Task 3: What are the requirements of the edTPA and what does an edTPA lesson plan look like? (Essential Questions C)
Pre-Posting – In preparation for your edTPA completion DURING YOUR STUDENT TEACHING EXPERIENCE we will be conducting a mini-edTPA for this course. First, print a hard copy of your edTPA handbook to refer to when watching the edTPA Overview Part II video (if you printed a hard copy for Dr. Chapman’s class you can use that one). Next watch the edTPA Overview Part II video (This video is 15 minutes long).
Posting – Post your interpretation of the key points/aspects of edTPA gathered from the video. What information do you see cutting across all of the resources you have read/seen on this topic so far? What are the cautions needed or “hints provided” for making this a quality product?
Fri. November 15, Initial posting
Response Postings – Everyone should respond at least 1-2 times to each group member with a question, clarification, or addition to the thoughts on their postings. You might consider other information, questions you still have as a future teacher, etc.
Response Postings:
By Sunday, November 17: 11:59 PM. Response postings
Here are some samples of what I've been working on:
ReplyDeleteScience Thematic Unit, Lessons 1-3 Differential Learning Levels:
Level 1 (Entering): Students will learn basic terminology for scientific research and application (i.e. theory, opinion, evidence, etc.). Assessment will include informal oral examinations of student’s knowledge, in which they will be asked to explain the meaning of the literal meaning of content language.
Level 2 (Emerging): Students at this level will begin to develop more complicated examples of the vocabulary and how it applies to the content. Assessment will include informal oral examinations of student’s knowledge, in which they will be asked to give examples of fact and opinion. If students struggle with the content and assessments at this level, they will go back to the level 1 and repeat instructional goals.
Level 3 (Developing): Students at this level will begin to develop more complicated examples of the vocabulary and how it applies to the content. Assessment will include informal oral examinations of student’s knowledge, in which they will be asked to give examples of fact and opinion.
Level 4 (Expanding): Students at this level will begin to identify examples of fact and opinion, as well as use the content language taught to the first two levels. They will begin to use the content language in a sentence and they will be able to give their own examples of fact and opinion. Assessment will include informal oral examinations of student’s knowledge, in which they will be asked to give examples of fact and opinion and they will be able to write three examples of each as well.
Level 5 (Bridging): Students at this level will begin to identify examples of fact and opinion, as well as use the content language taught to the first two levels. They will begin to use the content language in a sentence and they will be able to give their own examples of fact and opinion. Assessment will include informal oral examinations of student’s knowledge, in which they will be asked to give examples of fact and opinion and they will be able to write three examples of each as well. Students may be given further reading and writing assignments on the topic if time permits.
Part 2:
DeleteTPA Lesson Plan 1 (Scientific Language and Use):
Teacher Candidate:
Jonathan Reeves
Grade Level: 6-8th
Date: 10/28/2013
Unit/Subject: Science Language and Use.
Instructional Plan Title/Focus:
Content language in science regarding theory and the differences between fact and opinion.
Vocabulary:
Fact, opinion, theory, reasoning, evidence, testable, untestable, question, answer, solved, unsolved, solution, knowable, unknowable and scientific process.
Planning
Lesson overview or summary:
The lesson will describe scientific principles and what makes something a fact or opinion (higher levels will discuss the concepts of testable and untestable—related to fact and opinion).
Focus Question:
Connection:
Student Accomplishment:
• What is fact and what is opinion? How are they different and what are some examples?
• What are scientific principles and how are they used (i.e. theory, hypothesis and synthesis)? The higher order questions will be covered later on in the unit and in the upper levels only. Differential goals will be adapted for beginning levels as needed.
• A short summative assessment will be given and this will include an ungraded quiz.
Class characteristics:
• Consider students' prior knowledge, language development, social and emotional developments, family, and interests.
• Include how you will use your knowledge of students to plan the lesson activities, pacing, choices, etc. (this can be a portion of the commentary instead).
• Begin the class by asking students what they know about the content language and topics (allow for explanations and questions).
• Pacing and the level of discussion surrounding the content vocabulary will be determined by the students expressed prior knowledge and feelings of certainty about what scientific language is and how it functions within the context of middle school science.
This is very detailed...Very clear and concise!
DeleteI have enclosed some samples of my own work to help myself grow in this process so please feel free to give constructive feedback on what I have posted. As for the video, it was pretty hard to gain all the knowledge needed from this one viewing, even with frequent stops and revisits. That is why I plan on revisiting this video again and again as needed during my EdTPA writing sessions. The hardest thing to really nail down for me is how to make a perfect rubric. Obviously the stress in the video is about being nuanced in how we address problems and concerns with our student's learning and this is something I both understand and yet have concerns about, because what does this really mean?
