Standard 4: Content Knowledge
The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.
http://www.htsb.org/standards/teacher/
Indicator 4A: The teacher effectively uses multiple representations and explanations that capture key ideas in the discipline, guide learners through learning progressions, and promote each learner's achievement of content standards.
This is an example of when multiple representations have been used in a lesson plan. This lesson was for the Order of Operations. Students were given multiple representations of the content through different representations written on the board. One representation was the acronym of PEMDAS while another representation was listing the order of operations on the board and color coding each step. A different representation (as pictured) was color coding each step and using boxes to show the levels of each step. As shown on the left, there is an example written color coding each number and symbol with the color for its matching operation. These are all things I did during one lesson. This helped students see the progression of ideas and how the order of operations is applied to examples. Students are able to see the different ways they can remember the order of operations and then apply it to examples in the way that they understand the best.
Indicator 4B: The teacher engages students in learning experiences in the discipline(s) that encourage learners to understand, question, and analyze ideas from diverse perspectives so that they master the content.
This photo represents a lesson plan I created and taught in the Special Education classroom that encouraged learners to understand the bully's perspective and challenge the narrator's point of view in a novel that we read as a class, Wonder, by RJ Palacio. In this novel, there is a character that is portrayed as the bully. After finishing the novel, I had them write a narrative through the bully's perspective to convince me that he wasn't the bully. This whole lesson was on perspective and analyzing how the narrator influences the events described in a novel. After finishing their narratives, we read the sequel to the novel, The Julian Chapter by RJ Palacio. This sequel helped students master the content of perspective and really understanding someone's situation and events before judging them. The sequel helped them to better understand the novel and helped them to better understand the bully's life by questioning and analyzing different perspectives of the events in a novel.
Indicator 4E: The teacher recognizes learner misconceptions in a discipline that interfere with learning, and creates experiences to build accurate conceptual understanding.
This picture is an example of a lesson plan I taught to address misconceptions many students have. Many students believe the reason the moon looks different every night is because of the Earth's shadow. This lesson is on the phases of the moon. This helped to address students' misconceptions by allowing them to participate in a visual and "hands-on" activity. This worksheet allowed them to see that the moon appears to be different every night depending on the position of the moon in comparison to the earth and the sun. As students completed the worksheet and moved the Oreos around, they could see that the moon changes depending on where it is. This Oreo worksheet and lesson plan allowed students to build accurate conceptual understanding of the phases of the moon and to correct their misconceptions.
Indicator 4G: The teacher uses supplementary resources and technologies effectively to ensure accessibility and relevance for all learners.
This is a math program used in both my general classroom and my Special Education classroom called IXL. Each student has their own account that allows them to work on different topics depending on their needs and at their own pace. Each topic is scaffolded and breaks down the topic into different levels. For many lessons I have taught, I have put students on the computer as their exploration activity and/or independent practice. This allows students to work interactively and allows me to spend more time and focus on those in need. This helps to personalize each student's work so that they can work on different topics and allows them to use technology while doing so. Students can also have access to this program from home. This allows students to use technology interactively to understand different math concepts and makes it relevent to each student.