STANDARD 7 Planning for Instruction The teacher plans instruction that supports every students in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.
Name of artifact: Backward Design lesson plan Course: FL 561- Teaching Second Languages, Theory into Practice TESOL/INTASC Standards addressed: Standard 7.a., 7.b., 7.d., 7.i., 7.,k. Rationale: The first artifact I chose under Standard 7, Planning for Instruction, is the “Backward Design” lesson plan I created for the course FL 561-Teaching Second languages, Theory into Practice. One of the assignments was writing a “Backward Design” lesson plan. This type of lesson plan requires teachers to develop a non-traditional lesson plan based on deciding the “big picture” of the lesson and what the student will be able to do by the end of the lesson. I selected this artifact for Standard 7 because learning experiences in foreign language or L2 are unique to the subject. The learner needs are met with authentic learning experiences in the target language, while developing proficiency and cultural understanding. The “Backward Design” lesson was a chance to create meaningful learning. I used Spanish to create my lesson because I have only been a Spanish teacher although I have teaching English to internationals in my master’s program. The “Backward Design” lesson plan is a clearly described daily lesson plan for the teacher to identify the desired results or outcome first. By using this model I learned that there are four steps to creating a “backward design” model. First there is the desired outcome or results. Step two is performance tasks or what students do to show that they have learned. Step three is learning activities and then reflection of the instructor. The course description explains that we were learning a variety of instructional approaches. Through the lesson the communicative mode of presentational interpretive style was chosen to discuss meanings with classmates of the material presented. I chose an authentic menu from Puerto Rico to present vocabulary potentially beyond most textbooks. Through the activity I developed I made an effort to make the lesson interactive by providing a link to click on the sounds to the words for the vocabulary. The lesson is also cognitive and interpretive by requiring the students to integrate skills and discuss possible meanings of vocabulary on the menu with others. Creating the “backward design lesson made me research to find the correct format and method. It made me realize the importance that learning language for a non-native speaker requires thought processes, such as inferencing. Inferencing requires going beyond the facts which is typical of many lesson plans. Interpretation requires relating the reading to real life experience, giving opinions, explanations and more. I think this helped me broaden my perspective of language teaching. References
Name of artifact: Using the interactive model to create a lesson plan with authentic text Course: FL 561- Teaching Second Languages, Theory into Practice TESOL/INTSAC Standards addressed: Standard 7.a., 7.c., 7.f., 7.g., 7.j. Rationale: During the summer of 2015 I took the class FL561-Teaching Second languages, Theory into Practice. This exercise I chose for Standard 7 because the teaching strategies required us to use the interactive model to explore an authentic printed text. Our assignment was to complete one Episode exercise of our choice from the textbook; Teachers handbook, Contextualized language instruction, (Shrum & Glisan, p. 178-215, 2010). Chapter six of the text is entitled: Using an interactive approach to develop interpretive communication. I learned about the three communicative modes, namely; interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational, which show the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, as working in an integrated fashion. This integrated approach by Brecht and Walton (1995) frankly, makes more sense because skills are not learned in isolation. I chose Episode one of Chapter six, which asked for an authentic literary text, such as a folktale, story or poem. I had to design a lesson plan to teach the text using the Interactive Model in the chapter. I had to begin with the interpretive mode and integrate interpersonal and presentational communication. Poems are included in the definition of authentic text and this poem also includes cultural values and societal values. I know the text is formal but it is clearly written and contains ideas that serve the purpose of communication of the human condition as well. I felt like this was a challenge to me because the exercise of creating a lesson plan with this method challenged the method I had been taught. I realize that the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing; are somewhat of an oversimplification of what actually occurs in learning language. My interest is to more effectively meet learner’s needs and incorporate culture into the language learning process. The plan also includes the understanding that not all students have prior knowledge and not all students learn the same way. Paired activities for the students help them collaborate to identify main ideas, interpret and share reactions. Students work on elements of the language such as vocabulary while acquiring new knowledge and perspectives. They personalized the language of the poem to their own experiences. Through a quiz show format for an activity the students evaluate ideas and the information of the text. I hope to present the lessons in the future in meaningful contexts using formats for a more holistic approach to language acquisition.