New Mexico Teacher Competencies

Competency 4: the teacher comprehends the principals of student growth, development and
learning, and applies them appropriately.
Competency 4: requires teachers to understand learning and to create developmentally
appropriate lessons using that knowledge. To do this teachers must understand the progressions of
learning. Concepts need to be taught based on building blocks of skills. Conceptual Framework;
Coherent connects to Competency 4. It addresses the importance creating lessons that are logically
organized around learning concepts.
The artifact included Conceptual Framework: Technology. ecause technology is everywhere,
teachers need to incorporate it in the classrooms a frequently as possible. !ith each day, new
technology is being developed and many of those developments can help students learn.
Conceptual Framework: Reflection is e"tremely important. The artifact also includes
opportunity for reflection. #eflection needs to take place while planning the lesson, during the lesson
and after the lesson. $ well planned lesson requires a great deal of thought such as the content,
students% level of understanding, and assessment. #eflection during a lesson is essential to make
constant ad&ustments as lessons progress. 'essons on paper and lessons in action are not always the
same. It is important for teachers to be noticing what students are doing in order to provide effective
feedback. #eflection after a lesson about students% reactions helps guide the ne"t set of lessons.
Conceptual Framework: Collaboration is a ma&or part of teaching especially for new teachers.
There is so much to learn and planning with other teachers is a great learning opportunity.
Collaboration was key in the following unit.
Artifact Context
The artifact that I chose to represent Competency 4 is a series of lessons I wrote and
implemented while tutoring a (
th grade
student who receives )pecial *d services in reading, writing and
math. I worked with the )pecial *d teacher, the parent, and an *ducational Consultant to determine the
student%s goals for the summer tutoring. +ne of the main areas the student was struggling in was math
story problems. )o the goal was to improve the student%s critical thinking skills. The *ducational
Consultant and the )pecial *d teacher helped me design activities for rock to e"plore the concept of
,*mbracing $mbiguity.- The unit also includes lessons teaching rock specific strategies for
improving his reading comprehension. The hope was that these two types of e"periences would help
rock improve his ability to complete math word problems.
Significance
Competency 4, understanding student learning, was very relevant to this set of lessons. !orking
with the )pecial *d teacher and the *ducational Consultant I began to understand the importance of
knowing the progressions students go through developmentally. rook was a (
th
grader who could
memorize math facts but struggled with any higher level thinking activities. !e developed a series of
lessons that started out with concrete e"periences. rook had to balance on a balance beam to get the
sense of how his body automatically ad&usted when he began to fall. !e then connected this to how his
brain feels when he doesn%t understand something.
Conceptual .ramework: Coherent which discusses the importance of providing a coherent learning
e"perience was a challenge during this series of lessons. ecause we were trying to teach rock a
complicated skill, it took several layers of scaffolding. Conceptual .ramework: #eflection was key in
making the constant ad&ustments to the activities to match rock%s level of understanding. )ome
activities worked and some didn%t.
To help rock with his understanding I had rock make a slide show of the thinking strategies.
/e used the internet to find pictures to represent what he was learning. This activity helped rock take
his understanding deeper. Conceptual Framework: Technology
Conceptual Framework: Collaboration, while working with rock I was part of a team. The
)pecial *d teacher knew academically where rock was and what his needs were. /is parents provided
input to how rock was feeling. The *ducational Consultant provided the thinking strategy model and
helped plan the lessons.
Future Improvement
The most important thing I learned during this e"perience was the advantages of collaborating
with others. I learned from everyone involved. *ach person%s contribution enhanced the lesson.
I tried to record rock%s progress and realized how difficult it was to take notes while working
with a student. Then there were also several things I thought I would remember but could not. The
notes were important to the meetings we had but I need to find a more effective way to record my
observations.