Standard #7
Planning for Instruction
The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.
What the Standard Means?
This standard enforces the idea that teachers must plan instruction that meets the needs of each and every student, not just the "average" students. In order to do so, teachers must have knowledge of the content they are teaching, a strong understanding of students' learning preferences, strengths, and abilities, and a skill-set to differentiate lessons based on the students' learning needs. Ultimately when planning instruction, teachers must create meaningful and relevant activities based on students' needs that align with the curriculum goals and content standards.
Artifacts
What the Standard Means?
This standard enforces the idea that teachers must plan instruction that meets the needs of each and every student, not just the "average" students. In order to do so, teachers must have knowledge of the content they are teaching, a strong understanding of students' learning preferences, strengths, and abilities, and a skill-set to differentiate lessons based on the students' learning needs. Ultimately when planning instruction, teachers must create meaningful and relevant activities based on students' needs that align with the curriculum goals and content standards.
Artifacts
Students research about their topic and gather facts using
their graphic organizer.
their graphic organizer.
Why the artifact was chosen and how it is an appropriate representation of the standard?
This artifact, which encompasses all of the pictures and the video, demonstrates the gradual release of responsibility instructional strategy taking place over the course of several writing sessions. This type of instruction was planned to teach students how to write an informational report, which aligns with the Iowa Core Writing Standard 1.2, "Students write information/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure".
The "I do" portion of the gradual release model was implemented through writing and displaying an example report for the students, as can be seen in the first photo. I used this report to model how to assess writing by highlighting the aspects of the assignment rubric that were present in my report. This "I do" demonstration introduced the students to the format of a report and to the rubric.
The next three picture outline the "we" portion of the gradual release model. As a class, we practiced gathering facts, transferring them to a graphic organizer, and composing a report. As can be seen in the second photo, students came to the board to highlight facts about Thomas Edison's life to include in the report. They made sure to highlight at least 3 facts because the rubric states that the report needs 3 or more facts. Then, altogether, we transferred the facts we gathered into a report that included a beginning, middle, and end.
The student work portion of the artifact in the second row demonstrates the "you do" component of the 3 step sequence. At the beginning of the researching process, students picked an animal or person to research. This choice allowed students to feel in control of their learning, and made the writing and researching process relevant. Many students researched using appropriate text-level books, while other students, especially those that need extra reading support, used a website on the iPad with a text to speech feature. Once students found facts, they recorded them on a graphic organizer. If a student needed support transferring their facts to the graphic organizer I would have them tell me the fact, and I would write it for them. This extra support eliminated the transfer of text barrier that could of possibly prevented some students from completing a report. Once students had 3 facts, they added a beginning and end sentence and self-assessed their rough draft using the rubric. Once they self-assessed, they placed their name on the board to conference with me.
During the conference, the students and I went through the rubric to identify the parts they included and discuss any components they missed. We reviewed the writing conventions, especially starting a sentence with a capital letter and ending with a punctuation mark, and what makes a complete sentence. After receiving verbal and written feedback, the students returned to their seat to write a final, polished draft of their report.
Lastly, the students had the opportunity to type their report into a Word Document during our technology block. Students were excited about this opportunity because it was new experience for them. While transferring, they were able to explore all of the options that technology has to offer, such as adding a picture that represents what their report was about.
Planning instruction that incorporates the curriculum goals, content standards, and students' needs demonstrates my performance of 7(a), "The teacher individually and collaboratively selects and creates learning experiences that are appropriate for curriculum goals and content standards, and are relevant to learners." Since this was students' first experience writing an informational report, using the gradual release of responsibility model was the appropriate instructional strategy to use, which displays my knowledge of 7(k), "The teacher knows a range of evidence-based instructional strategies, resources, and technological tools and how to use them effectively to plan instruction that meets diverse learning needs."
How the artifact represents growth and development as a teacher.
