Evidence+for+Licensure

I am presenting evidence of teaching and learning for the sixth grade social studies class I taught at Heritage Middle School. The Social Studies curriculum in the state of North Carolina is focused on South America and the regions of Europe. Students are expected to gain an understanding of Geographic Relationships, Historic Perspectives, Economics and Development, Government and Active Citizenship, Global Connections, Technological Influences and Society, Individual Identity and Development, Cultures and Diversity after completing this course (NCSCOS). The theme of music was integrated to teach the unit entitled//, Get Up and Move,// because of this age groups love of popular media. Music, I believe, facilitates a connection with the content while students are investigating historical events, war, and social issues. This unit reinforced the concepts of cultural geography, economic systems, and political systems, as it relates to the societies in the European regions. For the purpose of this Positive Impact project, I prepared this unit plan for 133 adolescent learners between the ages of eleven and thirteen years old at varied level competencies. The common characteristic that influenced my planning for this group of adolescents was my goal of hands-on learning and active participation in learning activities. Music is a powerful teaching tool that allows every student the opportunity to actively participate while learning about the world. Since I have an extensive music background, I routinely craft lessons that bring my love of music to the classroom as well. A second characteristic was the students’ ability to learn social studies. Although I did not receive a statistical breakdown on every student, the range in student abilities was from academically-gifted to those with learning disabilities. One student is physically handicapped with limited use in his left hand; two students have intelligence quotient scores of 69 and 70; twenty had individualized education plans, and twenty-five students are identified as academically gifted. Heritage Middle School is located in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The school operates on a year round calendar with four tracks, and I was assigned to work with the track three learners. In terms of scheduling, the school operates on an eight period day, with second period designated as ‘Encore', an enrichment based study hall. This young group of students demonstrated a diverse range of physical and social characteristics. Students with behavioral issues and disabilities are included in the mainstream classes and are not discrete in the school environment. One student with emotional disabilities has a teaching assistant that accompanies him to each class to provide disciplinary and behavioral support for the adolescent, if needed. The average class size was thirty-two students.
 * || ** Introduction and Overview of Topic ** ||  ||
 * || ** Planning ** ||  ||
 * || ** School Culture ** ||  ||

My student teaching experience was shaped in three stages with the initial stage being observational. During this two week period, I was not involved planning any instructional activities in the classroom. I previously worked with the coordinating teacher and several students at the school in the capacity of a substitute teacher. Even so, the coordinating teacher did not mention or introduce me to the class until the second stage of the experience. The students were respectful to me as a teacher almost immediately in the classroom, and there was no difficulty building rapport. Honing classroom management skills during the initial weeks proved easy. During the second stage, I began teaching second, third and sixth period periods, beaming because the students’ were receptive of my content and my pedagogical abilities. During the last phase, I was in command of the classroom in complete control of the teaching process. //Get up and Move// addresses the following core standards as it relates to the North Carolina Standard of Course of Study (NCSCOS) (2006) Sixth Grade Social Studies://Creation and Development of the State//. The unit’s design educated adolescents on the location and physical features of the West-Central and Northern European countries, emphasizing geography in this region and the impact of events and outcomes of World War I. The Competency Goals featured from the North Carolina Course of Study include: Competency Goal 3 “the learner will analyze the impact of interactions between humans and their physical environments” and Competency Goal 5 “the learner will evaluate the ways people of South America and Europe make decisions about the allocation and use of economic resources.” The specific NCSCOS objectives for thisthematic unit are: **2.01** “Identify key physical characteristics such as landforms, water forms, and climate, and evaluate their influence on the development of cultures in selected South American and European regions, ” and **3.01** **-** “Identify ways in which people of selected areas in South America and Europe have used, altered, and adapted to their environments in order to meet their needs, and evaluate the impact of their actions on the development of cultures and regions.” Understanding the geography in this area helps students understand how factors like human migration, economic development, and natural resources shaped diverse cultures and regions in Northern Europe. Additionally, students examined the physical geography, climates, cultures and governments of the British Isles and Scandinavian region.
 * || ** Standards ** ||  ||
 * Old Standards:**
 * ** 2.01 ** Identify key physical characteristics such as landforms, water forms, and climate, and evaluate their influence on the development of cultures in selected South American and European regions
 * ** 2.03 ** Examine factors such as climate change, location of resources, and environmental challenges that influence human migration and assess their significance in the development of selected cultures in South America and Europe.
 * ** 5.01 ** Describe the relationship between the location of natural resources and economic development, and assess the impact on selected cultures, countries, and regions in South America and Europe

