Portfolio 1

The standard this artifact best exemplifies is Standard # 7: Planning for Instruction.
The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous
learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, crossdisciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the
community context.

Briefly describe the artifact, including when it was created, the purpose and process of its
creation.
This artifact most represents a lesson to be learned for the implementation of planning for
instruction. It was created on October 1, 2015, for use in the first of our week 4 class
discussions for EDTP 639. The purpose was to answer the prompt, Do you see something in
these readings that could connect in the development of content lessons described in Alvermann?
What should we take away from the descriptions made about literacy that could be relevant to
the frameworks we use to develop unit and daily plans in our content fields? This artifact
explains what I find important to be included and reminded of while planning instruction for
students.
Explain how your artifact demonstrates achievement of the selected standard.
This artifact demonstrates achievement of the selected standard because it is the
representation of the lesson I learned regarding planning for instruction. It explains how
important it is to tie in students prior knowledge to new information. When one is able to make
a connection between a new concept and previous knowledge, the new information will make
more sense and be easier to assimilate the old with the new. This discussion post cemented this
strategy in my mind, to always be reflective of when planning instruction.
Describe how your creation of this artifact has affected your understanding of the
standard, and/or how it may contribute to your effective teaching/learning in the future
related to the InTASC standard.
Creating this discussion post required me to research and learn about the Learning
Cyle which helps students relate what they already know to new information. Accomplishment
of this will not only help students in class on a particular assignment, but it will also teach them
learning strategies they can use the rest of their lives. This relic will contribute to effective
teaching/learning in the future related to the standard because it really left an impression on how
I think about new knowledge now. I will use a strategy of questioning to find the ties between
students prior awareness that relates to new concepts being introduced in class.
Given what your artifact demonstrates of your current abilities in comparison with the
selected standard, explain: What do you perceive to be your current strengths related to
the standard? What will you need to improve/learn in order to better embody the selected
standard? If you have ideas on how you may do so, describe them. Note that this reflection
should be on your strengths and weaknesses in relation to the standard, not your strengths
and weaknesses related to the artifact in particular.

Portfolio 2

The only strength I can claim at this point is having an understanding of the importance
of implementing particular strategies while planning for my instruction. Having never taught
before, I do not know how to improve on this particular standard. What I will have to do is learn
effective ways to implement the strategy of the Learning Cyle.
Artifact: Discussion 4-1
How would you make a link across our text readings for this week (Alvermann, Plaut
and Harvey and Goudvis)? Do you see something in these readings that could
connect in the development of content lessons described in Alvermann? What
should we take away from the descriptions made about literacy that could be
relevant to the frameworks we use to develop unit and daily plans in our content
fields? Use evidence from the texts to support your ideas. Be sure to respond to at
least two of your colleagues.

The universal theme linking our two chapters this week is a cycle of learning utilizing the power
of literacy. Achieving literacy seems to be a present-time goal, as well as a benefit for the future.
Alvermann, Gillis, and Phelps (2013) explicate the importance of quality instruction to teach
literacy objectives in the present. An important question these authors seek to answer is What
do students need to learn, and what should they be able to do with that knowledge? (pg. 89). If
the building blocks are taught well, such as organized instruction, quality student participation,
and valuable assessments, students will have the tools to not only learn now, but continue to
learn and scaffold previous knowledge. What I see in these readings that connect in the
development of content lessons described by Alverman is The Learning Cycle (pg. 106-107).
As Alvermanno et al. describes, it is a structured framework for teaching literacyfor helping
students make connections between the content they are expected to learn and what they already
know from related experiences. I see this Learning Cycle being applied to more than just a
lesson or a subject. What we should take away about literacy that could be relevant to the
frameworks we use to develop unit and daily plans is the theory the learning cycle demonstrates.
Making connections between the new content being taught with the knowledge students already
possess will help them remember more of the new information. Providing these bridges between
the past and present in our planning will make the new information more memorable and
accessible for students, helping to cement the new information to memory.
Plaut (2015) extends the cycle of learning, making it applicable to not just the present, but also
the future. Chapter fours title shows that learning should be extended from school to world
(pg. 49). Literacy not only provides students with literacy skillsgiving them access and
power in their current lives, but also teaches how it was important for life beyond school [to]
make a difference for them in their lives (pg. 50). Literacy is, indeed, a civil right which
empowers students now and in the future.
Reference
Alvermann, D. E., Gillis, V. R., & Phelps, S. F. (2013). Content area reading and literacy:
Succeeding in today's diverse classrooms (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Portfolio 3

Plaut, S. (2009). The right to literacy in secondary schools: Creating a culture of thinking. New
York: Teachers College Press.

Portfolio 4

Reflection
A valuable life lesson to learn is that nothing one does is a waste of time as long as one
learns something from it. Writing lesson plans is no exception. A teacher does not simply write
a lesson one time and use this for life. A good teacher will learn from observation how it was
effective, and also not effective, and make changes to the lesson to improve both the lesson and
the learning results of this instruction. What I have learned from this lesson plan writing is that
time is as important in composing a successful lesson as is the lesson itself.
One can create the most instructional session ever designed, but if there is not enough
time to teach it it will never be successful. Having only a 50 minute amount of time to perform
a warm-up, a transition activity, and a lesson for the day with my (hypothetical) students did not
allow enough time to seriously work on much of anything during class. Another restriction of
such a brief period is that it also did not allow for ample conversation between myself and my
students, or for peer interaction. On-topic conversations are very important as it allows differing
perspectives to be expressed, yet everything in this concise class period seemed hurried and
rushed, and did not allow much time for discussion.
While I know I have to work on differentiation and integrating multicultural learning into
my lessons, as these concepts are new to me, my biggest challenge was trying to make all that I
wanted accomplished fit into such an abbreviated interval. With everything I tried to fit into a
limited amount of time, my lesson may be more of a review and practice session (warm-up and
motivator activities) that would lead into a summative assessment (the narrative writing
assignment). The biggest lesson for me with this practice is that time management is as
important to a successful lesson as what is being taught.