ReplyDeleteI think what she says following this comment is helpful because it suggests that being nuanced in our approach requires use to think about each and every student and how we would make alterations in trying to reach them. For me, this could mean many things such as creating modifications for SpEd students and ELLs as well as setting aside reteaching time to clarify any confusion and that seems to be the clearest part of the message in the video. But, what else can we do to ensure that we are being nuanced in our writing because while we may think of everything there is always the concern that something will be left out be accident or not addressed in great enough detail and that is what I would like to ask for others thoughts on this matter. What do you think is the best way to address all the requirements? Do you think we should include specific alternative assignments for SpEd and ELL students in our plan or should we just describe our actions and procedures in these situations in great detail? Thoughts?
It is daunting to think about this project in general.... I share your concern in thinking I may leave something crucial out by accident, or not focus strongly enough on a certain area. I did a sample TPA for another class and the professor really went through and commented on all the parts that may need more attention to detail. Scary thing is, I thought I WAS detailed. It was a great experience but probably instilled more fear in me than confidence.
DeleteAs far as modifying during our actual observation, I believe that they will take into consideration, these students are human and we have to alter things on the fly to accommodate the situation. Every teacher needs to be prepared at every moment. Submitting a plan that is completely thorough and then teaching the actual lesson will hopefully not be as daunting as I'm thinking. If we submit a very detail oriented plan and have a clear idea of what we are doing, that will be a great start. As we are being observed, they will be able to tell if we have a what it takes to be organized and be able to handle the classroom plus provide an environment that is conducive to learning while providing a positive experience.
I think that the student knowledge section is one of the most challenging areas of the TPA lesson plan template. It is asking for some very detailed information that we may or may not get about our students depending on the district we are in. I was looking at the sample for us this week and felt very overwhelmed by that particular section. I was wondering about modified assignments too. Personally I chose a sewing unit for my TPA which I will probably turn in for my final project to get my license. I'm not sure if an alternative assignment will be needed because being a special ed student does not mean that you can not put the project together.
DeleteThanks for all of you advice and I agree that it is completely daunting to tackle this project because we know that it has such high stakes. I have been in contact with Dr. Chapman and I realized that I did in fact make a mistake because I thought I was using the current EdTPA format, which I wasn't, so now I have to review the content section and find the correct template because unfortunately I have quite a few TPA templates in my MSU folder so far and as we all know, the world of education loves to change everything completely and as often as possible.
DeleteKris, you make some nice points about the expectations and how some things can seem unclear when they really are not. For example, when we discuss having alternative assignments and modifications for every student, it would be quite impossible to then make a new lesson for every variable of disability, disorder and language background and as you say, a generic response seems like what we are supposed to give because even with that generic quality, my lesson plan is still sitting at around 23 pages. Now, I will be making the changes needed to adapt it to the EdTPA listed in our content areas, but at the end of the day--this is going to be long.
It seems the main theme of this power point were to help us thoroughly understand what is expected when we are completing our edTPA. It is evident that the more information that can be given and the more in depth the thought process is, the better!
ReplyDeleteThe “what do I need to think about” sections should include information on what the pre-knowledge of the students is and what they are learning to do. The more we know the culture and background of our student body, the more we will be able to help them learn. This knowledge will help us to research and find information that we can teach that will help the student grow and progress in skill level.
The next section of “what do I need to do” focuses on getting us to pinpoint what we will be teaching by gathering and organizing the information and creating assignments that enhance the learning of the students. This section forces us to analyze the information we are putting together so that the students get as much out of the lesson as possible. Writing the lesson plans takes some research and a lot of thought. I am planning a very simplistic lesson for my first graders on rhythm. In this section, my lesson plan includes activities that will help them learn what rhythm is, how to spell it, what it may look like, and it will include various assessment tools that I will use to determine the students’ progress.
In the ‘what do I need to write’ section, there is a strong focus on explaining the plan by writing a planning commentary. The more descriptive we can be, the better as this portion will explain the process, what the goals are for the students and how I plan to achieve this. I will need to know the standards of my content area and how to apply them. In my lesson on rhythm, I am covering the following standards: Standard 1: Demonstrate knowledge of the foundations of the arts area • 0.1.1.3.1 - Identify the elements of music including melody, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, tone color, texture, form and their related concepts. Standard 2: Demonstrate knowledge and use of the technical skills of the art form, integrating technology when applicable • 0.1.2.3.1 - Read and notate music using a system of notation such as solfege, numbers or symbols.