civilizations, societies and regions overtime**.** economic activities of various civilizations, societies and regions The unit incorporated 21st century skills with an emphasis on communication and collaboration, information, media and technology and innovation skills. This was accomplished by using the Flip camera, preparing assignments using Microsoft Publisher, analyzing primary source documents, using the internet, and presentations utilizing the Elmo. In order to survies and prosper in tomorrow's world, one needs to be technologically literate. To me, technological literacy for todays students has similar importance to basic reading and writing skills emphasized in the 19th century. Resources used to plan the unit include the laptop, clickers, whiteboard, Flip video camera, writing utensils, Discovery education, Culturegrams database, BrainPop, graphic organizer’s, map, LCD projector, lyric sheets, primary source documents, social studies textbook, and 2.0 web technologies. Prior knowledge required to successfully navigate the unit includes the ability to read a map. No prior knowledge of music was required. The coordinating teacher was a valuable resource in discussions about how well the lessons went daily, and how to use software and equipment. The lesson plans are my individual ideas and I researched numerous websites, perused multiple books, and viewed several videos when planning the lessons. I worked with the guidance counselor and behavioral support team to provide differentiated instruction when necessary, in consideration of the classroom environment. The focus of the pre-assessment included a KWL Chart for students to state any prior knowledge about any country or geography located in West-Central Europe. I chose a KWL chart because I believe these charts give the students voice about the content and are helpful when constructing lesson plans. In addition, I wanted to use a tool I had not observed my coordinating teacher utilize to measure the students knowledge. For the purpose of this assignment, I had a greater idea of how much the students remembered about their recent studies of World War I and its impact on Europe. The majority of students on the team could name two countries, France and Germany. Yet, one student, Harlie, successfully named all of the countries, and obviously knew a lot about Europe. Surprisingly, she demonstrated much knowledge about a unit the class had not yet studied. I chose this student’s work to demonstrate her academic gift, which often required me to differentiate instruction for her to achieve success. Aaron, for instance, had little knowledge of the region prior to my instructional unit. Because of the broad range of limited backgrounds, I designed each lesson plan to ensure the success of various students with dissimilar knowledge. The KWL pre-assessment gave me insight to the range of the student’s knowledge.
 * New “Essential” standards:**
 * **6.H.1** Use historical thinking to understand the emergence, expansion and decline of
 * **6.E.1** Understand how the physical environment and human interaction affected the
 * **6.C.1** Explain how the behaviors and practices of individuals and groups influenced societies, civilizations and regions**.**
 * || ** 21st Century Skills ** ||  ||
 * || ** Collaboration and Resources ** ||  ||
 * ||  || ** Pre-Assessment ** ||   ||
 * ||  || ** Pre-Assessment ** ||   ||

The instructional sequences I am presenting for this project took place over a time period of three weeks. As stated previously, students connect with music and technology, so my goal for each lesson was to incorporate hands-on instructional activities using both methods daily. Geography is not always an interesting topic of study for students. The first instructional plan I am presenting took place on my first day of student teaching. The first part of the week was introducing vocabulary about the geography in the West-Central region of Europe. The students learned a song I wrote for them to aid in identifying the countries and capitals in this area. Musically, the song not only named the countries, but emphasized the location of each country in relation to one another. I supplemented the lesson with read aloud and listening activities, individual and collaborative work. In addition, students viewed an animated cartoon about the Danube River that reinforced the vocabulary words, economies and landscape in the region. Students were also given a graphic organizer to document their work and provide content. Sometimes, in the middle of a lesson, I prompted the students to sing songs to reinforce learning and keep them motivated. By the end of the week, students participated in a collaborative group activity- writing a rap song describing the culture of their assigned country. The culmination of this week was the students’ performance of their song in front of their class while I recorded them using the Flip camera.
 * || ** Instructional Sequence ** ||  ||

The second instructional activity I am presenting was taught on Northern Europe during my last two weeks. Students were given a rubric on writing and designing a newspaper about selected topics covered in our study of the unit. On the first day of the week, I gave a tutorial on how to use Microsoft Publisher. Only about fifteen students on Track 3 had heard about or used the software. Students were given three days to design the newspaper in a computer lab setting. The primary article about the Berlin Wall, was selected by me; but the secondary articles featured content chosen by the student about the Irish Potato Famine, Northern Ireland Conflict or the European Union, which I taught during this unit. The newspaper project was an excellent demonstration of the students learning about the unit. I was most proud that they wrote independently and did not require additional research to complete their newspaper.

