Hernandez Mendoza 1

Katie Hernandez Mendoza

Professor Kathy Ferrando
Liberal Studies 1000
09 November 2017

Work In The Field

As us teachers teach, we have to know what Teaching Performance Expectations are,

which are known as TPEs. These are standards that a teacher has to follow to plan each lesson

one wants to teach. The two that we have focused on in class are TPE 3: Understanding and

Organizing Subject Matter for Student Learning and TPE 4: Planning Instruction and Designing

Learning Experiences for All Students. The lesson we saw with Ms. MK, basically followed TPE

3 and TPE 4.

From what I have learned, the TPEs are supposed to help the teacher make sure each

student is learning what they have to learn based on what the teacher is teaching. Based on the

website of the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, “They link to expectations set forth in

California's adopted content standards for students. They require beginning teachers to

demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities to provide safe, healthy, and supportive learning

environments…” Which basically states that the teachers have this plan to follow when they are

planning lessons to make sure that they are meeting California standards. The ones I noticed that

were used in the lesson we saw were TPE 3.2, 3.4, and 3.6, and also TPE 4.4 and many small

points within this section, and 4.7.

In the lesson plan, I noticed that Ms. MK used, 3.2, which states “Use knowledge about

students and learning goals to organize the curriculum to facilitate student understanding of
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subject matter, and make accommodations and/or modifications as needed to promote student

access to the curriculum.” This came part of the lesson plan when there were students in the class

who were English learners. That means Ms. MK had to plan out the lesson based on all her

student's ability. She had some English learners, so to accommodate those students she would

have all the students talk to each other when a question was asked. She did this to make sure

each student was on the same page. Which made each student know what they were talking

about in class. Teacher performance expectation 3.4 says that a teacher should plan each lesson

to engage each student and help have good communication throughout the lessons. The last TPE

I saw in the lesson is probably 3.6. This TPE helps one to use the resources around to teach with

a voice and to make sure the teachers have activities to help each student learn.

I also noticed that TPE 4 was used. TPE 4.4 stood out the most only because it was to

make sure the lesson had the opportunity to support one another which was incorporated by Ms.

MK. There was also TPE 4.7, which means that the lesson had to promote a range of

communication strategies. It also states that students should participate in each lesson. The

participation is key for each classroom lesson. She made sure to call on a different student each

time she asked a question. The reason it’s important to participate is because that’s how the brain

is able to grow and become more intellectual. While observing, I was able to learn that the

teacher has to be very informed about the topic and be able to guide the students within each

lesson. I also noticed that she made sure that each student was on the same page while asking

them questions. The way she made sure they knew what they were doing was by going over the

worksheet as a class and asked if there were any sort of questions.

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To conclude the lesson, Ms. MK lesson was very descriptive. She seemed like she had

everything planned out. Ms. MK seemed that she knew exactly what she was going to say and

made sure she knew what her lessons were going to consist of and which projects. She made sure

the kids used their resources while they filled out worksheets. The kids knew that they had so

much information when they started to use their resources. She made sure each student had a

chance to voice their opinion and knowledge. The way she taught has influenced me to use some

of her strategies, like the worksheet or even just making sure they talk to each other about the

topic and ask them open-ended questions. The open-ended questions lead to even more thinking.

These type of questions lead to a student exploring more or even having a different point of view.

The way the teacher utilized equity was that before the lesson even started, the wellness teacher

would use a special strategy. This strategy consisted of going down the list of names in that class.

If the student did not want to participate, the teacher gave them the chance to skip their turn and

then would go to the next name. I also noticed that the teachers tried to get every student to

participate equally.