PORTFOLIO PART 2

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Noah Richer
Vermont Educator Licensure Portfolio
Portfolio Part 2

Introduction
I conducted my field placement in a central Vermont high school. Between my

two placements, I taught to 12 different classes of sophomores who were enrolled in

World History II ; and between the two placements I taught just under 180 students. The

students themselves represented a great diversity among their races and ethnicities and

learning styles. My lesson planning reflected this diversity of race and of learning needs.

My cooperating teachers were both of great help to me. My first cooperating teacher is

relatively new to the field and as such her teaching methods reflect this. My second

cooperating teacher is a seasoned veteran who taught me much on the pedagogy of

our discipline. To reflect on my teaching practices I have selected six students, three

from each of my placements, to collect work samples and analyze progress in my class.

My summarization of the students can be found below. When addressing the students

listed below if I will be using the nonbinary gender term of “they” as I am unsure as to

the gender identity of my students.

Three Students
● Student 1: High School sophomore who loves learning and excels in school.
● Student 2: High School sophomore who does well when effort is put into an
assignment but often loses focus and interest in a classroom setting
● Student 3: High School sophomore who tries hard in class but does not always
perform to the best of their capabilities.

Standard 4: Content Knowledge

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Theme: The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and
structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences
that make the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery
of the content.

Performance Criteria 4.1

Candidates accurately communicate central concepts of the discipline.

Evidence
● Annotated Lesson:
○ https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/annot
ated-lesson?authuser=0​.
● Key events of the French Revolution
○ https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vRr_nFLkB1ukBpj4y4g
R47g3OiA0TqGufo-5lixSy8nvvDzlGkw21jOnTznWUUMu57lRp3_zqWqBD
Sv/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000​.

Scholarly Research
● https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036991?seq=1​.
● https://www.iajiss.org/index.php/iajiss/article/view/405​.

Description
One of the common things that you'll hear associated with a social studies class

is the complaints of students who feel that they, “do not understand what is going on

because history sucks.” It has been my experience that this feeling largely relates to a

failure made by the educator to clearly communicate the central concepts of the

discipline whether it be information or assignments. Throughout my placements I have

found that once time is taken to properly communicate the central concepts assigned

with a unit, it leads to the goals of the unit being fully understood; and in some cases

leave a lasting impact. There is a major change in the involvement level of the students

when they can not only clearly understand the content, but see how it links to and
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impacts life today. Being teenagers, the here and now has a great deal more appeal to

learn about, so showing connectivity of events now and then opens up interest and

increases participation.

Analysis
In his article, “Closing the Distance Between Authentic History Pedagogy and

Everyday Classroom Practice,” Wilson Warren relays the difficulty that teachers face

when displaying the central concepts of their discipline. In his article, Wilson specifically

addresses the issues that U.S. history teachers face as they feel that they can’t afford to

go into great depth in any particular lesson as they only have one year to teach the

whole of American history. So, these teachers forgo the use of resources like primary

sources and artifacts and just teach out of their textbooks to prepare for exams. They

felt that the use of these sources was at best a way to polish up something: “As the

teachers reminded us not only in their evaluations, but generally everyday at some point

in the institute sessions, much of how they see their task in their high school settings is

covering t​ he entire time span of United States history. They feel they must do this in

order to help students deal with topics that might appear on the state's social studies

assessment. Instead, they should of see our emphasis on the use of documents and

artifacts as central to understanding what history is, many of the teachers saw our focus

on artifacts and documents as a sort of window dressing that might occasionally be

dropped into a lecture to help illustrate a more general point” (Warren, pg. 53). I myself

faced this issue towards the end of my first placement with preparation for our second

exam.
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The second unit that we were tackling was based around the French Revolution.

Around the mid point of this unit my first cooperating teacher unfortunately suffered an

injury and was going to be out for the foreseeable future. Having not much time to plan

and get acquainted with the course material I had to come up with some lessons

quicker than I would have liked. Overall, five of the six classes that I was teaching felt

that as we progressed into the unit they were able to leave class each day

accomplishing the goals of the lesson. One class in particular however, felt that they

were quite behind on certain aspects of the unit; mainly some of the key events of the

French Revolution. The class was at the end of the day and many of the students were

athletes who played fall sports. So, at least a few days a week they would not be in

class as they had to leave school early to leave for games. At the end of the unit I had

to switch placements due to the fact that I had no mentor teacher. A long term substitute

was found but she had no experience with the source material and would be taking over

for me right around the time that the exam was to be assigned for this unit. So, I knew

that with the time that I had left I would draft a presentation that would clear up all

issues so that when the exam came around the students would be prepared.

I created a presentation that addressed the 5 key events (concepts) that the

students were having the hardest time with. The presentation was a mix of things as for

some we had a traditional lecture format, while we also analyzed paintings, and quotes

that addressed the aspects of the events that the students were having the hardest

grasping. The presentation to which I just addressed can be found ​here​. I created no

guided notes for this presentation as I instructed the students to take notes on the
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events that they had the greatest difficulty understanding. So, as we progressed through

the lesson it was very evident to me that students were actively taking notes. The event

that the class had the hardest time grasping was the Thermidorian reaction. I knew that

if I just presented the student with the information of the event they would not remember

it is as they would just be regurgitating the facts for the exam. To help them understand

the significance of the event I found a quote from Maximilien Robespierre where he

justifies enforcing the great terror. The Thermidorian Reaction was the response to the

Great Terror that ultimately ended with Robespierre’s death. As a class we read through

the quote and then began to break it down into segments to dissect it and then analyze

it. As we progressed through the quote the students were taking notes and we had

discussions on what we saw. In the end, when reflecting on the presentation, the

consensus from the class was that the students finally felt that they understood why the

five events that we discussed were key parts of the French Revolution. They now felt

that the central concepts of the unit had been communicated accurately. The

presentation to which I just addressed can be found ​here​. Using the primary sources of

paintings and Robespierre’s quote provided the students with a deeper understanding

of the central concepts of the discipline that more properly prepared them for their

exams.

