Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TPA2
TPA2
(REQUIRED) 1. List the state-adopted academic content standards or stateadopted framework that you will cover for this unit of study.
The unit will focus on the following priority standards and incorporate supporting
standards during each task
L.4.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text;
summarize the text.
RL.4.3: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing
on specific details in the text (e.g., a characters thoughts, words,
or actions).
RI.4.9: Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or
speak about the subject knowledgeably.
W.4.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and
information clearly.
W.4.2.a: Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and
sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when
useful to aiding comprehension.
W.4.2.b: Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or
(REQUIRED) 3. What is (are) the academic learning goal(s) for this unit of
study?
Students will learn the characteristics of fiction texts, non fiction books a periodicals;
fine art and poetry.
Based on their topic, students will self-select a fiction text, non fiction books and
periodicals, fine art pieces and poetry related to their topic.
Students will write a three paragraph essay about the common theme of their topic
and support with evidence gained by studying the 5 different genres.
Class Information
(REQUIRED) Age range of students
9-10 years old
B. Student Characteristics
Linguistic Background
(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I order to get to know my students in the various categories above I will review
beginning of the year student interview notes, and "All About Me" assignment which
was completed within the first week of school. I will also conduct brief interviews
with the student or parents to learn parents' English language abilities, and number
of years of English language learning. I will contact parents via email, phone call or
in the classroom. STAR testing results, and CELDT results. I will be particularly
interested in students balanced literacy abilities- reading, writing, speaking and
listening. Additionally I will contact previous teachers to learn students previous
knowledge, concept understanding and
(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I will access CUM files or Aires, and district wide student database system and
previous years' report cards. This will help me analyze specific data that will aid me
with reading comprehension and retelling. I will use teachers' comments to learn
about student language development and writing strengths and weaknesses. I will
use STAR reading through renaissance to assess independent reading levels (IRLA).
(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I will use social development theories such as Vygotsky's, to have a general
understanding of social development within this age group and how it affects their
learning therefor my instruction. I will look at IEP to utilize the identified needs. I will
also conduct an interview with the previous teachers and consult the school
psychologist for identified needs. I will also interview other adults or professions who
are typically found on an IEP team such as the parents or professions due to their
familiarity with the student.
(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I will use "All About Me" worksheets and student interviews to gain understanding of
the influence their culture has on their motivation and interest in reading. I will also
ask whether their family member read, what they read and whether it is something
they do at home. Last I will ask student how he or she communicates with members
of the family. I will ask this because if I expect a student to present using eye
contact, or to contribute ideas it is possible it is not culturally acceptable to do these
things.
Asking the student is the fastest method to gain information. Also, when the goal is
to create a life long learner who enjoys reading, I should focus on the student. I will
also learn about parent perspective and their involvement in their child's education.
(REQUIRED) 2. How will you learn about your students? Describe the
methods you will use and why you have chosen to use those particular
methods.
I will have students create a journal entry that introduces and describes their
interests, hobbies and aspirations. Before prompting the students to write about 3-5
interest, hobbies or aspirations Last I will create anecdotal notes as the interest
come up in was such as overhearing side conversations, during recess, during circle
check-ins, and by the characters and themes in school supplies. For example, a
student with a Batman backpack who often wears superhero shirts or a student who
has a tiger print backpack and often checks out books about animals from the
library.
Note: Single subject candidates for a credential in Languages Other Than English
who are delivering instruction in the target language may choose another student
with a different instructional challenge rather than an English learner.
Female
(REQUIRED) Age
10
comprehension; slightly higher in listening and on the higher end of the range for
speaking. When in a safe, comfortable, one-on-one environment he shows desire to
succeed but he is discouraged by his difficulty learning. Although he is not identified
for any learning disabilities he is being recommended for testing.
(REQUIRED) 3. What did you learn about this student's academic language
abilities in relation to this academic content area?
As a beginning student teacher I do not have access to the online database AIRES.
Consulting with my master teacher, his language intervention teacher and reviewing
his 3rd grade teacher's notes, the student struggles with language comprehension.
His lack of comprehension effects all other content area because of his difficulty with
content terms, directions and informative text. He can decode at a 3.2 independent
reading level.
Based off observations the student often does not understand what is expected of
him, or the purpose when reading or writing. He is one of few that has homework
taken home each day. Homework is any classwork that was not finished in given
time.
This student only receives an hour of the two and a half hours throughout the day
dedicated to ELA. He is pulled out with eight other students to participate in the EL
language intervention program Language Live.
(REQUIRED) 4. What did you learn about this student's content knowledge
and skills in this subject matter?
