Amanda Benson

Critical Task: FEAPS 1,2,3, & 4

Weebly Website Link:
http://collegeofeducationbenson.weebly.com/feaps.html

Florida Educator Accomplished Practice:

1. Instructional Design and Lesson Planning- applying concepts from human
development and learning theories, the effective educator consistently.
a. Aligns instruction with state-adopted standards at the appropriate level of rigor.

I created this lesson plan for a fifth grade math lesson on multiplying fractions. I
choose the Common Core standard: MACC.5.NF.2.4a Apply and extend
previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number
by a fraction. Interpret the product (a/b) x q as a parts of a partition of q into b
equal parts; equivalently, as the result of a sequence of operations a x q b. I
chose this standard because the students would be using their previous knowledge
of multiplication and applying it to the new concept of multiplying fractions.
b. Sequences lessons and concepts to ensure coherence and required prior knowledge.

I created this two-day math lesson on finding the volume of rectangular prisms.
For day one, the students were introduced to the formula for finding the volume
of rectangular prisms (V= l x w x h). For day two, the students had to use their
prior knowledge of finding the volume of rectangular prisms to solve real world
mathematical problems. The students also had to use their prior knowledge to
recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand the concepts of
volume such as using the cubic unit when finding volume.

c. Designs instruction for students to achieve mastery.

This artifact displays the expectations for the students self-assessment trackers.
This instruction is designed for the students to achieve mastery because if the
students rank themselves as a novice or as a practitioner they will receive small
group/teacher time instruction, which provides guidance for the specific concept
of the lesson that was not fully understood. For example, in the slide presented
above the students who received teacher time were provided with necessary
guidance for using models to find a fractional part of a whole in order to show
progress as a practitioner or as an expert. These self-assessment expectations are
displayed for every lesson to promote high expectations for all students.

d. Selects appropriate formative assessments to monitor learning.

This artifact displays a formative assessment I gave to my students during a math

lesson on dividing fractions. In order to determine if the students were ready to
solve higher-order thinking questions on their own, I first assessed the students on
their knowledge of the basic skills needed for solving division fraction problems.
For example, for this lesson it was essential for the students to first identify what
the dividend and the divisor is in the word problem. Then, it was essential for the
students to understand how to turn that division problem into a multiplication
problem by finding the reciprocal of the divisor. As shown, this student mastered
the basic skills necessary to know when dividing fractions therefore, confirming
their readiness to take it to the next level.

e. Uses diagnostic student data to plan lessons.

This artifact displays a pre-assessment I gave to my students before getting into a

lesson on multiplication and finding the volume of rectangular prisms. This preassessment indicated that my students already knew the formula for finding the
volume of a rectangular prism. Therefore, I did not need to spend a great amount
of time going over this formula and provided a quick turn and talk instead. On the
other hand, majority of the students could not identify the factors of eight. One
big misconception these students had was that the factors of a number were the
same thing as the multiples of a number. This pre-assessment led me to change
my lesson plan for the next day to address this misconception by facilitating a
student-led discussion and provide extra practice for the students to find the
factors and multiples of different numbers.

f. Develops learning experiences that require students to demonstrate a variety of

applicable skills and competencies.

This artifact displays a learning experience of the students working together as a

small group to create a team-made challenging quiz to quiz their classmates
with. This team-made quiz demonstrates a variety of skills and competencies
based on the expectations listed above. The students used different skills such as
creating various models, multiplying fractions by fractions, multiplying fractions
by whole numbers, multiplying mixed numbers, creating scenarios, creating
multistep problems, and creating problems that have more than one answer that
applies. The students had to use higher order thinking to come up with these quiz
questions on their own.

2. The Learning Environment- to maintain a student-centered learning environment that

is safe, organized, equitable, flexible, inclusive, and collaborative, the effective educator
consistently.
a. Organizes, allocates, and manages the resources of time, space, and attention.

In order to organize and manage my resources of time, for every lesson I

provide an estimated time allocated for the students to spend on each
part/activities of the lesson. This organized time allows me to keep a flow
to my lessons and allows the students to keep their attention throughout
the lesson as well. If too much time is given and students start to loose
focus I know a switch is needed from one activity/discussion to the next.

b. Manages individual and class behaviors through a well-planned management

system.

In order to manage the class behaviors in my classroom I use a ticket

management system. When individual students or a table group of students
show excellent behaviors they are rewarded with a ticket. For example,
such behavior can consist of transitioning between activities quickly and
quietly without creating any disturbances. Students are motivated by this
behavior system to take initiation to be the role models of the classroom.

c. Conveys high expectations to all students.