The focus of my instructional plan shifted from whole classroom discussions and individual work to group collaboration. Most lessons fostered students working together, like evaluating images, synthesizing articles, analyzing videos and song lyrics. These lifelong skills will prove beneficial in the success of these students well beyond middle school.
 * || ** Instructional Plans ** ||  ||

Sixth Grade Social Studies Lesson 1 January 30, 2012 Students will identify the physical characteristics of specific regions in Europe and describe the physical features, natural resources, countries and capitals of West-Central European countries. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the countries and regions in West-Central Europe by completing a map. Students entered the classroom to sound of a MP3 song //People Move// playing. This rap song reinforces the five themes of geography, and a fun way to begin class. During this warm-up activity, students were asked if they could name the five themes and a short review was provided (5 minutes) I began the class lecture by introduce myself using a Voki I created, while also explaining the focus of today’s lesson (as stated in above objective). Students were actively engaged from this point and throughout the class discussion. Next, students completed the pre-assessment blank map activity to determine the following questions: 1 ) what the students already know about the location of these countries and 2) What physical features (rivers, bodies) of water the students were able to identify. Afterwards, we reviewed the classroom map and corrective feedback was provided. (8 min) I gave the students a graphic organizer that focused on vocabulary, unit essential questions, and a blank map of Europe. Students will be given time today to define the vocabulary words and specific questions today while viewing the Prezi presentation, the textbook, and the classroom map. The vocabulary words: Benelux, dike, elevation, Euro, hydroelectric power, landlocked, navigable river, Northern European Plain, polder, harbor. I began the lecture talking about the song, “The Blue Danube Waltz” by Johann Strauss II. As a young child, I played this song on the piano. I explained that I never realized this song was about the second largest river in the world, and flows through this region. Next, I explained how the Danube played a vital role in the settlement of the area and continued the short lecture about navigable rivers and the Northern European Plain. While speaking, I use the classroom map to emphasize my “storytelling” and distributed the graphic organizer for this unit, explaining our emphasis for this class was some of the vocabulary words. Students watched a short Prezi presentation reinforcing the content. (7 min) Students watched a video entitled “MGM Cartoon 1939 The Blue Danube**.”** This video is an original production and supplemental source reinforcing the landscape and natural resources along with multiple vocabulary words. The cartoon video features the title song without any conversation and kept the students engaged. (8min) For guided practice, students worked independently on the graphic organizer (10 minutes) After we completed the lecture portion of the class, I informed the learners it was time to sing, andI taught the students a song I composed to learn and remember the countries and regions. I did not provide the students written lyrics, and did not display it. I sang it once, then, I sang it in parts with the students repeating after me. (5 min) The lyrics are as follows: France and Germany, beside Belgium, underneath the Netherlands The Alpine countries, Austria and Switzerland, don’t forget Luxembourg Tune – Jesus Loves the Little Children -Individual exit ticket – Students will answer the following two questions on a large postcard: Students will leave in box for a class work grade. -Group exit ticket – Students will sing the WCE song I taught them to me as a group before leaving Class. (4 min)
 * || Instructional Plan #1  ||   ||
 * Objective**:
 * Procedures Followed:**
 * Closure:**
 * Exit tickets:
 * What is the name of the second largest river in Europe?
 * Name the two largest countries in West-Central Europe?

