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NCATE Institutional Report
Definitions
Definitions
of Educational Terms
Assessment is the collection of data. It is the
measurement activities educators use to attempt to make valid inferences
about students' knowledge, skills, and dispositions; as well as
using those measurements and inferences to decide curricular aims,
instructional strategies that are developmentally and academically
appropriate, and if an instructional sequence was successful.
Authentic assessment where students perform tasks
that demonstrate meaningful application of knowledge, skills, and
dispositions. The closer the task is to what people face in the
world as mechanics, construction workers, designers, business people,
politicians, parents, citizens, ? the more authentic the assessment.
Performance assessment is a task where students'
actions while completing or attempting to complete the tasks can
be observed and compared against a scale or range of performances
to determine a level of comprehension, skill, and/ or disposition
on a continuum of performance possibilities.
Artifacts is anything that a student or teacher
makes or does that can be used as evidence to support a claim. Oral
statements, written, recorded video and audio, drawings, models,
grades, portfolio, student groupings, nonverbal behaviors...
Benchmarks are generalizations or groups of generalizations
that are usually written as outcomes or objectives and used to assess
students' learning at very broad intervals of time (years).
Concept is an idea about a particular phenomenon
people abstract from specific experiences. The idea includes all
the properties that distinguish examples of the concept from all
the non examples of the concept. Examples: plants, animal, rock,
soil, dog, cat… Concepts can be concrete or abstract. Concrete
concepts such as temperature as degrees on a thermometer, mammal
as a dog, cat etc. Abstract concepts such as temperature as molecular
energy, mammals as warm-blooded vertebrate with a four chambered
heart, that bears live young, nurses them etc.
Critical thinking is the art of reflecting and
evaluating our conscious understanding and ways of thinking with
the hope of improving them.
Curriculum is our educational aims: the knowledge,
skills, and dispositions we hope our educational efforts will produce
in students. Curricular aims include: goals, objectives, outcomes,
and standards. These aims are represented in a variety of documents,
but more importantly are the mental representations and emotional
feelings different people consciously or unconsciously use to influence
their decisions.
Evaluation is the ranking or rating of a particular
artifact or collections of artifacts. It is the process of putting
a value on the artifact(s).
Fact is something that actually existed, object
or event, and can be verified by observation. Facts are single occurrences.
Gateway is a predetermined place in an educational
sequence where students must demonstrate certain competencies.
Generalizations are statements of a relationship
between two or more concepts. Examples: All matter has volume and
mass. There is a relationship between an object's volume and surface
area. Notice each requires understanding of each concept to have
meaning. Generalizations can also be a generalized condition of
fact, all dogs have canines.
Goal is a broad or general statement reflecting
the ultimate ends toward which the total educational program is
directed. (Some texts sometimes refer to these as aims.)
Goal is an immediate objective or outcome that
a person desires and executes a behavior or sequence of behaviors
to attain. Motivation - hunger; Goal - food; Strategy - raid the
refrigerator
Imagination is what makes our sensory experience
meaningful, enabling us to interpret and make sense of it, whether
from a conventional perspective or from a fresh, original, individual
one. It is what makes perception more than the mere physical stimulation
of sense organs. It also produces mental imagery, visual and otherwise,
which is what makes it possible for us to think outside the confines
of our present perceptual reality, to consider memories of the past
and possibilities for the future, and to weigh alternatives against
one another. Thus, imagination makes possible all our thinking about
what is, what has been, and, perhaps most important, what might
be.
Instruction is the means people use to attempt
to achieve their curricular aims. Specifically what teachers do
to help students learn what they believe students are supposed to
learn as well as any consequential learning from those actions that
were not anticipated by the teacher (hidden curriculum).
Instructional Objectives are descriptions of what
a learner is to do to demonstrate competence. Performance outcomes
may describe different levels of what students may do to demonstrate
the level of competency or conceptualization of a concept and/or
skill they have achieved. Performance outcomes are also known as
Performance Outcomes or Learning Objectives.
Learning Objectives are descriptions of what a
learner is to do to demonstrate competence. Performance outcomes
may describe different levels of what students may do to demonstrate
the level of competency or conceptualization of a concept and/or
skill they have achieved. Performance outcomes are also known as
Performance Outcomes or Instructional Objectives.
Literacy is competency in the ability to read and
assign meaning, and to write with coherence, proper structure and
writing mechanics.
Mathematizing - the human activity of organizing
and interpreting reality mathematically.
