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Content Knowledge Reflection

Sarah Grady

Regent University
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Beverly Falk, a recognized author on education, is quoted in ​Methods for Effective

Teaching ​and states that standards allow teachers and students to “get clear about their purposes,

to develop coherent goals for learning, and to make use of a range of instructional strategies to

support students’ varying approaches to learning” (Burden and Byrd, 2010, pg 29). These

content standards are an essential part of the planning purpose as they guide the activities and

assessments for units and lessons (Powell, 2012). For Virginia, the standards are named

“Standards of Learning” and in Twelfth grade they are focused on organization and synthesizing

of information found in texts, and mastering a variety of writing methods (Grade Twelve, 2010).

To demonstrate my content knowledge and ability to teach along state standards, I included two

lesson plans from 12 honors English and dual enrollment English classes. I also included a photo

of me teaching the Rogerian model of argument to the class.

My first artifact is a lesson on Rogerian argument I taught to Mrs. Devlin’s dual

enrollment classes. The standards I used that guided my planning were to “Use a variety of

rhetorical strategies to accomplish a specific purpose (12.6 e, Grade Twelve, 2010)” and to

“Create arguments free of errors in logic and externally supported (12.6 f, Grade Twelve, 2010).”

The text ​Understanding by Design ​states that as architects and software developers has different

rules in which they complete their work with, teachers also have standards in which they need to

teach learners. Students were taught this style of argument, as well as Toulmin’s model of

argument to give students the elements necessary to create an effective presentation on the topic

of their choosing. After being taught the Rogerian model of argument through direct instruction

and several videos, students worked in their groups to integrate either Toulmin’s or Rogerian’s

model of argument in their presentation. This skill of being able to convey and express
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synthesized information from reliable sources to their peers will be useful to them as they attend

college in the fall. This is an important aspect of effectively teaching standards as it will allow

students to understand why they need to learn what they are being taught (Wiggins and McTighe,

2005). This lesson effectively shows how I plan lessons according to state standards of learning.

The second artifact I chose to include was a lesson on the Aristotle appeals I taught to

Mrs. Devlin’s 12 honors classes. The standards this lesson was based on was to “produce

arguments in writing that develop a thesis to demonstrate knowledgeable judgments, address

counterclaims, and provide effective conclusions” (12.6 b, Grade Twelve, 2010), and to “use a

variety of rhetorical strategies to accomplish a specific purpose” (12.6 e, Grade Twelve, 2010).

Simply put, standards are “defined as what students should know and be able to do” (Powell,

2010, pg 121). This lesson accomplishes this by teaching Aristotle’s appeals through direct

instruction, videos, discussion and applying the appeals to the student’s lives. This knowledge

will then be used in their research papers which gives the content purpose. By creating a lesson

that both teaches students a new concept that will be used in a summative assessment and is

based on the English Standards of Learning, I have shown content knowledge according to the

standards.

The last artifact I included is a photo of me teaching about paraphrasing and citing

sources properly in their research papers argument to Mrs. Devlin’s 12 honors class. I have

included it in this competency to show my ability to teach and to engage the students. These

three artifacts show my ability to both plan lessons adhered to state standards and to implement

the lessons.
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References

Burden, P. R., & Byrd, D. M. (2010). Methods For Effective Teaching: Meeting the Needs of All

Students. Hoboken: Pearson Education, Inc.

Grade Twelve. (2010) (pp. 1-3). Retrieved from

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/2010/stds_english12.pd​f

Powell, S. D. (2012). Your Introduction to Education: Explorations in Teaching. New York, NY:

Pearson Education, Inc.

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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