Content Knowledge

InTASC Standard 5: Application of Content

The teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage
learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local
and global issues.
Early on during my student teaching I received a letter, addressed to my elementary school,
from California. This letter was addressed to the fifth grade teachers & students of my school.
The project was called The Great Mail Race. The objective of this project was to learn about fifth
graders all across the country. By filling out a questionnaire and writing a letter to another fifth
grade student in the U.S., these students were trying to broaden their horizons on different
environments, cultures, and overall perspectives. This was such an authentic opportunity that I
decided to accept the letter and work with my fifth graders on composing their own letters. We
would participate in The Great Mail Race. The questionnaire included questions related to the
students elementary school and the surrounding towns or recognizable and popular cities.
Also, the personal note allowed students to share things about themselves with their pen pal
across the country. Having the opportunity to collaborate and express their creativity, by
composing letters, helped my students think critically about what makes our location
geographically different from another area of the country. This also gave students the
opportunity to utilize technology when figuring out answers to questions about our school and
town. Our school has a Bring your own device (BYOD) policy since we are not equipped with
computers for every student in every classroom. Giving students the opportunity to use their
devices and explore our local area, and outside our city, gives them a good model of how to use
technology for educational and research purposes. Overall I do my best to connect concepts
locally and globally, and this was my first attempt at doing so. The project went well and each
student was able to gain a pen pal out of it. Below is a sample letter from a student in my class,
the filled-in questionnaire, empty questionnaire, and the letter that was sent to me informing our
school of The Great Mail Race.