TPE 1: Engaging and Supporting Students in Learning (K-6)
Engaging and supporting all students in learning includes: applying knowledge of students; maintaining ongoing communication with students and families; connecting subject matter to real-life; differentiation in instructional strategies; promotion of students’ critical and creative thinking; providing students with access to curriculum; and monitoring student learning with modifications as appropriate (CTC, 2016).
Artifact 1: Lesson Plan.
This lesson plan is from my Task Performance Assessment (TPA) 4. I student-taught a 1st grade math lesson on addition.
Learning Segment
Subject: Math
Topic: Addition combinations of 0 - 20.
Grade Level: 1st
Lesson Goals:
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Students will show addition combinations of 0 - 20.
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Students will show addition combination up to 20 without using the number 10.
California Content Standards & how they relate to my learning goals:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.A.1 relates to my first learning goal of, “Students will show addition combinations of 0 – 20.” This relates because students must “add to” and “put together” addition combinations to equal a number between 0 – 20.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.C.5 relates to my second learning goal of, “Students will show addition combinations up to 20 without using the number 10.” This relates because students must figure out combinations of numbers by using counting. They are also challenged to find these combinations by not using the number 10, which requires them to add on or “count on” from a different number than 10.
Lesson Plan:
Here is my general instruction plan. I have labeled the Steps of my instruction plan in order from A to G.
A. Students line up at the door to enter. I greet them and give procedural instructions before they enter.
B. As students enter, the T.V. is projecting the procedural instructions I just gave.
C. Students gather all the materials they need and then sit in their assigned seats.
D. Whole-class instruction begins where I model using the “bead rack” and what I expect them to do with the white boards.
E. Small group work begins where students work at their desks in partners or table groups solving math addition problems on their “bead rack” and writing their thinking/answers on the white board to show me. Students collaborate with their partners.
F. Students clean-up and get ready for lunch.
G. After lunch, students take a short, independent assessment on addition and are able to use their “math racks” for support.
Instructional Strategies:
In Step A, I give direct instruction of the procedures for the lesson.
In Step B, I reinforce the procedural instructions by visually displaying them on the T.V.
In Step D, I begin by lecturing, modeling, and reintroducing the “math racks” and how to use the white boards in relation to the “math racks.” Here I also try to touch on activating their prior knowledge of working with addition and using the “math racks” to support their thinking.
In Step E, peer teaching and collaboration begins. As students present answers, I try to use effective questioning to deepen their thinking. This is a great hands-on activity for partner collaboration.
In Step G, I give the assessment, which is a formative assessment process.
Student activities with rationale:
In Step A, B, C, students learn what they need to have to be prepared for class. It is important to give clarity and direction in the start of class to engage students right away into the lesson and so they know what they are doing. By having them gather their own supplies, students learn to get themselves ready for learning and have the correct materials needed.
In Step D, in listening to my lecture and watching me model, students gain understanding of their learning goals and how they will be attempting to attain their learning goals.
In Step E, students get to collaborate and work with a partner to explore the “math racks” and create equations on their whiteboards. Here students get to teach and assist one another in their learning, which helps keep them engaged and also learn better as often students learn better when listening and discussing with a peer. I believe the “math racks” are an appropriate tool for all students to use. I did not have to make adaptations to the “math racks” for students because I have observed them all to have had experience with them and use them correctly.
In Step F, students help clean up, which is an important part of taking care of the classroom and their school community.
In Step G, students prove they have met the learning goals by taking the formative assessment on their own. For self-learning, it is important for students to assess where they are in relation to the learning goals and the assessment helps them understand if they are meeting the learning goals.
How the content of the lesson builds on what students already know and are able to do:
The content of this lesson builds upon their ability to figure out addition combinations from 0 – 10. We extend the range from 0 – 10 to 0 – 20. I try to teach multiple strategies for addition. They have used manipulatives before and they have used number lines to model addition. Currently, they do not know their addition facts by memory and usually do addition by counting on. For example, if they are adding 5 + 3 they would take 5 and count 3 more to get to 8. These students have also created numbers using 10 as a base such as 13 is one ten and three ones. This also shows they have practice is place value. Students have also been practicing in grouping objects to solve single digit addition problems.
In Kindergarten, students had “math racks” that were already manufactured for them. “Math racks” are a counting tool that has 10 beads in the top row and 10 beads in the bottom. This tool is used to assist them in addition between 0. - 20. In 1st grade, the students made their own “math racks” early in the school year. Throughout 1st grade, students are encouraged to take out their “math racks” if they are struggling a bit. Therefore, they already have some experience with “math racks,” which will allow me to focus more on extending their thinking, attempting harder numbers (such as 17), and helping them develop more intuitive strategies for addition.
Evidence I will collect that shows the extent to which the students have made progress toward the academic learning goals:
During the lesson, I will be doing a lot of informal observations to see if students are following along with the lesson and meeting learning goals.
At the end of the lesson, I will give the students a 5-minute assessment, which will be the evidence. There will be four problems totaling 6 points. Students that receive a 4 out of 6 or higher will have met the learning goals of the lesson. This assessment shows if the students have made progress toward the academic learning goals because it has them deal with making addition combinations for numbers between 0 – 20. The assessment has “math rack” problems and also visual addition problems where they need to represent their addition in a grid.
References:
CTC. (2016, June). California Teaching Performance Expectations. CTC website: https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/educator-prep/standards/adopted-tpes-2016.pdf
Artifact 2: Video
This video exemplifies how I create and maintain a supportive learning environment for all types of learners. It also shows how I use a variety of developmentally and ability-appropriate instructional strategies. The video highlights my professionalism, kindness, and high-expectations of my students. It also shows my humor and how I can connect with students at their developmental levels. (I had to remind students in the start how to not waste dry-erase markers!)
Artifact 3: Evidence
Here is an example of the assessment I made for my 1st graders in the above student teaching lesson plan and video. I try to make assessments very visualize with math and allow students to use colors and manipulatives as needed for support. I am providing the assessment that one of my English Second Language (ESL) students took. I modified his assessment by translating the English into Spanish to help support him. This allows him to focus on his mathematics skills without worry of his English proficiency affecting his understanding for the assessment.