Reflection
Education is a very collaborative field with a rich and diverse pool of models from

which to examine the same question. By looking into the work of other teachers and

even other nations, it is possible to blend styles and look for best practices when
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teaching content that seems to lend itself to helping students see connections both local

and globally. In the Journal of International Social Studies, Iftikhar Ahmad of Long

Island University writes Using Social Science Inquiry for Explaining Major Events in

Global History: The Disintegration of the Soviet Union as a Case Study (2013) that

studying the breaking up of a superpower is not only critical, but a thematic approach

that offers students and learners a lens through which to look at history. Ahmad

explained,” Why should one study the disintegration of the Soviet state? Why is this a

worthwhile research project? This is important because, first of all, this political

phenomenon has direct implications for the 300 million peoples of Eurasia. This

historical change continues to influence the social, political, and economic aspects of

many people around the world. The international implications of this phenomenon alone

warrants researching this subject. It is thus necessary to look for the independent

variable(s) causing the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the disintegration being the

dependent variable.” (2013,p.117)

Utilizing key vocabulary and concepts including social science, inquiry, history,

revolution, case study, hypothesis, Ahmad turns the student into a history detective and

provides scaffolding learning with guiding questions, Venn diagrams and both individual

and group research as a way for the young historians to develop understanding, come

up with a hypothesis, and then use research based evidence to take a stand on their

perspective of the issue. While this process takes a long time to put into place and has

many steps to have students experience success, it takes the process of being a history

student into the world of being a sleuth and piecing together the possible answers to
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historical questions. It allows them to see common themes and events present in

multiple cultures and to then examine how that impacts the present.While my time with

the first student teaching placement did not give me the necessary time to develop this

model, it showed me that all content depends on a base level of understanding and

checking student understanding using a variety of sources of data is critical. Moving

forward, I saw many different possibilities to use this inquiry approach to concepts and

events where students are required to demonstrate understanding through both

formative and summative assessments.

Standard 5: Application of Content

Theme: The teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing
perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative
problem solving related to authentic local and global issues.

Performance Criteria 5.1

Candidates engage learners in applying perspectives from varied disciplines in
authentic contexts (such as local and global issues).

Evidence
● Student 2’s Individual Newspaper Article Assignment
○ https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSh_swAp9sL296JEVO-k
A5y2BKb8TAbDrcQtAjeFyuuxghHlZdWY34NPXMsz6nua1d9VtE6nViugM
5O/pub​.
● Unit Plan (with lessons attached)
○ https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRqhEA9nRY0kVsG8nBF
WYH8iHLOa5M3ZpEZolMpEzDtnW7nrN2_0jSMV7mgFZ1cModi-fnNBEN
xYLAv/pub​.
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Scholarly Research
● https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=440810017661103;res=IE
LHSS;type=pdf​.
● http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/99397291/examining-global-glocal-aw
areness-knowledge-competency​.

Description
When teaching 10th graders it can be hard to get them to apply perspectives

from varied disciplines in such matters as global issues. They are in stages of their lives

where their top priority is usually focusing on their own views and how the issue relates

to them. Despite this, as an educator it is my responsibility to bridge the gap between

student’s self interest and global issues. When taking on this endeavor, the hard thing to

figure out is just how to bridge the gap. On top of self interest many students feel that

history is a boring subject due to dates and important figures being rammed down their

throats. So as a history teacher, how do I overcome student self interest and a lack of

interest in my discipline? I propose that we begin to present history as a cultural study

rather than an examination of dates and figures. History as a cultural study is a much

more exciting and enticing option for students as they have some real world context to

study and information is presented in such a way that it seems like it is happening in

real time as opposed to two-hundred years ago.

Analysis

Teaching social studies, mainly the historical aspect, is a tall task nowadays as it

seems now more than ever that there is a large push back against this age old

discipline due to the “boringness” of it as all students learn about is the “useless dates
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and people.” So if history is truly as boring as students make it seem how can we as

educators spice things up? I propose that we change how we teach history. It needs to

stop being presented as things like dates and battles and instead needs to be presented

as a cultural study that examines both global and local issues. Author Nathalie B.

Milman feels the same in her article, “Examining Global and Glocal Awareness,

Knowledge, and Competency.” Throughout this article Milman provides the reader with

information that is useful for educators like myself who wish to portray history as a

cultural study. She does so with her theory of glocalization: “Glocalization generaly

combines ideas associated with globalization with local issues and concerns… The

concept of glocalization, or having a global mindset, recognizes there are often many

issues and concerns that should be considered and often addressed with one’s

“home”... and not just abroad. Championing global awareness or even competency

shows that one recognizes the importance of one’s locality in light of the world around

them” (Milman, pg. 4). Her theory of glocalization is a tool that could potentially save

social studies as it is a quickly diminishing field of study in today’s field of education.

Throughout my unit I encouraged my students to explore global issues when

studying our course material as the Industrial Revolution shaped the current society that

we all live in and the history of imperialism directly affects our country’s foreign

relationships with some countries. This can engage learners in applying perspectives

from varied disciplines in authentic contexts in such matters as local and global issues

can be seen in my unit plan; which can be located ​here​. What I really wished to

accomplish with this unit is to combat the stereotypes that are associated with Africa
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and provide my students with factual history as to what the true state of the continent is

and to see the rich history that it provides to the world.

