I helped to write three essays addressing important educational questions in the classroom with two other students. We each provided our own thoughts on a wiki, then created an outline, then wrote a five paragraph essay. The essays included theories and ideas from history on education such as Plato, Aristotle, John Dewey and other notable figures. We began the entire process by developing group norms. This included what jobs each person would have, when we would meet and how we would approach a group member who was not contributing or meeting deadlines. We collaborated and even typed the essays online together while offering feedback in real time. The essays were then combined into a PowerPoint presentation for new teachers about things veteran teachers wish we’d known when we started but didn’t. The presentation slides and notes were also written collaboratively and which resulted in a high quality product.

Artifact: Essay 1- Good Teachers

Artifact: Essay 2- Good Classrooms

Artifact: Essay 3- Good Schools

Artifact: PowerPoint Presentation

I wrote a research proposal outline for an imaginary research study on the effects of extracurricular activities on academic performance. Using databases such as Proquest and EbscoHost, I searched for journal articles similar to my proposal to determine what research had already been done and what was left to do. I found there has been very little research examining the link between extracurricular activities and academic performance. I included the method for collecting, how I would present my data, how the population and sample group would be chosen and what the variables were. Although this study was not meant to be conducted, it did provide me with a good opportunity to become familiar with the research literature available on the internet. I can access these resources to inform my teaching in the future.

Artifact: Research Proposal Outline

My second artifact involves presenting and interpreting raw data in a form which is accessible. I used a given set of data from a fictional school district and created histograms, box plots, performed ANOVA and turkey HSD tests to draw conclusions from the data on the equity of school funding and the effect on academic performance. I can use these new skills to generate and interpret data from my own school and classrooms as a way to better understand my students. It will allow me to determine how well the class understands a standard, how wide that range is and if there are outlier students.

Artifact: Excel Project

I developed a class website using the SWIFT template to communicate with parents and students. I upload electronic copies of assignments and projects for students to access if they lost their copy or for parents to access. I also provide a weekly homework calendar with our daily activities, special events and due dates. Lastly, I write practice quizzes for students to take preceding an assessment to aid in their preparation. This has proven to be a vital source of information for parents and students as well as a worthwhile communication tool for me. I update this on a daily basis during the school year and include assignments which require students to access the website.

Artifact: Class Website

This blog post for an educational technology shows how various internet-based applications could be used in the classroom to differentiate instruction. I have used some of these applications in my classroom such as Inspiration to develop flow charts for note taking and iMovie for student-created video projects. These applications help students to master technology standards in the context of content standards because they are used in the classroom daily and as options for project products.

Artifact: Differentiated Instruction with Technology

I also used a program called VoiceThread to demonstrate a technology tip for a collaboration and communication tool called Jing. I showed how this piece of technology could be used for educators to collaborate on a common assessment or for students to work on a project together using the internet. The opportunities for this program and others like it are endless given the appropriate technology.

Artifact: Technology Tip

The artifact for this standard is an integration and exercise paper written for the Culturally Responsive Teaching course. I included lectures, essays from a textbook and views of Schlesinger on cultural integration in the United States to formalize my beliefs on multicultural education and how I planned on including those in my classroom. I considered a variety of views and cultural figures from both sides of the argument. I concluded that there is no denying the multicultural aspect of most schools today and this phenomenon should be celebrated, not ignored. I condensed my opinions into three points: be aware of culture in your own life and the lives of your students, remember all cultures share common goals, and value and include everyone’s culture when the opportunity arises. I planned on including cultures into my curriculum throughout the entire year and not during special holidays or months.

Artifact: Integration and Action Paper

The second artifact which reflects my completion of this standard is a response paper I wrote to an article by Arthur Schlesinger. Schlesinger was a against multicultural education and believed strongly that a common American culture would make this country strong. I analyzed his views while offering my criticisms as well as some points of agreement. This paper showed why I thought multicultural education in an inclusive learning environment would facilitate the academic engagement of all students and encourage academic success.

