Portfolio of Jan Abernethy
Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy
1a
I chose to demonstrate my knowledge of content and pedagogy by showing the self-made curriculum for writing I created from a variety of resources and experiences I have collected over the past seventeen years. It is a working document and I continue to add to it as I find new and better ways to help students with the writing process. I also included a project that integrates Social Studies and English and gives students an opportunity to write for a real life situation. Students write to a person of their choice and send them a copy of the class consitution book we made collaboratively. Click on the button below to see a demonstration of Domain 1a.
DOMAIN ONE: PLANNING AND PREPARATION
Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources
1d
Networking has a variety of meanings in education and in knowledge of resources. Here is an example of how I managed to use networking to institute intensive gardening in our school district this year. A few years ago, I received an award for using technology in the classroom that included a one week conference where I was immersed in learning about technology with one hundred other educators from around the state. Most of those educators remain my friends to this day, but one of them who lives in Clarion, I actually call my best friend. At the end of the school year, she always hosts a workshop at her school where she asks me to present. One of her teachers introduced me to the "Trout in the Classroom" program and before you know it I was elbow deep in trout in my own classroom. When I went to the training for the program, I learned about another program called "Creek Connections" run by Allegheny College. This program fit in so well with the "Trout in the Classroom" curriculum, I felt obliged to include this training in my repertoire. At this training, I received a grant of $300 that could be spent on anything science related. During the lunch break, I took a group of teachers out geocaching. Weeks later, I spoke to the Creek Connections instructor who brought her college students to work with my students at least once a month. She told me how one of the other teachers had spent their $300 stipend on "intensive gardening" and she gave me his name. It turned out that he was one of the teachers I had taught how to geocache, so he was more than willing to share his "intensive garden" resource. By now, you are probably thinking, get to the point already! That is the point! Networking comes in many ways. When you click on the link below, you will see some of the ways teachers can network, but remember, every person you meet can take you on a journey!
Setting Instructional Outcomes
1c
Students respond to their reading weekly on our Journey's response blog. I chose to use this blog to demonstrate instructional outcomes. If you click on the ferret below, you will see examples of student growth from the beginning of the year to near the end of the year. You will see a maturation in writing expression, a depth in topic exploration and in some cases use of more intricate tools. Below the growth examples, I have given a variety of ways students have chosen to respond to text. You can find more by going to the Journey's Response blog.
Demonstrating Knowledge of Students
1b
I chose to demonstrate my knowledge of students by describing our daily use of a program called edmodo (a facebook for teachers and their students.) Also, I described how I spent extra time with my students outside of the school day before school and after school for such programs as Homework Club, Challenge 24 Club and Stock Market Club. We also had outside events at a students' home twice to celebrate the culmination of "Rock Our World," an international program we were involved in, an event at the school where students presented for a worldwide audience on their cyber bullying project on a Saturday, a few events at the local hospital to hang pictures in their hallways and a "Grand Art Opening" at the hospital one evening. Click below to find out how getting to know my students drives my instructions and makes it more meaningful and relevant to my students.
1e Designing Coherent Instruction
I chose to use an environmental education module I put together to show a coherent curriculum. The "Trout in the Classroom" program works very well with the "Creek Connections" program. Students have a real purpose in making sure the quality of the stream is good, because it is the stream where we will release our trout. Discovery Education offers an animated glossary for vocabulary study, and the Notebook file I put together offers a varied approach from reading in the content area to hands on experiments to virtual lab experiments to webiinars for the students. Click below to take a peak into the curriculum.
1f Designing Student Assessments
I chose a unit on Animal Classification I designed to demonstrate a couple of the ways I create student assessments within a unit of study. From research worksheets to more abstract research data sheets students are assessed on their researching and analytical skills. A cross curricular project that includes editing parameters is spelled out specifically in a rubric and is students' first experience with a project in the school year. At the end of the unit, students are given a more traditional assessment that includes questions from each of Bloom's taxonomy.
