1.

Read the assigned resources (and review the recommended resources) on getting to know
your students' knowledge, needs, and goals.
2. Demonstrate and describe at least two strategies you would use to identify prior
knowledge, specific needs of learners, and appropriate strategies that will allow you as
the teacher to design a lesson that is developmentally and academically appropriate.
3. Make explicit connections to how using these strategies in your lesson would
demonstrate your mastery of TPEs 3.2 and 4.2 and their critical role in teaching.
4. Discuss how these strategies could work with the standards you examined in Week One
and how they could be used as part of your Signature Assignment in Week Four.

Teachers work hard to develop lesson plans for their students; however, every single
class is different. Every child learns differently and comes to us with various learning
experiences. Determining the student’s prior knowledge is where we as teachers always need to
begin a lesson. “Funds of knowledge refers to both experiences outside of the classroom and
applying the knowledge to the classroom in order to scaffold deep understanding of the
curriculum” (Smith, pg. 10). Therefore, before we teach, we must assess what they are bringing
to our classroom. Prior knowledge can be determined through activities like Think-Pair-Share,
K-W-L (Know Wonder Learn) Charts, Write the Room, 1-minute essays, etc.
Think-Pair-Share is probably the most common that all of us have heard of. This strategy is
most common as we are constantly trying to get the students to use academic language with their
peers. Collaborative learning allows students to work together to solve the problem or answer the
questions assigned by the teacher or the reading. This specific strategy allows for students to
think individually about a topic/question, turn to a partner and share what they thought about.
For example, teaching History I planned an entire unit on World War 2. Students would then
need to think about what they know about World War 2, once they are finished they would turn
to their partner which may have jogged their memory of something else they knew, but forgot in
the moment. A few things you will need to keep in mind with this is being sensitive to learners’
needs (reading skills, attentional skills, language skills, etc.) so make your pairs appropriate and
allow students to choose if they share with the whole group or not.
K-W-L is an activity in which you ask the students show what they already know about the
topic you are discussing (the K), what they want to know about that topic (the W), and finally at
the end of teaching the topic it allows them to add what they learned about the topic (the L). I
have personally seen others use various adaptions of this assessment organizer where they have
added an H between the W and the L to shift ownership from the teacher to the students in
asking How they can learn about the topic. I have also seen the acronym called the LINK
Strategy, which is having students List everything they know, Inquire about what you want to
know, Now you take notes on the topic, and finally K for what do you know now. One way we
can use this in History is to discuss the Civil War. The students can discuss who was involved,
they may know there was a lot of deaths, who the president was, that slavery was involved, etc.
They would then list any questions they want to know about the Civil War and finally write
specific things they learned about the Civil War. This is a great strategy for ELL’s as they might
not have the same language understanding about slavery, presidents, or other things as someone
else who has been taught bits of the war in other school years.
Think-Pair-Share and K-W-L charts are only two of many strategies you may use in the
classroom. These strategies can be a form of assessment that may help teachers monitor student
learning and address any gaps or deficiencies they may see. Both strategies allow for teachers to
“organize the curriculum to facilitate student understanding of subject matter” which is stated in
TPE 3.2. Just with any strategy we utilize in the classroom, we need to be able to be flexible to
our students and their needs as they come to us. Teaching is not a one type of student job, we
need to adapt, adjust and encourage all of our students for their success in our classroom.

References:

Smith, Allison, et al. The CalTPA Handbook: Unpacking Equitable Practices in the California
Teaching Performance Assessment. Great River Learning, 2021.