Artifact: Schlesinger Response Paper

The evolution unit is designed using the Understanding by Design (UbD) format includes a variety of ways to assess study learning. Throughout the course of the unit, various formative assessments will gather data on how quickly the student is learning the material and what gaps exist. Information on the student’s learning style can also be gathered from the performance on these assessments. At the end of the unit,sSome students may be more comfortable and successful with a verbal assessment which is what the Socratic Seminar assesses at the end of the unit. Others may rather show their knowledge by writing it which is what the unit tests assesses. Learners of all cultures and abilities are able to demonstrate their mastery of these standards with a variety of assessments.

Artifact: UbD Evolution Unit

I completed a classroom inquiry project for my pre-assessment seminar as part of the professional certification process. My project focused on using multiple intelligences information to increase the effectiveness of student notes and studying. I began by assessing their learning preference using the VARK method. Once students understood their learning preference, they were given a handout on types of notes to take and ideas about how to study. We spent some time in the classroom practicing these skills before our next assessment. I conducted a student survey after the assessment to gauge students’ responses to this new technique. Students found their learning preference was assessed accurately but did not make any changes in how they took notes or studied. They found this information helpful and about half said they would make changes in the future. While there are some changes to make to the implementation of this technique, I found that by differentiating studying and note taking, I can account for a wider range of student differences. By collaborating with other teachers and specialists, this information could follow students from one class to the next and from one year to the next.

Artifact: Classroom Inquiry Project

The second artifact for this standard is a PowerPoint I created on the topic of students with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The PowerPoint included current research, practical classroom tips and a general definition of the disorder. While the strategies in the presentation were intended for students with ADHD, they can be used for all students as a way to increase attention and interaction in the classroom. A large piece of helping students with ADHD succeed in the classroom is communication with specialists, counselors and parents which is included in the PowerPoint.

Artifact: ADHD Presentation

The last artifact for this standard was a case analysis I conducted on the benefits and drawbacks for the inclusion of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The paper includes an overview of the pros and cons of inclusion, steps to be taken before and during inclusion and strategies to be used to make inclusion successful. An emphasis on collaboration among teachers and specialists was emphasized again to help these exceptional students succeed in the least restrictive environment.

Artifact: ED/BD Inclusion Analysis

Standard 7 Collaboration: Cooperates with other professionals to bridge gaps between schools and community and between departments/disciplines within schools.

The first artifact for these standards are two action plans I developed to increase communication and collaboration. The first action plan is to institute a quarterly email newsletter to be sent out to parents and guardians. Information such as important due dates, descriptions of projects and assignments, how to contact the teacher and how the parent can help their student succeed will all be included in the newsletter. The goal is to include parents in the daily activities of the clasrsoom so they can ask informed questions at night and assist students with their work. Paper newsletters and translated versions will be offered to those households who do not speak English or have access to the internet.

Artifact: Parent Email Action Plan

The second action plan focuses on collaboration within and between departments. Many teachers and departments teach in isolation and best practices are rarely shared. As a physics teacher, I could benefit from problem story strategies from the math department and vocabulary strategies from the English department. Critical Friends Groups (CFGs) seeks to provide a place and protocol for teachers to have difficult discussions in a safe environment. In our high school, 9th and 10th graders are put into smaller learning communities called PODs which consist of an English teacher, social studies teacher and science teacher. These three teachers would meet on a regular basis to discuss student work with the goal of improving the quality while promoting communication and collaboration between departments.

Artifact: CFG Action Plan

The third and final artifact is another way to seek communication and input from parents regarding their students. I developed a parent and student survey to gain information about students and open the lines of communication. This survey is sent home with students the first week of school and they are awarded points for returning it. I work hard to make sure I receive a survey back from every student and follow up on questions I may have. These surveys influence how I group students for projects and seating arrangements, how I differentiate instruction and how to interact with them in the classroom. They also provide me with information about how their parents see the student.

