Csar Nieto

Dawn Mallette & John Knight

EDUC 450
30 April 2015
Teacher Work Sample
1. Teaching Context
Poudre High School is in Fort Collins, Colorado and is a part of Poudre School
District. The total enrollment for the school is 1,804 and there is an almost
exact 50/50 breakdown of male and female students. There are 97 full-time
teachers working at PHS and the student to teacher ratio is 19:1. The school
has a relatively diverse set of demographics. The total minority enrollment is
30% and the total percentage of economically disadvantaged students is
36%. The percentage for each ethnicity at PHS is as follows: Native
Americans/Alaska Natives is 1%, Asian 4%, Black 1%, Hispanic 22%,
White 70%, Two or more races 2%, Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander
0%. The schools mission statement is Through Rigor, Relevance,
Relationships, Poudre High School educates every child every day. Poudre
H.S. groups students through their Gifted and Talented Program, A.P. courses,
and Newcomer Academy.
The class I am in is a college-bound British Literature course for a group of
students that are not in the advanced tracking system that PHS offers. My
cooperating teacher is Mrs. Emily Richards-Moyer who has been teaching for
15 years. The students seems to really respect Mrs. Richards-Moyer, and I
would venture to say that this is because both students and the instructor
have done a good job of monitoring deposits and withdrawals from the
relationship bank. The class is not very diverse in terms of demographics,
most of the students being White with about 3% of the class being a different
ethnicity. I will be working with the whole class of about 24 students. The
class has a range of different interests and skill levels. To my knowledge,
there is only 1 student that has a 504. The class is teacher centered in its
layout with the main area of focus being at the front of the class where Mrs.
Richards-Moyer delivers the majority of her information. The desks are
organized in rows facing this direction; there are three different sections of
desks with each section consisting of about 6-8 students in each area.
There has already been a lot that has happened in the course relating to the
content that is being taught. In my short time there, students have dived into
Frankenstein as well as a film rendition of the timeless Dracula story. The
students have worked hard on an argumentative paper on Frankenstein and I
have taught an introductory lesson on Charles Dickens and the Victorian Era.
Many of the students have not encountered these texts before so they are
being challenged in a way that seems to be benefitting them. I am not
completely sure what the rest of the lessons I will teach will consist of but

they will surround either Shakespeare or Utopian literature. I used a

PowerPoint and handouts followed by discussion first, so this next time I will
consider using a more student-centered activity (i.e. fishbowl).
2. Learning Goals, Objectives and Standards
Standards: Colorado Academic Standards Reading, Writing, and
Communicating
2.1.a
2.1.e
Concepts and Skills Students Master:
Literary and historical influences determine the meaning of traditional and
contemporary literary texts.
Learning Targets (Understandings):
Students will understand the context of Charles Dickens writing as well
as the background on both the Victorian Era and Dickens himself.
Students will be able to identify specific film techniques.
Students will be able to understand the significance and implications of
different techniques utilized in film.
Students will be able to bridge film techniques to literary techniques.
3. Pre/Post Assessment

Pre-Assessment
o On the sticky note provided, write down as many things as you
know about The Victorian Era and/or Charles Dickens.
Post-Assessment
o On this new sticky note, write down as many things as you know
about The Victorian Era and/or Charles Dickens. You may also
include new knowledge about film techniques/terminology.
I chose this form of assessment for the simple purpose of taking stock
of what my students knew previous to my lesson. Mrs. Richards-Moyer
introduced the topic the class before and touched on a few of the
aspects that I would be covering so I wanted to see what all they had
retained from that. I gave a parallel, almost identical, post-assessment
immediately following the lesson. I did this for the purpose of tracking
what it is they took away from the lesson. I included the piece of film
terminology/technique, which I had not in the pre-assessment, so they
could choose to express their thoughts on that piece since that was not
the main focus of my lesson. That was mainly a way for me to scaffold
a lesson I gave later.

4. Preparations, Material, Resources

For this lesson, I adapted a PowerPoint Presentation on The Victorian

Era and Charles Dickens. I used this form of instruction so that I could
cover the most biographical and contextual material as efficiently as
possible.
Mrs. Richards-Moyer provided students with a film terminology sheet.
I used a short clip from Roman Polanskis adaptation of Oliver Twist to
give students a chance to identify some of the film
terminology/techniques that we covered in the lesson.
The classroom setup was not altered for this lesson.

5. Procedures
The Victorian Era and Charles Dickens
Teacher: Csar Nieto
Composition

Grade/Subject: British Literature and

Standards: Colorado Academic Standards Reading, Writing, and

Communicating
2.1.a
2.1.e
Concepts and Skills Students Master:
Literary and historical influences determine the meaning of traditional and
contemporary literary texts.
Learning Targets (Understandings):
Students will understand the context of Charles Dickens writing as well
as the background on both the Victorian Era and Dickens himself.
Students will be able to identify specific film techniques.
Students will be able to understand the significance and implications of
different techniques utilized in film.
Students will be able to bridge film techniques to literary techniques.
Inquiry Questions:
What impact did the conditions of Victorian Britain have on its
inhabitants?
How did the population react to these aspects of society?
In what ways did these aspects of Victorian Britain affect Charles
Dickens and his writing?
How do different film techniques communicate a variety of different
ideas?
How can we better understand the text utilizing the film?
What specific choices does a director have to make when making a film
adaptation of a written text?
List of Assessments:
I will pre-assess the class by having them take stock of what they know
about the Victorian Era and Charles Dickens on a post-it note.

