1 Teacher Work Sample (TWS) Special Education Westminster College Revised Spring 2015
RESEARCH ON CONTEXT A. Interview and Summary B. Learning about the Context (CIA) C. Connections
Research on Context Collect information about students that influences instructional and curricular decisions. These inside and outside of classroom contexts include students funds of knowledge, students interests, present levels of performance, learning preferences, developmental levels in reading, writing, and math, prior lessons taught by your mentor teachers, behavioral supports, functional performance, and academic achievement. Choose a class that you are working with this semester. Explore students funds of knowledge. For example, you can use the interview protocols from MAT 600 to find funds of knowledge that student have (and the student s family, if applicable), use the COACH interview protocol, or design a survey. Required Components Severe Program 1. Complete the COACH interview protocol with a student and their family. 2. Submit a 2-3 page write up that summarizes the information you have gathered about the Surrounding Community, The School Community, and the Classroom Community (see the following pages for the descriptions Learning about the Context ). 3. Describe how you have made connections among the information gathered in your interview, the context of the setting, and the unit you will develop. Mild/Moderate Program 1. Include interview questions and summary of the students responses (family, if applicable) 2. Submit a 2-3 page write up that summarizes the information you have gathered about the Surrounding Community, The School Community, and the Classroom Community (see the following pages for the descriptions Learning about the Context ). 3. Describe how you have made connections among the information gathered in your interview, the context of the setting, and the unit you will develop.
Supplement: Learning about the Context Most people approach new social situations with an eye toward first learning about the context. They reserve judgment and commitment until they know something about the individuals and their expectations, the rules and procedures, and the relationships within the group(s). In other words, some sort of contextual analysis is necessary. In the social construct of education, one might observe the community surrounding the school, the community within the school and the community within the classroom itself. The classroom is society in miniature and reflects the society in which the school exists. Children of act and interact in certain ways because of what they see and experience in the larger communities. It is therefore important to find out about the communities/context from which the learners come and in which the school is situated. Following are some ways in which you can explore those contexts. (If you look closely, you will recognize some of these ideas for exploration from the Funds of Knowledge Community Inquiry Activity you may have completed in your Social Studies course): The Surrounding Community 1. What is something that shows the natural beauty of the area? 2. What is something that shows the area is changing? 3. What is something that shows growth in the area? 4. What is something that is kid-friendly? 5. What are the local businesses? 6. Is the community proud of the school? What do they seem to be most proud of? 7. How diverse is the community? (both ethnically and socioeconomically) 8. Where do people work? 9. How do people spend their leisure time? 10. What is something that surprised you and your partner about the area? 11. What is something you feel could be improved about the area? 12. Any other pictures that you and your partner would like to add? What do they say about the community? The people? The School? 13. Is there something about which you would like to ask people in the community? The School Community 1. The halls. Who is in the halls? What kinds of social groups do you see? Are there any groups which are ethnically diverse? Are there any students who are alone? Do you notice any difference in behavior between students who are alone and those who are in groups? Look at the posters and student artwork hanging in the halls. Who is represented? 2. Lunch time. What do students do during lunch? What happens in the lunch room? Outside in the halls? Outside of the building? What kind of student clusters do you see? Where do students sit in the lunch room? Is there any pattern to the seating? Are there students who are alone? Do you see any students with exceptionalities? How do other students treat them? What issues of inequality are you aware of?
3. Recess. What do students do? What are the topics of conversation? What clusters do you see? Are there behavioral differences between the clusters? 4. Dress. How are the students dressed? Comment on neatness and apparent affluence. Also note differences in dress among groups. Are there ways besides dress that students use to individualize and/or maintain group affiliation? 5. Language. What is the out-of-class language like? How is it different from in-class language? What sorts of emotions do they express? What about body language? Note differences in languages among groups. What about hybrid language patterns? 6. Interests. If you are unobtrusive, you will be able to overhear fragments of conversations. What do the students talk about? Note differences in topics for different groups. 7. Groups. What groups can you identify? How would you characterize each group? How rigid is group definition? That is, are some students members of more than one group? OR do some members of groups at least mix with members of other groups? Are there loners? What are their characteristics? 8. Special Education. What are the attitudes of the school regarding special education? Consider the perspectives of the general educators, the students, the administrators, etc. What inclusive practices have you observed in the school? 9. Other things you might want to look at are: organization and schedule; rules and discipline; leadership style; faculty room conversations The Classroom Community Observe students in the classroom. How does their behavior differ from out-of-class behavior? Or does it differ? What kinds of conversations occur in the class? What groups can you identify? Are they a different composition and nature than out-of-classroom groups? How does group behavior differ? What issues of diversity do you see in the classroom? Do you see students with exceptionalities? How do the other students receive them? What accommodations do you see the teacher making for his/her diverse classroom? Other things to consider are: classroom layout; special resources, bulletin boards, the walls, the atmosphere. Is the room crowded, cluttered, or comfortable? Is it boring and bland, or stimulating? How would you like to spend 6 hours a day in the room? What can the room tell you about the learning approach used? Who arrives first? Last? How are students grouped? What roles do students play? Are there students who always answer? Never answer? What is the relationship between students? Mostly cooperative? Competitive? Individualistic?