Artifact: Parent/Student Survey

I analyzed the context of my school given the community it is in. Using state published data on test scores, demographics and other information, I provided a snapshot of the school’s student population. Utilizing OSPI’s nine characteristics of good schools, I evaluated the school pointing out areas where it excelled and areas it was deficient. This analysis determined the focus for my two action plans.

Artifact: Action Plan Context

The first artifact is a unit on evolution which has been planned using an Understanding by Design (UbD) template. There are multiple types of summative and formative assessments which not only target content knowledge but also high level thinking skills such as compare and contrast and summarization. Every assessment is linked to the state standards and corresponds to the daily learning activities.

Artifact: UbD Evolution Unit

The next artifact is a content based assessment (CBA) I developed for a general science class. It involves creating an advertisement for an element off the periodic table. The attached documents include an overview of the assessment, a rubric and an explanation of why and how this assessment was created. This artifact shows how a content based assessment can be written to include student choice, creativity, collaboration and reflection.

Artifact: Philosphy Statement

Artifact: CBA

Artifact: Rubric

Artifact: Scoring Guide

I wrote a paper which showed how the knowledge and use of multiple intelligences can enrich and enhance classroom instruction for students resulting in increased academic success. I choose the VARK method for multiple intelligences which identifies four intelligences: visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic. I choose this system of other more popular ones such as Howard Gardner’s because it simplified intelligences into four which I believed would make it easier for students to understand. Also, the main purpose of this strategy was to help students study for upcoming assessments. Through data collected from student surveys, I discovered students’ studying time was not correlating to their test scores. Students were not studying correctly. Drawing upon my own experience, I knew there were better ways to study than simply reading a textbook or staring at a page of notes for most students. VARK offered study sheets with examples for each intelligence. After implementing this strategy, I saw the number of students studying and the time spent studying increase along with a higher average on tests. Student surveys showed students liked the new strategies and felt that it helped them study more effectively.

Artifact: VARK Multiple Intelligences

Another artifact which represents my completion of this standard is a prompt I answered in a reading instruction class. I was asked to identify strategies which would improve students’ vocabulary growth. I chose to focus on were word consciousness, word-learning strategies, modeling a rich vocabulary and motivation. Each of these aspects of vocabulary was supported by research which proved they increase students’ performance in every class. This paper encouraged me to focus on vocabulary instruction which is something that is frequently overlooked in high school science classes. Science teachers tend to assume students possess a sufficient vocabulary before they enter high school but research and experience has proven this wrong. Focusing on vocabulary instruction, while it may take away from core science concepts, will help students understand those concepts at a deeper level and retain that knowledge over a longer period of time.

Artifact: Vocabulary Instruction Strategies

The final artifact is a PowerPoint presentation for accommodations and strategies to use with students who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Many of these accommodations were taken directly from research and some from trial and error in the classroom. While they are specifically for students with ADHD, most if not all work well with all students to keep them engaged and learning at a high level.

Artifact: ADHD Presentation

I created a unit on evolution for a high school biology class using the Understanding by Design (UbD) format. I began by searching the Washington State EALRs for appropriate standards. Using those as guides, I developed essential questions and enduring understandings to keep instruction focused on the larger picture. While designing the actual learning plan, I included formative assessments in the form of numerous interactive labs and activities so students can experience the process of evolution themselves. A wide variety of media were used such as PowerPoint presentations and documentary videos to appeal to students with different learning styles. Finally, a Socratic seminar on alternative origin theories served the purpose of a summative performance assessment as well as a good way for students to compare and contrast the theory of evolution with other ones such as intelligent design. This requires a high level of thinking and a deep knowledge of the theory of evolution. This activity tied together the state standards, essential questions and enduring understandings into one activity which will serve students well in the future.

Artifact: UbD Evolution Unit