INTASC+2

INTASC 2

Reflection of INTASC 2: Child Development and Learning Theory As educators, we must plan our lessons and activities around the needs of our students. Although this may be easy to recognize, there are also many factors that play into the way our students learn and what affects their learning. Within INTASC Two, we examine the physical, social, cognitive, and emotional development of our students. These developmental aspects of learning may help or hinder a student’s learning depending on the careful planning and insight the instructor. For a student’s physical development, especially within the high school years, we find that our students rarely achieve the amount of rest needed for their age group. We also find that they are very self aware of their appearance and are very invested in exploring different aspects of their likes and dislikes to create their own individuality. With this in mind though, how can we better teach and connect with our students to help them learn? To begin, we will find that it is very important to create a solid motivation for our students to introduce our lesson. Without a motivating introduction to the lesson, students may never obtain the interest level needed to learn. We can also use this motivation as an opportunity to connect the material to our student’s lives. Another method to helping students learn could be to create more “hands on” activities. By allowing students to work with material, we are giving them the opportunity to become engaged with the material and with their learning. For the social aspect of student development, we find that high school students like to experiment with where they belong. These students will tend to experiment with different behaviors to find what they feel best shapes their personality and who they would like to be, and we find that they like to experiment with their behaviors with the opposite sex. Knowing that the social aspect of their lives is very important within this stage of development, a lot of group work should be done within the classroom to help hold the student’s attention. By working in groups, students will be given the opportunity to interact with classmates they may not have interacted with outside of class. This allows for a better understanding of different people, it allows for the formation of new social connections, and it also allows for a better understanding of the material. Within the cognitive aspect of the high school student, we find that they are beginning to question themselves about their future and even develop a higher level of thinking. This aspect can become very helpful within the classroom. We need to be sure that we are challenging our students enough along with making sure that we are only directing them to their own conclusions. With this aspect of development, it is very important to understand that our students maintain a certain independence from adults; therefore, we should hold them accountable for more developmental thinking skills. One way to include this within the classrooms is to pose more, higher level thinking questions based upon the material. In an English classroom, we can use this with literature. We might question students about simple facts to start, but then pose ideas of how the material may relate to their life, or ask them why a character might have made a decision. By doing this, we will be challenging our students to look beyond the text and even within themselves for answers. This aspect of development involves deep reflection, higher level thinking, analysis, and the development of individualistic ideas. The final aspect of emotional development also plays a huge role within the classroom. During this stage of their lives, high school students may become very invested in their own thoughts and perspectives. They feel a very strong, personal connection with most of what happens around them, but they still concentrate on creating strong social connections. It is also within this time that they begin to develop meaningful and even passionate connections with other people. Because of this we need to be sure that we try to build friendly connections with our students. When they enter the classroom, they should feel as if they are entering a safe environment where they should feel comfortable sharing their opinions. These aspects of INTASC Two are extremely important to student learning. We need to be sure that along with the life outside the classroom, we are also holding a strong effect and influence on our students. It is also important to understand how they learn in order to help them succeed.



Reflection A: “The teacher understands how children learn and develop physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively.” Within my Child Study artifact, I have demonstrated my understanding of INTASC 2 with my ability to understand and accommodate for my students within the classroom. Because it is so important within the Middle School and High School age groups to find a connection and common ground with students, I have performed research for one particular student to reflect upon how my understanding of behavior, socialization, academic ability, and emotional state can assist a teacher with instructional methods for their students. Through this activity, I have found that through observation and investment with students can better help educators to assist their students within the classroom. This understanding can help teachers facilitate lessons that will best help the needs, well being, and interest of students in order to keep them motivated and give them the best opportunity for success. This artifact proves my complete understanding of INTASC 2 because I have taken the time to invest and relate to a student, and because of the experience, I am now able to implement new methods of instruction to better help my student succeed. This process should be presented for every student within the classroom to help them perform at their best ability. Because all students work, learn, and identify differently, we must be sure that we take the time to invest in each student as an individual because this will allow us the best opportunity to have a positive impact upon all student learning. From this research, I have found that my methods of planning, teaching, assessing, and analyzing have altered depending not on what I intend for the lesson to be, but for what will best benefit the student with learning. Depending on the student's needs and interests, I have found that it is imperative for students to feel as though you have taken an interest not only in the learning of the class, but the learning and interests of them as an individual. This relates to planning because, as educators, we must consider the needs and interests of our students to better implement learning. For the teaching portion of the lesson, this should be the significant time to build the bridge between the students and the content. After the planning is complete, the implementation of the lesson should simply be to capture and hold their attention to get them motivated and in the best environment possible for learning. It is important that we realize and understand the idea that our content area is important, but how we introduce and implement the material to best fit the student’s needs is what is most crucial.



