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SAMPLE PORTFOLIO ARTIFACT #1

Standard 1, subject matter. A teacher must understand the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines taught and be able to create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.

Subparts: The teacher must:

  1. understand major concepts, assumptions, debates, processes of inquiry, and ways of knowing that are central to the disciplines taught;
  2. understand how students' conceptual frameworks and misconceptions for an area of knowledge can influence the students' learning;
  3. connect disciplinary knowledge to other subject areas and to everyday life;
  4. use multiple representations and explanations of subject matter concepts to capture key ideas and link them to students' prior understandings;

Name of Artifact:

1st Grade Weather Unit

Original Date of Artifact:10/15/2013
Course/Field Experience:    EEL4338 Science Methods—Elementary
Rationale Statement: Provide a description of why the artifact was selected to demonstrate success with the indicated standard and subparts.To design this science unit, I had to understand the topic of weather and its major concepts for content delivery in a first grade classroom, as well as understand how to integrate the content with other subject areas. This resulted in a unit that integrates varied approaches to teaching and exploring weather concepts and allows students to connect the subject of weather and its subparts to everyday life while they move through interdisciplinary learning experiences. This unit reflects a new level of lesson planning and curriculum development for me.

Reflection: Reflect on the submission. Why does it demonstrate ability with the specified standard(s)?

Let the reviewer know why it provides evidence of your growth as a teacher.


I chose to design my elementary science methods instructional unit for first graders because they are at the age and developmental level I presently understand the best and feel the most confident about how to teach and support the teaching/learning process.

This unit reflects my understanding of developmentally appropriate and varied methods of presenting material, building upon students’ prior knowledge and experiences, and linking the subject matter to other disciplines looks like at the first grade level. First grade is a very foundational time in students’ education and my focus was for students to gain a solid knowledge base of weather concepts and terms. My goal was to meaningfully engage learners in awareness of the daily weather so they felt like young weather experts, or “junior meteorologists.”

This weather unit is organized by topics that build and feed off of one another so students are exposed to key ideas by means of multiple representations and a variety of engaging lesson activities to best support their understanding. The discipline of science lends itself naturally to hands-on learning. These experiences encourage students to engage more fully in their learning, apply learning experiences to their lives and the world around them, create more meaning from their learning, and to analyze and compare their experiences and results with one another in a richer learning environment.

My first grade weather unit is full of hands-on learning experiences that involve students in the process of scientific inquiry and demonstrates their role as scientists, specifically, as meteorologists. I took a guided discovery approach in designing each of the ten lessons. I also designed a variety of assessment methods for students to gauge their developmental levels and needs to support their understanding of the key concepts for each lesson.

This weather unit enables students to integrate what they are learning in science into other contexts and domains of learning, broadens their understanding and applications of the topic of weather and all of its subparts. Integrating other subject areas into this unit helps students apply what there are learning in new and different ways.

Attached Documents:

 1st GradeWatherUnit.doc

 

SAMPLE PORTFOLIO ARTIFACT #2

Standard 10, collaboration, ethics, and relationships. A teacher must be able to communicate and interact with parents or guardians, families, school colleagues, and the community to support student learning and well-being.

Subparts: The teacher must:

  1. understand schools as organizations within the larger community context and understand the operations of the relevant aspects of the systems within which the teacher works;
  2. understand how factors in a student's environment outside of school, including family circumstances, community environments, health and economic conditions, may influence student life and learning
  3. understand student rights and teacher responsibilities to equal education, appropriate education for students with disabilities, confidentiality, privacy, appropriate treatment of students, and reporting in situations of known or suspected abuse or neglect;
  4. understand the concept of addressing the needs of the whole learner;
  5. collaborate with other professionals to improve the overall learning environment for students;

SAMPLE PORTFOLIO ARTIFACT #3

Standard 3, diverse learners. A teacher must understand how students differ in their approaches to learning and create instructional opportunities that are adapted to students with diverse backgrounds and exceptionalities.

Subparts: The teacher must:

  1. understand and identify differences in approaches to learning and performance, including varied learning styles and performance modes and multiple intelligences; and know how to design instruction that uses a student's strengths as the basis for continued learning;
  2. understand how a student's learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, and prior learning, as well as language, culture, family, and community values;
  3. understand the cultural content, world view, and concepts that comprise Minnesota-based American Indian tribal government, history, language, and culture;


Name of Artifact:

Student Interviews

Original Date of Artifact:11/04/2013
Course/Field Experience:    Teaching Secondary Reading and Literature
Rationale Statement: Provide a description of why the artifact was selected to demonstrate success with the indicated standard and subparts.This artifact demonstrates my ability to work with students of diverse needs and talents. I interviewed three students of different academic achievement, and I used this information to guide my planning for a lesson on pronouns for my sixth grade placement. Of these students, one student was autistic, one student was an ELL student, and one student was a low achieving student. This artifact encompasses subparts A, E, and G.

Reflection: Reflect on the submission. Why does it demonstrate ability with the specified standard(s)?

Let the reviewer know why it provides evidence of your growth as a teacher.


My cooperating teacher guided me in my selection of three students to interview. She specifically chose students who did not fit the stereotype of the “normal” high-, middle-, and low- achieving students. I really enjoyed the process of specifically talking to each of these students to learn what ways they enjoy learning best and what kinds of activities really motivate them.

Interviewing students really helped me to remember that individual students would be coming away from the lesson I was teaching with specific knowledge about the subject matter; my lesson wasn’t being planned for a general sixth grade class. Interviewing these students helped me to understand and appreciate the differences between students’ learning processes, and I attempted to plan my lesson so that students would learn through a variety of instructional strategies.

Before doing this assignment, I had a vague idea that students learned differently, but I really had no idea of what the unique needs were in my own cooperating classroom. My cooperating teacher is really good at building relationships with the students, and because she has those relationships to guide her planning, it assisted me in my own planning. In the future, I will want to capitalize on those relationships and use them not only to be an influence in a student’s life but also to plan my instruction in such a way that student learning is maximized.

Attached Documents:

Student Interviews.doc

 

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