By examining the true state of the continent we can begin to examine the global

issues that are prevalent which in turn affect some aspect of the local issues that our

students face outside of school. In the unit we combat the stereotypes associated with

Africa and discuss how these stereotypes affect the way that we learn about the

subject. Reflecting on my unit, I feel that the day where the most productive learning

occurred was the 3rd day where we studied Africa before Imperialism. Students were

presented with a history of Africa that they had not ever seen. We saw Africa as a

powerful place full of powerful empires and strong nations who ,for over 400 years, were

able to hold European Invaders to the coasts. The students “met” Mansa Musa who

they learned is one of the richest people in global history. This new information provided

my classes with a spark that turned into a brushfire of interest in African history and

culture. To put more focus on global issues as part of their Imperialism Research

Project students were tasked with finding two newspaper articles discussing either a

success of problem that their picked country is currently dealing with. To provide the

students with different perspectives there was a stipulation that one of the articles had

to be from an African news source like Al Jazeera. Some students provided weak

responses with the assignment as they did not appreciate having to take the extra time

to look from a source from Africa. Some however, like Student 2, had their interests

peaked with the assignment and took great care in drafting an appropriate and

thoughtful summarization of the article and provided some insight into how the problems
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negatively impacted their country; especially for future generations. Student 2’s

Individual Newspaper Response can be found ​here​.

Reflection
Throughout the generations of my family, to some degree, there has been one

key concept that has driven all who have bared the Richer name; history. Whether it be

the history of the United States, mathematics, nursing, or comic books we all immerse

ourselves in one aspect of history and become infatuated with it. For my father and I,

our infatuation lies with the history of the United States. It was my father who spurred

my love of history by describing events to me as story as opposed to what you receive

in some classrooms as dates and people. The first “historical” event that I remember my

father telling me was the 20th Maine’s Defense of Little Big Top at the Battle of

Gettysburg. He told of the hero Joshua Chamberlain and his men who drove back, “the

oppressive and mean looking graycoats (this is the term that I gave to Confederates as

the color gray was a key aspect of their attire)”. He had told it in such a way that I

thought he was making it up on the spot. I was captivated by this story and needed

more. Eventually, I had found out that Gettysburg had been made into a film and

watched it with my father. At the conclusion of the film, I told him that I was upset that

someone had stolen his story and made a movie out of it. He gave a big chuckle and

then pointed to the VHS sleeve and pointed out the words in bold, “BASED ON A TRUE

STORY.” It was here that my father told me that he did not create the story and then

proceeded to introduce me to the field of history. I was blown away that films like this
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and others that I watched were based on actual events. I began to immerse myself

deeper and deeper into the pockets of what is now my discipline.

Telling history as a story bridges the gap between those who truly love the

subject and those who are only involved with it because, in some capacity, they are

required to. In her article, “Storytelling in the History Classroom,” Dr. Kerry Ang

describes the benefits that teaching history like a story can bring to a classroom: “Using

stories in your history teaching helps student learning. Instead of your students losing

focus in class, a well-told story can keep them on task, following the narrative, eager to

discover what happens next and how the story will end. Stories can assist the learning

of talking, thinking, questioning, reading, and writing” (Ang, pg. 74). I tried to implement

this strategy in my solo unit and I can say that to some degree it does work! I think

storytelling is a skill that one develops over time. My father for instance, had me at the

age of 32. That means he had roughly say 27 years before I came into this world to

work on his storytelling abilities; which had a great impact on my life. If we were to fast

forward 27 years into my teaching careers I imagine my storytelling abilities will have

been more fine tuned and you would hear about one of Mr. Richer’s “Historycal”

classes.
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Standard 6: Assessment

Theme: The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to

engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide
the teacher’s and learner’s decision making.

Performance Criteria 6.1

Candidates implement multiple methods of assessment to monitor learner progress to
inform instructional practice.

Evidence
● Exit Ticket
○ https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/exit-ti
cket​.
● Industrial Revolution Rap or Poem Submission
○ https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/indus
trial-revolution-rap-or-poem-submission?authuser=0​.
● Student 2 Industrial Revolution Article Questions
○ https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/indus
trial-revolution-article-questions​.
● Quick Check: Stand & Deliver
○ https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vTVDkYWv21qMIkt55cj
dYVyAfbfA_t5HKzG0KC4gBG41C73BmlrdURmn0Lv7xgDwvQWLzI7tO3d
cdsR/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&slide=id.g6ae2045983_
1_0​.
● Student 3 Imperialism Research Project
○ https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/stude
nt-3s-group-imperialism-research-project​.
● Student 1 Unit Exam
○ https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/stude
nt-1-exam​.

Scholarly Research
● http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb03/vol60/num05/How
-Classroom-Assessments-Improve-Learning.aspx/​.
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Description
In education today, as there has been for decades, there are two forms of

assessment that educators use to evaluate their students' learning. These respectively

are formative assessments and summative assessments. Formative assessments serve

the purpose of checking our students progress with the lesson materials as we go

through the unit. Someone who has been very helpful in my educational experience

calls this “dipsticking.” With these formative assessments you are checking for student

attentiveness as well as the accomplishment of the lesson’s learning targets. There is

usually not a lot of student choice present as the educator is looking for specific things

to be recalled and discussed. Summative assessments serve the purpose of evaluating

student learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement throughout the course of

an allotted time. It is within summative assessments where we see student choice,

which is a key concept of UDL theory, come into play. It is crucial with summative

assessments that the element of student choice be present as it not only draws

students in, but provides them with an avenue down which they can show the educator

that they understand the lesson materials and unit objectives in their own unique ways.

In his article, “How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning,” Thomas Guskey

examines the importance that assessments play in the education experience of

students. Guskey explains the importance for educators to have some form of training

when it comes to creating assessments as creations and assessments from textbooks

can be detrimental to the students learning progress: “​Despite the importance of

assessments in education today, few teachers receive much formal training in

assessment design or analysis. A recent survey showed, for example, that fewer than
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half the states require competence in assessment for licensure as a teacher… Lacking

specific training, teachers rely heavily on the assessments offered by the publisher of

their textbooks or instructional materials. When no suitable assessments are available,

teachers construct their own in a haphazard fashion, with questions and essay prompts

similar to the ones that their teachers used. They treat assessments as evaluation

devices to administer when instructional activities are completed and to use primarily for

assigning students' grades” (Guskey, pg. 1). This became relevant in my own student

teaching experience as I found myself crafting assessments as the ones that my second

mentor teacher had did not really reflect the learning goals that created for this unit.

