YMCA Lesson Plans

InTASC Standard 8: Instructional Strategies

The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop a deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways (InTASC, 2013).

Brief Description of Evidence

In the Spring of 2020 in my EDUC 233, Literacy Development Through Children’s Literature class, my small group of classmates and I created a multi-grade lesson plan about the book There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly to teach to a range of k-5 students. The lesson plan included standards, objectives, how art connects to the lessons, different activities for each grade group (K-1, 2-3, 4-5), a list of materials, script, transition strategies and times, goals, checkpoints, and an assessment. For the kindergarten to 1st-grade group, the students were read to in a large group and put pictures of the animals named into a box designed like the main character. Then they moved to tables where they colored, cut out, and glued pictures of the animals into chronological order. For the 2nd to 3rd-grade group, the students were read to in a large group then moved to tables where they color and cut out pictures of the animals then tie them to a plate in chronological order to make a mobile based on the book. Lastly, in the 4th to 5th-grade group, students have the book read to them then move to tables where they write and illustrate their own version of the book in small groups.

Analysis of What I Learned

Through this project, I learned how to use different ways of teaching and different types of activities to keep students engaged in the lesson while helping them properly understand the content and connect it to previously learned material. Being able to make connections in their learning and have the skills to apply that knowledge is incredibly important for students to be successful. The students need to learn the basics of the topic and slowly work their way into the more complex areas of knowledge as they progress through the years (Mcdaniel, 2021). Bloom’s idea of spiral curriculum and slowly increasing the depth of knowledge is demonstrated in this artifact. Younger students work on comprehending the basic vocabulary in the story, putting pictures into a basic chronological order, and using tools to create a colorful image. The 2nd-3rd grade students worked on using context clues to guess the next animal, organize the animals into chronological order, and using more complex tools and designs on their artworks. Finally, the 4th-5th grade students used context clues to guess the animals, apply the plot of the story to their own version of it, and begin developing an organized and comprehensible story of their own. As students grow older they should be able to take their previous knowledge of a topic and apply it to the more complex lessons they are working on to have a deeper understanding and reliable connections.

How This Artifact Demonstrates My Competence In InTASC Standard 8

This artifact demonstrates my competence in InTASC standard 8, instructional strategies because I was able to use a variety of teaching strategies to keep my students engaged and give them a chance to connect their previous knowledge to the current lesson. Some of these strategies include read-aloud, having students predict the next part of the story, small group participation in creating their own stories based on the book’s plot, and independent work involving placing pictures into chronological order. Giving students a variety of ways to absorb the information given allows them to create a deeper understanding of the lesson while building connections to previous knowledge. These lessons also worked on building and working on skills necessary for applying their knowledge, staying safe, and understanding the information given.