Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
InTASC 5
10/4/18
InTASC 5: Content Application
Next on the InTASC standards list is the idea of applying your content in a diverse way.
The standard holds that “the teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing
perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving
related to authentic local and global issues.” Not only is having a deep understanding of your
content necessary, but so is the ability to link that knowledge with lessons that will expand your
students’ ability to think critically and to connect concepts together with real world issues. It
focuses on tapping into your students’ perspectives on different topics and being able to draw
connections to them as you cover them in a lesson plan. It also involves a teacher using students’
A teacher must understand that being able to link current events with in class content is
one of the best ways to ensure your students remain interested and invested in the material at
hand. Mixing current events, paired with cross disciplinary content is another method to keep
students hooked. For example, a Spanish and world history teacher get together to plan a lesson
that link Spanish conquest and particular vocabulary terms. While you’re discussing the Spanish
conquest in world history, the Spanish teacher could also focus on vocabulary that links directly
to the lesson such as verbs and nouns relating to conquest or colonization. Or, if teaching a
lesson on the various amendments of the Constitution, link some current news articles to the
current events or at least the overarching ideas. For example, if teaching a history class and
covering the Civil War era, the recent news cycle offers plenty of opportunity to extend
connections to the current events. You could teach a lesson that links the fundamental principles
of the Civil War to the erection of monuments to Confederate generals. We could have a
discussion that connects the causes of the Civil War to students’ own personal opinions on why
I feel that this standard is one of the most essential in creating a classroom in which your
students actually want to be there. It can be very difficult to get students motivated to learn civics
or pre-modern American history. The mastery of this standard will allow you as a teacher to
devise activities that keep your students invested in the material. In addition, students tend to not
pay attention to the daily ins and outs of what is going on in the news and being able to link
current events to the material covered in class will hopefully motivate them to pay attention to
more news than just the president’s tweets. Understanding that our responsibility as teachers is
more than just the material at hand, but also to motivate students to want to learn outside of the
classroom.