Credential Year Portfolio

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Credential Year Portfolio

• Monica Craggs
• Cordova High School
• ELA 12 Beginning ELD

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Standard 2 CREATING AND MAINTAINING
EFFECTIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR STUDENT LEARNING

• 2.1 Creating a physical environment that engages
  all students
• 2.2 Establishing a climate that promotes
  fairness and respect
• 2.3 Promoting social development and group
  responsibility
• 2.4 Establishing and maintaining standards for
  student behavior
• 2.5 Planning and implementing classroom
  procedures and routines that support student
  learning
• 2.6 Using instructional time effectively

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REASONS FOR ADDRESSING STANDARD 2

• Long-term opportunity to address classroom
  community issues
• ELD provided specific concerns regarding
  classroom environment and space
• Blend of cultures
• Use and position of translators
• Need to provide consistency in classroom policy
  and routines

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2.1 CREATING A PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT THAT ENGAGES
ALL STUDENTS

• Students previously clustered by language with
  translators seated amongst students
• Mixing all students and secluding translators
• Encouraged cross-cultural exchange
• Created welcoming, non-partitioned environment
• Decreased student dependence on translators
• Encouraged questioning of teacher, not discussion
  with translators

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SEATING CHART
S Spanish P Punjabi RT
Russian Translator R Russian F
Farsi ST Spanish Translator M Moldovan
V Vietnamese
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2.4 ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING STANDARDS FOR
STUDENT BEHAVIOR

• Revised Behavior Management Plan (put into place
  January 5th)
• Focus on respect with specific examples and
  rules
• Need for more regular structure
• Specific to observed class behavior (i.e.-
  talking, tardiness, and plagiarism).
• See Behavior Management Plan

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2.6 USING INSTRUCTIONAL TIME EFFECTIVELY

• Half way through spring semester, my resident
  teacher and I noticed a pattern of students
  taking excessive amounts of time to finish work.
• Implementation of time limits on activities
• Constant monitoring of student progress and
  adjusting time as needed
• Regular reminders of time and working to complete
  the task

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RESULT OF IMPLEMENTING TIME LIMITS

• Increased student productivity
• Daily Reflection, 8 April 2009 Told the kids
  today that we only had so much time left for each
  activity (Lets take 15 minutes to finish the
  vocabulary sentences). Checked back in as they
  were working and students seemed encouraged by
  the time limits, but they werent rushing. All
  students were ready to continue at the end of 15
  minutes.

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Standard 3 UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZING
SUBJECT MATTER FOR STUDENT LEARNING

• 3.1 Demonstrating knowledge of subject matter
  content and student development
• 3.2 Organizing curriculum to support student
  understanding of subject matter
• 3.3 Interrelating ideas and information within
  and across subject matter areas
• 3.4 Developing student understanding through
  instructional strategies that are appropriate to
  the subject matter
• 3.5 Using materials, resources, and technologies
  to make subject matter accessible to students

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REASONS FOR ADDRESSING STANDARD 3

• Experienced a struggle at the middle school level
  of organizing subject matter for different levels
  of students
• Identified need to make subject matter accessible
  and interesting
• Interest in non-traditional curriculum
  development

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3.2 ORGANIZAING CURRICULUM TO SUPPORT
STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OF SUBJECT MATTER

• Necessary for both ELA 12 and Beginning ELD
  classes
• Scaffolding of activities/information
• Use of visuals and student-teacher and
  student-students interactions

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ACCESSIBLE IMAGERY (ELA 12)

• Lesson Plan Excerpt (12 May 2009)
• Students will use word association to create a
  word web with a line in Hamlet at the center.
• Encouraged to look at words individually and list
  everything that comes to mind when looking at
  each word. Connections can be made between the
  subsequent associations.
• On the over head, teacher will write an example
  quotation showing how she would go about the
  process making notes and drawing connections
  between associations
• Ask students for suggestions to add to my web.
• Breaking into pairs, students will work on their
  own word webs using a quotation given to each
  pair.
• After 15 minutes, paired students will join with
  another group with the same quotation. They will
  discuss what each group came up with, what this
  means in relation to the quotation, act, etc.
• After coming back together as a class, each group
  of four will present what they came up with using
  the SMART board to illustrate their word webs.
  They can also mention what differences they saw
  between each pairs webs and why they think that
  happened.

