Standard II: Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those

subjects to students.

As an educator, it is my responsibility to know the subject that I teach. In order to teach

my students English, I needed to master this content myself through my own studies in
college (Literature at American University) and through my studies in graduate school
(receiving my teaching credential in English at UCLA). I also bring with my seven years
of teaching experience in underserved communities in Los Angeles, two years at a
middle school and five years at a high school. Not only have I pursued higher education
and taught for multiple years, I have continuously challenged myself by reading new
material throughout each year that Ive been a teacher, as well as worked closely with
other English teachers across the country to learn more about my craft.

Being a master of ones content, though, is not enough. It is imperative to know how to
teach this content to your specific population of students. How will they best learn the
material? How will they connect with the material, and therefore engage with the lessons
being taught? How will they intrinsically motivate themselves to want to learn this
difficult language? In order to achieve this goal, I look specifically at 3 things:
Curriculum, Lessons/Assignments, and Prior Knowledge.

In regards to curriculum, I find it important and necessary to backwards plan and think
about the end goal of each unit. What do I want my students to achieve? What skills
and techniques should they learn at the end of our learning? There are certain things
that are non-negotiable, though. Students will need to complete specified district tasks
and exams, and students will need to show growth and mastery on these tested skills.
How my students get there, though, allows me to be creative and engaging with the
material (Artifact 2a). My goal is to always make the work meaningful to my students,
always connecting the common tasks and literature to their own lives and the world
around them. For example, this can be seen in their most recent research report (as
mentioned in my Standard 1 Reflection). Every student across the district needs to
research and write an essay exploring the complexities of a controversial issue. My
approach to this allows this assignment to be more meaningful and engaging, while also
rigorous and challenging in relation to the content. Knowing my students and their
background, it was essential for me to connect this research assignment to their own
culture. By doing so, students were given the opportunity to learn more about their
culture and the issues that might not always be talked about, while also developing the
necessary skills to find credible sources and use their evidence to develop a strong
research paper (Artifact 2b).

As an educator to a variety of students, it is also important to know that students require

different pathways to mastering the content. Knowing my students allows me to create
differentiated assignments throughout the semester. End products have varied with
each common task, sometimes as an essay or a presentation or even a group work
assignment. Students are provided with graphic organizers to help them construct their
thoughts and organize their ideas (Artifact 2c). Even the types of books we read and the
weekly homework assignments connected to this literature vary, giving student the
opportunity to read meaningful texts and make their own personal connections to their
world. The texts read this year include Night, The Piano Lesson, Julius Caesar, Things
Fall Apart, and 1984. Giving students different options and changing the types of
assignments helps reach different students depending on their style of learning and their
interests.
Lastly, it is important for me to reach out to educators who have been teaching at
Gaithersburg High School prior to my first year here to discuss what students have
learned and what techniques work best for them. One example in particular was
learning about a specific paragraph structure from my co-teacher, someone who taught
our students in their 9th grade year. Learning, and being open-minded, to a new style of
writing helped me reach my students and bridge the gap between ninth and tenth grade
English. This structure, otherwise known as the TEXT writing format, has been a helpful
tool in helping my students improve their writing (Artifact 2d).

Overall, my background in education and my experiences with my students have helped

me accomplish this standard successfully.