Standard 6 - Reading, Writing, and Oral Communication The competent teacher has foundational knowledge of reading, writing, and

d oral communication within the content area and recognizes and addresses student reading, writing, and oral communication needs to facilitate the acquisition of content knowledge. Artifact Description To demonstrate my commitment to Standard 6 of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, I have chosen to include a lesson plan from my Intermediate Field Experience. The lesson is centered around an article that is intended to stimulate debate and involves a certain amount of controversy. The class read Should Girl's Play on Boy's Sports Teams? as a group, and then discussed the arguments in the text. Students then discussed the merits of each side before writing their own opinion on a reflection sheet. When students completed the reflection sheet, they were required to turn their sheet over and complete it again from the opposite perspective with the purpose of broadening their perspective. To complete the lesson, students stood and presented their opinion orally. Conceptual Framework Standard 2 coincides with the Finding Our Professional Selves requirement of the University of St. Francis Conceptual Framework. This lesson involved a challenge to students as well as myself. While students were required to see things from a different perspective, I was challenged to provoke a dialog that encouraged continual thought and reflection within and between the students. As a teacher, I'm continually challenging myself to improve my questioning skills. It would be easy to stand in front of a class and tell them what I wish them to learn, but learning doesn't occur by dictate; it occurs through discovery.