Educational Planning A. Instructional Programs/Lesson Plans B. Data Collection C. Decision Making
Instructional Programs/Lesson Plans Develop five lesson plans or instructional programs for this class (all students) that addresses an academic and/or behavioral concern. The plan/program must be aligned with the Utah Core Standards or Essential Elements and each student s IEP. Evaluate and reflect on the development and implementation of the plans. This includes consideration of the information gathered from your Research on Context interviews, preassessment (baseline), and post-assessment. Required Components Severe Program 1. Identify additional skills needing instruction to ensure student progress in content. Develop a minimum of 5 instructional programs that support academic, behavioral, and functional skill areas. (see the following pages for the descriptions Instructional Program Template ). At least one program must be created for the student you interviewed. 2. Data collection including baseline and progress monitoring on all instructional programs. Includes raw data as well as a graph. Mild/Moderate Program 1. Develop a minimum of 5 explicit instruction lesson plans that support academic, social, and behavioral skill areas. 2. Data collection including baseline and progress monitoring for each lesson plan. 3. Submit a 2-3 page write-up that summarizes your evaluation of and reflection on the unit plan. * 3. Submit a 2-3 page write-up that summarizes your evaluation of and reflection on the unit plan. * *Include the following in your write-up: Describe IEP goals/needs for each student and how your instructional program for the course meets the individual needs of students. Consider the information gathered during your interview as well. Analysis of data (comparison of summative assessment to pre-assessment/baseline).
Supplement: Instructional Program Template (Severe) Student: Objective Objective: Functional Routine: Program Steps Date: Reinforcement Type: Schedule of delivery: Error Correction Stop: Back-step/Repeat the cue: Prompt: Select one: Discrete Skill Forward Chain Backward Chain Total Task Location/Setting Criteria for Moving to Next Step Materials Needed Prompt Strategy Select one: Most-to-Least Least-to-Most Time Delay Progressive Constant Instruction/Cue: Instruction Stimulus Factors: Generalization Naturally occurring cue for the behavior: Response Factors: Student Response/Behavior Special Considerations
Supplement: Lesson Plan Template (Mild/Mod) Subject: Grade: Lesson Topic: Length of class: Learning Objective (performance, conditions, criterion): Student Friendly Objective: State Core Standard Alignment: Core and Supplemental Materials: Teacher Materials: Student Materials: Context for Learning: Organization of the students (e.g., small groups, whole group, partners) Pre-Lesson Assessment Data IEP Goal Links Pre-Instructional Set: (Approximately 3 minutes) Gain students attention (Activity and Script) Inform students of learning objective(s) This is important to know because (Informed instruction) (30 seconds to 1 minute) (30 seconds to 1 minute) (30 seconds to 1 minute) Preparing students for instructional content: (Approximately 6-15 minutes) Pre-requisite skills to review, if applicable (2 to 5 minutes)
Review of prior knowledge, if applicable Vocabulary to preteach, if applicable (2 to 5 minutes) (2 to 5 minutes) Instruction: (Approximately 20 to 40 minutes depending on length of class) Explicit Modeling of Skill (what cognitive steps should the students be using to successfully perform the skill?) (I DO IT) Guided Practice (WE DO IT) (10 to 15 minutes) Strategies to check for understanding (5 to 25 minutes) Independent Practice (YOU DO IT) If needed, how will you address re-teaching of specific skills. Assessment: Concrete and tangible assessment to know whether students have met learning objective Closure: (1 5 minutes) Organization/transition routines (e.g., put assignments in folders, prepare for bell, transition to next lesson/activity (1 5 minutes)
Additions to SPED Resources Website Students will add a minimum of five (5) resources used during student teaching. Ideas include (but are not limited to): Setting up a classroom/classroom design (e.g. Pinterest) Scheduling students and paraeducators Curriculum materials (e.g. TouchMath or Kahn Academy) Professional development opportunities In lieu of an APA-style annotated bibliography, students must include a 2-3 sentence description of each reference on their website. Students will include a link to their website in their digital portfolio.
