Domain 5:
Technology
The candidate presents artifacts and accompanying descriptions that demonstrate his or her ability to create culturally responsive, inclusive learning environments where all students are afforded access to high standards and meaningful learning.
InTASC #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.
InTASC #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.
~Context~
The website I created includes ten different book critiques focused on children’s literature. This artifact correlates with the domain and standards because I was able to introduce many books of different genres and age groups and relate them to numerous content areas. For several of the books, I designed lesson plans to connect with the content from the books. Additionally, each critique I made had an element of technology through platforms like Padlet, digital maps, videos, and articles. These online tools used methods to redefine learning to include digital elements that allowed for collaboration and sharing with others. When creating these critiques, I had to make sure the lesson plans coincided with the grade level discussed and that the information was relevant to the books. I did experience some difficulty at first trying to create lessons that were age-appropriate and incorporated technology, yet over time this became second nature. I enjoyed this project because I could choose books that I found interesting and ones I felt confident students would like as well.
~Implications~
This website is something I can physically refer to when I have my own classroom. Now that I have critiqued these books I can use the lessons I created for my students. Through this project, I became familiar with award-winning books that received Newberry and Caldecott medals. This is beneficial to me because now I have familiarity with books that I have a desire to use in my future classroom. I look forward to incorporating these books into my curriculum in the future.