Vermont Initial Licensure Portfolio

Part 2

Shane Quintana

12/13/19

Content Knowledge and Instructional Practice

Description of Part 2

The second part of the Vermont licensure portfolio focuses on how competent

candidates are in producing rigorous and engaging learning through thoughtful consideration of

one’s curriculum, planning, instructional strategies, and assessment. What is also critical in this

process is reflecting on the implementation of and student responses to lesson plans to

determine its efficacy. Is content accurately being taught, are students being challenged in their

development, are accommodations being made, do assessments demonstrate student learning

and allow for subsequent adjustments, and are there meaningful connections being made to the

curriculum? This requires potential teachers to have a firm grasp on their area of content to

know what is age appropriate to teach students and what teaching methods would best convey

this knowledge; this also helps dictate the types of assessments to use to verify what students

have retained or their level of skill. Teachers must continually be cognizant of the different

students and scenarios they are involved with, which means each situation and class requires a

unique solution. To successfully address each particular circumstance, one has to reflect on

one’s own choice of curriculum, application of strategies, and forms of assessment to establish

how students will receive the most out of their time in the classroom.

The performance criteria I examine in relation to my own practice are 4.1: communicate

central concepts, 5.1: perspectives from varied disciplines, 6.1: multiple methods of

assessment, 7.1: knowledge of content area, and 8.2: applying knowledge in meaningful ways.

My unit plan on John Steinbeck’s The Pearl in addition with my lesson on foreshadowing and

ambiguity exhibit my ability to meet the standards of each of these performance criteria. I was
able to ascertain the key literary elements of The Pearl and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an

Hour” to then teach students through an assortment of different pedagogical techniques so the

content could be accessible to each type of learner. For each lesson, I devised various forms of

formative assessments to gauge student understanding to dictate my own lesson plans and if I

need to revisit certain content. Finally, also in consideration of diverse abilities, I formulated two

summative assessments that both required students to express their learning through analyzing

the text and incorporating the concepts discussed throughout the unit.

Criterion 4.1: Communicate Central Concepts

Description of Evidence and Analysis of Learning

An example of my ability to communicate central concepts of English language arts is

when I taught about metaphors and similes thoroughly in my fourth lesson plan. The students I

worked with had learned about metaphors and similes before, but they only had a superficial

understanding of the concepts. They knew the basic definition that a metaphor and simile are a

comparison of two things through direct language or through the use of “like” and “as.” However,

they did not know why authors use these forms of comparisons and what their purpose is

beyond comparing two things. For my unit, we read The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, as a class,

which contains eloquent metaphors and similes to use as examples for my lesson. I did not

want to lecture students about Steinbeck’s comparisons and give them the information, so I

used an inquiry-based approach in order for students to comprehend the purpose of metaphors

and similes through their own prior knowledge and thinking. The part of the novella I focused on

was when the main character attempts to sell a valuable pearl, but the buyers try to cheat him

into selling it for a pittance. The first simile I presented to the students was when Steinbeck

compares the eyes of a pearl buyer to those of a hawk. I initiated the process by asking

students to start listing their knowledge of or associations with hawks, and I wrote down their

responses on the whiteboard under a “hawk” column. A typical contribution I heard was that

many students perceived hawks as a cool and majestic bird. I agreed with the students’
opinions, but I redirected them to the text and asked them if Steinbeck was using this same

context for his simile. One student noted that Steinbeck describes hawks eyes as “cruel,” which

gives the comparison a malicious tone. So, the students quickly realized that, although hawks

are admirable, Steinbeck is making readers focus on the menacing aspects of hawk eyes. After

a few minutes, the students ran out of ideas before getting to the significance of the simile, so I

moved on to a new metaphor, where the author then compares the pearl buyers to wolves. I got

similar responses from before, where many students admired wolves. Again, I had students look

at the context from the book, which describes the buyers as “circling” wolves. A student gave

the helpful response that wolves will circle their prey when hunting, so the circling aspect had

threatening connotations. As another guiding step, I had students consider why, out of all the