Motivation is the force that drives a person to
do something. It includes varying emotions such as: initiative,
drive, intensity, persistence, that inhibit, neutralize, or promote
goal-directed behaviors. Motivation - hunger; Goal - food; Strategy
- raid the refrigerator
Pedagogy - the art or profession of teaching, and
the instructional strategies used to induce learning.
Objectives are descriptions of what a learner is
to do to demonstrate competence. Performance outcomes may describe
different levels of what students may do to demonstrate the level
of competency or conceptualization of a concept and/or skill they
have achieved. Performance outcomes are also known as
Performance Outcomes, Instructional or Learning Objectives.
Performance Outcomes are descriptions of what a
learner is to do to demonstrate competence. Performance outcomes
may describe different levels of what students may do to demonstrate
the level of competency or conceptualization of a concept and/or
skill they have achieved. Performance outcomes are also known as
Instructional Objectives or Learning Objectives.
Dimensions of a Subject or Discipline include:
Subject Content Knowledge - the ideas (facts, concepts,
generalizations, principles, theories, and or laws) that are created
by doing the subject.
Subject of Discipline Process- a system of actions
and procedures that are used to create knowledge in the subject
or discipline.
Subject or Discipline Perspective - the relationship
of the different dimensions of a subject or discipline to its other
dimensions and to its whole as well as the subject's or discipline's
relative significance for explaining and understanding the world.
Subject Attitude - The disposition and values that
people have that increase their likelihood of success in the subject
or discipline.
Teacher Work Sample
The Teacher Work Sample serves as an “extended snapshot”
of the student teaching experience. It allows prospective teachers
to assess the success of their teaching, the progress of their students
in relation to the objectives and standards delineated in the planning,
and the ability to reflect and make the changes necessary for improved
teaching and student success. The Teacher Work Sample gives student
teachers the opportunity to demonstrate that they are in fact able
to foster learning gains in students. A Teacher Work Sample connects
teaching and learning, enabling students to combine and blend an
interdependent set of processes, products, results, and reflections.
The purposes of Teacher Work Sampling are to help prospective teachers
- Learn to think reflectively about teaching–planning, instruction,
assessment, management of the learning environment, communication,
and professionalism.
- Integrate curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
- Employ decision-making processes that continuously search for
the most appropriate fit among the various aspects of instructional
context, subject matter knowledge, and repertoire of appropriate
instructional strategies and procedures.
- Practice and obtain feedback about one’s effectiveness
as a teacher in fostering pupil progress in learning (formative)
- Demonstrate and document effectiveness in fostering learning
gains (summative).
Teacher Work Sample Core Elements
Part I Context, Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection
1. Setting and Context
- Describe culture and community context
- Describe the existing support structure for the school including
support from
the community, parents, and volunteers.
- Analyze the demographic characteristics of the school.
- Describe the classroom context and the students themselves in
detail.
- Describe policies for classroom management, conflict resolution,
and special
needs students.
2. Identifying and Developing Unit Topic with Rationale
- Explain the significance of the topic globally, personally,
and specifically for
this population
- Provide a rationale for topic
- Justify instructional decisions
- Clearly describe topic taught
- Explain the sequence of lesson or unit
- Discuss methods for integrating literacy, numeracy, and other
subjects
3. Develop Unit Goals and Objectives
- Goals and objectives are appropriate, clearly written and aligned
with State
Content Standards
- At least one goal/objective should address literacy: speaking,
writing, reading,
or listening.
- There should be clear goals/objectives relating to content.
- Objectives are clearly written, utilize higher order thinking
skills, and allow
students various means to demonstrate proficiency.
- Objectives should address the goals.
4. Design Instructional Plan
Pre-assessment Administered to determine students'
prior knowledge. Analyzed data may be used for instructional design.
Post-Assessment Administered post-instructional
to determine students’ and calculated on a student-by-student
basis the growth in learning achieved.
Designing Instruction During student teaching you
will design a unit consisting of 5-8 daily lessons. You will include
all of the lesson plans developed during the unit in your Teacher
Work Sample. Follow appropriate lesson planning format including
objectives, strategies, procedures, and assessment.
Lesson Plan Format
- Plans are detailed and clearly aligned with objectives
- Include all key components of a lesson plan.
- Align objectives and assessment.
- Include method and criteria for assessment.
- The unit plan must demonstrate at least three different instructional
strategies.
- The unit plan must represent a cohesive unit rather than a
collection of
activities.
- The unit plan must include adaptations and accommodations for
exceptional
learners.
