Teacher Work Sample

Teacher Candidate Name - Jessica Stone

Licensure/Program Area - P-3/MI
College Supervisor Suzanne Siamas
School/Center - New Community School
Grade/Age - Kindergarten
Subject - Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives
Date - May 11, 2014
Course Number - 250
Tier Number 3
Score - __________

Step 1: Classroom Context/Community and Family Engagement

The classroom is a dual-grade learning environment with both kindergarten
and first grade and contains children aged 5 through 8. There are 18
children enrolled and all 18 are typically present. The students spend
approximately 4 hours of the day in the main classroom. The classroom is
equipped adequately with access to technology and appropriate paper and
supplies.
The class does not contain any students with diverse languages. There are
three students with IEPs. There are several children in pull-out or
supplementary programs. There are four students in Title I, one student in
RTI, and three children in speech. The majority if the students are typical in
their pattern of development, with one student labeled as atypical and one
student labeled as advanced.
New Community School is a charter school and not part of a main school
district. It is located in a small shopping center (the building was once a
grocery store) and nestled between several neighborhoods and other small
shopping centers. The parents provide their childrens transportation, which
makes the location ideal.
Parents play a large role in the school and volunteer on a regular basis.
Parents are present in the classroom, such as the parent who is charge of the
classroom gardens and teaches mini garden-inspired lessons each week.
Parents are also present behind the scenes, volunteering in the library, after
school functions, and chaperoning field trips.
Step 2: Assessment of Prior Knowledge (Establishment of a
Baseline)
In order to determine what the student or group of students know, I will ask a
series of questions. First we will review the definition of a noun, verb, and
adjective as a group. Then I will ask the students to provide several

examples of each. Finally, the children will receive a series of words and they
will have to determine on their own if the word is a noun, verb, or adjective
and place the word in the correct list. Pretest is below.

Name _________________________
Noun, Verb, and Adjective Pre-Test
moon
teacher
laugh

run
heavy
swim

big
chicken
cold

Nouns:
______________________

______________________

______________________

______________________

Verbs:
______________________

______________________

______________________

______________________

Adjectives:
______________________

______________________

______________________

______________________

eat
red
tree

Step 3: Planning Instruction

Standard/Foundat Objective
ion
K.1.20
Identify and sort
common words
in basic
categories.
K.7.4
Recite short
poems, rhymes,
and songs.

Learning
Activities
Silly Sentences

Assessment

Nursery Rhyme
Mad Libs

Completing of
Worksheet

1.1.1

Action Words
Charades

Active
Participation

Match oral words

to printed words.

Pre-test

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College

Education Department
Lesson/Activity Plant Template
Teacher Candidate: Jessica Stone
Name of Lesson: Nursery Rhyme Mad Libs
Subject: Reading and Writing

Grade: K/1

Rationale for lesson: The purpose of this lesson is to teach/review the

definition of a noun, a verb, and an adjective.
Learning outcomes: The students will be able to choose a noun, verb, or
adjective upon request.
Assessment of student outcomes: Observation and Work Sample
Related Foundations/Indiana Academic Standard:
K.1.20 Identify and sort common words in basic categories.
K.4.5 Write by moving from left to right and from top to bottom.
K.7.4 Recite short poems, rhymes, and songs.
1.1.15 Read aloud smoothly and easily in familiar text.
1.6.1

Print legibly and space letters, words, and sentences appropriately.

Materials Needed: Print out of edited nursery rhymes, writing utensils

Lesson/Activity Presentation:
Anticipatory set: I will begin by asking the children if they know any
nursery rhymes. I will explain that we will play a game called Mad Libs
where we take words from the rhymes and replace them with a different one
to make a silly mixed up Nursery Rhyme.

Teaching procedures: After asking about nursery rhymes, the group

will list several nursery rhymes. I will read one aloud and children will list the
nouns, verbs, and adjectives in it. Then we will think of different words to
replace the nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Guided & independent practice: Children will receive a paper with
one nursery rhyme and a list of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. They will fill
out their nursery rhyme and will take turns reading them.
Closure: I will collect the sample work and check to see how the
children did and follow up with those that struggled.
Differentiated instruction: I have both simple and color coded work
sheets. The color coded work sheets are intended to help the children
replace one noun with another noun, one verb with another verb, etc.
Multicultural instruction (if appropriate):
Technology (if appropriate):
Reflection on lesson: This lesson had its ups and downs. While many
children got the idea of the game, many just found it hilarious to put their
friends (and Allisons) name in all the blanks. Next time I would like to do
this in multiple small groups, to get the lesson across more clearly. However,
I was joyed to see several children that have trouble focusing during lessons
really enjoy this activity.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College

Education Department
Lesson/Activity Plant Template
Teacher Candidate: Jessica Stone
Name of Lesson: Silly Sentences
Subject: Writing

Grade: K/1

Rationale for lesson: The purpose of this lesson is practice writing

complete sentences that contain a noun, verb, and adjective.
Learning outcomes: The student will be able to write a complete sentence
using the noun, verb, and adjective they randomly pull from an envelope.
Assessment of student outcomes: Visual observation and completion of
at least 5 sentences.
Related Foundations/Indiana Academic Standard:
K.5.1
K.6.1
1.6.2

Draw pictures and write words for a specific reason.

