INTASC Standard
Principle #4: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
Reflection
Although it is not a highlighted term, I associate facilitation to INTASC four. Critical thinking and problem solving is an individual task and requires students to accept, have an understanding of, and apply content knowledge. In order to effectively facilitate learning in this way, students must be able to make mistakes through application. The only way to allow this course of learning to occur is to provide a variety of learning possibilities.
I strongly agree with differentiated instruction. The only misnomer being that it has a purpose. Student’s young and old can spot "busywork." It is important that tasks and activities have meaning and structure. In my own philosophy, I believe that teaching students life skills, along with the subject matter will be a goal. If I can give students a map to learning, then I have accomplished more than just seeing if they can memorize and regurgitate information. By attending professional development seminars and through observation, I hope to gain guidance and strategies that will aide in the development of lesson plan's to achieve this goal.
Content Reflection
Going from a professional career to teaching challenges my impulse to write stories and plan design for the students instead of allowing them to work through assignments. I have to step back, guide and not give the answers. INTASC four also calls for a teacher to value flexibility and reciprocity in the teaching process. Discussion and interpretation are important concepts in journalism and I believe that the dispositions and performances in INTASC four are necessary guides in this discipline. Given these concepts a journalism teacher must vary their role in the classroom from clear and accurate presentation of information as an instructor to coaching the writing, design and publication process.
Personal Assessment
Strengths
I am able to use many resources to teach journalism. The use of computers, audio and video, as well as print media and research sources are an essential part of teaching this discipline. I have had experience using all of these techniques and am comfortable integrating them into lesson plans.
Weaknesses
I feel that I need more classroom experience in order to understand what works and what does not work. There are presentation techniques that I have viewed as fool proof only to find that the students are bored and unimpressed. In addition class size is an important factor to consider, plan for and, in some cases, overcome.
Artifact(s)
Rationale
I chose a lesson plan on web critique for INTASC four. This lesson plan uses multiple teaching and learning strategies designed to engage students in critical thinking, problem solving, and performance capabilities. The lesson plan is a two-day process. I have added a section at the end in case there is time to further explore the content matter. This allows me to monitor and adjust the lesson in response to the learner's progress and feedback. The lesson also uses both print and technology to achieve learning goals. Please view entire lesson.
Rationale
In addition, I have created a short iMovie that demonstrates the use of clear, accurate presentation and representation of a concept using an alternative explanation to encode the information. The clip you are about to view is an "opener" for the second day of a lesson on persuasive advertising and the importance of recognizing the concept of perception and reality in advertising.
Rationale
This artifact represents the use of grouping in stations as an effective technique when working with advanced concepts, large classes and limited time. The syllabus outlines the tasks assigned to each station in an eight-week cycle. Students rotated stations every two weeks. Supplementary instruction was given to the class as a whole and in-depth instruction was given to individual groups based on need or where they were in rotation. Grading requirements were flexible meaning that the basic requirements had to be met, but the standard to which I held each group increased with their experience and time spent in the class. There was a significant improvement between the projects submitted at the end of the first rotation and the final rotation.