Sixth Grade Social Studies Lesson day 21 March 5, 2012 Students will write articles about the history, geography, and culture in West-Central and Northern European countries to demonstrate their knowledge of this region. Students entered the room prepared to complete a daily warm-up, but I quickly introduced the lesson explaining they would design a newspaper responded with cheers. After inquiring from the students about the use of Microsoft Publisher, I discovered that the majority of the students had never heard about the software. Next, I gave a demonstration on how to navigate the software and highlighted features in a fifteen-minute presentation. After reviewing the rubric, I instructed students they would have three additional class periods to finish the assignment before heading to the computer lab. At the computer lab, I answered questions, assisted with technical issues, and provided suggestions and feedback. This was not always an easy task with an average of thirty plus students in a small, hot lab. Overall, the process was smooth in the lab while the project was a creative learning tool for the class. Display the completed newspapers inside the classroom and along the sixth grade hallway. To measure evidence of student learning, I evaluated student responses to questions posed during my presentation, a summative assessment in the form of student based project and passing formative assessments. Specifically, student responses from the exit tickets “How will I know I Got It” and singing the song to me correctly when I asked. The KWL pre-assessment also provided feedback on the knowledge prior to my teaching the unit. I chose to give the Wake county common formative assessment for the unit by using Turning Point Technology software. Students answered the questions with a clicker and not the scantrons. However, students with testing accommodations were given a choice to take the written test in the testing center, and two students complied. I chose to administer the CFA in this format because 1. the coordinating teacher conveyed to me that he did not want the students to have quizzes and/or test on the units and 2. The clickers were a fun way to incorporate technology with an assessment, and the results could be graphed to detail the performance of the students as a class and individually. All test questions were read aloud by me, and during the review, I projected test strategy suggestions by re-stating words in the answer choices to eliminate the “far out” answers. The summative assessment was in the form of a student performance based project. Students were required to create a newspaper reviewing key topics studied from the previous four weeks using Microsoft Publisher. By implementing the creation of a newspaper as a performance assessment, students are in control of obtaining the grade they want to earn. In order to provide students a clear and precise evaluation criteria a rubric will be distributed. This assessment also integrated a cross-curricular instruction of language arts by writing the answers to posed questions in journals. I was very satisfied with the results from both assessments. Both were the culmination of all of the information I exposed the students too. Admittedly, I was concerned about their performance on the CFA, because there were no written quizzes or tests throughout this unit at the request of the coordinating teacher. In the end, the a students scored 90% of the students scored 86 of higher on the CFA, and the results of the newspaper project were simply commendable.
 * || Instructional Plan #2  ||   ||
 * Objective**:
 * Procedures Followed**:
 * Closure**:
 * || ** Assessment ** ||  ||
 * CFA Assessment**
 * Rubric **

** Analysis of Student Work ** The three students I chose to feature for the purpose of this project are very dissimilar, academically and socially. Aaron is friendly, modest and unsure of himself around his peers. He seems to enjoy school,but exhibits difficulty opening a locker, organizing his work, and completing assignments. I selected him because based on his responses on the KWL Chart and my observance of him losing assignments. My goals were to instill confidence within him that he could improve his work habits and do better in school by organizing his work and keeping up with his work.
 * || ** Student Selection ** ||  ||

Jalen, on the other hand, is quiet yet interactive with the boys and easily distracted in class. During my second week in the classroom, my coordinating teacher assigned me to “work with him one-on-one” every morning during Encore to complete a remedial reading program. No formal individual education plan is presents but testing at the school concluded that he reads on a third grade level. My goal for Jalen was to have him engage my lessons with minimal distractions, and to give him the opportunity to engage orally and be able to demonstrate to me that he clearly understood the content.

Harlie is an incredibly organized, popular student in the academically gifted (AG) program, and quite successful in school. As evidenced by her response on the KWL chart, she knew quite a bit about the history and geography of West-Central Europe prior to my instruction. Her pleasant personality and work ethic mirrored a student much older. I selected her for the assignment because she is exceptionally gifted and required differentiation in assignments to succeed. Moreover, her knowledge about the geography and history of the war as it related to this region intrigued me. Aaron Aaron improved in class, but it was a challenge to teach the class and try to monitor him daily. Each morning, he arrived with a bright smile, and told me he cleaned out his backpack or did a little research at home. Aaron passed the CFA, and worked diligently on his newspaper. Yet, he only finished two articles at the end of three days. On several occasions in the lab, I asked him questions like” what do you remember about Irish Potato Famine? “ He knew the information and appeared to type them in his paper, but he never finished. Initially, I felt like I failed him, but later I realized that it is impossible to tutor a student one on one and ignore the needs of other students who need my assistance in the class. Aaron appeared to be more productive when I was working with him directly. On a positive note, for the purpose of this project, he showed vast improvement from the responses on his pre-assessment and class attentiveness.
 * || ** Impact on Student Learning ** ||  ||

Student Evidence #1 Student Evidence #2

Jalen Jalen made great progress. My coordinating teacher moved Jalen right beside his desk in the back of the room to address my concern about limiting distractions. Jalen exemplified achievement in learning the content as indicated by his scores on the CFA and his work on the travel brochure and newspaper. On the CFA, he correctly answered five of seven questions. On two occasions when working on the newspaper, I re-directed him by saying, “let’s stop the playing and begin working Jalen,” to keep him focused. Frequently I offered encouraging words and complimented a positive display in his work habits. While in the media center, I remained in the area he was working, without hovering, as a reminder that he should stay on task. On a few occasions, Jalen asked if he could “read to you what I wrote to see if it makes sense.” This demonstration on his part speaks volumes about his improved progress and demonstrates his desire to submit good work. Student Evidence #3