Write capital and lowercase letters of the alphabet, correctly shaping and spacing the letters.
Write in complete sentences.

Materials Needed: cards with nouns, verbs, and adjectives, pencil, writing
paper.
Lesson/Activity Presentation:
Anticipatory set: We will begin by reviewing what a noun, verb, and
adjective are and remind the children of their importance in writing a
complete sentence.
Teaching procedures: I will explain what the three envelopes
(labeled nouns, verbs, adjectives) are for and how to use them for this game.

I will demonstrate the process of drawing one noun, one verb, and one
adjective and how to arrange them into a complete sentence.
Guided & independent practice: The children will complete 5-10
sentences, then choose their favorite sentence and draw a picture of it.
Closure: We will join back up as a group and share our favorite silly
sentences.
Differentiated instruction: The word cards could have pictures on them to
help children who have difficulty reading. I can also work one-on-one with
children who have trouble reading the cards and we can talk aloud how to
turn those words into a sentence.
Multicultural instruction (if appropriate):
Technology (if appropriate):
Reflection on lesson: I was only able to do this lesson with one of the two
students of interest because the other was absent, but the one that did
participate did well. She was able to identify which words were nouns, most
of the verbs, but only a few adjectives. I reiterated that adjectives describe
something, such as the noun. This lesson was a bit dryer than the others I
have done, so maybe next time I can come up with a way to make it more
fun.

Step 4: Implementation: Teaching and Learning

In order to accurately access and monitor student progress toward learning
outcomes/objectives I will perform a series of assessments, verbal, visual,
and through the completion of worksheets. I will verbally assess the
students during the anticipatory set, to gauge the immediate knowledge of
the students. I will visually observe the students who are participating and
encourage all students to take a turn answering. And finally, the children will
put their knowledge of nouns, verbs, and adjectives to work by completing
the worksheets.
Technology will be used to create the activity worksheets, but will not be
used during the actual lesson. If technology, such as computers, were
readily available in the classroom I might include extra practice with a
program that uses nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Before I begin the series of lessons I will ask the students questions to judge
their understanding of the definition for the words noun, verb, and
adjective. After our discussion, the children will be given the pre-test; the
results are posted below.

Pre-Test Results
12
10
8
# of Correct Questions

6
4
2
0
0

8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Students (18)

Throughout the lessons, I will continue to monitor the students application of

their knowledge of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. I adjusted my instruction
based on what I learned from the assessments. In order to help the children
understand the definitions of nouns, verbs, and adjectives and how and why
we use them, I made the use of them relatable. For example, when trying to
come up with different verbs, or action words, I asked the students to think

of what they do outside. When discussing adjectives, we discussed how the

students could use adjectives, or descriptive words, to make their text
messages more exciting.

Step 5: Assessment Results and Analysis of Student Learning

Post-Test Results
14
12
10
8
* of Correct Questions

6
4
2
0
0

8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Students (18)

Comparison of Pre- and Post-Tests

Pre-Test

Post-Test

15
10
# of Correct Questions

5
0
0

8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Students (18)

The pre-test results showed that the students were all over with their
understanding of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. As the lessons progressed, I

could see more and more students begin to understand how to use various
types of words. The post-test revealed that through practice of using nouns,
verbs, and adjectives, more students could actively recall what kind of words
fit into each category. The majority of the students scores improved, and
even the few whose test score did not improve, I could tell from discussing
with them during the lessons that they did indeed have a basic
understanding of the concept.
Step 6: Reflection and Self-Analysis
Upon the conclusion of the work sample, I am continuously looking for ways
to make content knowledge relatable to the students. If they have a frame
of reference when learning a new skill, I believe they will have an easier time
putting the new skills to work.
The original expected outcome of the lessons taught was for the students to
be able to recognize words, not just for what they mean, but for how the
each play a part in sentence structure.
Prior to teaching the lesson, my assumption was that the majority of the
students were familiar with nouns, verbs, and adjectives; but not necessarily
familiar with referring to them in such categories.
Based on the results I obtained and my experience with this body of
instruction, I will plan the lessons more thoroughly. To complete this work
sample, I started with the lessons, and worked the other aspects (pre/posttest) into it. Next time I would like to begin with a skill and work my way
through a series of lessons.
This project revealed that my own teaching and assessment skills need work.
While I feel proficient delivering lessons, and sufficient creating them, I feel
my assessment is lacking.
The formative assessment completed during the lessons showed me where
and how I needed to adapt the lesson, particularly to individual needs. As
specific students struggled with the concept, I adjusted how I present and
taught the lesson. During individual work, I worked one-on-one with the
children that were struggling.
I do believe the evidence supports some actual student learning; however
because it is so close to the end of the year, Im not sure exactly how much
of the subject learned was assisted by me.

I believe that I bring enthusiasm and flexibility to the classroom; Im able to

adjust a lesson on the spot if I realize something is not working well. I
believe that if I am enthusiastic about the lesson, the students will be as
well. I also believe that my planning and assessment strategies need
improvement. I would like to feel more confident when asked if my teaching
made an impact; right now I just feel like a fun substitute teacher that comes
in and plays games or does fun activities.
I would like to use the classroom management techniques I learned from my
mentor teacher in my own classroom in the future. I would like to spend
more time getting to know each individual child, not just the few I focused on
during this semester. I would also like to focus on the whole child, not just
the academic aspect that I see during school hours.