Visual Arts

Task 2: Instruction Commentary

TASK 2: INSTRUCTION COMMENTARY

Respond to the prompts below (no more than 6 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the
brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be
scored. You may insert no more than 2 additional pages of supporting documentation at the end of this file. These pages
may include graphics, texts, or images that are not clearly visible in the video or a transcript for occasionally inaudible portions.
These pages do not count toward your page total.

1. Which lesson or lessons are shown in the video clip(s)? Identify the lesson(s) by lesson plan
number.
[The lessons that are being shown in my video clips are lessons 1 and 2, titled edTPA1 and
edTPA2 respectively. The parts within these lessons which I am highlighting in my two ten-
minute clips are my lecture on tints, shades, shape, and form, and my demonstration of their
final projects.]
2. Promoting a Positive Learning Environment
Refer to scenes in the video clip(s) where you provided a positive learning environment.

a. How did you demonstrate mutual respect for, rapport with, and responsiveness to
students with varied needs and backgrounds, and challenge students to engage in
learning?
[Various times throughout the clip titled edTPA 1, student A attempts to talk out of order or talks
over the teacher. Instead of taking a raised voice or issuing a punishment towards this student,
the I instead calmly explain to the student that they need to raise their hand or reassure them
that they will be addressed later. This shows an example of mutual respect because I did not
belittle their viewpoint or diminish their voice within the classroom, rather I let them know that
their voice was being acknowledged, but also let it be known that they were voicing themselves
in an inappropriate way. Examples of rapport with and responsiveness to students are seen in
the clip titled edTPA2, starting at 7:00 in the clip I start answering questions from the students.
Although it starts with students having their hands raised, students respectfully chime in to help
their students understand concepts that are presented within the demonstration. Students feel
comfortable enough to ask questions the more students continue talking, and I make sure to
address each student individually. One student asks a question that was asked before, and as
another student tells that student that it was answered already, I make sure to let them know
that it is always okay to answer questions. This line of free-flow questioning ends about a
minute and a half after it begins, but the interactions were quality and significant.]
3. Engaging Students in Learning
Refer to examples from the video clip(s) in your responses to the prompts.

a. Explain how your instruction engaged students to create meaning through interpreting
art, developing works of art/design, AND/OR relating art to context as they applied their
knowledge and skills to create, present, or respond to visual art.
[Within the clip titled edTPA2 I am doing my demonstration which engages students to create
meaning through depicting items of value which they have brought into the classroom. This also
relates their art with a relevant context in their lives, namely the fact that they have brought an
object from their home instead of being given an object from the classroom which they have no
connection to. All of the students were excited to bring their objects in, and I engaged them in
meaningful conversation about their objects as I was walking around afterwards and discussing
their final pieces. In order to depict these objects, I was going over the proper techniques of

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The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is
permitted only pursuant to the terms of a written license agreement.
 Visual Arts
Task 2: Instruction Commentary

hatching and crosshatching in order to turn a shape into a form, which allows them to properly
apply their new knowledge and skills of those techniques to create an illustration of their object.]
b. Describe how your instruction linked students’ prior academic learning and personal,
cultural, and community assets with new learning.
[As you can see at the beginning of the clip titled edTPA1, I go over ideas of tint and shade with
students. They had already gone over this in previous lessons, so I let them give me examples
of how tint and shade are used. At 0:58 in the clip titled edTPA2 I also mention how their shape
should fill up the entire page, and use a project that they worked on previously, their
invertebrate project, in reference to this. Students in this lesson had to cut out an invertebrate
creature of their choice, and make it fit the size of a paper given to them. Because their choice
of creature varied, they would have to make some of them larger and some of them smaller.
This has students working with and practicing scaling things to proportion, which I will have
them do in this lesson as well with their objects. Both of these examples activated examples or
prior academic learning, but also spurred on new learning. In the first clip I lead discussions
from the familiar (Tint, Shade) to new topics (Form, Shape). In this sense students felt confident
in their own knowledge with terms discussed so that when they moved onto words that they did
not know, they were not thrown into that situation. This made it so that the sense of rapport and
comfort was heightened during this time of instruction.]
4. Deepening Student Learning during Instruction
Refer to examples from the video clip(s) in your explanations.
a. Explain how you elicited student responses to promote thinking and develop their
abilities to express or understand meaning through interpreting art, developing works of
art/design, AND/OR relating art to context.
[In the clip titled edTPA1 I elicited student responses to promote thinking and developing of their
abilities to express and understand the terms shape and form, which are fundamental to their
developing of their final illustration and will need to be understood in order to fully be able to
relate their objects from home to the assignment given. Starting at approximately 4:38 in the clip
I start to ask them about shape and form. First, I ask students to give their guesses or answers
to the question of what the difference between the two are. Earlier in the lesson, at the
beginning of the PowerPoint presentation, I had made it clear to the students that they should
feel comfortable speaking their mind and making guesses to questions that I ask. I wanted to
make sure to set that level of comfort within the classroom, and students slowly but surely
picked up on this sense of safety in speaking their mind. When one student (at approximately
4:45) made their guess, I did not say that they were wrong, but rather pointed out points that
they had gotten correct and said that I would further elaborate on it. After that students worked
together to create a full definition. I made sure to use the students’ words to make the definition
so that all students who contributed to the definition felt ownership of it and also so that the
other students know that the definition was attainable, as it was set by their peers and not just
myself. After this I ended up asking them to further reinforce their knowledge and develop their
understanding by asking the students to first give examples of shapes and then give examples
of how those same shapes would be turned into forms (at approximately 5:37). As I did this, I
drew them on the board and wrote down the definitions of Shape and Form for students to put
within their journals.]
b. Explain how you provided students with opportunities for student choice (e.g., of
content, methods, or style) in ways that deepened their understanding of visual art
concepts/contexts as students created, presented, or responded to visual art.

