Literacy in Content Areas Assignment | Spring 2012
Artifact Description
For this artifact, I created a lesson plan with two other pre-service teachers in CI 473 (Literacy in Content Areas). This course focused on preparing pre-service teachers in incorporating student literacy within their content area. For the assignment, we had to consider two main parts: the first part was a "Writing to Learn Prompt" that required students to tell a story of a particular graph, and the second part was a lesson plan on linear equation story problems. Overall, this artifact demonstrates the ability to incorporate literacy within the classroom so that students can communicate mathematically through reading and writing. Although mathematics may not be often seen as a subject that requires a lot of written or oral communication, there is quite a bit of communication involved. Learning how to communicate mathematically is an important skill for students and applies beyond the classroom to whatever future endeavors students may have. Students should not only be able to understand the underlying mathematical concepts but should also be able to communicate their understanding to peers, to demonstrate deeper conceptual understanding.
Satisfying the Standards (6D, 6F, 6L, 6Q, 6R)
Creating a lesson plan that incorporates literacy by requiring students to analyze story problems and identify words to key mathematical terms, and also to create a situation the models a graph, demonstrates my understanding of writing processes and its importance to content learning. When students are asked to create a situation or complete a story that is modeled by the given graph, this provides them a space to showcase their conceptual understanding and be able to communicate mathematically. This in itself promotes literacy among students as they are asked to communicate verbally and through words of a particular situation. From this example, students were to complete a story about Jack's and Jessie's travel based on the given graph. The "Writing to Learn" prompt allows students to increase content learning because they are being asked to apply their knowledge to a given graphical situation. Because the axes were not labeled and all students were provided was a picture, they could be creative and come up with multiple ways to create an answer. As a result, through requiring students to apply their knowledge through writing, I demonstrate how I recognize the relationships among reading, writing, and oral communication and showcase my understanding of how to integrate these key components to increase content learning. In the second part of this artifact, my peers and I created a lesson plan on linear equations that required students to work in groups and identify words in story problems and also create word problems from given equations. The second part of the assignment shows our ability to facilitate the use of appropriate word identification and vocabulary strategies to develop each student's understanding of content. Students are asked to communicate mathematics through reading and writing, an important skill to develop. As a result, we integrated reading, writing, and oral communication to engage students in content learning. All in all, through working with other pre-service teachers in creating this lesson plan and "Writing to Learn" prompt, I demonstrate the indicator of working with other teachers to design, adjust, and modify instruction to meet students' reading, writing, and oral communication needs.
Professional Development
This standard of Reading, Writing, and Oral Communication is crucial in showcasing students' conceptual understanding. I believe that reading, writing, and explaining ideas to others cultivates the core learning process of mathematics. Oftentimes, it can easily be assumed that students do the mathematics by practicing fifty of the same problem. However, the question in doing such fifty practice problems is this: Do students really understand the idea or concept behind doing these problems? Or is this rote learning in which students basically memorize the procedure? I have to admit that many times when I was a student, I did not fully grasp or understand the material by doing the same problems over and over; I basically memorized the procedures. On the contrary, through answering conceptual questions, and explaining how things work, or explaining why particular ideas do not work, students can delve deeper into the mathematical concepts. This allows a space for them to not only understand the material but also make meaningful connections. As a result, through reading, writing, and orally communicating one's understanding of a particular mathematical concept, students are able to demonstrate their deeper understanding. They are able to ask questions but also teach others based on their interpretation and own understanding. In terms of my professional development, I hope to continually challenge myself in learning the mathematics at a deeper level and making connections so that I can create meaningful questions for students to consider and to explain their understanding. In addition, I want to explore deeper into the methods of providing students opportunities to become experts in the classroom through reading, writing, and oral communication.
For this artifact, I created a lesson plan with two other pre-service teachers in CI 473 (Literacy in Content Areas). This course focused on preparing pre-service teachers in incorporating student literacy within their content area. For the assignment, we had to consider two main parts: the first part was a "Writing to Learn Prompt" that required students to tell a story of a particular graph, and the second part was a lesson plan on linear equation story problems. Overall, this artifact demonstrates the ability to incorporate literacy within the classroom so that students can communicate mathematically through reading and writing. Although mathematics may not be often seen as a subject that requires a lot of written or oral communication, there is quite a bit of communication involved. Learning how to communicate mathematically is an important skill for students and applies beyond the classroom to whatever future endeavors students may have. Students should not only be able to understand the underlying mathematical concepts but should also be able to communicate their understanding to peers, to demonstrate deeper conceptual understanding.
Satisfying the Standards (6D, 6F, 6L, 6Q, 6R)
Creating a lesson plan that incorporates literacy by requiring students to analyze story problems and identify words to key mathematical terms, and also to create a situation the models a graph, demonstrates my understanding of writing processes and its importance to content learning. When students are asked to create a situation or complete a story that is modeled by the given graph, this provides them a space to showcase their conceptual understanding and be able to communicate mathematically. This in itself promotes literacy among students as they are asked to communicate verbally and through words of a particular situation. From this example, students were to complete a story about Jack's and Jessie's travel based on the given graph. The "Writing to Learn" prompt allows students to increase content learning because they are being asked to apply their knowledge to a given graphical situation. Because the axes were not labeled and all students were provided was a picture, they could be creative and come up with multiple ways to create an answer. As a result, through requiring students to apply their knowledge through writing, I demonstrate how I recognize the relationships among reading, writing, and oral communication and showcase my understanding of how to integrate these key components to increase content learning. In the second part of this artifact, my peers and I created a lesson plan on linear equations that required students to work in groups and identify words in story problems and also create word problems from given equations. The second part of the assignment shows our ability to facilitate the use of appropriate word identification and vocabulary strategies to develop each student's understanding of content. Students are asked to communicate mathematics through reading and writing, an important skill to develop. As a result, we integrated reading, writing, and oral communication to engage students in content learning. All in all, through working with other pre-service teachers in creating this lesson plan and "Writing to Learn" prompt, I demonstrate the indicator of working with other teachers to design, adjust, and modify instruction to meet students' reading, writing, and oral communication needs.
Professional Development
This standard of Reading, Writing, and Oral Communication is crucial in showcasing students' conceptual understanding. I believe that reading, writing, and explaining ideas to others cultivates the core learning process of mathematics. Oftentimes, it can easily be assumed that students do the mathematics by practicing fifty of the same problem. However, the question in doing such fifty practice problems is this: Do students really understand the idea or concept behind doing these problems? Or is this rote learning in which students basically memorize the procedure? I have to admit that many times when I was a student, I did not fully grasp or understand the material by doing the same problems over and over; I basically memorized the procedures. On the contrary, through answering conceptual questions, and explaining how things work, or explaining why particular ideas do not work, students can delve deeper into the mathematical concepts. This allows a space for them to not only understand the material but also make meaningful connections. As a result, through reading, writing, and orally communicating one's understanding of a particular mathematical concept, students are able to demonstrate their deeper understanding. They are able to ask questions but also teach others based on their interpretation and own understanding. In terms of my professional development, I hope to continually challenge myself in learning the mathematics at a deeper level and making connections so that I can create meaningful questions for students to consider and to explain their understanding. In addition, I want to explore deeper into the methods of providing students opportunities to become experts in the classroom through reading, writing, and oral communication.
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