After reading this article I questioned my own craftsmanship and whether the

assessments that I came up with were sufficient in accomplishing the learning targets

that I set for this unit. On a closing thought, Guskey provides educators with an insight

into the impact that well crafted assessments can have on students' learning progress:

“Classroom assessments that serve as meaningful sources of information don't surprise

students. Instead, these assessments reflect the concepts and skills that the teacher

emphasized in class, along with the teacher's clear criteria for judging students'

performance. These concepts, skills, and criteria align with the teacher's instructional

activities and, ideally, with state or district standards. Students see these assessments

as fair measures of important learning goals. Teachers facilitate learning by providing

students with important feedback on their learning progress and by helping them identify

learning problems” (Guskey, pg. 2).

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Analysis
As stated in the description of this standard there are two main forms of

assessment in education; formative and summative. In my solo unit I implemented both

of these into my teaching experience. Formative Assessments took the form of things

like Exit Tickets and in class activities like Quick Check: Stand & Deliver. I used two exit

tickets in my unit with one being assigned during the Industrial Revolution part of the

unit and the other being assigned during the Imperialism part of the unit. An example of

the exit ticket used during the Imperialism portion of my unit can be found ​here​. I used

these formative assessments to gauge lesson comprehension among my students. The

results were usually varied. The particular exit ticket that is on display in this section

was very well done. Based on the student’s response to the prompt I could tell the

student was attentive throughout the course of the lesson and comprehended the

information that was discussed. The exit tickets that I created served as a Habits of

Work grade which is very similar to a participation grade in state’s that don’t use

proficiencies.

Quick Check: Stand and Deliver is not a graded piece. Instead, it calls upon

students recollection of information discussed in the lesson and provides them a small

amount of physical exercise. With this assessment three true or false statements will be

displayed on the white board at the front of the room. The first statement is then read to

the class. If the students believe the statement to be true they will then stand up; if they

believe it to be false they remain seated. Once this is finished you count up the grand

total of students who believe the statement to be true; but you do not tell them if they

are correct. For the second statement you follow the same process accept the role of
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standing versus sitting is reversed. Those students who believe the statement to be true

sit down and those who believe it to be false stand up. Once again take count of all

those who believe the statement to be true. The third statement has the exact same

process as the first. When all is said and done you walk the students through each of

the statements and explain why they were either right or wrong. This is a quick exercise

that is fun for students as it brings an element of surprise into the mix piquing their

interest. An example of a Quick Check: Stand & Deliver that I used in my unit can be

found ​here​.

The summative assessments that were used in this unit were much more diverse

in manner and most had contained the essential element of student choice. There are 4

summative assessments that will be discussed within this paragraph. Two relating to the

Industrial Revolution and two relating to Imperialism in Africa. The first summative

assessment that I used in my unit was a reading comprehension grade assignment. We

had spent a few days on the Industrial Revolution already at this point and the exit ticket

that I had given out did not produce the most promising results. So, I knew that I had to

come up with something else that would both allow me to gauge what the students

know and provide them with some missing information that for whatever reason I was

not getting across to them. I went onto Newsela and found two articles that worked

perfectly for the concepts that my students were not grasping. As the articles were from

Newsela each article had 5 different reading levels that students could choose from. I

encouraged all of my honors students to read at the maximum level and not take

advantage of the situation.

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For some students however, having the option to select reading levels where the

core concepts of the article would be presented in a clearer fashion was more helpful. In

the end, this assignment worked very well and allowed me to properly gauge what I

needed to fix with my instruction so that my students may accomplish the learning goals

of this unit. Student 2’s industrial revolution article questions submission can be viewed

here​.

The second assignment during the Industrial Revolution was what my students

considered the be the crown jewel of my unit. This summative assessment was the

Industrial Revolution Rap or Poem. Students were tasked with picking from three

categories of possible things to write about and crafting either a rap or poem to

demonstrate that they understand and can demonstrate their topics impact on the

Industrial Revolution and its impact on today’s society. Student choice was a core

concept when I drafted this assignment. For starters, students had the option to work in

groups or on their own. From there they had the option to choose from close to twenty

topics to write about. Lastly, they had the option to choose to draft their work into a rap

or poem. There were requirements for each however. If students submitted a poem it

had to be at least 13 lines with no rhyme scheme. If students submitted a rap it has

contain at least one chorus and one verse. When their product was finished they had

two options to present their work. They could either read their work in front of the class

or record it and play it for the class as if we were listening to a song. Most students

seemed to like these options but for some coming up with a rap or poem was a daunting

task and then having to speak in front of the class was the cherry on top. So, I
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presented them with the option to present their information to me in an alternative

manner in a one on one meeting. Those students who said that they would prefer taking

this route never turned in any work. The work I received from the other students

however was very good! The best student submission can be found ​here​. On top of

following the structure of the rap or poem student’s would be judged on historical

background included in their submission as well as how they discussed how their topic

affected our society today.

There were a total of three summative assignments given during the Imperialism

section of my solo unit. The two that I will be discussing in this paragraph are the Unit

Exam and the Imperialism Project Based Learning (PBL) Research project. While

exams typically serve as the final assessment in most units I did not feel that an exam

would sufficiently display to me that my students had accomplished the goals of the unit

as it is easy to just prepare for an exam to be done with it. Students cram in studying for

a one hour period and then regurgitate what they remember on the exam and then are

done with it; for many that try to note have interaction with the information that they

learn again. Keeping this in mind, the exam that crafter was not weighted as heavily as

a traditional exam would have been. For honors, the exam was comprised of 10

matching questions, 14 multiple choice, and a selection of three questions to choose

from in a short answer section. For college prep the exam was comprised of 10

matching questions, 10 multiple choice questions, and a selection of three questions to

choose from in a short answer section. At the conclusion of my time in the field no

college prep class had yet taken the exam. For the Honors students however, the exam
PORTFOLIO PART 2
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went fairly well students were able to show me that they could indeed show me that

they learned and understood the information that was presented to them. The average

score on the exams was a 3. Some like Student 1 scored higher with a 3.5. A copy of

Student 1’s exam can be found ​here​.