The student's strength and prior content knowledge comes from fiction books and he
is able to recall best from this genre. He struggles with informational text and
poetry. When given sentence frames or a story outline prior to reading, the student
is able to identify characters, setting, conflicts, solutions and key event more
successfully than when he reads without support. Class participation observations
show that the student shuts down and stops working when he is confused or
frustrated. He does not want anyone to notice though because he pretends to
understand and work when I am monitoring the classroom and keeping myself
available for questions and support. I will need to modify pace or completion
expectations.
He is working on language foundation skills and comprehension in Language Live.
(REQUIRED) 5. What did you learn about this student's physical, social and
emotional development relevant to this academic content area?
The student is introverted, struggling and requires individualized support. He is at
the social and emotional level that most fourth graders are at. He is self aware and
has displayed understanding of other's feelings and perspectives.
I learned that the student benefits from a social learning environment consisting of 4
to 6 students. He is used to working in this sized group setting when he is in Through
observation in larger groups or whole group instruction, the student did not
contribute to the group.
Thus, my planning includes small group interaction to accommodate his needs.
(REQUIRED) 8. What did you learn about this student's interests and
aspirations relevant to this academic content area?
While on the school bus heading to a field trip, the student expressed interest in
cars. He spent the entire ride pointing out cars on the freeway and describing his
favorite feature for each car he pointed out. He also shows interest in sports through
his fashion choices (jerseys and sports related graphic tees). The student
participated in the grade-level week long soccer tournament at school. He shares
interest in soccer with all his friends. He also enjoys opportunity to work with Google
Chrome-books. The mentioned topics are all possible topics for the engaging
scenario project.
Male
(REQUIRED) Age
9
(REQUIRED) 4. What did you learn about this student's academic language
abilities in relation to this academic content area?
The student is strong in academic vocabulary. Based on his reading log, AR tests,
ELA assessments and previous year's standardized testing scores I believe the
student will require little to know vocabulary support. This student is very motivated
to read and score well for AR comprehension quizzes. He is familiar with components
of a story and he understand literature terms.
(REQUIRED) 5. What did you learn about this student's content knowledge
and skills in this subject matter?
The student is advanced for fourth grade curriculum. The student often finishes his
work so quickly that he sits at his desk just fidgeting until the aid or a teacher
prompts him to get on task so he needs to stay busy.
Due to the rigorous, school-wide AR model the student has proven knowledgeable in
this content area.
(REQUIRED) 6. What did you learn about this student's physical, social and
emotional development relevant to this academic content area?
The student can become easily impatient and self centered, where most fourth
graders are at least exploring multiple perspectives and empathy. I have
experienced the student's weaknesses within a team during a group math game. The
student was so focused on getting a turn to represent the team that he didn't consult
before acting and lost the game. After the teammates groaned and told the student
he gave up the game, the student threw himself to the ground and cried. The reality
is that he was acting independently and not practicing positive group skills. I lost
instructional time having to explain to this student positive group considerations and
helping him see from his classmates perspective. I spoke with the student shortly
after the incident and told him to slow down before acting and realize that others are
affected by his actions. After some reflection and processing the student made the
conclusion that his teammates reacted appropriately and communicated why he felt
attacked by their action even though they were not wrong. This illustrates that he is
capable of understanding these concepts and can infer in these social situations but
he needs to be guided. Additionally this student sometimes needs to take a "break"
and remove himself from groups before he can contribute effectively.
He has a tendency for catastrophizing, where he believes that something is far
worse than it actually is. He does this for both present situations and hypothetical
situations that are suggested to him.
(REQUIRED) 9. What did you learn about this student's interests and
aspirations relevant to this academic content area?
The student wants to go to USC because his parents attended the university. He also
enjoys watching and attending various USC sport events. He enjoys football, soccer
and basketball the most. The student enjoys going to the movies, specifically
superhero movies. He often wears super hero logo shirts. He has shared with me
that his favorite is Batman because he is intelligent and does not kill. He is very
interested in technology and is the number one student to use ELA and MATH
programs like Lexia Core 5 at home.
(REQUIRED) 1. At what point in the sequence of the unit is this lesson? Put
an X next to one:
(REQUIRED) 5. How will the content of the lesson build on what the
students already know and are able to do?
This lessons builds on third grade standards determining main idea and key details of
the desk, and using two pieces of text to compare and contrast. Students have also
been exposed to grade-level informative text through their science and history
textbooks.
Students will broaden their knowledge by using multiple sources to synthesizing a
single,informative and engaging piece. I will also ask students to enrich their reading
with comprehension skills.
(REQUIRED) 6. How will the content of the lesson connect to the content of
preceding and subsequent lessons?
Students will self-select or be provided with a non-fiction book and a periodical
article related to their topic. Students will learn the characteristics of non-fiction
texts and periodicals. Students will learn strategies for summarizing non-fiction.
Students will practice summary of their non-fiction book and periodical article.
All of these skills that students will be using in this lesson can be used in future
informational text lessons and activities, and interdisciplinary connections such as
history and science.