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EXAMPLE OF STUDENT WORK
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RESULTS OF ACCESSIBLE IMAGERY

• Students gained an understanding of imagery and
  self-confidence in analytical abilities
• Scaffolded assignment allowed for multiple,
  simplified steps, visual aids, group interaction,
  and close readings
• Students able to break down a single line, making
  the text more accessible

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THE EARTH AS AN EGG (Beg. ELD)

• Lesson Plan Excerpt (11 March 2009)
• Procedure
• 1. Distribute hard boiled eggs, plates, napkins,
  and plastic knives. Instruct students to set
  their egg on their plate and wait for
  step-by-step directions to be given.
• 2. Ask students, based on what was reviewed,
  what part of Earth they believe the shell of the
  egg represents.
• 3. Demonstrate how to tap the egg lightly on all
  sides, breaking the shell.
• 4. Ask students what layer of the Earth is
  showing through the shell. Ask students if the
  shell of the egg could also represent tectonic
  plates.
• 5. Have students manipulate the shell of the
  egg, making the plates collide, in order to get a
  better understanding of how, why and where
  earthquakes occur.
• 6. Inform and demonstrate how to cut the egg.
• 7. Ask students to name the layers of the
  Earths interior by using the egg as a model.
• Closure What is the cause of earthquakes? What
  are plates? Do we live on a fault line?

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RESULTS OF THE EARTH AS AN EGG

• Hands-on activity paired with explanatory visual
  (seen on last side) reinforced subject matter
• Gained greater understanding of the earths
  construction and movements
• Subsequent discussions referenced activity,
  therefore activating prior experience

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3.4 DEVELOPING STUDENT UNDERSTANDING
THROUGH INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES THAT ARE
APPROPRIATE TO THE SUBJECT MATTER

• Inspired by the character of Hamlet who is
  constantly questioning, I developed a series of
  lessons to encourage student questioning
• Three separate activities encouraging
  higher-level questions
• Instruction on difference between lower and
  higher level questioning
• Use of question starters to focus question s and
  improve syntax
• Review of question levels and students work in
  pairs to develop question

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STUDENT PERCEPTIONS What was difficult about
writing your questions?

• Pre-Instruction 23 April
• Finding questions that can open up into a
  discussion not a yes or no question
• Deciding how to best word my thoughts without
  getting too garbbled sic
• Theres not much stuff that has really caught my
  attention to question about

• Post-Instruction 21 May
• How I can get everyones thoughts on the
  question
• To find one topic or situation to write on
  instead of writing about everything as a whole
• The difficult part of writing my questions was
  making them intellectual and actually make the
  reader think hard about them
• Nothing, this set was easy

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RESULTS OF STUDENT QUESTIONING

• Students confidence in forming questions (one
  subject matter area) increased after instruction
• Understanding of the text (another subject matter
  area) increased due to discussion and
  self-questioning techniques
• Instruction strategy (encouraging
  self-questioning) linked to the text and students
  recognized the connection

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3.5 UNDERSTANDING MATERIALS, RESOURCES, AND
TECHNOLOGIES TO MAKE SUBJECT MATTER ACCESSIBLE TO
STUDENTS

• Close examination of a character through multiple
  mediums
• Use of a PowerPoint Presentation incorporating
  art work, still film shots, and lyrics that all
  represent Ophelia
• Pairing of representation with original text
• See PowerPoint Presentation Images of Ophelia

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RESULTS OF IMAGES OF OPHELIA

• Students were engaged through multiple visual
  aides, all coming from different mediums
• Encouraged close reading of a single character
• Examined multiple view points using different
  artists interpretations