Shelley Black

Dr. Cook
EDSE 584
9 April 2018
Program Standard I Synthesis: In depth Subject Matter and Content knowledge
History
I look at the History standards to hold myself accountable and ensure my lessons
are tightly intertwined with them. I make use of this standard in my daily teaching by
always providing my students with a variety of sources, so they learn to recognize
patterns, make connections, make sense of contradictions, and interpret multiple
historical points of view (Wineburg, x). Instead of giving my students terms to memorize,
I focus on helping students uncover the past and make it relevant to their personal lives
and experiences (Loewen). The first artifact I chose is my unit plan on "The Dust Bowl"
from EDSE 558. This demonstrates how I give my students a variety of sources to guide
them to interpret and analyze multiple historical and contemporary viewpoints. The
second artifact I chose is my unit plan from Internship B. This demonstrates how I was
able to integrate stories of specific dictators to help students form a holistic conception
as well as introducing my students to a set of conflicts and guiding them to form
connections and recognize patterns of historical change and continuity.
o Artifacts: Unit plan (cooks class), Unit plan (internship B)
Civics
The Civics standards help me to think about my teaching by focusing on teaching
my students how having a knowledge of civics benefits them as human beings. Civics
provides learning opportunities for students to learn skills that they can use to
participate in a civil society (Saye, 33). I make use of this standard in my daily teaching
by going above the basic features of America's political system and guiding my students
to analyze rights and responsibilities of citizens and evaluating how individual behavior
connects with global systems and public policies. The first artifact I chose is my final
paper from Political Science 591. This paper demonstrates how I understand and apply
the concepts of role, status and social class to describe the connections and
interactions of individuals, groups, and institutions in society. My second artifact is the
jigsaw presentation on teaching government and civics to ELL's from EDSE 729. This
demonstrates how I guide my learners in understanding their rights as citizens and how
the use of primary sources can assist students in understanding basic concepts of our
government.
o Artifacts: Political Science final paper, government and civics jigsaw
presentation
Geography
The Geography standards help me to think about my teaching by making sure I
am going above basic geographical terms and concepts and reaching what the
indicators cover. I make use of this standard in my daily teaching by guiding my
students to make connections between people, places, regions, and environments. The
first artifact I chose was my geography unit plan from Internship A on migration. This
artifact demonstrates how I was able to give students the opportunity to analyze
characteristics and migration of the human population as well as human needs, values,
and culture, through a series of lessons. The second artifact is a collection of short
papers from Geography 598. This artifact demonstrates how I can explain connections
between historical events and geographic concepts and analyze interactions of people
and their environments.
o Artifacts: Migration Lesson Series, memo from class
Economics
The Economics standards help me to think about my teaching by evaluating the
connections I am making in my lessons to economic concepts. I make use of this
standard in my daily teaching by making historical connections to the indicators as well
as highlighting how my students can apply economic concepts to greater historical
events and themes. The first artifact I chose is a series of lessons about
Industrialization, specifically highlighting the "book making" activity. This artifact
demonstrates how I was able to make connections with economic concepts to greater
historical themes before and during the Industrial Revolution, such as individual artisan
production, division of labor, and labor unions. The second artifact I chose is a series of
lessons about the interwar period and totalitarianism. Specifically highlighting the
totalitarianism project, this artifact demonstrates how I was able to assist my students in
analyzing totalitarian dictators and answering the fundamental questions of production.
o Artifacts: Industrialization book making activity and lessons before/after,
interwar period/totalitarianism lesson/ project
Social/Behavioral Science
The Social Science standards help me to think about my teaching by reflecting
on my lessons to ensure I am including the components that the indicators cover. I
make use of this standard in my daily teaching by providing my students with a variety
of resources and tools to explore different perspectives about events and plan
discussions that illustrate appreciation for diversity and unity in society. In the Social
and Behavioral Science classes, there are sometimes difficult topics that we will have to
cover such as slavery, gangs, genocides, etc. Lee Ann Potter explains in "Teaching
Difficult Topics with Primary Sources", that the best way to get around difficult topics is
to use primary sources to engage students and alleviate the discomfort of emotionally
charged topics (Potter, 286). The artifacts chosen are a lesson plan created in
Sociology 598 along with my final paper. In my lesson plan I encourage students to
develop a different perspective on integration by examining a variety of resources and
statistics about the topic. The discussion exposes students to a variety of firsthand
accounts and teaches the importance of learning about diversity and different cultures.
The final paper demonstrates my in-depth evaluation of the discrimination that
individuals and groups of people face in the South Carolina school system and its
effects.
o Artifacts: Lesson taught in class (midterm), final paper

