Characteristics of a Novice Teacher
Characteristic 5: We believe that the novice teacher should have in-depth knowledge of pedagogy.
Description:Teachers should have an understanding of their content area and how to implement their working knowledge of practice and strategies in the classroom. They should be familiar with their students, knowing how they learn, and all learner needs.
Artifact: The Special Education toolkit I completed for Sped 360 last semester is a good representation of my in-depth knowledge of pedagogy. The artifact includes various strategies and activities that can be used throughout the classroom along with a detailed rational. The rational explains how to use these tools, and specific examples of when the tool can be implemented. The toolkit includes 10 different strategies/activities. These activities can be used cross-curriculum and address different learner needs in the classroom
Characteristic 7: We believe that the novice teacher should effectively integrate content and pedagogy.
Description: Content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge link in an effort to create an effective classroom. Practice is carried out through the class lessons, and units. The knowledge learned throughout the learning process is put into effect.
Artifact: This semester, as a Participant, I designed a Of Mice and Men unit. The reading is done solely in class, while independent thinking questions and strategies are done at home, or during the time allotted for reading. Discussion plays a key role, but the students fill out the DOK worksheets and answer some questions independently. This style promotes independent learning and thinking. A power point introduces the novel's background, author, and setting. Included are various vocabulary terms. The students asked my mentor teacher and I to expand their vocabulary, so we decided it was key to include the vocabulary throughout the book in their learning and discussion. The unit was started this week, so some items and areas may change according to student need and each individual class.
I had actually forgotten about the SPED 360 toolkit until you mentioned it. I think that's an excellent example to use because of all of the different strategies used to put it together. Have you incorporated any of those strategies into your classroom yet?
ReplyDeleteYour Of Mice and Men (I don't know how to italicize comments) unit plan sounds great! You make it sound like you're trying to split it equally between group discussion and independent work, which I really like. I think it's important for them to work collaboratively, but I also think that sometimes teachers get too caught up in group work and forget that students need individual time too. On a side note, I just finished teaching Of Mice and Men this week, and we did a mock trial at the end of the story to decide if George should be found guilty and punished for Lennie's murder or not. My students LOVED it. --Just a thought if you're looking for an activity at the end of the novel. :)
The artifact you have chosen for Characteristic of the Novice Teacher 5 is an excellent one. The tool kit serves as a pool of your instructional repertoire. You can add to this tool kit as you continue with your clinical experiences.
ReplyDeleteYou also did choose an appropriate artifact for CNT 7. To enhance this artifact, you could also include the the assessment activities associated with the novel, and any other student work.