RUNNING HEAD: LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review for TPE Domain D

Victoria Garcia
National University

LITERATURE REVIEW
Abstract
The following literature review discusses Common Core Standards and how it relates to
planning and implementing instruction. The importance of differentiated instruction and knowing
ones students is emphasized.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The article Common Core and Planning: Organizing a Unit of Instruction is about
common core standards and how they do not dictate the classroom, meaning they do not tell a
teacher to teach a certain way. This is a common misconception that many teachers have about
common core; they see it as a rulebook on how and what to teach. The common core standards of
teaching are more of guidelines than a specific set of rules.
The article discusses how some teachers go about preparing for their lessons by either
reading through the common core standards and forming their own lessons out of the material or
by using their own teachers intuition and seeing what the students respond to. I think that using
the teachers intuition method is more beneficial than reading through standards and picking and
choosing what to teach. If a teacher is dedicated to their job they will be able to identify what
methods work and what methods fail. If a teacher simple pulls concepts out of a book, then what
is the point of going to school for years to become a teacher? Anyone can pull concepts form a
book, but it takes a teacher to understand what works and what doesnt with their own class.
Since each class is different a teacher must bend and adjust to their current students learning
habits. Differentiated instruction is critical to student success. A book of concepts is too rigid to
adjust to individual students.
The article is all about how to develop a lesson plan based on how that lesson will impact
the students. From my experience, there is a lot of trial and error when developing lesson plans
in a real classroom situation. There is so much that goes into developing a successful lesson plan.
How will the students respond? Will the lesson plan hold the students attention to the point
where they learn a new concept and also enjoy the topic and/or task? I think that a teacher must
have a few different strategies for every topic. The author states ultimately, a unit plan should be
passionate, not mechanical; critiqued, not received; personal, not clinical; not art or science, but

LITERATURE REVIEW
art and science -- never perfected, because curriculum is you, and you are always learning how
to better meet the needs of students. (Finley, 2014)
When a teacher begins a lesson plan if the students are not responding or simply not
understanding the concept, it is up to the teacher to change and adjust the lesson plan to reach the
students. Learning is not one-size-fits-all. Instead, the teacher must adapt to each student and
each new school year.

LITERATURE REVIEW
References
Finley, T. (2014, March 10). Common Core and Planning: Organizing a Unit of Instruction.
Retrieved January, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/common-core-planningorganizing-unit-todd-finley