The assignment that I felt would better help me evaluate my students

comprehension of the unit goals was the Imperialism Project Based Learning (PBL)

Research project. Students were tasked with forming a group and selecting an African

country to study and present their findings on the current status of the country and the

history of imperialism within their selected country. I stressed to my student’s that they

should focus most on the history of Imperialism section of their research as the history

of imperialism within that country is a major shaping factor for the shape of the current

status of the country. On presentation day groups would be turning in four assignments

with them respectively being completed research questions, Individual Newspaper

Article Summaries, their actual presentations, and a properly crafted MLA works cited

page containing the sources of their research and URLs for pictures that were used in

the presentation. The final presentation is where students would be receiving the brunt

of their grade. In their presentation they were tasked with briefly displaying the current

status of the country and going into depth on the history of Imperialism within the

country. An example of Student 3’s group presentation can be found ​here​. While this

project does a nice job displaying information for the students it is not a project that I

would have chosen to use in my classroom. Due to time constraints my mentor teacher

felt it best that we stick with the project that they had crafted. I created my own project
PORTFOLIO PART 2
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that I would have had the class do had this not been the case. It focused more on the

cultural aspects of African countries as opposed to things like economic motives that

Europeans used for the justification of colonizing Africa; which is what was present in

the project that the students did. Overall though, the students enjoyed the project and

seemed to learn a great deal.

Reflection
Reflecting on my unit I feel that it went very well. Students accomplished the

learning goals of the unit and displayed this through very creative and informative

presentations in the form of the Industrial Revolution Rap assignment and Imperialism

PBL project. I would have changed aspects of this unit to cater better to fit my students

learning styles; mainly my tactile learners. I feel that audio and visual learners were very

well represented in my unit with presentations and assignments reflecting their learning

styles. I do not feel however that my tactile learners were properly represented within

my unit. There were aspects of the unit with some assignment like the Industrial

Revolution Rap or Poem where all three of the main learning styles were present as

students visually look up information, auditorily listen to their submission, and create

their presentations in a hands on approach. Tactile learners who were present in my

classes did well with this assignment as it played to their strengths. Besides this

assignment though the closest thing that engaged my tactile learners was the inclusion

of Penelope the Philosophical Pig as the warm up sections of my lessons. For

Penelope’s purpose in my classroom, check out the link to my unit plan located in
PORTFOLIO PART 2
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standard 5. I feel that with perhaps another assignment that strongly catered to tactile

learners would have benefited the unit. The trouble though, is crafting an assignment

that can be done within the four walls of my classroom as we are in the middle of winter.

Looking back on some of the results that I saw with my assignments I could have

better presented some of the information at the start of the Industrial Revolution portion

of my solo unit. My mentor teacher wanted me to use a particular presentation that they

had found that they felt best represented what they wished for their students to know. At

first, I saw no problem with this as it was what the teacher wanted and seemed to

convey much of what I wished for the students to know about the Industrial Revolution.

However upon teaching the presentation, it was way to long and had a lot of

unnecessary details that the students did not need to know. The classes to whom I gave

this presentation seemed to perform worse on assignments like the Industrial

Revolution Article Questions and parts of the Unit Exam. Much of what they were using

in these assignments was the unnecessary information from this presentation that

served as more of a filler than productive information.

After the conclusion of the first day I went home and really cut down the

information within the presentation removing some 20 odd slides so that only the core

information remained. Those classes who saw this presentation performed better on the

aforementioned assignments as the answers they provided contained the essential

information that the question called for. So, if I were presented with a time machine on

the first things that I would do is present all students with the updated presentation as I

feel that it would better represent the goals associated with the unit while also showing
PORTFOLIO PART 2
23
higher student scores. This process has shown me that like the students, teachers are

constantly learning, reflecting, refining and working to improve the learning lessons and

atmosphere for everyone involved.

Standard 7: Planning for Instruction

Performance Criteria 7.2

Candidates plan instruction by drawing upon knowledge of learners to meet rigorous
learning goals.

Evidence
● Reading Scores
https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/class-readin
g-scores​.
● Learning Styles Inventory
https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/learning-styl
es-inventory​.
● Intro Letter:
https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/intro-letter​.
● Talking About Tribe Prompt
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQRqCcb-G2bKMLY9FaH4TJxC
2s3dfjZ3ciA3q2f2ywGzZMn2JQ7UT-L0JQKdWWeA4XBGf2HszMSahA3/pub​.

Scholarly Research
● https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2019.1607743​.

Description
If you have taken the time to read this far into my portfolio then you know that I

switched placements over half way through my fourteen weeks in the field as required

for this class. At first, I was extremely nervous as I would have to face the extremely

difficult task of learning almost 90 new names at the same time that I was going to begin
PORTFOLIO PART 2
24
teaching my solo unit. I was nervous that because I was a new teacher in an already

established classroom my unit would not go as smooth as it would have with my old

class due to a lack of a rapport. It turns out though that my worries, while expected,

were unnecessary. The six new classes that I would be teaching were, in some aspects,

more receptive to learning than my previous placement. The students in my new

placement walked in, just about everyday, and were rip-roaring, eager, and ready to

learn. It was something that I truly cherished about my time in the field. I was lucky

enough that two days before my solo unit began that I had some time to interact with

each of the six classes and sort of get the feel of what my lessons and activities would

be like.

