Vital Documents
Candidate Matrix:
Proficiency Evaluation Candidate Matrix
Writing Assignments:
Letters of Recommendation:
Student Growth Project:
Standard 1: Learner Development
The teacher shall understand how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and shall design and shall implement developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.
Every child is different. The examples below demonstrate the differences of children and how they learn through two in-depth case studies, an online English Language Learner lesson plan, an individualized phonics lesson plan for a second grade student, and a classroom differentiated writing lesson plan. These examples simply touch the surface of the way children grow and learn. Each child has different needs, and finding the ways in which they learn best is crucial to help them grow and develop skills throughout their educational career.
Fourth Grade Student Case Study
Case Study – A Child with Autism
Standard 2: Learning Differences
The teacher shall use the understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.
In the field of education, one way to ensure student learning success is to activate prior knowledge. When a student understands what he is learning about, he can connect his learning to real-life experiences, making the context more meaningful. Below you will find a short paper on the Schema Theory as well as an example of how I use prior knowledge to ensure student understanding in a mini-lesson with one of my students.
First Grade Small Group Reading Lesson for Students with Disabilities – 3 Consecutive Days
Standard 3: Learning Environments
The teacher shall work with others to create environments that:
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Support individual and collaborative learning; and
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Encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
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In the files below, you will first find my feelings on why schools are so important. Academic standards are extremely important in student success, but schools should also support the education of other key life skills.
In my third grade classroom at St. Mary’s Catholic School, in Garden City, Kansas, I strived to ensure students were learning these life skills through a variety of service projects. One of these projects was the making of blankets that were donated to a local nursing home. This activity was done around Thanksgiving. Residents were thrilled to receive their blankets!
Another key life skill I taught was to advocate for oneself. While caring for others is extremely important, students must also learn that they each have unique skills and abilities. When teaching during an election year, I had students develop a campaign for themselves on why they would make a good president. Students wrote speeches, developed campaign posters, and presented their campaign to the class. I had also invited the school’s principal to attend the campaign speeches. I borrowed a voting booth from the city, and the students were allowed to vote for our “president.” This activity was a lasting memory for many students!
I unfortunately do not have any pictures of these projects. It was several years ago, before the use of iphones and easily accessible camers!
Standard 4: Content Knowledge
The teacher shall:
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Understand the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches; and
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Create learning experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.
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How students learn can vary greatly among students. Learning to utilize the resources available and adapt them to meet the needs of the student is critical in order to ensure student success. When working with my students, I often plan a lesson, then adjust it as I am teaching, if I feel the student is not understanding the skills being learned. A great example of this is the lesson plan with my ELL student. The materials provided do not meet her needs. She was a lower level student on a level that was too high for her. I adjusted the curriculum in each class to ensure she was getting the skills she needed in order to be successful in her English studies.
7 Year Old ELL Student Lesson Plan
Another example is of a current student. I have used NWEA to assess her current level of learning and where she should be. We have been working on reading comprehension. I have used Teachers Pay Teachers resources, interactive books, and Reading A-Z lessons. Her level of understanding is very low, but through repetition and continued skill building, her level of understanding is slowly rising.
Standard 5: Application of Content
The teacher shall understand how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues.
Incorporating problem solving and real-world issues into lessons for young children teaches them invaluable life-long skills. Instilling love, kindness, and inclusion at a young age will set the stage for a generation of children who love and care about people. This unit provided by the Special Olympics is a wonderful example of incorporating social skills into language arts, reading, writing, and critical thinking.
Special Olympics – Get Into It Unit
Special Olympics. (n.d.). Get into it. https://media.specialolympics.org/soi/files/resources/Schools_Youth/Jenni_SOGetIntoIt_K_2_Lessons_Update_09_16_2010.pdf
Standard 6: Assessment
The teacher shall understand and use multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the educator’s and learner’s decision making.
There are so many different forms of assessment. Formal assessments help teacher assess, analyze, and compare student scores objectively. They allow teachers to look at the “big picture” of how the class as a whole is doing, as well as how each student is doing compared to their peers. Informal assessments can take many different forms, but in the end, they all allow a teacher to look more in-depth to a student’s progress. These can occur throughout the school year at different intervals. They help teachers better understand the needs of their students and will highlight areas of strength and weakness in individual student learning.
Below you can find several different examples of assessments, both formal and informal.
Literacy Assessments Synthesis
Here are some of the assessments I currently use with my students. This first document shows their goals and dated observations. Students are graded on a +/- scale. At the end of the week, student scores are averaged and an overall average is entered into Infinite Campus. (Student names have been removed for privacy.)
Adaptive Goals Monitoring Sheet_Redacted
This next student is assessed on the names of animals as well as letters and sounds. These scores are entered into Infinite Campus as percentages. Since the student has now met these goals, we have begun working on upper case letters, and we will begin to add new animals to his vocabulary.
This next student has improved a lot since I first started working with him a month ago! I am so proud of his progress. This first grade boy has a diagnosis of autism. He is brilliant, but likes to be “silly.” As you can see from his first pangram handwriting sample, he likes to make his handwriting fun and, as he describes it, “silly.” The second example is one month later. I decided to talk with him about what I was “grading” him on. We talked about how he should form his letters (top down), and how much space should be between the letter and the line (1/8″). His improvement has been incredible! As I mentioned above, he is very smart. He understood the instructions very well and now will help me “grade” his handwriting on days we do the assessment. You can see a second example of his handwriting as well as his “grading” of each letter on the third document. The cutting samples show an example of his cutting before I explained where he should be cutting (on the black line), and after I explained it to him.