This is a poster that is hung in the classroom describing what is expected

for a TEAM to act like in the classroom at all times. The students really
like this poster of expectations because it is related to their interest of
sports. The students can relate to coming together as a team to create the
best experience they can together as a whole.

d. Respects students cultural linguistic and family background.

This piece of evidence indicates that an ESOL student in my classroom

needed a Spanish-speaking translator during a parent-teacher conference

in order for the students family to understand what the teacher was saying
without any misunderstandings. This artifact respects the ESOL students
cultural background by providing the support they need in order for the
student to be successful in the classroom.
e. Models clear, acceptable oral and written communication skills.

This piece of evidence displays a model of clear and acceptable written

communication skills. At the end of each math lesson before students
break off into groups I verbally read these indications out loud to the
students to make sure students comprehend what is expected from them.
For example, I would say something such as If you ranked yourself as a
novice or an apprentice please take a white board and eraser and come sit
at this circle table for teacher time. If you have ranked yourself as a
practitioner you should be able to classify most triangles and polygons by
side and angle and should be able to sort them. Practitioners will work on
page 452 #s 8-10 in their Go Florida Math Workbook. If you ranked
yourself as an expert you should be able to classify all triangles and
polygons by side and angle and be able to sort them in more than two
ways. Experts will work on page 452 #s 8-10 in their Go Florida Math
Workbook and work on an enrichment game when they are finished.

f. Maintains a climate of openness, inquiry, fairness and support.

This is an artifact of the students self-assessment chart and rank systems.

This self-assessment chart is used for all subject areas and allows multiple
opportunities for the students to self-assess their understanding. This
artifact displays fairness and support due to the students decision of
asking for extra guidance. For example, if a student ranks themselves as
novices or as an apprentice they are showing an indication that they need
extra support during the end of the lessons activity. Based on these two
ranking these students will be given a small group teacher time in order to
meet their individual needs.

g. Integrates current information and communication technologies.

This artifact displays my integration of the technology tool known as

Kahoot. This artifact is showing my students feedback of using Kahoot
for a math lesson on geometry and volume. This technology device
provides a communication between the students and the teacher because it
provides feedback if the students think they learned something from the
Kahoot, if the students would recommend this Kahoot to other students,
and overall how the Kahoot made the students feel. Based on my results I
can conclude that most of my students enjoyed using this technology tool
therefore, I would use this tool again.

h. Adapts the learning environment to accommodate the differing needs and

diversity of students.

In order to adapt the learning environment to accommodate for the

differing needs of my diverse students in each lesson plan I indicate what

possible accommodations my students may need. For example, I have one

ESOL student who often needs to use an English/Spanish dictionary to
look up unfamiliar words throughout the lesson therefore, I provide him
with a translating dictionary for his language.
i. Utilizes current and emerging assistive technologies that enable students to
participate in high-quality communication interactions and achieve their
educational goals.

This artifact displays the students newspaper created at BizTown. The

students were able to use the technology device of a computer to type up
their own article that became published on the BizTown website. After the
students published their articles they then printed it out as a newspaper for
every student to take home. This artifact shows high-quality
communication skills by having the students write, edit, and publish their
own personal articles.

3. Instructional Delivery and Facilitation- the effective educator consistently utilizes

a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the subject taught to:
a. Deliver engaging and challenging lessons

One way I delivered an engaging and challenging lesson was providing an

investigation on balanced and unbalanced forces. I gave my students a

Penny Weight Challenge where the students had to use a pencil taped to
the side of a desk and balance a meter stick on the pencil. The students
discovered that the meter stick balanced evenly when the meter stick was
at the half way mark. Little did they know that would change when weight
would be added to one side of the meter stick. I challenged my students by
instructing them to tape a cup onto one side of the meter stick and add 5
pennies each round until they got to 50 pennies. After the pennies were
added the students had to rebalance their meter stick. After each round, the
students recorded the place on the meter stick where it was balanced and
came to the conclusion that the more pennies that were added the closer
the meter stick had to move towards the side with the cup of pennies. The
students analyzed that they needed to account for the weight of the pennies
when moving the meter stick to rebalance it, leading them to move it
closer and closer to the edge of the meter stick the heavier it got. This was
a very rigorous and hands-on investigation that I am planning to use in my
future classroom as well.
b. Deepen and enrich students understanding through content area literacy
strategies, verbalization of thought, and application of the subject matter

