During my first placement of student teaching I planned many learning segments for students. Specifically for EDUC 499 we were asked to complete a mock task 1 and task 3 edTPA on a specific learning segment. For my learning segment I taught Finding the LCD of two Rational Expressions, Adding Rational Expressions, and Subtracting Rational Expressions. For this learning segment I planned all of the lessons and assessments making sure I accounted for all students in the classroom. Specifically being sure to give accommodations to students with IEP’s and 504 plans. I also had both students in person and online so I had to plan my notes for the lesson in a way that would be accessible to both students online and in person. This demonstrates my understanding of the content to be able to plan my learning segment and how I can meet all of my students needs and learning goals in the classroom through learning segments.
For my first placement of Student Teaching in Bradford, PA my teacher asked me to plan out an entire unit that I would be teaching throughout my placement. The Unit that I planned was Chapter 5, Polynomials for the Algebra 2 classroom. For this I had to read the textbook that is used at Bradford and look at all of the key topics of polynomials to then break the chapter into lessons and plan how long each learning segment would take to complete in the classroom. For each topic I then developed all of the notes and material that we would cover in Chapter 5 with the help of my Cooperating teacher. This unit plan included all lessons, assessments, projects, and reviews in all of Chapter 5. Once I made my unit plan my cooperating teacher gave me advice on how long students usually take learning material and where I should maybe add a day of instruction and where I could maybe subtract a day of instruction. As I taught the material I also made additional changes to the unit plan based on students learning and how my cooperating teacher and I thought where they were content wise. This demonstrates my knowledge of the content area to be able to read the information and make lessons and assessments for the students. I also had to plan the pedagogy I wanted to use in all of my lessons and what I through would be best for the students. Lastly it demonstrates my knowledge of the learners ability to be able to plan how long the lessons with take and talking with my colleague to see his opinion on the learners ability.
During my second student teaching placement in Springville middle school I was challenged to show material in a new light through my Math Labs. In Springville students have a regular math class where they are taught the material and also have a math lab where teachers go over various topics and help students to practice their skills. My teacher had 3 Math Labs built into her schedule per day and it was my responsibility to plan them. This meant that I had to see what topics the students were learning about that week and connect those concepts to an activity that would allow students to practice these skills they have learned. These Math Labs gave me many opportunities to plan how I can make the content they were learning in math class related to real world problems that they would have to solve. One specific lesson I taught was in 8th grade Math Lab on the topic of graphing a line from a table of values and finding the equation. I made this relatable by having students figure out what the cheapest vacation option was for me to go on my spring break. Students were excited to have an option and related to conversations about travel and how students could budget and figure out what is the cheapest option. This lesson showed planning my content knowledge because students were required to graph using a table of values and find the equation, but we got to discuss topics other than math and what students thought about different travel vacations. This also related the material they were learning to real life and how it could be applied.
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