Gianna Sicola

Professor Suk

EDUC 230-02 Education Field Experience

Fall 2021

Rationale Statement-Standard #8

Standard 8 Instructional Strategies

The teacher understands and uses 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. (New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers Alignment with InTASC, 2014, p. 10).

Artifact: Observation Discussion – How Demographics Affect Students in the COVID Era

Date of Completion: December 2021

Course Completed in: EDUC 230-02 Education Field Experience

Rationale Statement:

This artifact is an observation during my virtual education field placement. The observation was

a discussion response to questions regarding two interviews regarding the demographics of different

districts during the pandemic. This artifact relates to standard 8.iii.1 “the teacher is committed to

deepening awareness and understanding the strengths and needs of diverse learners when planning and

adjusting instruction” (New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers Alignment with InTASC, 2014, p.
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11). In the artifact I focus on one of the interviews specifically about how it demonstrates the low

socioeconomic levels of families within a district; the teacher being interviewed had to take into account

that majority of families were facing issues that could hinder the students ability to access of virtual

school or the proper resources needed. Though there was nothing directly the teacher could do, they

had to be able to work with all students regardless of the resources they had or the home environment

they were in.

Creating this artifact was a little difficult for me since I personally didn’t struggle as this one

teacher had described some students and families had. Even though I didn’t personally experience

anything like some of these situations, such as not have sufficient internet at home, or secondary

devices, I had to try and put myself in situations to understand how this could affect not only the

student but the teacher. I was able to come to the conclusion that though this can directly affect the

education for the student themselves, it can also put some affects onto the teacher too; since it is the

teachers job to make sure the student is receiving the right education, the teacher may have to take on

more responsibilities to ensure the student and family are able to work together and achieve the best

education their child can have.

This observation is beneficial to me in the future because I can now further understand that

every child is living a different life and that can directly impact their education; I can use this artifact as

an example to help me tend to students of all statuses to make sure they are receiving the same

education they all deserve.

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References

New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers alignment with InTASC. (2014, May 5). The

Official Web Site for The State of New Jersey. Retrieved December 10, 2021, from

https://www.state.nj.us/education/profdev/requirements/standards/docs/ProfStandardsfor

TeachersAlignmentwithInTASC.pdf