Harlie Harlie continued to exemplify academic success during my project and also developed leadership skills. Since she was familiar with the geography, I differentiated her lessons, by having her write in her journal daily about the lesson, and providing feedback to me on upcoming lesson plans. In addition, she was designated my technical assistant during the newspaper project. In this capacity, she provided her expertise about sentence structure, formatting issues, and creative input to students in the lab alongside me. In addition to daily journal writing, Harlie created a glogster presentation that I used during my lesson about the culture in France. Every teacher on the hall and her classmates were informed she created the presentation, and how I incorporated it into the classroom because of her exceptional academic abilities. At the end of my student teaching assignment, I wrote her a letter expressing my thanks and appreciation. Student Evidence #4 Student Evidence #5 The Positive Impact in Student Learning experience fostered a better understanding on the importance of creating lessons to address the needs of a multicultural classroom of learners. By integrating the adolescents’ love of music to teach the content and diversifying lesson instruction, I was able to instantly connect with these learners. As a result, I succeeded in expanding their knowledge of the geography in Europe. I believe my previous experience as a substitute teacher afforded a smooth transition into my part time teaching assignment with my coordinating teacher. In addition, students at Heritage already knew me and fully respected me and were cognizant of my expectations as the guest teacher in the classroom while teaching this unit.
 * ||  || ** Reflection ** ||   ||
 * ||  || ** Reflection ** ||   ||

I believe the students were more engaged, motivated and excited about social studies when I was teaching, and this trend showed in their assessments. Even though there were not any quizzes, the students did better in their formative and summative assessments than I expected. Because I chose to test them in a non-traditional manner that precluded reading silently and selecting the answer, the students responded well to me reading each question aloud and giving them a certain amount of time to answer using technology. This experience has confirmed my belief that students are responsive and productive in their work product when non-traditional teaching methods are implemented. In reviewing the work of the selected student, I understand the importance of more in-depth assessment. In actuality, all three students did well on the CFA regardless of the gap in their academic abilities. However, the same success was not as evident on their final summative assessment – the newspaper.

In retrospect, I would emphasize the newspaper assignment content more, providing specific questions the articles should address for some students. I will definitely continue to use a musical theme to provide unique learning opportunities and engage the students. However, as a novice guest teacher, I realize it is ambitious to try to orient music everyday in the classroom. The students expected me to present an unusual activity during the lesson, like music or pneumonic, to help them remember the topic of study. Therefore, in my classroom I will continue this trend as a means of engagement.

The classroom whiteboard received a visual overhaul during this project. I taped the board with blue painter’s tape with a specific area for the objectives, today’s agenda, vocabulary, and the quote of the day. The objectives were clearly posted on a laminated 8x11 sheet of paper. Daily, I wrote “Today’s Agenda” on the board with the planned script for the day. The vocabulary was displayed in a specific section on the whiteboard in a using the magnetic clothespins in correlation with the topic of study. To encourage all students that entered the classroom, I wrote an inspirational quote like “Aim for the moon. If you don’t get there, at least you may land in the stars,” on the board. Encouragement goes a long way.

I strongly believe my classroom management skills, humorous demeanor, and thorough preparedness of lessons improved the achievement of my students during this experience. Students’ achievement was paramount for all of the students because of the probing questions and hands-on instruction I offered every student. Additionally, I provided resources beyond the textbook to help students engage the content and included music as a teaching tool to connect with and construct knowledge and enhance learning history.

Incorporating 21st century technology also greatly enhanced student learning. In my lessons, I incorporated the BrainPop and United Streaming videos provided by Wake County for supplemental content references. Additionally, I created a Voki during the unit to introduce myself, and designed a Prezi to offer another means of instruction to a traditional PowerPoint presentation. I believe many students benefitted from these technologies and better understood the content of the lessons after I used these tools. I taught all the students how to use Microsoft Publisher, and each student was given the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to effectively use this technology by completing an assignment. I believe that not using technology in the classroom to motivate, enhance, and facilitate student learning is critical in this age of millennium generation is fallacious.

The unit, //Get Up and Move,// concluded smoothly and the class transitioned into a study of Southern Europe. Though my coordinating was teaching the unit, I decided to prepare the students for the unit. One of my favorite lessons involved **PIGS**. I wrote the word PIGS on the whiteboard and advised the class it was our topic of study. I asked them what they knew about pigs and wrote their typical answers - pink, love mud; eat slop, on the other side of the board. Then I informed them I was referring to different PIGs and wrote Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain on the board, generating a laugh from the class. As Hans stated, “that is Mrs. Bryant. She is always coming up with something fun to help us remember stuff.” This comment was music to my ears.