Herbst 1

Victoria Herbst
Professor Suk
EDUC 230-01 Education Field Experience
Spring 2023
Rationale Statement-Standard # 4

Standard # and Title: Standard # 4: Content Knowledge

The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline (s) he or
she teaches, particularly as they relate to the Common Core Standards and the New Jersey Core
Curriculum Content Standards and creates learning experiences that make these aspects of the discipline
accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content (“New Jersey Professional
Standards for Teachers alignment with InTASC,” 2014, p. #5).

Artifact: Lesson Plan 2

Date of Completion: April 2023
Course Completed in: EDUC 230-1 Education Field Experience

Rationale Statement:
This artifact is a lesson plan for a hypothetical classroom. It uses edTPA as a layout for this lesson
plan. This lesson is for a Kindergarten class. It is designed to be a science lesson about plants. Its focus
being on what a plant needs in order to grow. This artifact includes the standards related to the lesson. It
has information on the three different assessments used to track student understanding and progress.
This artifact connects with standard 4. Under the essential knowledge section, it says “The teacher
understands that literacy skills and processes are applicable in all content areas and helps students to
develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions that enable them to construct meaning and make sense
of the world through reading, writing, listening, speaking and viewing” (“New Jersey Professional
Standards for Teachers alignment with InTASC,” 2014, p. #6). The lesson plan is based on a science lesson
about plant growth. Part of the said lesson is to read a book about plant growth to the students. Even
though this is a science lesson literacy skills are still included and worked upon in this lesson.
I learned a lot as a prospective educator while working on this assignment. I learned how much
thought and planning goes behind a lesson. When creating this artifact I was constantly thinking about
how the lesson will play out in a classroom. I would think about how students will react. If they would be
interested and engaged in the lesson. I even thought about possible answers they could have to the
questions. Creating a lesson plan takes a lot of thought. As a teacher you want the lesson to be
interesting and fun for the students, but you also want to make sure they understand the content being
taught. It takes a lot of planning and thought to make a lesson fun and educational.
I can use this artifact in my professional practice. The artifact is a great lesson plan that I can
possibly use one day in my future classroom. It is a great lesson plan and would just need to be modified
a little bit in order to fit with my future students. It is also a great example of a lesson plan. It can be used
as a template if I am struggling with writing a lesson plan. It can help remind me what needs to be
included in a lesson plan.
 Herbst 2

Reference

New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers Alignment with InTASC. (2014, August 4). Retrieved from
New Jersey State Department of Education:
https://www.state.nj.us/education/profdev/profstand/ProfStandardsforTeachersAlignmentwithI
nTASC.pdf