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Focus Point Five - Human Development, Cognition and Individual Differences |
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Competency 001 - The teacher understands human developmental processes and applies this knowledge to plan instruction and ongoing assessment that motivate students and are responsive to their developmental characteristics and needs. Interpretation - The teacher is aware of students’ learning capabilities and utilizes this to plan thematic units, lesson plans and developmentally appropriate evaluations of her instruction. She realizes there are different learning levels and needs for each student and organizes her lessons with proper accommodations to maximize learning for all students. |
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Process - Reading Instruction - Hand-out (Language Art-Dr. Tyson) Summary - This is a diagram of Instructional Routines to assist a teacher with implementing student reading guidelines for the classroom. This diagram also contains is thoughts and suggestions for grouping students for reading instruction. Rationale/Reflection - I feel this diagram is an efficient guideline for a teacher to utilize in order to keep each of her students’ reading capabilities moving forward within their learning spectrum. The diagram clearly illustrates the different types of reading done in the classroom and includes reading done at home as well. I also feel the helpful thoughts on how to go about placing the students in their appropriate reading levels to be a great asset, too. I have mentioned before how important reading literacy in the classroom is in my opinion. These diagram guidelines and illustrations will assist me in my future working with students’ reading instruction as an early childhood teacher.Product - Multiple Intelligences: Strategies in the Classroom (Social Studies-Mrs. McCormack) [see binder] Summary - This hand-out includes a wide variety of teaching techniques and materials which would be very useful in any classroom. The diversity of the ideas in each of the intelligences was an important factor in my choosing this piece of evidence for my portfolio. Rationale/Reflection - The ideas and techniques given in this hand-out are the primary reason I chose this particular piece of evidence for this competency. I feel it is very important to remember that students absorb their knowledge in a number of different learning styles. I think it is the teacher’s responsibility to promote success for all students by using these types of materials and techniques in her classroom. In this manner each student will have ample opportunity to learn through the use of multiple intelligence teaching methods utilized by a caring teacher. Performance - “Macaroni Multiplication” lesson (Mrs. Spurlock’s 3rd grade-small group) [see binder]Summary - This lesson uses large elbow pasta to help students learn the process of multiplication through grouping by sets. The students are given a multiplication sentence to solve using rows and columns of elbow macaroni; through the use of this macaroni they come to understand the process of using concrete objects in order to learn the concept of multiplication by sets. Rationale/Reflection - I chose this lesson due to its use of a hands-on manipulative (macaroni) and the teacher led instruction of writing the number sentence. I felt through the use of both a kinesthetic learning material and the linguistic instruction each student would have an opportunity to practice the multiplication tables of “twos” and “threes”. These teaching methods are valuable in teaching learners with a variety of mathematical skills. The students were also able to “see” the number sentence using concrete objects that were both familiar to them and fun to use. I felt each of these steps were invaluable as they touched on several learning mechanisms different students use to comprehend various mathematical concepts. |
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