To help craft my activities, I had each of the six classes fill out a learning styles

inventory that would inform the students and myself as to which of the three major

learning styles that students fell into; with the three major learning styles being visual,

audio, and tactile. Within the first 10 minutes of interacting with the students we had

filled out the learning styles inventory and were discussing our results. Overall between

the six classes audio and visual learners were the most prevalent. What I found to be

interesting was that in the three college prep classes (which are the equivalent of

standard social studies classes) there was a higher percentage of tactile learners. With

the Honors classes (which is exactly as it sounds) there was a higher percentage of

audio and visual learners. My lessons had to reflect this as such. An example of a

completed learning styles inventory can be found ​here​.

PORTFOLIO PART 2
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Along with not knowing my new students learning styles, I had no clue as to what

their reading levels were. To make sure that I did not stand on there on the first day of

my unit twiddling my thumbs for an hour I went and spoke with the corresponding

english teacher that my students had. This teacher was very helpful and did such things

for me as showing the reading scores for all six of the classes and, with some specific

students, provided me with an insight as to how I should prepare my classes so as to

not lose their attention. With our College Prep classes they suggested that I try to tailor

in more class discussions as the students get bored with a traditional lecture format.

With the Honors classes that we had they suggested that something like an adapted

lecture format might work well as most of the students are audio and visual learners. I

found this advice to be of great use when drafting up lessons. An example of assessing

class reading scores can be found ​here​. Combining what I knew about the students

learning styles and reading scores allowed me to draft appropriate lessons that I felt

catered to all three of the major learning styles present in any of my classrooms and

allowed for me to have material that represented the appropriate reading level for all of

my students.

Analysis
In their article, “Teachers interacting with students: an important (and potentially

overlooked) domain for academic development during times of impact,” authors Torgny

Roxa and Elizabeth Marquis argue that, “through focusing more on student/teacher

interaction, academic developers will be in a better position to evidence impact as well

as improve the activities we offer to academic teachers” (Roxa & Marquis, pg. 343). I
PORTFOLIO PART 2
26
see this as educators who know their students are in a better position to judge the

impact that there lessons are having on their students which in turn puts them in a

better position to advise their colleagues. I really took this quote to heart and started to

realize that my mentor teachers and their colleagues were advising me just as the quote

suggests. All are seasoned professionals who have developed extensive relationships

with their students, allowing them to better craft instruction that will work effectively for

the class. With knowing this, they then pass edon their knowledge to me which I used to

craft instruction for the same students. Roxa and Marquis also paint a truly powerful

image of how important teachers are to students when it comes to crafting their future:

“Teachers offer potential identities to students. Students assess their future prospects of

becoming part of the in-group they associate with the teacher. Based on this, they make

choices both about what to study and how much they will engage in their studies” (Roxa

& Marquis, pg. 345). This quote, in my opinion, sums up perfectly the importance that is

teachers getting to know their students to craft instruction.

I knew that for my unit to be successful it was of the utmost importance that I get

to know my students as quickly. Along with the learning styles inventory that I

implemented on my first days with the students I crafted an introduction letter

assignment where I told the students a little about myself. In response they had to

answer a few questions that would provide me with an insight as to who they were and

some aspects of their learning experience. For example, Student 3’s Introduction letter

response can be seen ​here​. The two questions that I really utilized here were “What are

three things that you would like me to know about you?” and “What are some of the
PORTFOLIO PART 2
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ways that you learn best?” For the first question Student 3 told me that they play sports.

So everyday, in some regard, I would talk with this student about sports and would

always end the conversation driving it towards the days lesson.

For instance, when discussing the increases in transportation during the

industrial revolution I discussed with the student how basketball players in the 1950’s

and 1960’s would sometimes travel by train on the railroads that were built during the

time of the Industrial Revolution. The student had a peaked interest in the subject

material and would go onto become a more active participant in class. For the second

question, the student provided me with the same information that their learning styles

inventory did; they are a hands on learner who does not do well in a lecture based

classroom. This only hammered home the importance knowing my students so that I

may craft instruction that allows for my learners to meet rigorous learning goals. A

summative assessment that would be of great interest to most of my Honors classes

was the Talking About Tribe prompt. This assignment called for students to respond to a

quote from an article that suggests that Tribal Terminology stop being used in

classrooms when describing Africans and Native Americans as it paints an unrealistic

picture that is rooted in scientific racist theories meant to demean what was seen as

inferior people. What the students were tasked with doing was to craft an argument in a

well constructed paragraph to either support getting rid of tribal terminology in history

classes or keep it using evidence from three sections in the article. From the learning

styles inventory and my introduction letter assignment, I knew that Student 1’s Honors

class was comprised mainly of audio and visual learners who liked a challenge. This
PORTFOLIO PART 2
28
assignment was well liked among the students and I received some truly interesting

responses. Student 1 in particular had a well crafted response; their work can be seen

here​. In the future, I could see myself developing this into an essay assignment as it

could turn up some truly great responses. If I had now knowledge as to who my learners

were I could not have drafted up such assignments as the Talking About Tribe prompt

that piqued the interest and engagement of my students.

Reflection
As an educator what we appreciate more than anything is seeing student

improvement on assignments; this is usually evident by an increase on the grading

scale. In my time student teaching I saw students and rise and fall on the grade scale

for a numerous amount of reasons. For those students who are continually rising you

ask yourself what I can do to keep these grades at a high standing? For those students

who are slipping on the grade scales you have to ask yourself what can I do to get

these grades up? Often, it is as simple as fine tuning one aspect of a lesson or simply

having a longer discussion. In some cases, however, things are outside your control as

to how well a student does on an assignment. Nevertheless, as educators we strive to

improve the grades and academic standings of our students. In terms of the three

students that I speak of in this part of the Portfolio Student 1 had the most success in

sliding up the grade scales as Student 2 and 3 did not submit all assignments. I will

briefly be discussing Student 1’s rise in the grade scale by once again discussing their

Talking About Tribe Prompt and then their Unit Exam. The grade that Student 1

received for their Talking About Tribe response was a three. They did a nice job
PORTFOLIO PART 2
29
addressing the point of the prompt but did not address how the issue addresses their

daily lives that would have been evident in a 4 grade.

