CSTP 1 - Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning

CSTP - 1.1 Use knowledge of students to engage them in learning

● Level of Development: Integrating

○ Teacher: After initial research and inquiry, the teacher allows students to
brainstorm topics for their information books. The teacher continues to guide
students through each part of the writing stages.
○ Student: Chooses a topic and researches further information on their
technology/invention for their information book.
● Date: October 9, 2020
● Evidence: The students have been working on their​ ​informational writing books​. They
were able to choose the topic, as long as it related to technology, communication, and
inventions. Because the students were able to choose what they researched and wrote
about, they were excited and motivated to complete their information book. Here are
some photos of a couple of books and their progress from start to finish.

CSTP - 1.2 Connect learning to students’ prior knowledge, backgrounds, life experience, and
interests

● Level of Development: Applying

○ Teacher: The teacher leads the students in a brainstorming session where they
write out ideas for their poems at the start of the unit.
○ Student: Students brainstorm ideas for their poems.
● Date: October 13, 2020
● Evidence: As we are introduced to our How We Express Ourselves Unit of Inquiry into
Poetry, the students brainstorm ideas that they can use to write poems. These are topics
and interests that are important to them. ​Many students wrote poems​ about very
difficult and personal life experiences such as the passing of a loved one or the Corona
Virus.

CSTP - 1.3 Connect subject matter to meaningful, real-life contexts

● Level of Development: Integrating

○ Teacher: The teacher distributes two maps of the world. One showing where
places receive the most rain; the other showing where people have access to
clean water. The teacher also guides conversation and leads discussion.
○ Student: The students are to investigate the maps, use the keys and an atlas to
determine what continents/countries receive a lot of precipitation and where large
populations of people do not have access to clean water. The students make
connections and determine why there are inconsistencies. If a place has a lot of
rain, why do people not have access to drinking water? If a place does not have
a lot of rain, why do people have access to water? The students research other
factors that play into the unequal distribution of water around the world.
 ● Date: December 1, 2020
● Evidence: Students are in their first few weeks of our Sharing the Planet Unit of Inquiry
into Water. In this unit, students are learning about the unequal distribution of water
around the world. In this lesson, students practiced map skills by looking at ​maps​ of the
world,​ labeling the 7 continents and studying the different ecosystems. They
discussed what areas get more precipitation than others and why people may not
have access to clean water, even if they live in a place that gets a lot of
precipitation.

CSTP - 1.4 Use a variety of instructional strategies, resources, technologies to meet students’
diverse learning needs

● Level of Development: Exploring

○ Teacher: During centers/rotations, while the teacher is working with a small
reading group, the teacher films a video of herself reading an article aloud for the
students who need extra support to follow along and complete the activity
independently.
○ Student: The students are responsible for reading the article (or watching the
record and reading along with the teacher) and writing down one fact from each
heading that they’ve learned.
● Date: December 2, 2020
● Evidence: The third grade students are getting into the routine of reading groups. While I
am working with one small group, the other students are expected to complete activities
independently. One activity was to read an article, ​Troubled Waters,​ and write a fact they
learned from each of the six headings. For my students who are not at that level of
reading,​ ​I recorded myself reading the article​ for them to follow along while I was with
my reading group.

CSTP - 1.5 Promote critical thinking through inquiry, problem solving, and reflection

● Level of Development: Integrating

○ Teacher: The teacher provides time for students to reflect on their learning and
encourages them to use their resources throughout the unit.
○ Student: The students write a reflection about all they’ve learned in this unit about
poetry and how they are able to express themselves through it.
● Date: November 6, 2020
● Evidence: At the end of our How We Express Ourselves Unit of Inquiry into poetry, our
third grade students wrote a ​reflection​ sharing what they learned about the 5 doors of
poetry, types of poems, how to use and interpret figurative language, and most
importantly, how they can express themselves using poetry.

CSTP - 1.6 Monitor student learning and adjust instruction while teaching

● Level of Development: Applying

 ○ Teacher: While in reading groups, we are reviewing informational texts. We start
the small group instruction off with a preview or “picture walk”.
○ Student: The students identify text and graphic features.
● Date: December 3, 2020
● Evidence: In small reading groups, the students are responsible for identifying text and
graphic features, such as photographs, captions, bold words, headings, titles, diagrams,
and labels. For groups who struggled with labeling, we took more time to review our text
features with a text feature ​“scavenger hunt”​.