Program Standard II Synthesis: Instructional Strategies & Resources That

Promote Student Learning
The second standard, instructional strategies and resources that promote student
learning, helps me to think about my teaching in several different ways. By following this
standard closely, I believe that you can have a successful and strong classroom. This
standard pushes me to evaluate the strategies and resources I am using in the
classroom and ensure that they are all centered around student learning. It also makes
me more intentional with helping my students to make connections between what I am
teaching to their own lives and real-world experiences. In order to help students form
these connections, we must figure out what they already know so that they can build
bridges to the new material (Feathers, 92). As a teacher, it is crucial to model your
pedagogy around connecting students' lives and past experiences into the classroom
(Medina, 3). I make use of this standard in my daily teaching in many ways. The biggest
thing that stands out to me about these standards, that I do daily, is to provide multiple
opportunities for my students to demonstrate their knowledge. Every student learns
differently, and while some students perform well on tests and quizzes, other students
perform better on projects and daily in class assignments. For each unit that I have
planned during my internship, I have made sure to include a variety of strategies to
accommodate all students. For each unit I gave one reading quiz every week and a half
to two weeks, incorporated about 2 projects, group activities, and individual
assignments such as graphic organizers and analyses of primary sources. I also made
use of emerging technologies that supported student learning. Over the course of my
internship I have had students create PowToon's, movie trailers using iMovie,
storyboards, and interactive maps. I enjoyed using project based learning because
when using PBL, “students drive their own learning through inquiry”, work
collaboratively with other students, and are able to reflect on their own knowledge while
building their communication and problem solving skills (Bell, 39). A majority of these
are group projects because group work allows for the teacher to become a
moderator/facilitator, as opposed to taking on the familiar role of the teacher as an
“expert/presenter/lecturer” (Zemelman, 260). The two artifacts I chose that illustrate how
I make use of different instructional strategies and resources that promote student
learning are my strategy spotlight on Found Poetry from EDRD 732, and my historical
novel project based off the book "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" from EDSE 729. My
first artifact, strategy spotlight, demonstrates how I can use unique and a variety of
strategies in my classroom to engage my students as well as expand their
communication through reading and drawing. This also demonstrates how I give my
students opportunities to display their knowledge through different products and
performances because they could highlight and circle whatever key words and phrases
stood out to them personally, and they can draw any type of picture they want that they
think represents the reading. My second artifact, historical novel project, demonstrates
how I expand students understanding of a global issue, the holocausts, through primary
sources and stimulating discussion that helps students articulate their ideas and form
questions. It also demonstrates how I make use of emerging technologies through the
mapping activity to further student learning.
• Artifacts: Found Poetry – Strategy Spotlight, Historical Novel Project