- The unit plan must include at least one lesson incorporating
cooperative
learning strategies.
- Each lesson includes brief reflections on what went well, what
surprised you,
and what you would do differently.
Implement Instructional Plan
- Modify instructional and assessment strategies as needed throughout
instruction.
- Reflect on changes you make and how they contribute to enhanced
student learning.
- Integrate literacy and numeracy when appropriate.
- Consider the learning needs, differences, and styles of your
students.
5. Assessment
- Unit contains pre- and post-assessment items aligned with objectives.
- Pre and post assessment items are either identical or parallel.
- A variety of assessment tools are used including traditional,
authentic, self
assessment, and peer assessment.
- All assessments meet the expectations of: alignment, clarity,
trustworthiness,
feasibility, variety, and developmental appropriateness.
6. Summary, Interpretation, and Reflective Essay
Analyses of pre- and post-assessments are done appropriate to
content and
should answer the question, “What do these assessments show
about the
learning that did or did not occur in the lesson?”
- Assessment results are analyzed (1) by student and (2) by cluster.
- Interpret student learning by discussing individual gains as
well as those who do not show gains.
- Analyze clusters results and patterns.
- Essay summarizes the assessment decisions made, how they were
designed,
and how administered.
- Essay explains how you determined grading criteria and scores.
- Give examples to support your conclusions.
- Consider other evidence that supports or contradicts your findings.
- Discuss what you would do differently.
Part II - Teaching Experience Essay
- Consider the following questions as you reflect on this teaching
experience.
- What worked best employing goals/standards-based teaching?
- What problems did you encounter? What would you change in your
instructional decisions?
How did you account for the linguistic, academic, cultural, and
developmental differences of your students?
- Discuss the relationship between curricular decisions and classroom
management.
- What did you learn about yourself as a teacher from this teaching
experience?
- What went well?
- What did you learn?
- What would you do differently?
- Include your thoughts about classroom management, your evolving
philosophy, personal and professional goals, or other reflections.
7. Organization and Presentation
Include a cover page with your name, the title of the lesson(s)
taught, and the date(s) taught. The Teacher Work Sample should include
the following components: title page, table of contents, description
of setting, rationale, related state and district goal(s), unit
goal(s) and objective(s), lesson plan(s), pre- and post-assessment(s),
reflective analysis and reflective essay, bibliography, appendix.
Organization is coherent, logical, and easy to follow.
The reference list may include a bibliography of all the resources
(books, periodicals, web sites, kits, etc.) used to develop your
unit and lesson plans.
Appendices
The appendices should include any support material relevant to unit/lesson
development.
Documents may include handouts, transparencies, assessment instruments,
examples of visual displays, examples of student work (xerox, slide,
photograph). Please assure student confidentiality when
gathering these resources.
While the format may vary depending on the content area and school
context and course, all TWS should represent the highest professional
work standards.
- Word processed
- Neat
- Grammatically and mechanically correct (fewer than 6 grammatical,
spelling, mechanical errors).
- Turned in on time
Seven Non-Negotiable Features of a Teacher Work Sample
1. The sample of teacher and student work studies must be of sufficient
length and scope to permit the assessment of multiple dimensions
of a teacher’s work and make the standards-linked learning
outcomes students are to accomplish of genuine importance to their
long-term progress in learning.
2. The standards-linked learning outcomes to be accomplished by
students are to be carefully delineated and are to vary in complexity
and kind, e.g., concept acquisition and the solution of multi-step
problems in addition to factual information.
3. Key standards-linked learning outcomes are to be accompanied
by a description of the pre- and post-instructional measures to
be used in assessing the progress students make in working toward
accomplishment, and instructional planning is to reflect findings
from pre-instructional assessment.
4. Information is to be collected and reported on the conditions
and processes of instruction
provided by a teacher during the course of the work sampled and
referred to as needed for
interpreting and reflecting upon progress made by students in their
learning.
5. Information is to be collected and reported on classroom, school,
and community contexts in which teaching and learning occur and
referred to as needed in interpreting and reflecting upon progress
made by students in their learning.
6. The learning gains made by students as a consequence of instruction
are to be provided on a student-by-student basis and summarized
for selected groups of students, e.g., students starting the unit
with little versus a great deal of related knowledge or students
who have English as a second language versus those who do not.
7. A reflective analysis is to be provided by a candidate on her
or his teaching and
accomplishments with students in light of the information reported
in the sample of work as a whole, with teaching strengths and weaknesses
highlighted and needs for continued professional development identified.
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