After receiving this grade and student came to me and we had a discussion as to

why their grade was only a three. I gave my response stating the exact same reason as

list in the sentence prior. The student acknowledged my point and said that they would

strive to do that in later assignments. When looking at Student 1’s Unit Exam it became

clear that they did in fact take my response to heart. On the exam they received a 3.5

for a final grade as their responses and answers were near perfect; they missed one

question in the multiple choice section of the test. Their short answer response however

is what gave them the extra .5 bump to their grade. For the short answer response

students had the option of three possible questions to address. Student 1 chose to

address the first question which asked “how the industrial revolution help cause

Imperialism?” Their response was very well crafted as they discussed the ways in which

the seeds of industrialization led to advancements in such things as everyday farming

technology. Which in turn led to advancements in transportation like steamships and

railroads. Which in turn allowed for European nations to enforce imperialism around the

world. Their response answered all of the areas that I was looking for and went farther

and beyond. So, because of this their grade was better thus moving up the grade scale

Student 1’s Unit Exam can be found ​here​.

PORTFOLIO PART 2
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Standard 8: Instructional Strategies

Theme: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to

encourage learners to develop a deep understanding of content areas and their
connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.

Performance Criteria 8.1

Candidates use a variety of instructional strategies to make the discipline accessible for
diverse learners

Evidence
● Google classroom:
https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/making-the-
discipline-accessible-for-diverse-learners​.
● Hard Copy:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSAiIwLBn3XF5_vCp3y_iEn5n7
bb4Z5InNszTN3hxhqRq9BypQbKQSxuZqW-Xf30oxIf45PtnJ_EKiu/pub​.
● Visual Schedule:
https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/making-the-
discipline-accessible-for-diverse-learners​.
● Instructional Tool Kit:
Q0vkcFtN--BFgZ-qJlTKw_SjfJpkIOcS0r0xtOga_4BCd3L0AWykybGSZ4IezsXWe
nn7NqirkXUwM/pub​.
● This I Believe Video:
https://sites.google.com/castleton.edu/evidence-for-portfolio-evidenc/this-i-believ
e-video​.

Scholarly Research
● https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/
Connectivism-A-Learning-Theory-for-Todays-Academic-Advising.aspx​.

Description
I am currently teaching in the middle of an evolutionary time in the field of

education. Come July of 2020, I will have been graduated from high school for five

years. In the short time that I have been out of school things are not even remotely

close to being how they were when I was a student. For starters, if you found a teacher
PORTFOLIO PART 2
31
who was adventurous enough they could virtually remove all traces of paper in their

classroom. Nevertheless, I do not see this happening for the foreseeable future so

educators are learning how to balance the paper versus technological resources. A

common sighting at my field placements in my time here at Castleton is what seems to

be the one teacher in every department who is afraid of technology and only uses the

resources that were available to them 20 years ago. For whatever reason they have a

fear of technology and how their students will abuse it to side step their academic

responsibilities. While it is true that some students will always abuse technology in the

classroom it does not take away from the fact that it provides our students with a

valuable resource. One Chromebook, for instance, could provide a single student with

access to five different reading levels for one passage, homework for the whole of the

year, and perhaps a documentary that could provide them with a key piece of

information that they’ve been seeking but haven’t been able to find due to the lack of

appropriate resources in their physical classroom.

It is the job of the educator to figure out how to properly balance out these

instructional strategies so that abuse is minimized. One resource that I see as truly

valuable to educators to help make their discipline accessible for diverse learners,

especially in the 21st century, is the learning theory of connectivism. In his article,

“Connectivism: A Learning Theory for Today’s Academic Advising,” Zack Underwood

explains the importance of that technology has on the learning experience that our

students face in the 21st century. He starts off by saying stating the obvious that when a

student is in a classroom, to some degree, they are learning. He then questions how do
PORTFOLIO PART 2
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educators get the information to stick with students once they leave the classroom and

go on with their day? He calls the knowledge learned in the classroom previous

knowledge and feels that technology could build on that knowledge to make it lasting;

what he calls current. This can be seen in this quote from his article: “Students not only

process previous knowledge, but current knowledge from online articles, their best

friend’s tweet about a profession, or their role model’s Instagram account. Students’

digital feeds are influencing them… Connectivism admits that students can learn from

devices and “decision-making is itself a learning process… This is not a new concept,

but students today have access to more technology, digital devices, and social networks

than ever before” (Underwood, 2016). To conclude, using modern forms of technology

can greatly impact the environment and learning to which our students receive. If an

educator provides students with instructional strategies that make the discipline

accessible to the diverse learners that are in the classroom only good things can

happen.

Analysis
As this criterion demonstrates the variety of instructional strategies that a

candidate uses to make the discipline accessicle for diverse learners, I will discuss the

three main ways that I made my World History 2 class accessible for my students. With

the three main ways being postings to Google Classroom, hard copies of class

materials, and visual schedules displayed on the chalkboard that describes the layout of

each day’s lesson to my students. With all of my classrooms being comprised of audio,

visual, and tactile learners I saw it as very important to have instructional strategies that
PORTFOLIO PART 2
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catered to each of them respectively. Coincidentally, the three Student’s whose work I

use in this part of the portfolio fell into each of the three main learning styles. Student 1

was very much an auditory learner. They preferred to have a collegiate based lecture

format where the instructor talks and they take notes as they go along. Student 2 was

very much a visual learner. If presentations or video clips were not being shown in a

lesson it was very easy to lose the student’s interest and focus. Student 3 was very

much a tactile learner. This particular student preferred to have hard copies of all class

materials whether it be assignments or reading so that they could follow along at their

own pace and make any additions or inferences to the material as they wished.

