InTASC Standard: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways (InTASC, 2013).

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Brief Description of Evidence:  The evidence I have chosen for this standard is a kindergarten family night assignment that was completed in my EDUC 101 Introduction to Teaching class during my fall semester of 2020. The assignment was for us to create an event for a fictional class (in my case kindergarten) complete with a flyer to send home, a menu, potential activities, and how we may be able to incorporate any community connections. I created an event that would be held after wrapping up a dinosaur unit in class. This event would allow the students to come in with their families and showcase a project they did in class and then go around to various stations to complete activities. Some of the activities I had planned were a fossil dig that doubled as a sensory activity, a coloring page area, and dinosaur math pages. I also chose to incorporate some dinosaur-themed snacks for the students and their families to enjoy as they toured the event. At the end of the event the students were able to take home a book and their fossil dig.

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Analysis of What I Learned: 

Through this assignment I was able to learn everything that can go into planning an event for a class. I learned that it was important to keep in mind what other families’ schedules could look like if planning an event outside of school hours, as well as keeping in mind the budget for the event. I wanted to create something that would be fun for the students and give them something they could take home and continue to have fun with. It was really interesting to begin researching ideas for events and see what other teachers have done in their classrooms and how things can be adapted in terms of grade level, subject, or exceptionalities. Through this project I also found interesting ways the community could get involved in events for schools. For instance, I got the idea of trying to work with a library or local bookstore to provide the students with a book. I also found I could see some of Dewey’s theory where students learn through experiences and interactions (Hargraves, 2021). I was able to see this through doing the assignment by thinking about how students would have learned about archeological sites and digs that unearthed bones, so they then getting to experience something similar made that knowledge more meaningful to them. Also, according to Hargraves (2021), “Shared activities are an important context for learning and development.” This relates to my artifact in that students were able to not only interact with each other during the event but their families. The students would be able to share all of the new knowledge they have with their loved ones and be excited to apply it during the event. 

 

How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the InTASC Standard:

This artifact demonstrates my competence in the InTASC standard by exemplifying that I am able to create activities that allow students to think in various ways, independently and in a group manner. In this assignment I designed activities that were hands-on, intellectually challenging, and fun. Students were able to come to this dinosaur event after finishing a unit in class and be able to display what they learned to their family, community, and classmates. This event also allowed them to put their skills such as reading, math, art, and more into action. The students were also able to try a dig of their own which would reach back to the unit they would’ve done in class. During this event I was able to incorporate interactive instruction where the students were able to ask questions and talk with each other as they went through the different stations, as well as experiential learning where the students were allowed to be hands on and figure out the activities in a more independent way.

 

Citation: 

Hargraves, V. (18 January, 2021). Dewey's Educational Philosophy. The Education Hub. https://theeducationhub.org.nz/deweys-educational-philosophy/

 

Council of Chief State School Officers. (2013, April). Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0: A Resource for Ongoing Teacher Development. Washington, DC: Author.