Addressing academic language is a large portion of the focus. In music we will not only include musical terminology, but we will be teaching about basic events, holidays, cultures, people, and more. There are basic words that we will build on such as ‘dynamics’. We start our academic language by teaching simple words like piano and forte and gradually build our vocabulary list as the years progress by adding more complex forms of dynamics. This is only one small example of teaching academic language but I feel it works across the board as we teach terminology that is used in various content areas.
The video talks about being able to change lessons to improve on one point or another, or to modify it according to the classroom of students. There are many learning styles within each class so the lesson or a particular activity may need to be tweaked or modified in some way to enhance particular learning styles or personalities.
There are many rubrics present within the edTPA to help with each section of what needs to be accomplished. These rubrics are a very detailed outline of what is expected and they reflect on the professionalism that is expected from each piece. It is made very clear that each section should be detailed and extremely thorough.
I'm not sure if anyone is in this boat, but I will not have an opportunity to practice the lesson and then improve on it the next hour. I will be prepping for 4 different classes a day, one of which is a 2 hour class. None of the classes I teach will be a repeat. That makes me a little nervous knowing that I have one chance to figure it out and that I need to get it right the first time.
DeleteAs you mentioned sometimes it is hard to just talk about a vocabulary word as we use that word in so many ways or build on it quite a bit during a class. In my mind, I think academic language is such a hard thing to think about when in reality I am probably using it all the time and just not realizing it. I'm glad we are spending some time on this in this class so I can feel like I have a better grasp on it.
Wow! I'm not sure if I feel better or worse after watching this video. It went really fast and it was hard to get all the information. It will probably have to be one of those videos that I watch more than a few times.
ReplyDeleteThe edTPA is divided into 3 sections: Planning, Instructing, and Assessing. Under each of these tasks we need to think/write about what we need to think about, do, and write. It also gives us a listing of what type of evidence we need to provide and how it will be graded.
What I thought was interesting is that we are supposed to be shooting to get a 3 out of 5 on our rubrics and that levels 4 and 5 are for veteran and master teachers. Even master teachers do not spend much time in level 5. This is very backwards from how we work for our grades now. Personally I never strive for average so I think that I will take a bit of a brain shift.
I am thankful for all of the detail that is in this workbook, but yet still seem very overwhelmed by it. There is a lot of information here and I wish that there was a person in our content area that could go through this workbook with us in detail. It is hard to just read it all and completely understand.
I think one of the biggest "hints" is to make sure that we are being as detailed as possible with how we are explaining especially the planning and assessment areas. It does say that our lessons need to be detailed enough for a substitute teacher to teach off of, but I feel like it is more important to have higher amounts of detail in the other two sections.
Kaylee,
DeleteGreat take on some pretty heady information. I value your opinion on things, not only because you are very bright, but you have real world experience. I was wondering if you get this level of lesson plan left for you when us sub?
Thanks again for bringing out great information on your post.
Paul
There is a lot of detail to this. It seems overwhelming but I think once you begin the process, it will be more time consuming than it is difficult. There is a lot of planning and preparation that is going in to this project. I think you are right in saying that the main focus is paying attention to detail. In every one of my classes when they are talking about the TPA, they reiterate being as detailed as possible. Explain how, why, where, what... Be descriptive... be thorough... Seeing the various examples has helped me a lot.
DeletePaul - I do not get this amount of detail when I sub. There are many days, however, where students are just reading or taking a test/quiz, or I'm pushing play on a DVD player. I usually get much more information if I have subbed for the teacher before and they know me a little bit. Those that don't know me at all usually leave very little information, sadly. However, I do think that is because if your job goes out to the general sub population you have no idea what kind of background the sub that picks up your job has.
DeleteThe video helped me further understand each section of the edTPA. Breaking down the three sections was helpful. I was amazed at the detail and how it all seemed to come together to bring about a finished product. The included rubrics are helpful as there is a constant goal to shoot for.
ReplyDeleteI will need to view and review this material several more times before I am comfortable with the information. It is a daunting task, but thoughtful lessons are what a teacher needs to produce to educate the students.
I've viewed this material several times in the past year and a half and still feel overwhelmed. Like I mentioned to Kaylee, it's all about being descriptive and detailed to the finest degree and then reiterating and dissecting the information even more. This video is helpful but like you, I will still need to review it several more times before I attempt it.
DeleteKeeping the process positive and forging ahead to the next level is what it will be all about.