(REQUIRED) 8. What evidence will you collect during the lesson or at the
end of the lesson that will show the extent to which the students have
learned what you intended?
Students use google documents share their graphic organizers, summaries and other
written pieces with me.
At the end of the lesson I will expect individual documents and the synthesized group
rough draft.
I will also check in with groups while groups are working on reading articles and
writing. These informal checks ins will allow me to check for understanding of
expectations and the text.
Rationale
Rationale
Rationale
Rationale
Instruction Plan
Rationale
Rationale
(REQUIRED) 10. Given the difficulties you anticipate students could have
with the content, what additional steps would you take to foster access and
comprehension for all students?
I had anticipated students needing guidance or being unable to find a resources in a
time sensitive manner. Since I am not assessing research ability or ability to find
appropriate resources I will plan to provide non fiction choices to my struggling
students. Conversely I will plan ahead to provide my advanced learners with
challenging texts and text that can promote extending the topic by inspiring further
research. It would not be time effective to provide outlines to front-load each
student, rather I will provide blank graphic organizers to direct student attention and
improve comprehension. I will provide examples and non examples to illustrate my
expectations. I will also provide sentence or summary frames to aid students.
(REQUIRED) 11. How would you share the results of student academic
learning with students and families?
Since we are using online materials and applications, I will use these platforms to
communicate progress and final product feedback. Students will receive comments
throughout the week on their product, pace, quality; and they will receive
recommendations and challenges to push their work to the next level.
Parents will be able to see results the Monday after the task is submitted and again
at the end of the unit where additional revisions and edits may have been made. On
the public Haiku class page, I will have the task outlined for the week and welcome
parents to contact me if they have questions or concerns about their students' work.
Parents also have the option of accessing students' documents in their google drive.
The documents will have teacher comments.
the student create a short response where he can compare and contrast good
vs bad sources to support why his source is a good one. Another expectation I
want for this student is to focus on quality and working at a slower pace than
he usually works.
with homework reflected on the lesson. I will have the student identify the
components of a good expository text in a deeper understanding than the
other students. Instead of identifying components in the layout, I will ask the
student to identify a good source from a bad source. This will allow the
student to use his computer skills and knowledge and give additional purpose
to the reading.
are EL students and I have many students whose primary language is not
English, I know to integrate SIOP model and SDAIE strategies in whole class
instruction to keep content accessible to all learners.
My focus student #1 is an EL student who spends at least six and half hours
outside the core classroom. He is a struggling learner whose difficulty
understanding and completing work in class has been attributed to language
acquisition and comprehension. It is important to gather social, cognitive,
personal and family information about this student because his learning may
be stunted by a learning disability. This vital information enabled me to
establish differentiated expectations of content knowledge and applications,
while scaffolding instruction. At the beginning of the year, the student was
performing lower than he did at the end of third grade, which should put up a
red flag. It was extremely difficult to determine how to differentiate
instruction in order to satisfy their individual needs if you are differentiating
for the wrong reason. In the process of collecting information for this student,
I have made generalizations, looked for patterns and collected evidence to
get him tested for other learning needs.
In regards to my focus student #2, this student is a high performer with
social, emotional and special needs. This tells me to place higher expectations
of content knowledge and application to ensure that he was challenged by the
lesson objectives, while simultaneously scaffolding instruction to keep him
comfortable and on task. I have learned how important it is to collaborate
with his aid. Part of the planning process is incorporating the aid in the lesson
because she often interacts with the student more than I do. This is great to
use that time to help other students but means I miss on my own
observations. I have learned who to partner him with and who to avoid. If I
place him in his group I am able to help him learn the underlying cooperative
skills such as building trust, conflict management, compromising, respectfully
communicating ideas and disagreements. I have learned that he worked
better as an individual. In that setting, he was able to work on behavioral
goals without compromising his learning or others learning pace. Given the
information, I was able to allow for individual work, yet provide him with a
learning environment that allowed for support in the course of the lesson plan
and prepares him for group work.
Knowing about individual also helps whole class lesson plans because you
want to make sure one students needs are not held as more important than
an others and you do not want one student's needs to compromise the
learning of any student in the class.
(REQUIRED) 2. How will you use what you have learned regarding
connecting instructional planning to student characteristics in the
future?
Instructional planning must be adapted to meet the needs of students.
Student needs are always changing as they strengthen understanding and
skills, or have new concepts introduced. I will use what I learned about
students to create student profiles to aid instructional planning. After
collecting my data, I will use past evidence to formulate generalizations that
can guide my instruction to successfully address individual
needs. Generalizations are certainly never the end goal because student
monitoring is an ongoing process of data collection, instruction reflection and
implementation of various strategies. I will use a combination of student
interviews, observations, various assessments, evidence from other adults
and professionals and student attitudes to developing an appropriate
pedagogical practices based on unique student characteristics and state
standards.