I will assess our students by monitoring and listening for understanding

in discussions that they have in their small-group work as well as in the
larger class discussions.
I will post assess by having the class complete the same preassessment activity but for the Victorian Era, Dickens and film
techniques.
Planned Lesson Activities
Purpose

Materials

To teach students about the Victorian Era, Charles Dickens and

the various film techniques that are used to communicate a
variety of ideas/meanings.
- Victorian Era & Dickens PPT
- Oliver Twist (Polanksi, 2005) Preview
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1n-59Tp84g
- Film Term Glossary Handout (Golden, pp. 155-156)

Anticipat
ory Set

Students will begin by writing down all they know about the
Victorian Era as well as Charles Dickens on a post-it note in order
to prime them for the rest of the lesson (5 min.).
Once students have completed the post-it, we will go through the
PowerPoint to cover first aspects of the Victorian Era. Then we
will move into Charles Dickens biography. All the while, students
will be taking notes (30 min.). After completing the PowerPoint,
we will transition into the film aspect of the lesson. Every student
will receive a handout with a list of film techniques and how they
Procedure
function in movies. We will go through and talk about the various
techniques as a class (20 min.). After going through this, students
will watch a short clip from Oliver Twist and take note of what
they notice in terms of film techniques and how they are
functioning in this specific clip. We will discuss as a class the
various observations that everyone made (5-10 min.).
Students will end by again writing down what it is they know
Closure
about the Victorian Era, Charles Dickens and film techniques (5
min.).
Link to Victorian Era and Dickens PPT:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eXDo8rySpbXGi9B0eI8hs6aBeLSonp
hl9ou1UaJDQn8/edit?usp=sharing
6. On-going Lesson Assessment

I used the post-assessment as my main tool for checking for student

understanding of the content covered in the PowerPoint Presentation.

This helped me track their immediate growth with that subject matter. I
made sure that each student referenced at least 3 new pieces of
information that they learned from the lecture in order to check their
retention.
In regards to the film terminology/techniques, I was able to check for
understanding following the activity centered on the film clip. I did this
with the discussion portion of the lesson where students named the
various film techniques they observed in the clip. I made sure that
students were able to correctly identify the film techniques and
concisely state what the effects of those choices were on the scene.

7. Modifications, Adaptations, Accommodations

There is only one student in the classroom that has a 504 based on
their language proficiency. As part of this students 504, she is not
required to work in any sort of group setting. My lesson was not
centered on any group work so this was in line with the students 504. I
told the student that she did not need to share her thoughts on the film
clip. I did hold her to the same standards as the other students; she
had to complete a pre and post assessment just like everyone else and
I collected it. For watching the clip, I allowed the student to sit closer to
the screen and I turned on the closed-captioning so that she could
follow the British accents.
For a hypothetical student with attention issues (ADD or ADHD), I
would have allowed this student to sit on the floor or closer to the
screen so that he/she would not have to stay confined in their spot and
potentially disrupt the lesson. I would have also asked the student to
keep track of time for me with the PowerPoint to keep the student from
checking out during the lecture.

8. Pre/Post Assessment Discussion

Based off of the pre and post assessments, learning did occur. Students
came into the classroom with very little knowledge of The Victorian Era
and Charles Dickens but left with at least three pieces of solid
information on the subject as well as on film terminology/techniques. I
feel that I could have made the pre and post assessments more
specific for the purpose of more accurately tracking gain scores. The
format of my assessments was open ended in the sense that I did not
assign point values for either part. I felt that this was the direction that
I needed to take, however. I did not want students to feel like they
were being graded on information they had not yet received. In terms
of tracking gain scores, I decided to base my points off of how many
initial facts they listed in their pre-assessment and then comparing
that to how many they listed in their post-assessment. The growth of

each student was clear and chartable. Most students listed new facts
about The Victorian Era and Charles Dickens, which was the aim, and
only
a
few
students
mentioned
information
about
film
terminology/technique. In the future I would likely include the aspect of
film terminology/technique in the pre-assessment as well so that I
could see that growth more clearly.

9. Reflection and Critique

Teaching this lesson showed me that I am not a huge fan of lecturing

unless it is for biographical content matter. I found that I was getting
tired of having to lay things out for students in this way since I am not
the type of learner that benefits from this type of instruction. Reflecting
on this aspect of the lesson made me change the way I delivered a
later lesson. This second lesson fit much better with my teaching
philosophy and instructional beliefs since it let students manipulate the
content matter to their liking in a more creative way. Knowing this, I
will be sure to incorporate more activities of this sort into lessons in the
future once I have my own classroom. I learned that the Understanding
By Design Lesson Plan format is not my cup of tea. The format is too
rigid for me but I will use it when I know I a different teacher or a
substitute teacher takes over my class if I am indisposed. My
differentiation could be much better but I feel that I could have done a
better job if I would have known the specific ins and outs of every
students individualized learning plan.