Citations

This lesson was the second part of the initial lesson on plagiarism and intended as an extension of the paraphrasing activity.  The objective of this lesson was to help students understand that all concepts and ideas used in papers that are not the students' originals are to be cited.  This lesson also incorporated elements of hip hop culture (in the form of a plagiarized song "written" by me) as well as "exit tickets" and practice worksheets to assess student understanding.  The most important lesson I learned from this activity was to include instructions on assessment tools.  Although we went over work expectations during the practice example and before the students began working on their assignment, there were several students for whom seeing it in writing would have helped them understand the objective better.

IL Professional Teaching Standard 9 Artifact: Childhood Obesity: An Interdisciplinary Unit

This unit was created as part of the final project for a middle school teaching class.  I collaborated with other pre-service teachers in my class who represented the following disciplines: physical education, language arts and mathematics.  This artifact was chosen because I believe it demonstrates cross-curricular collaboration and (if implemented) is demonstrative of the ways in which educators of different disciplines can work together to create an effective learning climate within the school.  I learned the importance of communication during the collaboratory process and how the differences in methods (in-person, via telephone, online, etc.) can either help or hinder the process.  The nature of this class (on-line) made understanding intent challenging in the absence of the nonverbal cues that help drive meaning.  In addition, I also learned about the importance of reviewing the lesson plans of the colleagues you collaborate with to ensure that each component achieves the goal of the unit.

IL Professional Teaching Standard 10 Artifact: Student Teaching Journal excerpts

I believe that my student teacher journal is the most accurate reflection of this standard because it highlights my participation in "professional dialogue and continuous learning to support" my development as a learner and teacher.  I have learned a great deal during my placements and plan to use this information to strengthen those areas that need improvement.  I have learned a lot about myself as an educator and those environments and factors that influence student learning. 

IL Professional teaching Standard 11 Artifact: Tiny Url, NING Websites

I have achieved this standard during my placement by actively sharing the knowledge and skills I have obtained over the years as a public librarian.  I have helped my cooperating teachers use technology to improve student's access to information as well as use it to foster student participation in extracurricular activities.  For example, I have taught the cooperating teacher-librarians how to use the NING social networking site to create sites for the book and poetry clubs and use the site tinyurl.com to shorten lengthy urls.  I have been an active participant in the after school poetry club and plan to continue to assist the  cooperating teacher-librarian.