Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. My Rationale
3. Current Resume

Professional Standards

1. Content and Curriculum
   
   
2. Knowledge of Students and their Learning
   
   
3. Learning Environments
   
   
4. Assessment
   
   
5. Planning and Instruction
   
   
6. Professionalism
   
   

Planning and Instruction

"Teachers design and create instructional experiences based on their knowledge of content and curriculum, students, learning environments, and assessments."

Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.

"Chinese proverb"

Artifact (as evidence of meeting standard)

Before I embarked on my student teaching experience I had a very limited understanding of the effort that went into creating lesson plans and the endless potential they carried. I knew teachers planned classroom activities but I was unaware of all the variables they considered in order to create an effective learning environment with actively engaged students. When I began student teaching I realized the truth in the adage that those that fail to plan, plan to fail.

For me, planning was a time consuming event. I spent a lot of time researching and learning the material I was going to teach before the aspect of planning how to teach it even came into play. With the guidance of my cooperating teacher and other seasoned teachers I came to realize the importance of planning varied and intriguing lessons that attempted to create an appropriate learning environment and get students actively engaged.

In an attempt to maintain student engagement I varied the instructional strategies and techniques of my lessons. It was important that my planning reflected my desire to vary my role in the classroom. I implemented lesson plans where my role varied from instructor to facilitator to audience. In addition to varying my role in the classroom, I also varied the resources, materials and technology used to enhance student instruction. I used primary sources, textbooks, journal articles, Internet resources, as well as audio and visual materials in an attempt to accomplish this goal. I also found it important to included active engagement questions in my lesson plans to ensure that I was encouraging the students to think critically about the material and make efforts to research and locate the necessary information.