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 Visual Arts
Task 2: Instruction Commentary

[The clip titled edTPA2 shows the best example of how students are provided with opportunities
for student choice in a way that deepens their understanding of hatching and crosshatching,
which is the visual art concept that I am presenting to them, and also gives them more
ownership over their final piece which will lead to them being encouraged to more clearly
respond to their prompt. I have, in the lesson prior, asked students to bring from home an object
that they have a personal connection to, an object that they value. One of the new vocabulary
words that I went over with students with is ‘value’ as it relates to art, which is how I tied the
concept for their items in. I have gotten word from their homeroom teachers that the students
were excited to have and work with their objects, which is what I was going for. I gave them not
only the opportunity to have a choice of content but made it a personal choice for them.
Throughout the demo I give instructions on how to use hatching and crosshatching to create a
form from visual observation. I also make sure to tell students at the beginning of the
demonstration (at approximately 0:23) that they should be treating other students’ objects with
respect and care, like they would want their objects treated. I thought this was important and not
only established that rule for the class as a whole but also showed the importance of their
choice of object, making it more meaningful.]
5. Analyzing Teaching
Refer to examples from the video clip(s) in your responses to the prompts.

a. What changes would you make to your instruction—for the whole class and/or for
students who need greater support or challenge—to better support student learning of
the central focus (e.g., missed opportunities)?

Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students).
[Although there is no specific point in it, during the clip titled edTPA2, I would have altered what
I present to my students both for the whole class and for students who need better support in
their learning. After the demonstration, while I was walking around to various tables I had
noticed that students understood the idea of blocking in their objects, but some of them had
questions on how exactly to block in certain combinations of shapes. While I was looking over
the footage and thinking over the lesson as a whole, I believe that it would have helped to
support and drive further the central focus of creating form from shapes if I drew a number of
examples on the white board of blocked in shapes for objects that they have brought in.
Although I would not have the time or the space to block in each student’s objects (this would
also be giving them less chances to develop their understanding of the concept on their own),
enough students had similar objects (stuffed animals, spherical objects, rectangular objects),
that by drawing 3-4 general shape combination I would have both shown students a simple way
of blocking in their shapes and cut down the questions from students by at least half. Leaving
these examples on the board (like I did with my definition and examples of shape into form)
would also contribute to universal design, as students would always be able to refer to them if
they got lost or were confused about how they may go about depicting their object. If the steps
and blocked shapes were on the board, students A, B, and C could have also been redirected
towards what they should be doing in a clearer and more direct way. In the lesson as it was
taught, I had to go up to students and discuss with them where they should be in their lesson. If
I had made the adjustments that I had talked about I would have been able to point to the board
and discuss what I had talked about in regards to blocking in their shapes (Students A, B, and C
would have their shapes drawn out specifically on the board, mixed with one or two other
general shapes so they don’t feel singled out).]

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All rights reserved. V06
The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is
permitted only pursuant to the terms of a written license agreement.
 Visual Arts
Task 2: Instruction Commentary

b. Why do you think these changes would improve student learning? Support your
explanation with evidence of student learning AND principles from theory and/or
research.
[I believe that the change of having the drawings on the white board would have helped scaffold
student’s learning and improved their understanding of the subject matter because they would
have had a better understanding of what they were expected to do which follows the idea of
universal design, and they would have also had their learning scaffolded in a way that provides
them with just enough support so that their learning is in more in the zone of proximal
development. First of all, I will talk about how it would have helped them in the sense of
universal design. Although students A, B, and C would gain from having their shapes
represented on the board and would benefit the most from the ability to refer back to/for me to
point to the white board to get them back on track, having that reminder visually would benefit
all students. Having the steps on the board also gives students ownership of their learning
which helps their sense of autonomy. The second thing that this helps with is the student’s
position in the Zone of Proximal Development. As theorist Lev Vygotsky has discussed,
students best learn when they are learning within their Zone of Proximal development. Vygotsky
talks about how if students are presented with a task below this zone, they are not going to get
anything out of it, for the tasks and lessons presented are too simple for them. They would be
able to perform these tasks without any outside assistance from the teacher. If the students are
presented with a task that is above their Zone of Proximal development then the students would
be easily discouraged, because they cannot perform these tasks even with the teacher’s
assistance. Although the tasks that I give to the students are tasks within their zone of proximal
development, having the visual aids on the white board will help them get even more into the
center of that zone. When I did not have them, the students relied on my coming over to them
and showing them the various ways that they could block in shapes. If I had them drawn out of
the white board, they would still have to figure out how to apply the drawing examples to their
specific item, but they would be able to come to those conclusions on their own and not have to
rely on the teacher as much. For some students needing to wait for assistance placed the tasks
on the cusp of being above the Zone of Proximal development, which may have been
detrimental to students. Although not all students would have needed this (the Zone of Proximal
development is both fluid and different from student to student), having the aid on the board
would have only helped those who needed it and not have been a detriment to those who did
not.]

Copyright © 2018 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 4 of 4 | 6 pages maximum
All rights reserved. V06
The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is
permitted only pursuant to the terms of a written license agreement.