animals Steinbeck could have used, he chose a hawk and wolves, and where these animals are

in the food chain. After realizing that Steinbeck chose apex predators for his comparisons,

students were beginning to recognize that the pearl buyers were figuratively hunting prey, which

was the main character and his pearl. As a final push, I had students go back to the beginning

of the chapter, before the hawk and wolf comparisons, and read a segment that describes how

haggling over the price of a pearl was like a hunt to the buyers. With that, all the pieces came

together for the students, and they deduced that these metaphors and similes were used to

enhance the malevolence of the pearl buyers and the helplessness of the main character in that

situation. As a final test of their comprehension, I asked the students to provide an animal

comparison for the main character in this scene. They came up with a mouse, rabbit, and

squirrel, which showed me their comprehension because they were using prey comparisons to

highlight the figurative idea that the main character was the one being hunted.

Reflection

In reflection of this experience, I believe I had a firm grasp on students’ prior knowledge

in order to know what concepts to teach. Furthermore, I felt that I was able to accurately

educate students about essential concepts within the discipline of English language arts.
However, due to the expansive amount of content that English and literature encompass, the

organization of my lessons seemed slightly isolated and, therefore, sporadic. One day we would

talk about character traits, the next day we would examine metaphors, and then we would jump

to considering the topic of greed. Although Steinbeck’s novella acted as a nice backbone for

these lessons, I still felt like there was a lack of cohesion between these independent ideas

which resulted in less captivating meaning for the students. I determine that these scattered

lessons came from the way I approached my unit. Because I wanted my unit to align with my

mentor teachers syllabus, I chose to teach The Pearl from the course list, and then I selected

concepts drawn from the novella. To avoid this in my future practice, I plan on knowing what

concepts I want to teach first, and then I will decide on a text to teach based on the ideas I want

to convey. Through this new process, the association between content will already be in place

and the text I will choose will merge into and highlight the cohesion of content.

Criterion 5.1: Perspectives from Varied Disciplines

Description of Evidence and Analysis of Learning

The first time I blended the literary content I was teaching with another discipline was in

my first lesson of the unit. The Pearl is a story set in an historical context and another culture, so

I utilized a social studies perspective to make the content more accessible and to stress

prominent aspects of the story. One of the main conflicts in the novella is the tension between

the impoverished main characters and the affluent antagonist. To prepare the students for this

element, I gave a short lecture about European colonization. I made use of students’ prior

knowledge about English settlers and their clashes with Native Americans to highlight the same

antagonism between Spanish settlers and Native Mexicans, which students were quick to

recognize. A useful idea I discussed was how English settlers established large, deforested

cities, and Native Americans lived in tribes outside of these cities; this parallels the setting of

The Pearl, where the main character is a Native Mexican living in an impoverished brush village,

outside of a large, European-established town. To further exemplify the setting of 1920s Mexico,
with the students, I explored the culture of pearl diving. To make a livelihood and support their

families, many Native Mexicans partook in pearl diving and would sell their loot in the larger

towns to wealthy customers. Adding these historical and cultural contexts to The Pearl acted as

scaffolding information for when students began reading so they would have an easier time of

visualizing where the action is taking place and with whom.

Another point in my student teaching experience I used another discipline’s perspective

was during my class discussion on greed. Here, we examined the characters, their

development, and their motivations through a psychological perspective. I first showed students

a TedTalk video called “The science of greed.” The presenter talked about his own personal

research and prior research on how wealth can distort someone's personality, usually in a

negative manner. He demonstrated that people with wealth are more likely to cheat others, act

unethically, and demonstrate lower levels of empathy and compassion. From these findings,

students were asked to make connections to the text by independently writing how certain

characters embodied these negative attributes due to riches. We concluded the class by deeply

analyzing whether the main character was greedy based on the ideas addressed in the video

and also students’ personal beliefs.

