Running head: ASSIGNMENT 1 – TELLING MY STORY 1

Assignment 1B – Telling My Story

Scott Morton

National University

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

TED 690−Capstone Course

Dr. Bard De Vore

ASSIGNMENT 1 – TELLING MY STORY 2

Abstract

Part of becoming an effective instructor, is using different methods of delivering instruction

that ensures students with different learning styles are given the opportunity to learn the

material in an equitable manner. Along with utilizing different methods of instruction,

comes different manners of assessing the students progress on achieving the learning goals

being presented in the classroom. As a new teacher, it is difficult to jump in and start using

a multitude of new methods when they are all new to me, but in order to become the most

effective instructor, this is by far the most important thing for an emerging instructor.
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The Six Teaching Performance Expectations

By choosing to become a teacher that is responsible for the education of young

people, we are held to a standard that is much higher than many other professions. Part of

the process of becoming a teacher requires the understanding and adherence to the

following TPEs (Teacher Performance Expectations). The TPEs are: Making Subject Matter

Comprehensible to Students, Assessing Student Learning, Engaging and Supporting

Students in Learning, Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for

Students, Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning, and

Developing as a Professional Educator. In order to fully develop as a teacher and create an

environment that fosters learning, these are just some of the things that a prospective

teaching must develop a thorough understanding of. Standards are not just something we

should expect of our students and “There is a direct correlation between performance

standards for student learning and performance standards for teachers. What teachers

know and are able to do is the most important influence on what students learn”

(Constantio, De Lorenzo & Tirrell-Corbin, 2009, p. 11). If adhering to standards is

something we expect from students, it is something we as teachers should be expected to

work towards as well.

Telling My Story

In order to showcase my growth as a teacher, I have chosen several different

artifacts to include in my Personal Development Question Profile (PDQP) that serve

different purposes. These particular artifacts are selected to showcase my development

within TPE Domain A: Making Subject Matter Comprehensible to Students. As a history

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teacher, I feel I have a very good grasp on the material that I am presenting to the students,

but presenting it in different ways to get the students interested and involved in their own

learning is the constant challenge in this subject area. As a student, I always had history

teachers that made us listen to lectures, read from textbooks, and complete worksheets.

These are all activities that help a student learn about historical events, but they do not

develop a deep understanding of the topics and rarely remember these events beyond the

time of the next assessment. It is one of my personal goals as a teacher to keep learning

innovative and continue to improve my techniques and abilities to differentiate instruction

and give the students as many options as possible in order to best facilitate learning.

The artifacts I have selected include an observation from my University Support

Provider done during my student teaching assignment, a literary review about an article on

facilitating independent learning, and some comprehensive samples of student work that

they completed at the end of a unit of study. According to Costantino, De Lorenzo, and

Tirrell-Corbin “Portfolio artifacts should be selected or created to directly support and

validate a teacher’s competency toward a performance standard” (2009, p. 11). These are

all items that I feel accomplish that goal for my work.

Strengths and Needs within TPE Domain A:

A. MAKING SUBJECT MATTER COMPREHENSIBLE TO STUDENTS

TPE 1: Specific Pedagogical Skills for Subject Matter Instruction

TPE 1B: Subject-Specific Pedagogical Skills for Single Subject Teaching Assignments
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Area for Growth: What do I

want to learn more about?
Domain Strengths
Where can I strengthen
my skills?
Teaching History in a Single Subject Matter Knowledge Simplifying Material for
Subject Assignment appropriate age groups

Making sure students aren’t

Differentiated Instruction being forgotten about due to
their particular learning
style

Supporting the individual

growth of each student

Potential Competencies to be Used for the Professional Development Quest

Professional development is something that is a continuous process over the entire

career of a teacher. This is a process that is never “complete” and should be a constant

work in progress. With that being said, I will be consistently working to improve my ways

of teaching, especially in the area of continuing to develop the skills of students, rather than

refining the way I present the material. One of the major goals of being a secondary school

teacher is to prepare students for college or a career of their choosing. They will not always

have a loving, and caring high school teacher to guide them through their work or studies,

so helping them to develop the skills to be an independent learner with all the tools needed

to be successful is going to be a major focus of mine.

Rationale for selecting TPE Domain A

TPE Domain A is the building block for any teacher. Being able to help students

comprehend the material being presented is the most fundamental concept of anything

that a teacher is expected to do in the classroom, thus making it an area that requires a lot
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of focus. If the students are not comprehending the material, there really is nothing being

accomplished in the classroom from an academic standpoint. Developing different ways to

help students understand and achieve the learning goals for each and every lesson is the

most important thing any teacher can do in the classroom. While I feel it is a strength of

mine that I have a deep understanding of the material I am teaching, I always need to

remind myself that I cannot give that knowledge to my students without designing

activities that help them to understand it in a way that works for them.
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References

Costantino, Patricia M., De Lorenzo Marie N., & Tirrell-Corbin,Christy. (2009).

Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio: A Guide for Success. Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon/Pearson.