This same student had been having trouble following directions in school. Although the days we have been in school since Christmas break have been few, I have also talked with him how I am grading him on “following directions.” This students’ daily progress is monitored on the “Adaptive Goals Monitoring Sheet.” You can see where he was having some rough days at the beginning of the semester. I decided that since he understood the handwriting goals so well, I would also talk with him about how he is being “graded” on following directions. Since that talk, his behavior has improved greatly! You can see this reflected on the sheet below. This same student was also having trouble during his social skills time with the paraprofessionals. After meeting and speaking with them, I decided to have a meeting with the student. I asked him how he was doing in those classes and if he had been doing anything he should not have been doing. He came up with a list of things he thought were not wise choices. We then talked about his daily grade on “following directions.” He came up with a grading scale (using +/-) and a goal for his social skills times. I have created a sheet for this, and we will begin using it once we are back in school on Monday. I am anxious to watch his behavior to see if his progress remains consistent, or if we will have to re-evaluate and try again with these skills!
Standard 7: Planning for Instruction
The teacher shall plan 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.
The items in this standard have been used in other standards, as well. These lessons and case studies are evidence of this standard in that they demonstrate understanding of how to evaluate student needs and plan instruction based on these specific needs.
Fourth Grade Student Case Study
This lesson plan was for an online student who lived in Japan. I taught her for four years with VIPKID. Her English reading and speaking abilities were very low. VIPKID had placed her in a level that was much too difficult for her. Despite my many attempts to have her moved down a level, no change occurred. I scaffolded every lesson down so I could teach on her level.
7 Year Old ELL Student Lesson Plan
This lesson was planned for a sweet student I had worked with as part as my reading specialist practicum. I loved watching her confidence grow as she gained new skills in reading. Her mother did not learn to read until she was in her 30’s so she had very little help at home in the area of reading.
This lesson is being used for one of my current students. She has been diagnosed with a Developmental Delay, but is currently being re-evaluated and tested for further cognitive disabilities.
Standard 8: Instructional Strategies
The teacher shall understand and use and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
Technology is changing the way teachers teach. Resources such as Lexia, Dreambox, Dreamscape, and Prodigy are simply a few of the many online sites teachers have access to in which to teach and reinforce skills. With children’s curiosity and love of technology, using these resources is a great way to engage learners in the classroom.
Providing Technology Support For Educators Using Merrill’s Five Principles of Instruction
Although technology is one great way to foster skills in learners, more traditional and hands-on approaches are also necessary in order to ensure student success in the classroom. One great example of this is Guided Reading. By using the Guided Reading format, students are given the opportunity to learn in a variety of different ways. Guided Reading also allows teachers to have a more targeted approach to the learners’ needs.
This website is a great resource for setting up Guided Reading in the classroom: https://www.teachstarter.com/us/blog/how-to-set-up-a-guided-reading-session-us/
When I was teaching third grade, I used guided reading groups. The “Story Map Cue Cards” and “Error Correction Card” were two resources I kept in my students’ Guided Reading Folders.
Standard 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice
The teacher shall engage in ongoing professional learning, shall use evidence to continually evaluate his or her practice, particularly the effects of his or her choices and actions on others, such as learners, families, other professionals, and the community, and shall adapt practice to meet the needs of each learner.
As an avid supporter of education, I myself have engaged in continued education to ensure I give my students the best possible experiences. As evidenced by my transcripts, I have obtained my Masters in Learning and Instructional Design. I have also received my Reading Specialist certification.
Wichita State University Transcripts
In my final class for my MA degree, I completed a Capstone Project. For this project, I chose to evaluate a family engagement program. I worked for the program, interviewed both the staff and family participants, reviewed student reading scores, and calculated the effectiveness of the program using statistics and parent input. You can find my findings here:
Before changing my degree to Learning and Instructional Design, I had begun my degree in Special Education, Adaptive. (I needed an online program, so I switched my learning plan.) While in the Special Education program, I had the privilege of completing my practicum with the YESS program in Wichita, Kansas. I worked with students with intellectual and developmental disabilities for two months. Below you will find one small example of work I did with the children as well as a self-reflection on the project.
Standard 10: Leadership and Collaboration
The teacher shall seek appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to:
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Take responsibility for student learning;
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Collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth; and
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Advance the profession.
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As a special education teacher, one of my jobs is to co-teach with the regular classroom teacher. In one kindergarten class, I am teaching a daily mini-lesson on social skills. I am excited to be journeying through the adventures of “Tom Cat and Tabby Cat” with these students!
In this section you will find two different evaluations I had when I was teaching at St. Mary Catholic School. The first evaluation was from 2005, my first year of teaching. The second is from 2007. As you can see, my scores improved as I grew in my teaching skills! I still consider myself to be learning new skills every day as I learn and grow as an educator!
I firmly believe that in order to ensure student success, we need to work with other educators as well as help build up families. Collaboration among peers is integral in order to maintain consistency.
Survey of Collaborative Practices
Building stronger families is a passion of mine. Too many children are growing up in homes that are unsafe or abusive. Creating an awareness of this issue is great, but helping families understand and know how to change is even better. By inviting families into the school, we build relationships with them and provide a safe space for them to get to know their children’s teachers. It also provides an opportunity for them to get to know other families, which in turn builds a strong support system for families. If we can have a positive influence on the family, we might just change the future for our students.
Creative Solutions for Family Engagement
Creating Respect Among Students Through Parental Support
Teacher Family Communication Ideas
I am a leader, but am also willing to follow a strong leader. I would love the opportunity to help other educators grow in their skills. Below are a few projects I have completed on advancing the profession. Maybe someday I will be given the opportunity to put a professional development activity into practice!
Leadership Styles and Its Impact