Reflection

Connecting literature to other disciplines proved to be helpful in that it grounded the

content in reality for some students. For adolescents, it can be hard to realize the importance of

literature in society and why one should read. By discussing The Pearl in a historical context,

my hope was to engage students who prefer the topic of social studies. I wanted to highlight that

not all literature is irrelevant entertainment. Many authors, like Steinbeck, use writing as a

reflection of societies which allows the reader to either learn about the culture or at least view it

in a novel perspective. My class discussion was also an attempt to make the content more

meaningful. Presenting the students with research about greed and its effects on people

revealed how literature can accurately express human nature. Through this lesson, the students
learned that, even though fictional, characters can still embody the mindset and personalities of

humans, which can teach us a lesson about how we should live our lives. My plan for the future

is to collaborate and coordinate with colleagues about what they are teaching to make a unit in

tandem with theirs. Because literature is an omnipresent part of advanced culture, it can be

used as a tool for greater insight into a specific time period, civilization, or mentality. Creating

something of a multidisciplinary unit will help with scaffolding knowledge and extend student

learning. An example would be the commonly taught topic of the American Revolution. I could

link my own unit to this social studies topic by having students read excerpts of the Declaration

of Independence, or various writings of the founding fathers. Creating units like this would be

beneficial for co-teachers and students alike.

Criterion 6.1: Multiple Means of Assessment

Description of Evidence and Analysis of Learning

Because the cognitive abilities of students is so diverse, one of my goals as a pre-

service teacher was to provide the students with different forms of assessments so all students

had the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the content through a method they

were comfortable with and capable of performing. The main form of formative assessments I

utilized was graphic organizers. The graphic organizer I created for character traits doubled as a

way for students to arrange their interpretations of characters and a way for me to evaluate if

students are drawing proper conclusions based on relevant evidence from the text. I created a

three columned T-chart to cover the three main characters that are introduced. Under each

column, students listed the attributes they found in each character, and on the back, where the

columns continue, they recorded quotes as evidence for each trait. I had this activity and

assessment in place because properly identifying the personalities of the characters is central to

recognizing the themes of the novella. The characteristics that students noted on the sheet

illustrated to me their comprehension of character development or lack of, and if I should devote

more class time to discussing certain elements and actions of a character. The character traits
organizer was also implemented to allow students with lower writing abilities to still express their

apprehension of the characters because I required them to use direct quotes from the text as

evidence instead of having them describe characters and actions in their own words.

Another graphic organizer I employed was a 3-2-1 sheet. I used this form of assessment

for a pivotal chapter in the novella. The sheet contains a 2x3 matrix; the left column has the

numbers three, two, and one in descending order, and the right column is blank for students to

fill out. For this chapter, I asked students to write three important actions that developed the plot

or characters, two things they found personally interesting, and one question they had about the

chapter or overall story. After students turned in their work, I was able to gauge whether the

students were reading and whether they were able to identify the essential aspects of the text,

or whether they were reading at a superficial level. Also, having students write a question they

had about the story gave me direct information about any confusion that I could immediately

address and redress.

The two summative assessments I designed are also examples of my ability to create

multiple means of assessment (Essay Assignment, Creative Writing Assignment). My objective

for the final assignment was to have students exhibit their understanding of The Pearl by writing

about a theme. One summative assessment was a five-paragraph essay elaborating on what

they found to be the major moral lesson of the novella. This was in place for the advanced

learners to practice their ability to identify, analyze, explain, and support a central idea in

thorough detail. It was also a way for them to work on now organizing what was discussed in

previous lessons and their own interpretations into a cohesive paper. The final results not only

highlighted their knowledge of a theme, but also the literary processes authors use to create

themes.

Because my classes had students that struggled with concisely explaining their

thoughts, I wanted to give an alternative means of showing what they learned. Although this

summative assessment was intended for this type of learner, I allowed any student to choose
this assignment. Instead of a five-paragraph essay, I gave the option of doing a creative writing

piece, where students took a theme from The Pearl and created their own short-story based on

this theme. Through this method, students were given the opportunity to demonstrate their

grasp of the content in an imaginative and metaphorical manner instead of a literal one. Another

way this is an alternative presentation of content absorption is that to effectively compose a

clear theme in their short-stories, the students had to use the same literary techniques we

covered in class. So, instead of explicitly articulating these concepts as evidence in a five-

paragraph essay, students could use the concept to show their understanding of its important

elements and its effects on storytelling. The final products of students made great use of

character development, imagery, similes, conflict, resolution, and also covered meaningful

topics such as family, friendship, compassion, morals, and greed.