Having access to class resources on Google Classroom made life easier for all

of my students. There were many days for each student, respectively, where they either

misplaced or forget assignments or reading materials that we would be using on the

next day. With a source like Google Classroom though all a student had to do was grab

a chromebook and they would be able to access all of their missing materials as well as

materials that we would be using in that specific day’s lesson. Student’s 1 and 2 really

utilized Google Classroom and submitted much of their work on the sight. An example

of my postings to Google Classroom can be found ​here​. At the start of each lesson I

gave all of my students hard copies of assignments and class materials that we would

be using throughout the course of the day. This is what I see as the standard educator

instructional strategy. Most of my students utilized hard copies to some degree or

another but it was my tactile learners like Student 3 who really took advantage of this

class instructional strategy. For Student 3 paper copies were like gold. They could not
PORTFOLIO PART 2
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get enough of them. I do not believe that they had access to the internet at home so

hard copies for them, and some of my other students, hard copies would be the only

way that they would be able to access materials outside school. Students 1 and 2 used

paper copies but preferred Google Classroom for accessing materials.In addition to

giving out hard copies to each student at the start of the class period I kept extra hard

copies of assignments located in the back of the room for students to take as they

wished. An example of a hard copy assignment that I gave to students in my unit can be

found ​here​.

When my students walked in each day, the first thing they would do once the bell

rang for classes to begin they would look up at the chalkboard located in the front of the

room to view the visual schedule that I had made which outlined the events of the days

lesson. Having visual schedules served a vital purpose in my classroom as it showed

my students what we would be doing for the day but also served as a redirection tool.

For Student 2, who would often lose interest in class it served as a great redirection

tool. If I saw the student either begin to lose focus or begin to start bothering other

students due to boredom I would say their name and then proceed to ask which step

they were at on the chalkboard. Each step was respectively an event that was outlined

in visual schedule. Student 2 would then proceed to give me an answer and get focused

on work again. As stated before, it really was a vital tool in my instructional toolkit. An

example of a visual schedule that would be displayed at the front of the room for

students to view can be found ​here​.

Reflection
PORTFOLIO PART 2
35
My time student teaching has shown me just how much teachers truly rely on

adaptations in technology to reach as their students. Walking in through the doors of a

school alongside the next generation of students is the next generation of technology

that will aid our students through their academic careers. If they are taught with the

technology that was used to teach the previous generation there will be some learning

taking place but it won’t be what I see as truly meaningful learning. Technology in the

classroom must reflect the technology that the students have outside our walls. With

resources like Google Classroom this can happen. During my time student teaching if I

had taught the student’s with only the technology that I had available to me (hard copies

and at the best a smart board) I would be neglecting a huge population of my students

who need access to other forms of technology to accomplish the learning targets that

have been designed for the class.

During my freshman year at Castleton the first education class that I had the

pleasure to take was Education Inquiries. The final assignment that we had to create for

Education Inquiries was a film where we (the students) had to discuss such things as

who our teaching inspirations were and what teaching philosophies we would most

likely align ourselves with. I watched my This I Believe video in my last day in the field

student teaching as sort of a reflective moment to see how far I’ve come as an educator

and a student in the four and a half years that I’ve been at Castleton. I began to wonder

how the Noah of 2015 would have the discipline of social studies accessible to all

learners. Would he have potentially sought out a site like Google Classroom so that

students could have access to all materials when they weren’t at school? Would he
PORTFOLIO PART 2
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have developed some sort of revolutionary technology that changed the field of

education? The answer to both of these questions is no. The only way that the Noah of

2015 would have thought to make the discipline accessible to all learners is having hard

copies of assignments and class material to handout to students and then proceed to

have extras of the hard copies located in a specific spot in his classrooms for students

to take as they wish. Now, though I, the Noah of 2019, has realized that this is still an

acceptable thing to do as long as it is paired with other things like a Google classroom

so that students can have access to class materials outside of school. If you wish the

see the “masterpiece” that was my This I Believe video it can be found ​here​. The entire

process of working toward my degree and being in the field as shown me what a

critically important and ever changing field education is. However, the bottom line is still

the same. Teachers need to select the best tools to reach their students and help each

of them develop the skill set and interest to become life-long learners.
PORTFOLIO PART 2
37

References

Ahmad, I. (2019). Using Social Science Inquiry for Explaining Major Events in Global
History: The Disintegration of the Soviet Union as a Case Study. ​Journal of International
Social Studies ​, ​9​(1), 111–129 . Retrieved from
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1215067.pdf

Ang, K. (2014). Storytelling in the History Classroom: Why is storytelling such a

powerful tool in history teaching and general classroom practice? ​Agora ​, ​49 ​(2), 73–79.

Cotton, K. (1988). Monitoring Student Learning in the Classroom. ​School Improvement

Research Series​, (4), 1-6.
https://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/monitoring-student-learning.pdf​.

Guskey , T. R. (2003). How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning . ​Educational

Leadership,​ ​60(​ 5), 1–7. Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb03/vol60/num05/How-Classr
oom-Assessments-Improve-Learning.aspx/​.

Milman, N. B. (2011). Examining Global and Glocal Awareness, Knowledge, and

Competency. ​Distance Learning ​, ​11​(4), 1–4.

Roxa , T., & Marquis , E. (2019). Teachers interacting with students: an important (and
potentially overlooked) domain for academic development during times of impact.
International Journal for Academic Development ​, ​24​(4), 342–353. doi:
10.1080/1360144X.2019.1607743

Underwood, Z. (2016, September). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for Today's

Academic Advising. Retrieved March 12, 2019, from
PORTFOLIO PART 2
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https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/Conne
ctivism-A-Learning-Theory-for-Todays-Academic-Advising.aspx

Warren, W. J. (2007). Closing the Distance Between Authentic History Pedagogy and
Everyday Classroom Practice r. ​The History Teacher ​, ​40​(2), 249–254, from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036991?seq=1​.