One way I enrich students understanding through content area literacy

strategies, verbalization of thought, and application of the subject matter is
by using accountable math talk questions during my lessons. For example,
when students are solving a problem I may ask them to pause and to ask
their shoulder partner a During Problem Solving question such as Can
you explain what you have done so far? After the students are done
solving their problem I might then ask them to ask their face partner an
After Completion Problem question such as How do you know your
answer is reasonable and makes sense, or why did you choose this
strategy/method to use for this problem? This communication allows the
students to verbalize their thought process and hear different ideas from
students they might not have initially thought of.

c. Identify gaps in students subject matter knowledge

This is an artifact displaying the overall math average of Block 1 versus

Block 2. Block 1 has a math class average of an 85.1% and Block 2 has a
math class average of an 80.7%. Due to this gap in the students subject
matter knowledge various modifications are made for lessons class to
class. For example, if Block 2 is struggling as a class during a lesson I will
keep the instruction to a whole group instruction versus breaking down
into small groups so I can monitor and facilitate their learning. Also, I
modify the amount of problems that are to be completed and give the
students more time to solve the problems at a reasonable pace. For Block
1, I add enrichment activities to consistently further these students skills.
These modifications are essential to make in order to meet the needs of the
students in the classroom.

d. Modify instruction to respond to preconceptions or misconceptions

One way I modified instruction to respond to misconceptions was by

creating an anchor chart with the class as a whole group. One
misconception many students have when multiplying a whole number and
a fraction is misunderstanding how to multiply the numerator and the
detonator. Many students multiply the whole number by the denominator
versus the whole number by the numerator. In order to clear up this
misconception, I facilitated a whole group discussion as well as provided
an example for the students to solve on a poster board by using a step-bystep method. I kept this anchor chart on the front board throughout the unit
on multiplying and dividing fractions for the students to reference as a
helpful guide.

e. Relate and integrate the subject matter with other disciplines and life
experiences

One way I related the subject matter of math with a life experience was by
creating a project for the students to pick a store and create a shopping list,
which required the students to add all the items on their shopping list
relating to our lesson on adding decimals. For enrichment the students
even created coupons to use at their store and had to subtract all the
discounts from their total price. Students found this lesson useful because
they said they love going shopping and can get an idea of how much
money they will need before going to check out by adding up their
shopping lists beforehand.

f. Employ higher-order questioning techniques

One way I employed a higher-order thinking technique was by giving my

students a higher-order thinking short response question. Instead of having
the students solving a problem, this higher-order thinking question had the
students find the error of Kristens work provided from solving a word
problem. The students had to look at the work provided and analyze the
steps taken to find the mistake made by Kristen. After the students
identified what mistake Kristen made they had to provide a short answer
response to describe how Kristen could have solved the problem without
writing out the pattern needed. This higher order thinking activity
provided the opportunity for the students to use critical thinking skills
relating to a real world experience.

g. Apply varied instructional strategies and resources, including appropriate

technology, to provide comprehensible instruction, and to teach for student
understanding

One way I varied my instructional strategies was by using the technology

tool known as Nearpod. This technology tool provided comprehensible
instruction by having the question stated right in front of each student on
each individuals technology device. Using this technology tool allowed
me to teach for student understanding based on the short answer response
each student submitted. I was allowed to review each response the
students submitted and provide instruction from there based on what
guidance was needed for the students to meet the objective of the lesson.

h. Differentiate instruction based on an assessment of student learning needs and

recognition of individual differences in students

One way I differentiated instruction for a math lesson on multiplying

decimals was by giving a differentiated assessment at the end of the lesson
in order to meet the individual student needs in my classroom. This
differentiated assessment was based on each students self-assessment
rank at the end of the lesson. If students ranked themselves as a Novice
or as an Apprentice they were to complete the Ticket Out the Door A
during teacher time with teacher assistance. If students ranked themselves
as a Practitioner they were to complete the Ticket Out the Door A
individually, and if students ranked themselves as Experts they were to
complete the Ticket Out the Door B individually as well.

