Competency Three Narrative--Communicate Knowledge

At this point in teaching there are far more ways to communicate knowledge than there were
in my days as a student. Thanks to technology, teachers have many options at their fingertips
for delivering knowledge. Throughout my work on the Curriculum & Instruction degree we
were challenged to learn some new aspects to digital instruction such as screencasting.
Communicate Effectively in Oral and Written Formats
The screencast tool that I created for EDCI 591, Seminar I, is what I have submitted for demonstrating
my ability to communicate in oral and written formats. Cloud-based storage is a topic that causes many
computer users to feel frightened. I used a screencast to explain and teach students how to organize files
and folders in a Google account. The oral directions were clear, and were visually supported by the use of
the screencast. I was able to utilize the same presentation for helping a struggling colleague learn to
organize her classroom files. I found the tool easy to use and preparing the narration for it ahead of time
really made me focus on clearly articulating the directions.
Effectively Communicate Content from Discipline Through the Design and Delivery of Effective
Teaching/Learning Activities That Integrate Content and Pedagogy
I have elected to use one of the instructional materials I designed for use in my field experience in EDCI
519, Teaching English Language Learners, to show my ability to communicate content through design and
delivery of effective teaching activities that integrate content and pedagogy. In this particular piece, I was
asked to examine two different materials which seek to teach the same thing. I was supposed to evaluate
their comprehensibility against specific criteria. I also looked at how effectively each of the materials used
text and visual support. One material I reviewed was a preprinted page from a first grade math series. The
other was an anchor chart made by a teacher in my building who was attempting to use visual supports to
help her students learn about telling time. My examination and evaluation of the two pieces shows that I
understand what I learned in class about the effective use of visuals and text to convey meaning without
confusing the reader. I wrote about the ways visual information help English Language Learners refine their
explanations and thinking. I have referred back to this assignment often when creating materials for lessons
I use with my students. There is much more of a science to the placement of information on a page than I
ever thought prior to taking this course.
Demonstrate the Ability to Adapt Instruction and Support Services to the Needs of Diverse Learners
The screencast tool from EDCI 591, Seminar I, is also applicable to show my ability to adapt instruction to
the needs of diverse learners. I have my students in my English Language Development program who are
learning to use technology. They often become frustrated if given only oral directions. The use of
screencasting in instruction allowed me to provide support for students who needed the visual information to
assist them in their learning. I have created other screencasts specifically related to storing notes and images
my students have found for use in their classroom research projects.
Demonstrate Ability to Appropriately Assess Learning Outcomes
In EDCI 557, Assessing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners, we were charged with creating
an assessment tool. The tool I created helps me assess my students’ speaking ability with regard to category,
description, and amount of information a student can provide about a topic. Prior to the creation of this tool,
we didn’t feel that we had anything objective to use to progress monitor growth in the speaking domain.
We utilize the Expanding Expression Tool (EET) in my school, but it didn’t really come with an
assessment that yields a score so we can compare student growth over time. The assessment tool I created
allows me to give the assessment several times over the year so I can see which areas are becoming strengths
for my students and which areas I need to focus more on in instruction. The tool is simple, relates directly to
the way we teach, and can be flexible with many topics. Students are asked to give a description of an
object, animal, etc. and their responses are graded against a rubric that includes all of the possible descriptors
we have taught (category, what does it do/what do we do with it, what does it look like, what is it made
of/covered with, what parts does it have, where is it found, what other things do I know about it?) I can
easily explain the score to students in a way that helps them know how to set a goal for what they still need
to practice. The use of the rubric allows for me to give a consistent score each time the assessment is given
regardless of what the student is asked to describe.