INTASC Standards (Interstate New Teacher Assessment & Support Consortium)
Content Pedagogy - Standard 1
“The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.”
Attending a liberal arts college, I have interdisciplinary training in a variety of content areas. This is demonstrated throughout this section in lessons from science and language arts. I believe in taking an interdisciplinary approach to planning lessons so that students see the real life applications of concepts across a range of disciplines.
· “What’s adaptation?” is a lesson I designed that comes from a 4th grade science unit focusing on adaptation. The main concept of this lesson is how adaptation and camouflage help animals and plants survive. This lesson follows the 5E format
(Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Expansion, & Evaluation).
Multiple Instructional Strategies - Standard 4
“The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.”
Learning becomes easier when students have multiple instructional strategies. I understand that students learn many different ways (creative thinking, problem solving, memorization, etc.) I believe to enhance learning a teacher must use a variety of learning tools and resources. For example, Smart-Board, digital cameras, video-tapes, reference books, Movie-Maker, and local experts are great ways to get students excited about learning. In the lessons in this section, I incorporate a variety of instructional strategies and learning tools to accommodate many types of learners in the subjects of social studies and language arts.
· “Cardinal Directions!” is a lesson I designed while in my first student teaching placement in a 3rd grade classroom. This lesson is part of a unit that focused on communities and maps. Students were able to use a variety of learning tools in this lesson, including the internet, playing Simon Says, using the Smart-Board, and discussing directions using their voices.