Daily Reflections A. Daily Planning Book B. Unit Focus Questions
Supplement: Daily Unit Reflection Document your daily activities and lesson planning using the planning book assigned by your college supervisor. Your mentor and college supervisor will monitor your daily or weekly approach to teaching in all of your classes. You will also document other activities (e.g., IEP meetings/planning, testing, prep). As you are teaching your unit, reflect briefly on these ten focus questions at some point while teaching your unit. You will write one reflection in your planning book for each day that you teach your unit. All ten questions need to be addressed at some point in your Daily Unit Reflections. Please check these off as you go and include the date to the left of the box. These questions should be addressed at the beginning of your unit: How and why you used funds of knowledge data in designing the unit How and why you used the research data you collected (other than funds of knowledge data) as you designed your unit How and why you used the pre-assessment data of students knowledge, abilities, and interests as you designed your curriculum and made instructional decisions These questions could be addressed in the middle of your unit: How you conducted formative assessment and made changes as you taught your lesson What were effective teaching strategies and technology Behavior: concerns, what worked, what did not work, challenges Academic: concerns, what worked, what did not work, challenges These questions should be addressed near the end of your unit: How you would describe student learning during the unit, based on pre- and post-assessment data Take one lesson guide and discuss what would be the next steps for students who did not meet your objectives What you will do the same and/or differently in the future in terms of assessing student learning and using assessments to design curriculum
Rubric
Standards/Competencies Assessed by Teacher Work Sample I. Knowledge of Learners and their development: 3. Teacher candidates will, with sensitivity to exceptionalities and cultural diversity, evaluate why all children may be responding or behaving in particular ways. Components of evaluation: Research on Context Daily Unit Reflection Focus Questions Summary of Effectiveness of Unit Plan (5b) Not Met 1 Reflections lack insight and effectiveness and more than one daily reflection and/or target items is missing. Acceptable 2 Reflections are productive and insightful. Missing one daily reflection and/or target items over the course of the Individualized Plan. At Target 3 Reflections are productive and insightful. All target items on daily unit reflections have been addressed over the course of the Individualized Plan. 4. Teacher candidates will apply systematic inquiry and reflection to understanding student learning. [connect to Standard I to differentiate from competency 13] Components of systematic inquiry and reflection: Baseline Assessment (2) Data Collection System (4) Unit Plan (1, 3, 5) Daily Unit Reflections Systematic inquiry and analysis of assessment outcomes/feedback are not evident. Systematic inquiry and analysis of assessment outcomes/feedback are evident in the baseline and data collection system and the plan. Systematic inquiry and analysis of assessment outcomes/feedback are evident across all components. II. Knowledge of Subject Matter and Curriculum Goals: 6. Teacher candidates will develop curriculum that connects knowledge about students to content specific instructional standards. Components of curriculum design: Research on Context Baseline Assessment (2) Unit Plan (1, 3, 5) IEP Goals State Core Curriculum Standards Resources Daily Unit Reflections Not Met 1 Connection between content specific instructional standards and knowledge about students is not evident in any of the components. Acceptable 2 Connection between content specific instructional standards and knowledge about students is evident; however, one or more components are not aligned. At Target 3 Curriculum design has a strong connection between content specific instructional standards and knowledge about students. All components are aligned.
III. Knowledge of Teaching: 7. Teacher candidates will develop and implement assessments that measure learning and drive the design of differentiated instruction and intervention. Components of assessment and instructional decisions: Baseline Assessment (2) Data Collection (4) Unit Plan (1, 3, 5) Daily Unit Reflections Not Met 1 Instruction is not differentiated nor effectively based on the assessments. Acceptable 2 Differentiated instruction and interventions are evident and somewhat based on the assessments. At Target 3 Differentiated instruction and interventions are solidly based on effective assessments. 10. Teacher candidates will demonstrate multiple effective teaching strategies including the use of technology. Components of effective teaching strategies: Unit Plan (3, 5) Daily Unit Reflections Multiple effective strategies are not evident. Multiple strategies are evident but improvement is needed. Multiple strategies are evident and effective. 12. Teacher candidates will connect learning to students prior knowledge and experiences. Components of connecting prior knowledge: Research on Context Baseline Assessment (2) Unit Plan (1, 3) Daily Unit Reflection Instruction and assessment are not based on students present level of performance. Instruction and assessments are somewhat connected to students present level of performance Instruction and assessment are strongly connected to students present level of performance 13. Teacher candidates will use research and engage in reflection to improve student learning [connect to Standard II to differentiate from competency 4] Components of research to improve student learning: Daily Unit Reflection Research on Context Resources and research data are ineffective and the analysis does not reflect the modifications needed to improve future student learning. Resources and research data are moderately effective. Analysis somewhat reflects the modifications needed to improve future student learning. Analysis reflects thorough considerations of resource modifications needed to improve future student learning.
IV. Knowledge of Self, Cultures, and Contexts: 15. Teacher candidates will demonstrate how to learn about other cultures and language patterns (including disability specific information) Components for researching culture and language patterns: Research on Context Resources Daily Unit Reflection Not Met 1 Descriptions of students cultural and linguistic influences are not evident. Acceptable 2 Descriptions of students cultural and linguistic influences are evident across two components. At Target 3 Descriptions of students cultural and linguistic influences are demonstrated across all components. Comments: