Planning & Assessment
Effective teaching starts with thoughtful planning and purposeful assessment - both of which require a deep understanding of who my students are, what they need, and how to design learning that meets them there. These four standards work in tandem to help me do just that.
Standard 1 (Learner Development) reminds me that no two students are the same. Their cognitive, emotional, and social development shapes how they engage with content, and that has to be accounted for from the very beginning of any lesson or unit plan. Standards 4 and 5 (Content Knowledge and Application of Content) ground me in the responsibility of delivering rich, accurate, and meaningful instruction. It’s simply not enough to know my content - I need to make it matter to my students. That means building bridges between texts, skills, and students’ real-world contexts. Finally, Standard 6 (Assessment) ensures that I’m constantly gathering information about student understanding not just through tests, but through discussions, formative checkpoints, and student work that reveals thinking.
Together, these standards help me plan with intention, teach with clarity, and respond to student needs in real time. They push me to be both proactive and reflective, always asking not just “What am I teaching?” but “Why? For whom? And how will I know it’s working?”
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Lesson Plans
This artifact includes two lesson plans - one from each of my placements, which existed in radically different environments. As such, the planning process for each looks very different. One classroom needed structure, routine, and scaffolded activities from start to finish. The other demanded flexibility and a lot of space for individual pacing and learning preferences. I chose these two lessons because they show that I can adapt my planning to meet students where they are developmentally, socially, and academically.
What remains consistent, though, is my attention to student accommodations and needs - both official and observed. In both settings, I planned consciously toward my specific learners: offering supports where needed, designing differentiated activities, and making space for student voice and autonomy when possible. I’ve learned that planning for students isn’t just about choosing the right activity - it’s about knowing your students well enough to predict where they’ll need support and where they’ll thrive.
This artifact demonstrates my ability to plan responsively, with a clear focus on learner development. Whether students needed structure or flexibility, I built lessons that reflected where they were and what they needed to grow.
Anchor Texts
In March, I began teaching Maus, A Man Called Ove, and The Things They Carried to my 9th, 10th, and 11th graders, respectively. At a glance, it might seem like selecting a novel and teaching it is a straightforward process - but in reality, it’s anything but. A lot of work goes into understanding how an anchor text aligns with curriculum goals, what it offers in terms of skill development, and how instruction needs to be tailored to help students meaningfully engage with it.
What makes teaching novels especially complex (and interesting) is that students don’t always engage with them in predictable ways. Their curiosity, questions, and connections can shift the direction of a lesson or unit. That means in addition to needing a deep understanding of the anchor text, I especially need a solid grasp of the ELA standards so I can pivot in real time without losing sight of our learning goals. This is where content knowledge really matters. It allows me to stay grounded while remaining flexible.
It’s also worth noting that both Maus and The Things They Carried had co-disciplinary connections with Social Studies, so in those cases, I was responsible for building some background content knowledge beyond ELA in order to optimize student learning across disciplines. This artifact shows that I’m able to select, plan, and teach rich, layered texts in ways that meet content standards while remaining responsive to the dynamic nature of classroom learning.
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Podcast Project
When planning a cumulative project aligned with our anchor text Maus, I knew I wanted students to go beyond analysis and into application - pulling together their ELA skills, their knowledge from Global Studies, their experiences in Design Foundations, and their genuine interest in technology.
The result was a podcast project driven by broad, thematic questions. Students had to take what they learned from Maus - its themes, historical context, character dynamics - and apply it to real-world as relevant to them. I had students thinking about "Why does a book like Maus still matter today? What happens when we forget history? Whose stories are prioritized, and why?" This kind of transfer is key to Standard 5, as it asks students to use content knowledge in new and meaningful ways.
The project also built collaboration and communication skills. In a partner-podcast format, students had to articulate their thoughts, respond to different viewpoints, and work together toward a shared product, even when they didn’t agree. That tension often led to more fruitful conversations and more thoughtful content.
To round it out, students designed original podcast thumbnails/cover art, tying in design principles from their tech courses and reinforcing the idea that communication happens in many modes. Overall, the project gave students a real-world reason to care about the ideas in Maus, while also giving them space to express themselves as thinkers, collaborators, and creators.
Daily Bellringers
My daily bell ringers allow me to assess students’ reading, writing, language, and speaking/listening skills in a low-stakes, nongraded environment. These quick activities help me a diagnose where students are at - what skills they’re grasping, what habits they’ve internalized, and what areas might need more attention moving forward.
Our “Opinions” bell ringers lead into mini debates, which target insight into both student writing and their speaking/listening skills. I’m able to gauge who is writing with clarity and structure, who’s actively listening, and who might need more support organizing their ideas or responding to opposing viewpoints.
Our “Mistakes” bell ringers focus more on reading and language conventions. I present a short passage - intentionally drawn from a current event - and read it aloud while students follow along. As soon as someone sees an error, the group calls “stop,” and we pause to identify and correct it together. These moments allow me to assess grammar knowledge, reinforce patterns, and spot which conventions students have mastered (like spelling or verb tense) and which still need work (like commas or hyphenation). Because the passages are aligned to real-world topics, we’re also building reading comprehension and content engagement. A quick discussion after the activity lets me assess how well students understood the context (not just the grammar) reinforcing the idea that assessment can be diagnostic, skill-based, and still tied to authentic literacy experiences.
Standard #1: Learner Development
The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.
Standard #2: Learning Differences
The teacher uses understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.
Standard #3: Learning Environments
The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation.
Standard #4: Content Knowledge
The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) they teach and create learning experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.
Standard #5: Application of Content
The teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues.
Standard #6: Assessment
The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the teacher’s and learner’s decision making.
Standard #7: Planning for Instruction
The teacher plans instruction that supports every student 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.
Standard #8: Instructional Strategies
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
Standard #9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice
The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate their practice, particularly the effects of their choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner.
Standard #10: Leadership and Collaboration
The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the profession.