SAMPLE TWO
Standard 7: Planning Instruction. A teacher must be able to plan and manage instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
Indicator B. Plan instruction using contextual considerations that bridge curriculum and student experiences.
Artifact: Student Work Samples of Pressure Masks. During a unit called “American Dream Poetry,” the following masks were created to bridge our discussion of a poem called “We Wear the Masks” to the students’ own lives. After reflecting on the mask that the main character is forced to wear in the poem, students constructed their own masks to reflect on how they too have to wear masks. Specifically, these masks represent my ability to plan instruction that bridges curriculum to student experiences because the students were able to see how the meaning of the poem could be applied to their own societal pressures. (Two student work samples were included.)
Rationale: In a beautiful poem called “We Wear the Masks,” a poet captures the plight of African Americans who are forced to wear a mask that hides their true feelings and reactions to the pressures that society places on them. During class, my students and I discussed the meaning of this poem and brainstormed the different pressures that African Americans would have had on them during the turn of the century. What kind of people were they forced to be? Then I planned instruction that asked the students to brainstorm how their own lives were affect by the pressures that society exerted on them personally. What kind of masks were they forced to wear?
Looking over the masks, you can see images and words that indicate issues of money, grades, cars, music, and love lives-all of which are topics that these two particular students feel pressured about. Whether it’s to earn better grades or listen to a certain kind of music, these kids feel pressure from their peers, adults, and even society in general to act or be a certain way. It’s an experience that each one of my eleventh grade students could relate to. The masks opened an avenue for discussion on how each one of us, including the African Americans from the original poem, must wear a mask that is affected by what other people think and want from us. Without the activity, students wouldn’t have had such a deep understanding of the implications the poem had.
During college I had a professor who created new words to the song “Oh My Darlin’ Clementine.” The first lines were sung, “Connect your dendrites! Connect your dendrites!” and while it may seem a bit obscure and strange to say the least, the intent of the words relates well to this discussion of student experiences. A student learns by building onto what they already know (connecting brain dendrites). Without a foundation, how can one build higher? If you can bridge your curriculum to a student’s own experiences you are not only giving them a chance to better understand the material but they’re also more likely to value the knowledge as well.
Reflection forStandard 7: Planning Instruction. A teacher must be able to plan and manage instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
There I was sitting at my desk, keyboard at the ready, waiting for the divine inspiration to hit me. It was just a few short weeks ago that I was drafting my cover letter and trying to decide just what was it about me that made me desirable to a school district. I like to read, I’m generally pretty organized, and definitely a perfectionist but what would make me standout? I thought back to my own high school teachers and the one that really stuck out in my mind were those that were creative with the daily things we did in class or the projects we had to complete. The lessons completed were relevant to me and I learned from them! While a teacher should obviously know her subject matter, I find it equally as important to be able to plan and implement instruction that makes that knowledge meaningful. Knowing your students and the community in which they live is one step towards succeeding.
Finding ways to tie the curriculum up with a student’s prior experiences is extremely important but, in the English classroom, this task requires creativity. Simply asking students, “Do you have any examples of this from your own life?” can get boring pretty quickly. A teacher has goals that need to be accomplished but what good is plowing through the material if no one has learned anything from it? Half of my student teaching took place in a small Minnesota town, This was one of those communities where everybody know everybody else and I created several projects that capitalized on this feeling of family. One in particular was a service learning project. My English 12 students were reading a novel in which the main character suffered from depression and thoughts of suicide. Knowing that a nearby community had suffered through several suicides in the past few years, I wanted the students to learn more about the topic but then share their knowledge with the community around them. In a student lead project, the kids created everything from informational brochures to dramatic performances, all in an effort to share their knowledge about depression. I find this particular activity a great example of my ability to not only make my curriculum goals relevant to the students but to also teach with an awareness of the community that surrounds us.
As I start my new job this fall, I think one of my most important goals is to not only get to know my students but also the community they live in. What does the community value? What type of atmosphere does it promote? Students are affected by the society that surrounds them and my teaching should reflect that understanding by creating activities that use community resources and/or uphold community ideals.