InTASC+4

**"If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge** **always pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin (4h) **

// InTASC Standard 4: Content Knowledge // Undoubtedly, if an instructor does not have a thorough understanding of his or her discipline than it is impossible for the instructor to communicate the knowledge in a clear and comprehensible manner. Through study of the content area and collaboration with fellow instructors, a teacher may ensure that he or she is adequately equipped to develop effective activities for students. The fourth InTASC Standard, “Content Knowledge,” states that in order for a student to effectively learn in a classroom the instructor must understand the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structure of the discipline he or she teaches so that he or she can develop activities that make these aspects accessible and meaningful for students. To gain this discipline specific information, teachers should consistently engage in learning opportunities that are provided by the school district or state, enroll in additional college courses in their content area, and read academic articles on instructional methods in their discipline (4i). Before the first day of class, an educator should collaborate with the coworkers in their discipline in order to construct activities that build across grade levels to develop understanding and competence in students. To reinforce this collaboration and the structure of the curriculum, the discipline specific teachers should continue to meet and collaborate throughout the year. Beyond planning, the standard is essential for a teacher to succeed in the classroom. Specifically, students consistently ask clarifying questions throughout a lesson for various reasons; one reasoning is that the method in which the instructor chose to relate the information did not work for the specific student’s learning style. In order to reword the material in a manner that is effective for the student’s understanding, the instructor must completely comprehend the material (4l). Additionally, to engage students in lessons it is important that instructors connect the content material with student interests and/or current social issues (4o). Without a complete understanding of the content, making such connections is impossible. In short, if an instructor does not understand the content he or she is teaching then it is impossible to communicate the content to students. By maintaining communication between coworkers and continuing to engage in learning experiences in their content areas, teachers can ensure that they are well equipped to scaffold material and present discipline specific content in clear and comprehensible learning activities.

Unit Plan





Artifact Description

What is this artifact?  This artifact is a unit plan that I created to teacher The Outsiders in an 8th grade classroom. Included in my unit plan is my philosophy of teaching, an outline of the unit that includes the aligning objectives and assessments, a rationale for my unit, the materials and rubrics for the unit, and five of the lesson plans for the unit.  How does this artifact demonstrate evidence of my mastery of the InTASC Standard?  This artifact demonstrates my proficiency in InTASC 4: Content Knowledge because the construction of a unit plan relies on an individuals comprehension of their content area, specifically their understanding of the selected material. InTASC 4 states that the instructor must have a thorough grasp of the subject matter in order to develop lessons that effectively impart the desired knowledge to the student. My unit plan accomplishes this through a variety of instructional strategies and the inclusion of multiple resources that enhance student comprehension. Specifically, I demonstrate my comprehension of The Outsiders by incorporating multiple texts that present that same message to provide students with choice in their instruction. Additionally, I incorporate learning strategies such as close-readings and Socratic discussion in order to provide students with models of how to explore the meaning of a text.  In what way did this artifact contribute to/relate to positive impact on student learning during my final internship?  By practicing the construction of a unit plan before I entered the classroom, I gained an understanding of how to construct future unit plans. Additionally, I learned how to build lessons upon other lessons to explore complicated materials. Throughout the construction of this unit plan I also gained a multitude of sources from which to draw instructional materials in the future. Overall, the construction of the unit plan taught me how to construct and link lessons over a period of time in order to teach a novel. Thus, when I designed unit plans for different novels throughout my internship experience I was familiar with the process and able to modify my original lessons to include more student centered activities. Students were thus able to engage in lessons that clearly linked to one another and built upon previous ideas to cement their understanding.  How does this artifact demonstrate the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle? This unit plan demonstrate the "judging prior knowledge," "planning" and "teaching" components of the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle because it required the instructor to be versed in the subject matter to construct engaging and informative lessons. Additionally, for each lesson the instructor needed to be able to judge the student's prior knowledge of the concept in order to determine if the lesson needed to be introductory or if it could expand on the student's existing knowledge. Finally, while each lesson may have seemed functional on paper, it was not until the activities in the lessons were implemented in the classroom that they could be honestly evaluated. Such evaluation provided me with an increased knowledge of time-management as well as the differentiation needs of various students and classes.

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