MASTERS PORTFOLIO: CONTENT 1

Master’s Portfolio Project: Content

6/2/2020
Brenna Kennicker
University of Alaska Southeast
Beth Hartley
MASTER PORTFOLIO: CONTENT
2

Content Abstract

Candidates demonstrate their ability to plan and design instruction that supports every student in

meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, cross-disciplinary

skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context. The

Candidate demonstrates the understanding and use of a variety of instructional strategies to

encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to

build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.

Content Statement

Attached is a unit I created as part of my student teaching completed in fall of 2018. This

five-lesson unit was on the topic of opinion writing. Normally, the lesson would be designed, and

then materials and resources would be gathered. However, in the case of this unit my student

teaching class was already using Scholastic News as a large part of the ELA curriculum and I

was asked to include that into my unit.

Immediately looking at this unit I can tell my focus was unclear. Was the point to have

students be able to identify opinions, or write their own? I had in essence forgotten a major part

of the backwards design philosophy, identifying the knowledge and skills needed (Wiggins &

McTighe, 2008). I ran into this head-first as the unit began. As we began the writing portion of

the unit, I discovered that many of my students didn’t know how to write a formal academic

paragraph. This meant I was having to throw in supplemental mini lessons on how to format a

paragraph and how to edit. In designing the unit, I had failed to heed the words of philosopher
MASTER PORTFOLIO: CONTENT
3

Sun Tsu, “If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle” (1988).

I hadn’t done any sort of pre-assessment to see where students were at in their writing, and

ultimately the unit struggled as a result.

While students seemed to be engaged with the writing prompts, and did indeed seem to

enjoy the process of writing an opinion paragraph, I could have done more to make the process

collaborative. As I continued to work with this class over the course of the school year, I realized

they were a group of kids who really enjoyed working together. I think engagement could have

been even better had I included some debate style discussions, or allowed more peer interaction

in the writing process. Attached here and here are two examples of final drafts. As you can see,

there is still room to improve in formatting, grammar, and overall writing skill.

If I were to rewrite this unit, I would start off by doing some sort of low-key writing

assessment to see where students are at in regards to their writing ability. With a class like this, I

would be sure to introduce paragraph writing concepts and give ample practice before diving in.

Then, I would shift the focus of the first two lessons from being able to identify opinions and the

information used to form them, and focus more on enhancing student understanding of opinion

texts (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). I realize now, especially with opinion pieces it is not enough to

be able to solely identify the person’s opinion, a reader must also be able to read between the

lines and pull from prior knowledge in order to see where the writer is coming from.

Something else to consider in my rewrite of this unit is how to link this unit to other

learning in the classroom (Rosaen, 1990). Because I was trying to build a unit around a resource,

I felt as though the unit was somehow disconnected from the rest of the subjects. Opinion writing
MASTER PORTFOLIO: CONTENT
4

is a key skill, and bridges many different subjects. Knowing this, I would plan on ways to

connect it to perhaps our science or social studies curriculums.

This lesson was not a complete failure. It got students thinking about their personal

opinions and gave them the opportunity to practice sharing those opinions orally as well as in

writing. The seeds of a good lesson are here but needed a lot more tending.
MASTER PORTFOLIO: CONTENT
5

References

Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007) Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension for
understanding and engagement. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse

Rosaen, C. (1990). Improving writing opportunities in elementary classrooms. The Elementary

School Journal, 90(4), 419-434. Retrieved June 2, 2020, from
www.jstor.org/stable/1001939

Sun-tzu. (1988). The art of war. (T. Cleary, Trans.). Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2008). Understanding by design Alexandria, VA: Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development