Kerri Goucher

EDUC 343/470
Dr. Cozens & Dr. Edwards
Quality Indicator 5: The pre-service teacher uses a variety of instructional strategies to
encourage students development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
Performance Indicators 1.2.5.2: Engages students in active learning that promotes the
development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance capabilities.
Performance Indicators 1.2.5.1: The pre-service teacher selects alternative strategies,
materials, and technology to achieve multiple instructional purposes and to meet student
needs
Here at Missouri Southern State University the pre-service teacher has been introduced
to numerous instructional strategies and theories that will set her up for success in the
classroom as an educator. This reflection provides evidence for how proficient the pre-service
teacher is, specifically in literacy education.
. The Literacy in Science Project, otherwise known as the artifact, created by the preservice teacher is an excellent example of how using alternative strategies, materials, and
technology can accommodate all learners. The Content Text Set is a reference for each and
every piece of literature used to expand student literacy throughout the content unit, which
includes newspaper articles, non-fiction texts, poetry, fiction books, videos, and even
interactive websites. The Word Sort and Vocabulary Self-Awareness Chart are two activities
that give students the opportunity to assess their personal vocabularies and familiarize
themselves with new words and phrases introduce to them throughout the unit. The QuestionAnswer Relationship challenge students to analyze text and think critically by asking higher

order questions, ultimately improving their abilities to comprehend any text. The Graphic
Organizer and Notetaking documents help student reformat information from the texts to
better understand the material and make it more accessible. In the Shared Reading example,
the pre-service teacher models how a self-regulated reader uses reading strategies like
predicting, visualizing, questioning, using context clues, and making connections when reading
informational text. In closing, the Performance Task creates an experience similar to
standardized testing to prepare students for its new format as well as calm any testing
anxieties. All in all, the artifact provides the pre-service teacher with the resources to effectively
teach content literacy.
The pre-service teacher chose to use these various instructional strategies because she
can see importance of it to student learning, thanks to Neil Flemings VARK model. According to
Fleming, we all process information differently, whether its visually, aurally, reading-writing
focused, and/or kinesthetically. By incorporating these specified areas of learning into the
classroom, any teacher sets up her students for success.
The pre-service teacher sets her students up for success with the Literature in Science
Project by emphasizing how essential it is to engage students in active learning by promoting
the development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance capabilities. As
mentioned above, the Graphic Organizer does help students reformat information from the
text; however, it also requires students to provide text-dependent answers including page
numbers, just like in the Notetaking document. Both of which are extremely visual activities.
The Shared Reading is an excellent example of an auditory lesson because it utilizes the thinkaloud approach to model several reading strategies. The Question-Answer Relationship

assignment stimulates critical thinking and problem solving skills by encouraging students to
look deeper into the text and themselves. These activities as well as the Vocabulary SelfAwareness Chart and Word Sort prepare students to have the capability to perform well in any
setting because of their strong literacy skills.
Overall, this artifact was an exceptional learning experience for the pre-service teacher.
It taught her how to design activities that help students acquire the most prudent information
from a literacy source, no matter its reading level or format. The pre-service now sees how
using alternative strategies truly does make learning accessible to every child.