Program Standard III Synthesis: Knowledge of Students and An Appreciation of

Their Diversity
The third standard, knowledge of students and an appreciation of their diversity,
is one of the most important standards to me. Students are diverse in many different
ways, such as “intellectual ability, social and emotional background, language
proficiency, racial background, cultural background, and physical attributes” (Conley,
pg. 31). It helps me to think about my teaching because without having a knowledge of
your students' diversities, having a successful classroom will be difficult. It also helps
me to think about my teaching because building a classroom environment where
students feel safe and accepted is important to me, and to do this I must have an
appreciation of my students' diversity. Getting to know my students helps me to avoid
letting myths about socioeconomic groups and races control my thinking. These myths
can make teachers, sometimes unknowingly, create low expectations for certain
students and define them by their weaknesses instead of their strengths (Gorski, 34). I
make use of this standard in my daily teaching by showing respect for all my students
regardless of their family beliefs and values. During classroom discussions I ask
questions and show students that I am interested in their unique opinions about
historical topics, modeling the behavior that I want my students to display towards one
another. It's important to have conversations about diversity in our classroom, even
though sometimes these topics can be tough, they can help to create an anti-bias
environment in the classroom and continue to understand your students better
(Flanagan, 64). I also use my understanding of my students cultures and backgrounds
to guide my teaching in order to better accommodate my students (Delpit, 285). The first
artifact I chose is my long range plan. My long range plan demonstrates my knowledge
for all students in all 6 of my classes at AC Flora. It shows each classes different
ethnicities, socio-economic status, gender, and academic levels and how I can analyze
this data to design, adapt, and deliver instruction that addresses students diverse
learning strengths and weaknesses. It also illustrates how I am able to use my students
diverse strengths and needs to further each of my students development in my
classroom. The second artifact I chose was the profile of a reader from EDRD 731. This
artifact first demonstrates how I was able to get to know my learner better and adapt to
her learning needs through a variety of questions, conferences, and most importantly
reflections at the end of every session with her. It demonstrates how I used her personal
interests to plan sessions that she would find enjoyable and beneficial to her
academically. After reflecting on a session with my learner, I would then adapt my plans
for the next session with her, demonstrating my knowledge of when and how to use
appropriate strategies.
• Artifacts: Longe Range Plan, Profile of a reader
Program Standard IV Synthesis: Assessment
The fourth standard, assessment, is another vital aspect of teaching that
determines the success of students in your classroom. This standard helps me to think
about my teaching because it is important to always plan a variety of daily formative
assessments, because these assessments are the teachers way of knowing whether
learning has taken place and if students can learn the strategies they were taught
(Fisher, D., Frey, N. pg. 157). I make use of this standard every day in my classroom. I
make sure to include at least 1 formative assessment each class and I balance this out
with a summative assessment about once a week. While I make sure to plan my
assessments, John Saye points out in "Achieving Authentic Pedagogy: Planning Units
Not Lessons" that, “Although assessments can, and should, be designed in advance,
classroom instruction involves many decisions that must be made “live”” (Saye, 34).
This “live” assessment could simply be walking around the room and assessing
students on independent work or joining in on partner discussions to assess students
thinking. I try to have a variety of formative assessments, such as discussions, exit
slips, bell ringers, etc. After any type of assessment, I always make sure to provide
feedback for my students in a timely manor so they can reflect on the feedback that was
given and apply it to their work in order to make improvements (Darling-Hammond).
Sometimes my feedback is simple and may include a few comments, but for bigger
projects I make use of rubrics to provide feedback and leave detailed comments. Heidi
Andrade points out in “Using Rubrics to Promote Thinking and Learning” that rubrics
allow the teachers expectations to be very clear, makes grading more efficient, and
provides specific feedback to students about their strengths and areas in need of
improvement (Andrade, 14).The first artifact I chose was an illustration activity. I liked
this activity because it was a new way for students to demonstrate what they had
learned, and it reached students with diverse learning styles who may struggle to show
what they learned through writing. The assessment was closely tied to the learning
objectives for the day as students showed their understanding and synthesis of two
historical topics through drawing. The second artifact I chose was an essay writing
assignment and a lesson that followed it. This essay was written in class and was
designed to match a learning objective from the unit and the AP World History writing
standards. This was a summative assessment to verify that students had mastered
these standards. I graded all essays and gave students detailed feedback on their
papers, and then created the lesson that went along with this writing assignment. This
artifact demonstrates how I gave students descriptive feedback and guided their
progress toward quality work and promote student reflection. Both artifacts demonstrate
how I balance the use of formative and summative assessments to support and verify
learning, and how I use a variety of different assessments in my classroom.
• Artifacts: LEQ, Drawing activity
Program Standard V Synthesis: Teacher Reflection
The final standard, teacher reflection, is one that I have seen myself improve on
throughout this year. This standard helps me to think about my teaching because
reflection is something I must do to constantly to improve my skills. Constant reflection
helps me to promote a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset (Medina, 20). Being
reflective also helps me to ensure that I am being accepting of all my students and
listening to their perspectives to better accommodate them in my classroom (Delpit,
285). I make use of this standard in my daily teaching in many ways. At the bottom of
every lesson plan I have a "reflection" section and I go back and write down what went
well about the lesson and what did not. This is something very simple that I do that
holds me accountable to doing constant reflection. Sometimes I just give a few checks if
the lesson went well, but other times I may write down that the website I had students
use was very slow, or that students had a hard time understanding certain concepts. I
make comments so that I can adjust my future lessons and look back the next year and
remember how it went. According to Flanagan and Hindsley in "Let's Talk Teaching
Race in the Classroom", staying curious, reflecting back, and reflecting on new or
different viewpoints on historical topics allows us to understand our own biases so we
can eliminate them from our classroom (Flanagan, 64). The first artifact I chose that
demonstrates my teacher reflection is a collection of my weekly reflections from
Internship B. This collection of reflections demonstrates how I am committed to
deepening my understanding of my own frames of reference and potential personal
biases. It also demonstrates how I embrace the challenge of continuous reflection to
improve and change my teaching. Weekly reflections help me to make sure I am
keeping a student-centered classroom where imagination guides learning, instead of a
teacher-centered one (Greene, 1995). My second artifact that demonstrates how I met
this standard is my unit work sample reflection letter from EDSE 729. This artifact
demonstrates that I know how to use a variety of self-assessment and problem-solving
strategies to reflect on my practice, and that I see myself as a learner and continuously
seek ways to improve my skills.
• Artifacts: Weekly reflections from Internship B, UWS reflection
Bibliography
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