i. Support, encourage, and provide immediate and specific feedback to students

to promote student achievement

One way I provided immediate and specific feedback to students to

promote student achievement was through sharing students work on the
technology tool Nearpod. Using Nearpod not only allowed me to see every
students response on my screen but also allowed me to display responses
I would like to share with the rest of the class. The opportunity to share the
students responses gave me the chance to provide immediate and specific
feedback to the students without singling them out or waiting until the
end of the lesson. When sharing the responses the students name is not
displayed therefore the students feel comfortable submitting their
responses. The example of specific feedback I gave to the students from
the displayed data above was I really like how these students
remembered to use place value when placing their decimal points in their
product.

j. Utilize student feedback to monitor instructional needs and to adjust

instruction

One way I utilized student feedback to adjust my instruction was by giving

my students a survey question on finding the product of a decimal and a
whole number. The students learned various strategies to use when find
the product of a decimal and a whole number and I wanted to see which
strategy they preferred to use indicating what might students need more
practice using because they do not feel 100% comfortable using that
strategy so far. The results of this survey indicated that the students liked
using place value the most when finding the product of a decimal and a
whole number resulting in me adjusting my future math lessons to provide
teacher guidance when using and creating models/drawings.

4. Assessment- The effective educator consistently:

a. Analyzes and applies data from multiple assessments and measures to diagnose
students learning needs, informs instruction based on those needs, and drives the
learning process.

One way I analyzed and applied data to diagnose students learning needs
in my classroom was by giving my students a pre-assessment worksheet
and by giving my students a learning interest survey. After analyzing these

two different types of data I applied what I learned from my students to

my next lesson on finding the volume of rectangular prisms. The preassessment drove my lesson by indicating a review on factors versus
multiples was necessary as well as instructional time with using math
manipulatives in the classroom. For example, 10 out of 22 students
indicated on their pre-assessment that they did not know what snap cubes
were which then guided me to provide multiple opportunities as well as
teacher modeling on how to use snap cubes to find the volume of
rectangular prisms for my lesson. The student interest survey worksheet
also guided my lesson by indicating that the students preferred working
with a partner which led me to pair the students up for one activity during
my lesson in order to meet the needs of the students interests in the
classroom.
b. Designs and aligns formative and summative assessment that match learning
objectives and lead to mastery.

One way I designed the formative and summative assessments to match

the objective and to provide the opportunity for students to master the
content was by creating multiple ways students demonstrated their
understanding of how to find a fractional part of a whole number. I
included various problem solving skills as well as discussion/justification
skills with using a turn and talk question. The summative assessment of
the ticket out the door question was aligned with the objective of the
lesson based on the students solving the product of 7 and and justifying
their answer of how they know the product of a fraction and a whole
number will be less than the whole number itself.

c. Uses a variety of assessment tools to monitor student progress, achievement and

learning gains.

One way I used a variety of assessment tools to monitor student progress

was by using different style questions on the technology tool Nearpod. I

gave the students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge through

multiple choice questions, short answer response questions and by a quiz
given at the end of the lesson. The assessment tool that allowed me to
monitor student achievement and learning gains was by using a short
response question asking, What did you learn in todays lesson? Using
this assessment allowed me to analyze what new information from the
lesson truly made an impact on each individual student.
d. Modifies assessments and testing conditions to accommodate learning styles and
varying levels of knowledge.

One way I modified assessments and testing conditions to meet the needs
of my individual students was by giving each student a learning interest
survey and analyzing the results. After analyzing the results I
accommodated the needs of my students by either creating a quiet
environment when testing, by allowing the students to pick somewhere in
the room they can sit separately from the rest of the class so they can
concentrate, I allowed students as much time as they needed in order to
completely finish the assessment and I allowed students to work on the
floor if that was the learning style they preferred.

e. Shares the importance and outcomes of student assessment data with the student
and the students parent/caregiver(s).

One way I shared the importance and outcomes of student assessment data
with the student and the students parent/caregiver was by using a line
graph that displayed the students assessment scores over a period of time.
This tool allowed the student and the students parent/caregiver to
compare the students assessment scores for quizzes versus tests as well as
documented the progress the student made over the school year. This data
was presented to the student and the students parent/caregiver during
teacher-parent conferences throughout the school year.

f. Applies technology to organize and integrate assessment information.

One way I applied technology to organize and integrate assessment

information was by using a pie chart on the technology tool known as
Nearpod. After my students answered a formative assessment multiple
choice question they each received immediate feedback on their answer
and the score as a whole group was graphed into a pie chart. This pie chart
was very helpful for the students as well as for me because it provided the
opportunity to either bring back the class and review certain concepts of a
specific question or build the confidence of the students knowing a high
percentage of a question was answered accurately.