The Penn State teacher plans instruction and assessments designed to foster student understanding and development.

In regards to Domain A, I always aim to plan a nurturing and stimulating environment for all learners and selecting appropriate instructional materials.  The activities I incorporate usually give students the chance to work in small groups or with a partner to foster a cooperative learning environment.  All the tasks asked of the students in my lessons required active participation.  Many of the tasks were also inquiry-based, in which the children were responsible for teaching themselves and one another.  They were actively engaged during direct instruction and individual practice and knew what was expected from them.  In addition, my plans included many different resources, outside materials, and instructional technologies.  I included the school’s curriculum, math manipulatives, replicas of historical documents, word wall cards of important terms, videos, Prezis, smart charts, the computer lab, SMART board, document camera, and various other resources to aid in instruction. I now understand the principles of learning, development, and diversity to plan for instruction and assessment.  I was able to assume the students' prior knowledge and develop lessons appropriately from that point.  Lessons are differentiated based on student learning level, heterogeneous groupings, the principles of multiple intelligences, and student choice to offer many alternatives to help students succeed.  I always try to plan lessons that effectively meet the needs of each student instructionally and in regards to the assessment.  By utilizing my list of students with special needs in my class, I can write down distinct plans to accommodate each child so it is clear to all how I will implement them.

The teacher demonstrates an understanding of subject matter and subject-specific pedagogy during planning.

I chose this paper to show the development of my lesson and the research I did to gain an extensive understanding of the topic. As part of my planning for my science unit, I researched biomes in great depth.  By going beyond learning the information I need to know for teaching my students, I was able to get a comprehensive understanding of the subject.  Therefore, if any students had questions that went beyond the scope of the textbook, I would have the background knowledge to answer them.  In addition to having the knowledge base to answer students' questions, I was prepared to anticipate students' misconceptions by researching other teachers' prior experiences with teaching biomes in addition to the specific subject.

The teacher uses principles of learning and development, and understanding of learners and learner diversity during planning of instruction and assessment.

RTI is inherently differentiated to allow for the optimum student development in reading.  This specific set of lessons is aimed at a Tier 2 reading group of only twelve students.  We aim to focus on one skill per lesson, which requires modeling the skill for the students and then having them repeat it as a whole group.  These lessons follow a very structured sequence upheld through the entire story to meet the students' needs.  This group works best at a slow and steady pace and the instructions must be explicit and direct. In order to plan lessons for this group, I need to take into account that the low level reading skills make the teaching of basics necessary.  Each lesson includes an emphasis on the fundamental reading, writing, and speaking skills the students need to be successful readers.  To assess the students' gains in reading, I measure their fluency by having them read aloud and their comprehension through response questions.

The teacher uses relevant community, district, school, and classroom factors and characteristics in planning.

This podcast was created by myself and the other Penn State students in the Huntingdon School District.  Through various teacher interviews and our own research on the school and the surrounding community, we were able to describe the relationship between these factors and their effects on students' learning in the classroom.  By gaining a deeper understanding of the school's culture, I am able to plan my teaching to accomodate the needs of my students.  To facilitate my efforts as a teacher, I think it is necessary to embrace the characteristics that make each school unique.  This project gave me a comprehensive understanding of the community, school, district, and classroom factors of this school that I must be aware of to ensure my teaching has a positive impact on the students.

The teacher develops and selects appropriate instructional goals and objectives.

Instructional goals and objectives make the purpose of teaching clear and it is important to share them with your students.  For my government unit with third graders, I outlined the specific objectives and goals I have for them.  The objectives and goals are matched with the appropriate Pennsylvania standards.  Developing a list of my goals for student learning helped me to create a unit that meets specific objectives and follows the corresponding standards, while at the same time including engaging and fun instructional tasks and activities.  The outline also makes me more aware of my expectations, so I can relay those to my students for a successful unit.  Planning this unit showed me the how citing all the goals and objectives before teaching ensures cohesive plans that use the best possible activities and tools to reach the end goals.

The teacher designs coherent short range and long range opportunities for student learning and assessment.

The individual lessons in this unit each contained their own learning goals and chances for student learning.  Before, during, and after each lesson, the students were assessed based on their background information and the knowledge they gained through the lesson's teaching and activities.  With various opportunities present for assessment, each child had the chance to demonstrate his or her learning in a different way.  There were assessments aimed towards visual, kinesthetic, musical, and logical learners in addition to the standard methods of assessment.  Each lesson presented a short range learning goal accompanied with assessment that fit into the larger unit goals.  Short range assessments were designed to be congruent with the long term goals for student learning and assessment.  Creating this unit has given me a more developed understanding of the importance in planning consistent and meaningful short range and long range opportunities for students to grow as learners.

The teacher selects, adapts, and/or creates appropriate instructional resources and materials, including instructional technologies.

The Everyday Mathematics series presents various opportunities to incorporate different instructional tools and technologies.  For this math lesson, students used geo boards and rubber bands as manipulatives to demonstrate symmetry in shapes.  After students completed the journal practice page, I was able to review as a whole group using the SMART Board.  The SMART Board provides an visual representation of the problems from their journal page.  Children are involved as they get to share their answers on the SMART Board while the rest of the class checks their work.  The SMART Board gives students the chance to use technology to share their work and instruct their peers.  The hands-on manipulatives and the interaction application of the SMART Board are great resources to use to reach the learning style of every student.  I believe technology and other instructional resources help teachers meet each child's needs because of the vast amount of possibilities they present.

The teacher plans for an inclusive, nurturing, stimulating, and academically challenging learning environment.

During the second half of my student teaching placement, I began the transition to full-time teacher.  Part of this transition for me included organizing the classroom in a way which worked best for my teaching style and expectations.  With the students' best interest in mind, I rearranged the desks into new groups and a new formation.  My main focus was having every student facing forward so I can have each child focused on my instructional area.  This focus will create an environment with active learners and participants and will allow me to manage each child's learning more easily.  For the students who have a difficult time remaining attentive, I placed their desks at the end of the groupings so they would have less distractions surrounding them.  I placed students with varied learning levels together at the same table set to ensure that each grouping would have equal abilities for tasks when they were expected to work together.  Also, I allowed students to pick the name of a country to designate to their group to create an environment in which every student feels included as part of the group.