Reflection B: "The teacher designs instruction that meets the developmental needs of all learners"

For my Validated Practices Project, I have included documentation based upon the Child Development and Learning Theory aspects of teaching. Within my Validated Practices Project, I provide a mastery of INTASC 2 because I have accommodated and provided lesson plans to better fit the needs and interests of my students. For my first lesson, I have incorporated a pre-test that will allow me to determine any prior knowledge that my students might obtain for the Hero's Journey. Based upon the results of the pre-test, I was aware that there were specific aspects that I needed to focus on. To do this, I incorporated a summary from Batman Begins, one of the greatest tragic heroes known in comic history. This instantly gained the curiosity and interest of my students. Batman Begins in the classroom? This relates to 8th grade English? Absolutely. Every student was given a chart for the stages and components of the Hero's Journey and as we walked through the chart and the summary together, I could see that students had begun to understand the deep concept behind the Hero's Journey. Allowing students to complete the chart as a whole class originally, in order to model, and then in a think pair share activity, and then finally independently towards the end of the lesson truly helped them work with each other to understand the concept. One student replied to me, "I see how Batman is a Tragic Hero!" For my next lesson, students were to read excerpts from The Odyssey in order to identify the Archetype of Odysseus' Journey as a hero. With the prior knowledge of the stages of the Hero's Journey, students were first to complete a comprehension worksheet for the reading. We completed the first section together as a class, then students completed the second portion with a group, and finally, students completed the last two portions independently. This comprehension worksheet truly helped my lower readability students understand what was within the reading. I had then incorporated a Safari Montage video of Odysseus' Journey so my visual students and struggling readers could get a better grasp on the material. This also reflects upon my performance of INTASC 2 because I am aware of my students' abilities and I plan my instruction around their needs. Finally, students were assigned to complete a worksheet where they independently identify the stages of Odysseus' Journey independently. This assessment was designed to test them, not only on their understanding of the reading, but of their understanding of the stages and components of the Hero's Journey. For my last lesson in this project, I had incorporated a higher level thinking activity for students to understand the "Refusal of the Call" stage of the Hero's Journey. Students were first to identify which stage of the Hero's Journey was represented based upon a Spiderman comic strip on the projector. I found immediate gratification when students identified the comic strip correctly. At this point, I knew that I could move forward with my lesson without having to review the components. The next step was a Lion King YouTube clip where students had to list the consequences for Simba leaving his home land. In doing this, students were to inductively find that there are consequences when the hero refuses their call to adventure at the beginning of their journey. Following this activity, students had to refer back to pieces of literature that we've examined prior in order to identify the "Call to Adventure" "Refusal of the Call" and the negative components that fell under the main characters "Refusing their Call." By using information that we had already covered in class, I was able to tap into my student's background information and allow students to work in groups in order to explain components that they might not understand to each other. This lesson clearly touches upon my mastery of INTASC 2 because I had two strong motivations that allowed students to gain interest and become excited about their activity for the class. This Validated Practices Project had a positive aspect on student learning, because as you can see from my Validated Practices Grid, student learning had increased a substantial amount after their post-assessment. By examining their pre and post - assessments, I have found that my teaching methods for my students were effective. I found that I had engaged and motivated students to encourage learning within the classroom. This Validated Practices Project also incorporates the components of JPTARR because I have based my lessons upon my planning, teaching, and learning strategies. Based upon my pre-assessment, I knew which components of the Hero's Journey needed much attention, and which components students had already felt comfortable with. I also left room at the beginning of my lessons for students to prove their prior knowledge from the class prior. As I had stated, if students didn't show progress or understanding, I would take that time to review any misunderstandings. Teaching and learning with these lessons, were probably the most exciting parts of all. It was a very rewarding experience to stand in front of the class and see students respond with the same excitement that I projected in front of the classroom. Whether I teach 8th grade English or not, these lessons will remain in my portfolio as an exciting motivational activity for students.