Reflection

In my future practice, one thing I would incorporate more is exit-tickets as formative

assessments. When I used the character traits organizer and 3-2-1 sheet, I assigned it as

homework, and reviewed their work the next day. This led to me assessing their knowledge a

day after the lesson, and would then have to correct misconceptions or confusion in the

moment, with minimal preparation. By creating exit-tickets, I will have an immediate picture of

where students are with the curriculum and can make the necessary adjustments to my plans

for the next day. In relation to summative writing assessments, I will have students write in a

Google document and have them share it with me. During my time student teaching, I did make

sure to check in with students while they were writing in class, but this strategy only allowed me

to see one stage of their writing process and only meet with as many students as time dictated.

By having my future students write in a Google document and share it with me, I will be

connected to all stages of their writing process and be able to continually make suggestions

until the final draft. In addition, because my comments will be written down and permanently

stored on Google, students will not forget or lose these critical notes. Finally, shared Google
documents also solves the problem of not being able to review all student drafts because of

limited class time; I will be able to observe every students’ work because I will have perpetual

access to it on the internet.

Criterion 7.1: Knowledge of Content Area

Description of Evidence and Analysis of Learning

An example of employing my knowledge of English language arts to meet rigorous

learning goals is the lesson I prepared on the literary devices foreshadowing and ambiguity.

Simply understanding and identifying these concepts can be difficult to begin with. When initially

teaching these ideas through direct-instruction, I tried to make them more accessible by

presenting them through content students had previously covered and mediums students were

most likely to be familiar with. For foreshadowing, I had students consider two short-stories they

had read a few classes before called “The Interlopers” and “Harrison Bergeron.” I illustrated how

these two stories made use of foreshadowing by making subtle hints early in the text about how

the narrative concludes. As extension examples and also forms of engagement, I expressed

how the Disney movies The Incredibles and The Lion King also make great use of

foreshadowing. Not only did students respond well to these examples, but it seemed that they

were effective in instilling comprehension. When moving onto the subject of ambiguity, I

followed the same pattern as before. I gave students a concrete definition of ambiguity followed

by two example sentences and two example videos. The example sentences--“I have never

tasted cake like that before,” and “the chicken is ready to eat”--were a demonstration of how

ambiguity can be expressed through language, and the students were quick to discern the

intentional confusion and lack of clarity. The videos I showed proved to be a little more

challenging for students to understand. The one in particular was the end scene of The

Graduate where the audience is left puzzled about whether the romantically involved main

characters end up happy or with regret. I believe the complication with this scene was that it

relied on students to make inferences based on visual cues instead of verbal cues. Finally to
piece these literary devices together, I had students read Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,”

while considering what I just taught. The succinct and complex language used in the story made

this task a challenge to complete, yet one I knew students would be able to achieve with the

proper time, thinking, and guidance. As part of this guidance--aside from me doing individual

check-ins--I formed five questions for students to focus on while they read, with a focus on

foreshadowing and ambiguity in the text. To further student thinking and incorporate social

elements, students participated in Think-Pair-Share when they had completed their answers,

which proved to be helpful for those that struggled with pinpointing these concepts. As a final

assessment and act of clarification, these pairs shared their talking points to the rest of the

class, and I was able to clarify or extend significant aspects when necessary. By the end of

these activities, students had achieved the rigorous goaI of apprehending foreshadowing and

ambiguity through my implementation of instruction, examples, guiding questions, and

independent analysis.

