Sal Cusmano

Task, Texts, and Learning Goals Proficiency

Claim
I believe that my lesson on the Cuban Missile Crisis showed proficiency in the Tasks, Texts, and
Learning Goals (TTLG) teaching practice. I believe this because I had a clearly written and
measurable learning goal for my students to accomplish while going over the texts that I chose
for them, I modified the method of instruction and completion of the tasks that went along
with the texts to better suit my students’ needs, I constantly engaged my students’ thinking
while they were completing the tasks and going over the texts, I had a clear launch and
conclusion for my students when going over these tasks and texts, and my adjustments were
beneficial to special populations.

Evidence and Reasoning

Clear Learning Objective
The first way I believe I showed proficiency in my attempts to enact the TTLG teaching practice
would be in the fact that I had a clear learning objective for my students that went along with
the text the students would be reading and the task the students would be completing while
going over the texts. The learning objective I had was:
Examine primary source documents and communiques between Kennedy and Khrushchev and
discuss why the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred and how it was solved. (MI K-12 High School
History Standard 8.1.2 Foreign Policy During the Cold War – compare the causes and
consequences of the American policy of containment including: the direct and/or armed
conflicts with Communism (for example, but not limited to: Berlin, Korea, Cuba).)
This learning objective shows my proficiency in the TTLG teaching practice in a few ways. The
first way is that it is very clearly written in terms of my expectations for what I want my
students to be able to do with the information from this lesson which as to be able to actively
participate in a group discussion about why the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred and how it was
solved by looking at primary source documents from the time period. This was exactly the task I
had my students complete in class. We read 3 Primary Source Documents on the cause of the
Cuban Missile Crisis and the way that it was solved and we discussed my students’
interpretation of the material.
 Modification of Task and Engaging Student Thinking
The next 2 ways I showed proficiency in the practice of TTLG would be in how I modified the
task that went along with the texts and how I engaged my students’ thinking. As you can see on
Page 5 of the 3 Primary Source Documents, the original task for the students was to break into
small groups and read the documents and answer the questions in said small groups. However,
because we as a class had not done much primary source analysis in class to that point, I
decided to make the decision to have us read the documents aloud as a group and answer the
questions in a large group discussion. (Cuban Missile Crisis Lesson 21:11-1:10:00) This
modification was highly beneficial as it helped my students better understand the material
without being completely overwhelmed by it as we had not done much primary source analysis
before this point.
By having the task be a group discussion I was also able to gauge multiple students’
thinking on the fly and course correct where needed and praise and reinforce thinking where
appropriate. An example of this can be seen here where I positively reinforce a student’s
response. (Cuban Missile Crisis 45:46-46:33) The student had gone above and beyond in the
lesson and identified the difference in public and private documents and how that affects what
is said in said documents depending on the audience. I used this answer to both commend the
student for being able to identify it and to explain how the nature of how public a document is
will effect what is said in the document. By doing this I showed proficiency in engaging my
students’ thinking as I was able to acknowledge how they thought about the material and
affirm their thinking and correct their thinking when needed. Another way I engaged student
think was in how I was able to help push my student along when he answered one of the
questions I asked about the documents. (Cuban Missile Crisis Lesson 34:01-34:37) The student
needed a bit of a helping hand when answering the question I asked which was “what was the
deal Khrushchev proposed to Kennedy?” the student correctly identified the first half of the
answer which was that the US would remove their nuclear weapons from Turkey, but needed
me to help push him along to answer that the Soviet Union would remove their weapons from
Cuba in return. By being there to help push my student along and ask him “what would the
Soviet Union do if the US removed their nuclear weapons from Turkey?” I was able to show the
proficiency of TTLG by being there to engage student thinking and help my students when they
were struggling with the material.
Launch and Conclusion of TTLG
The next way I showed proficiency in my practice of TTLG was in how I launched and
ended the TTLG section of my lesson. I believe I showed proficiency in this because I led into the
issuing of the documents by noting that with the missiles in Cuba the United States will grow
very worried and they will eventually make a deal with the Soviet Union to remove the nuclear
weapons from Cuba and that we would read these documents to see how the United States
and the Soviet Union make the deal that removes the weapons from Cuba. (Cuban Missile Crisis
Lesson 21:10-21:34) This shows proficiency because I am clear in my instructions and set up of
what was expected of the students and I had a good lead in to the launch of the documents.
Instead of just throwing the documents at the students to read as a group as they came into
class, I instead had a brief background presentation on the Cuban Missile Crisis to help set the
stage for the task ahead. This shows proficiency because it was a more natural and engaging
launch into the discussion of the documents. I also showed proficiency in my practice of TTLG in
the way that I ended the discussion and led the class to the end of the lesson. I had finished up
my discussion on the deal that the US made with the Soviet Union and how we averted nuclear
war and I used that to lead into a brief formative assessment by asking students to argue who
they thought won the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Cuban Missile Crisis Lesson 1:11:00-end) This was a
great way to wrap up my lesson and TTLG as it wrapped up how the US and the Soviet Union
reached an agreement to avoid war and also asked my students to think about the importance
of the discussion that they had just gone through over the past hour while reading through the
documents and it allowed them to show in writing their understanding of the material.
Modification of Text Benefitted Special Populations
The final way I showed proficiency in this practice was in how my modification of the TTLG was
beneficial to special populations. Like I mentioned above, the original format of this TTLG was
to have the students break into small groups and read the documents and answer the
questions on their own. However, I had changed it to be a group discussion and dissection of
the documents since my students had not done much primary source analysis to this point.
Structuring the TTLG in this manner also had the added benefit of making the material far more
accessible to my students with special needs as it took away a lot of the solo work they would
be expected to do normally and instead offered them more support both from me and from
their classmates when we analyzed the documents and answered the questions. In fact, the co-
teacher for 2 of my classes even told me that this modification was one she would push for
ordinarily and that our special needs students found the alteration very helpful to them.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe I showed great proficiency in my practice of TTLG because I was able to
tie my TTLG to a clear objective rooted in state standards that was appropriate for the time
frame of the lesson, I modified the task in a way that suited my students more generally and my
special needs students more specifically, I engaged student thinking effectively through out the
task and discussion of the texts, and I effectively launched and ended my TTLG.