Section Three: Teacher Candidate Artifacts

Introduction

Section three of the elementary portfolio project will showcase my teaching

effectiveness, ability, and readiness to be a caring educator. I will highlight nine artifacts from

my time at Medaille College that will show that I have developed the skills and knowledge

needed to be prepared to teach in the elementary classroom. These artifacts are important as they

demonstrate evidence that I am prepared to move from future educator to educator. I will provide

evidence based on the competencies in the area of planning, instruction, assessment, content

knowledge, literacy skills, as well as professional development, dispositions, and technology

integration. Each artifact has been connected to best teaching practices, theories, theorists/experts

in the field, connections to the curriculum, and professional standards. I believe these artifacts

will display my teaching skills and my preparedness to teach in the field of education and will

provide evidence that I, as a teacher candidate, have developed attributes needed to become a

successful educator.

The artifacts that I have chosen include, an annotated bibliography which will support

ENL/ELL learners and technology. I have also chosen to include lesson plans from the subject

areas of ELA, Math, and Science, these lesson plans with support planning, instruction,

assessment, engagement, literacy, dispositions, math, science, and classroom inclusion of

students with disabilities. The artifact that I have chosen to address technology is a symbaloo

assignment on geometry. My commitment to lifelong learning will be highlighted through my

professional development, which is a letter received from Medaille College when I volunteered

at and attended a lecture presented by Many Manning who was awarded the American Teacher

of the Year.
Artifacts & Rationales

Artifact #1: Annotated Bibliography

The first artifact in my portfolio is my annotated bibliography. For this assignment I

searched on ERIC in the Medaille College Library Database to find an article that was suited for

this assignment. Through this assignment I analyzed the article to find its objective/purpose,

target population, research method used, and outcome. In addition to my analysis I also

summarized the article, interpreted the findings, and related the findings to classroom

applications. It was important that I add this artifact to my portfolio because his article was about

a research study that was done to come up with a tool that would give guidance to rural educators

on how they could provide an unbiased assessment process to English learners, so that they

would not unfairly be placed in special education. Smith, Hoover, Herron, & Erickson (2018).

The focus of the study was on the importance of finding an appropriate way to assess English

language learners. The outcome from the study found three different themes, the first theme was

that the process for assessing English language learners lacked cultural linguistic material. The

second theme was that educators should use cultural/linguistic responsiveness when teaching.

The third theme was that students should receive an individualized assessment based on their

specific English language developmental needs. It is the teacher’s responsibility to educate all

students, and we need to make sure that ELL students are not being undereducated and unfairly

being placed into special education programs. Teachers need to provide ELL students with an

unbiased assessment that meets their individualized linguistic needs and provide them with

instruction that includes cultural/linguist responsive teaching. This artifact provides evidence that

I am ready to teach in the field of education because it shows that I have the ability to research,
specifically on ELL/ENL students, examine articles, and make connections to classroom

applications.

This artifact connects to INTASC Standard #1: Learner Development, specifically 1(e).

This standard is represented in this artifact because the article talks about a study that was done

on how educators could provide an unbiased assessment process to English learners, so that they

would not unfairly be placed in special education. This connects with INSTAC Standard #1(e)

because the article provides an understanding for how learners, specifically English language

learners grow and develop. It shows the importance of culturally responsive teaching, and how

students vary individually and that educators need to appropriately design and implement

learning and assessments that fit within their development.

This artifact connects to INTASC Standard #2: Learning Differences, specifically 2(i) as

the article is about how English language learners are sometimes unfairly placed in special

education, not because they don’t know the answers but because they often don’t understand the

questions on the assessment due to the linguistics. This connections to INTASC Standard #2(i)

as educators need to understand the differences of all their students and ELL learners should

receive an individualized assessment based on their specific English language developmental

needs. It is the teacher’s responsibility to educate all students, and ensure inclusive learning

environments are made so that each learner can meet high standards.