Reflection

In hindsight, I regard this lesson as one of my better ones. What I found to be successful

was connecting the content to something the students were familiar with. It was a persuasive

way of communicating to students that what was being taught could be used during their

recreational time when watching movies, and that it does not only apply to literature and English

class. This was also effective because, even with students who had not seen the movies, they

acted as crucial forms of engagement by showing these clips and adding a visual element to the

lesson. This was made possible by my knowledge of literature and how it can be presented in a

plethora of mediums. To augment this in the future, I will make a point to learn the specific

books, movies, and television shows students are interested in so I can directly draw from their

preferences. With this lesson, I was gambling whether the students had seen the Disney movies

or not, and I figured before-hand that they would not know The Graduate since it is a movie from
1967. By knowing what my students are interested in, I will not have to guess at what they are

familiar with, and I will be able to assimilate what they enjoy and appreciate into my lessons.

Criterion 8.2: Applying Knowledge in Meaningful Ways

Description of Evidence and Analysis of Learning

The main method I used to apply what I was teaching in a meaningful way was having

students consider the moral lesson of The Pearl in real life. A specific example of this is the

aforementioned class discussion on greed. After our initial discussion about how the information

from the video applied to the characters from the text, we closely examined what it means to be

greedy through the main character. At first, many students were quick to say that he was being

greedy because he was chasing after things that he did not actually need in his life to be

content. So, I had them scrutinize this idea more by considering his motivations. Soon, students

shifted their responses because they realized that the main character was only pursuing a better

life for the sake of his family, which made his commitment justified. The students then compared

the character, his personality, and actions before he found the pearl to after he found the pearl.

Students agreed that the main character’s values changed once he found the pearl; in the

beginning, his family and village were most important to him, but he later turns on his family for

the sake of selling the pearl. Ultimately, the students summarized that striving for a better life for

oneself or family does not constitute greed, only when someone changes their core morals and

acts unethically is it considered greed. I proceeded to ask a few more probing questions for

them evaluate greed in real-life scenarios. They produced mature ideas such as the fact that

being wealthy does not inherently make one greedy, and pursuing a better life, even when one

is already affluent, also does not classify as being greedy. On the other hand, the fact that

someone is poor does not mean they cannot act in a greedy manner. The final consensus was

that greed is a matter of ethics and if one is choosing to ignore the well-being of others for

material gain. My hope from this discussion is that the students will be able to use this moral

lesson as a guide for their future experiences.

 Reflection

Applying content knowledge in meaningful ways will be an important part of my practice.

Each text I choose to teach will have deliberate information or moral lessons that each student

will be able to adopt in their own lives for their development. What I will do in the future that

differs from my time as a pre-service teacher will be to draw on information and lessons on

ethics that students can utilize in their immediate lives. When I taught The Pearl, even though

students were capable of identifying these teachings, it did not create the most traction with

students. This is because of their lack of real world experience, where they personally have not

been involved with situations related to wealth and how it can change the character of a person.

I will make sure to select books or expository writing that convey advice that my students can

use immediately after the lesson. At one point, I asked the students I worked with about topics

that they would like to analyze through literature, and the common answers were friendship,

happiness, anger, and isolation. With these suggestions, I will look for adolescent oriented

books that encompass these ideas, and hopefully provide students with guidance on how to

navigate through social interactions and the emotions associated with it so that they will conduct

themselves in a self-confident and ethical fashion.

Overall Reflection for Part 2

One of the difficult tasks as a teacher is figuring out how to engage students to learn

content that adolescents typically find boring. My strength as a pre-service teacher was my

ability to adapt my lessons so that students would find meaning in their work. Part of the

process that incited these imperative changes was creating formative assessments that not only

determined what students learned, but also what students wanted to discover about the text.

Students could grasp the literary devices I taught, but this did not help them understand the

purpose of the novella. So, the latter portion of my unit was dedicated to having students make

real-life connections and extracting the themes of The Pearl. I have come to understand that the

rigor of education is not having students understand the what of content, but understanding the
why. This is why I will continually make my discipline accessible and meaningful for my students

so that they can comprehend how it will benefit their lives and influence their futures. The only

way I can succeed in this goal is by assessing my own plans to make sure that I use a broad

range of pedagogical approaches so that content can be reached by all types of learners and

students remain engaged in the process.