I chose to use the gradual release of responsibility model when planning this writing instruction because I was informed that my instruction would be students' first introduction to the report writing process. Thus, this approach allowed students to gain background knowledge and familiarity with reports before requiring them to create their own. Using this strategy in a whole group setting was a new experience, as I had only used it in a one-on-one tutoring setting before. Now, it is an instructional strategy that I highly value because it provides students with a great deal of exposure to a concept or process before requiring students to engage in it independently, which ultimately helps students met the learning objective. Depending on the subject, planning instruction using the gradual release model is strategy I intend to use in the future, especially when introducing a novel and unfamiliar idea.
This artifact, which encompasses all of the pictures and the video, demonstrates the gradual release of responsibility instructional strategy taking place over the course of several writing sessions. This type of instruction was planned to teach students how to write an informational report, which aligns with the Iowa Core Writing Standard 1.2, "Students write information/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure".
The "I do" portion of the gradual release model was implemented through writing and displaying an example report for the students, as can be seen in the first photo. I used this report to model how to assess writing by highlighting the aspects of the assignment rubric that were present in my report. This "I do" demonstration introduced the students to the format of a report and to the rubric.
The next three picture outline the "we" portion of the gradual release model. As a class, we practiced gathering facts, transferring them to a graphic organizer, and composing a report. As can be seen in the second photo, students came to the board to highlight facts about Thomas Edison's life to include in the report. They made sure to highlight at least 3 facts because the rubric states that the report needs 3 or more facts. Then, altogether, we transferred the facts we gathered into a report that included a beginning, middle, and end.
The student work portion of the artifact in the second row demonstrates the "you do" component of the 3 step sequence. At the beginning of the researching process, students picked an animal or person to research. This choice allowed students to feel in control of their learning, and made the writing and researching process relevant. Many students researched using appropriate text-level books, while other students, especially those that need extra reading support, used a website on the iPad with a text to speech feature. Once students found facts, they recorded them on a graphic organizer. If a student needed support transferring their facts to the graphic organizer I would have them tell me the fact, and I would write it for them. This extra support eliminated the transfer of text barrier that could of possibly prevented some students from completing a report. Once students had 3 facts, they added a beginning and end sentence and self-assessed their rough draft using the rubric. Once they self-assessed, they placed their name on the board to conference with me.
During the conference, the students and I went through the rubric to identify the parts they included and discuss any components they missed. We reviewed the writing conventions, especially starting a sentence with a capital letter and ending with a punctuation mark, and what makes a complete sentence. After receiving verbal and written feedback, the students returned to their seat to write a final, polished draft of their report.
Lastly, the students had the opportunity to type their report into a Word Document during our technology block. Students were excited about this opportunity because it was new experience for them. While transferring, they were able to explore all of the options that technology has to offer, such as adding a picture that represents what their report was about.
Planning instruction that incorporates the curriculum goals, content standards, and students' needs demonstrates my performance of 7(a), "The teacher individually and collaboratively selects and creates learning experiences that are appropriate for curriculum goals and content standards, and are relevant to learners." Since this was students' first experience writing an informational report, using the gradual release of responsibility model was the appropriate instructional strategy to use, which displays my knowledge of 7(k), "The teacher knows a range of evidence-based instructional strategies, resources, and technological tools and how to use them effectively to plan instruction that meets diverse learning needs."
How the artifact represents growth and development as a teacher.
I chose to use the gradual release of responsibility model when planning this writing instruction because I was informed that my instruction would be students' first introduction to the report writing process. Thus, this approach allowed students to gain background knowledge and familiarity with reports before requiring them to create their own. Using this strategy in a whole group setting was a new experience, as I had only used it in a one-on-one tutoring setting before. Now, it is an instructional strategy that I highly value because it provides students with a great deal of exposure to a concept or process before requiring students to engage in it independently, which ultimately helps students met the learning objective. Depending on the subject, planning instruction using the gradual release model is strategy I intend to use in the future, especially when introducing a novel and unfamiliar idea.