Standard #1: Knowledge of Subject Matter
The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structure of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structure of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
It is important that teachers understand the concepts and the different ways to think about and understand the topics that are taught in the curriculum for the grade in which they teach. Having a full understanding of the topics is essential because teachers need to be able to identify what the central concepts and main ideas are of the curriculum and how to adjust and differentiate content to students across a wide range of performance levels. As a teacher, being able to understand what is important for students to learn in the content allows me to accommodate and modify the instruction for the variety of learners that are present in my classroom. The material that is taught will always be the same, however the way in which it is taught will differ.
The artifact that I chose to represent inTASC Standard #1 is a mini-unit I created for the first grade math unit of telling time to the hour and half-hour in my special education placement at Dutch Neck Elementary School. For the time telling unit, the students had to be able to tell time to the hour and half-hour. In first grade, students begin developing an understanding of the function of a clock in our everyday lives and learn how to tell time. In order to begin the unit, we read the book “What Time is it, Mr. Crocodile?” by Judy Sierra and discussed the different types of clocks and how/why we use clocks. Using the book not only allowed us to discuss why we use clocks, but also provided examples of different clocks such as digital clocks, analog clocks, sundials, etc. The students were able to recognize the clocks and name the context in which they had seen them before, such as at home or in school. Once the students understood why we use clocks, we then began learning how to tell time to the hour and half hour. The first graders in this group needed a lot of repetition and hands on activities to fully understand telling time.
InTASC Standard #1 informs educators that we need to fully understand the content being taught in order to modify and accommodate the way in which the information is delivered in a productive way. The curriculum of learning to tell time to the hour and half hour stayed the same, however I created many different hands-on activities and used a variety of manipulatives to help the students understand and slowed down the pace of the unit to allow them extra practice and time for full understanding. Some of the hands-on activities included Time Bingo, Time Match, a clock that allowed the students to visually see a half of an hour, Judy Clocks, and labeled clock. The materials for this unit were from the school curriculum, online resources, and the enVisionMATH program used in the district. The lessons in this unit pushed the students to expand their understanding of a brand new topic, while the different activities gave the needed support for them to be successful.
The artifacts above show my growth and development as a teacher because they demonstrate that I have a full understanding of what it means to read a clock to the hour and half hour and created a variety of tools for students to understand and practice this skill according to their needs as learners. Through observation and studying education, I now understand that it is important to fully understand the central concepts, the variety of tools that can be used, and the structure of the disciplines being taught in order to make the information more meaningful for students.
The artifact that I chose to represent inTASC Standard #1 is a mini-unit I created for the first grade math unit of telling time to the hour and half-hour in my special education placement at Dutch Neck Elementary School. For the time telling unit, the students had to be able to tell time to the hour and half-hour. In first grade, students begin developing an understanding of the function of a clock in our everyday lives and learn how to tell time. In order to begin the unit, we read the book “What Time is it, Mr. Crocodile?” by Judy Sierra and discussed the different types of clocks and how/why we use clocks. Using the book not only allowed us to discuss why we use clocks, but also provided examples of different clocks such as digital clocks, analog clocks, sundials, etc. The students were able to recognize the clocks and name the context in which they had seen them before, such as at home or in school. Once the students understood why we use clocks, we then began learning how to tell time to the hour and half hour. The first graders in this group needed a lot of repetition and hands on activities to fully understand telling time.
InTASC Standard #1 informs educators that we need to fully understand the content being taught in order to modify and accommodate the way in which the information is delivered in a productive way. The curriculum of learning to tell time to the hour and half hour stayed the same, however I created many different hands-on activities and used a variety of manipulatives to help the students understand and slowed down the pace of the unit to allow them extra practice and time for full understanding. Some of the hands-on activities included Time Bingo, Time Match, a clock that allowed the students to visually see a half of an hour, Judy Clocks, and labeled clock. The materials for this unit were from the school curriculum, online resources, and the enVisionMATH program used in the district. The lessons in this unit pushed the students to expand their understanding of a brand new topic, while the different activities gave the needed support for them to be successful.
The artifacts above show my growth and development as a teacher because they demonstrate that I have a full understanding of what it means to read a clock to the hour and half hour and created a variety of tools for students to understand and practice this skill according to their needs as learners. Through observation and studying education, I now understand that it is important to fully understand the central concepts, the variety of tools that can be used, and the structure of the disciplines being taught in order to make the information more meaningful for students.