The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.
Artifact 1
Brief Description of Evidence:
In the middle of the unit of reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the students did a writing assignment that went along with the book. The students each got a paper that had five different writing prompts that related to the book. The students had to pick two of the writing prompts, and write essays about each of them that were 5 paragraphs in length. The students also had to pre-plan for their essay, as well as show some editing marks. The essays were about some of the important events in the book, or something that the student could easily relate back to their life. The students had four class periods to complete the two essays, and if they were not complete then they needed to take them home to finish writing.
Analysis of What I Learned:
During this time, the students were excited to complete this assignment because they had a lot of opinions about the topics that I had chosen. I wanted to be able to help the students in every way possible to motivate them to do well. With this book, and the controversies within it, it provides many good discussion topics that really motivate students about their opinions. I also learned that once the students in my class put their mind to something, they were going to finish it or if they put their mind against doing something it was not very hard to motivate them otherwise. The students also had a great opportunity to write how their feelings about these situations that had happened in the past, especially if they did not want to give their opinion in front of the entire class.
How this Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the INTASC Principle:
This artifact demonstrates my competence for INTASC 3 by allowing for individual student goals in the classroom. All of the students in the classroom have different goals that need to be met through different activities and challenges. This artifact challenged many of the students in the class to think about their opinions on the struggles of African Americans, and then form their thoughts in writing. It is hard for some of the students to be able to think one think, and then write it. Many other students find it challenging to have their own opinions on things in their life or even from the past. Challenging students to think beyond what they believe they can really helps students learn.
Artifact 2
Brief Description of Evidence:
In the middle of the unit on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry I gave the students a rubric with information about what they need to do to complete a cereal box project on the book. The students had a couple of weeks to complete a cereal box book project on the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The students had to complete the entire project at home, except for a couple of days that I let them work on it after doing some other reading from the book. The students had to have a picture on the front of the cereal box that represented the entire book, and a summary on the back of the cereal box. On the sides of the cereal box the students had to talk about the characters and their opinions of the book. They also had to create a prize that went inside the cereal box, and why they chose that prize. This project was both a part of their reading and a part of their writing grade.
Analysis of What I Learned:
As the days went on during the unit, I would ask different students every once in a while how they were coming along with the project. Most of the students had not started on the project until the weekend before it was due. Since I am not a huge procrastinator on big projects, I find this to be very crazy to me. I learned that no matter when I give students an assignment, they will wait until the last minute to complete the assignment. I also learned how creative some of the students in my class were, based on what they chose for their project and how they constructed it. I also learned which parents were willing to help their child with projects at home.
How this Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the INTASC Principle:
I believe that this artifact clearly shows my competence for INTASC 3 by giving the students a project with an end goal. Each of the students had the same project, but each student gave themselves their own expectations for what the finished product of their project was going to look like. Since the students were completing most of this project at home, I was expecting the students to really challenge themselves with providing their own timeline of when to finish this project. It was the students choice to make their own schedule of when to complete the project, which I believe is a huge challenge for six graders.
