Standard 3

Standard 3     Knowledge of content and integrated curriculum

Educators should know, understand, and use the central concepts and tools of inquiry appropriate to the subject matter and age/grade levels they teach.  They should be able to create meaningful learning experiences that develop children’s understanding of subject matter and increase their skills.  Educators should plan integrated units of curriculum, instruction, and assessment based upon their knowledge of subject matter, curriculum goals, and developmentally appropriate practices among the families, communities, and cultures from which their children come.

Educators have the responsibility of knowing and understanding the concepts and subject matter of what their students should be learning. In order to learn these, teachers should become aware of state, country, and school district standards for learning. Educators must use these standards to help guide them in the planning of lessons and units, to ensure that their students are learning the appropriate material for their grade and age levels. For students to learn to their full potential, educators should plan learning experiences that are meaningful and that will also result in learning. Wiggins and McTighe (2005) outline the process teachers can use for thinking about the outcome first. 

How do we best get everyone equipped? Or we might think of it as building a wise itinerary, using a map: given a destination, what’s the most effective and efficient route? Or we might think of it as planning for coaching, as suggested earlier: What must learners master if they are to effectively perform? What will count as evidence on the field, not merely in drills, that they really get it and are ready to perform with understanding, knowledge, and skill on their own ( p.19).

 The experiences that students have within the classroom should be ones that help them understand the subject matter and that meet curriculum goals. Educators must be aware of the varying cultures, family values, and community beliefs that children bring with them into the classroom. When teachers understand the different aspects of students’ lives, they can prepare lessons and units that are based on standards and curriculum goals, as well as the home lives of the students.

            This standard is important to me as a prospective elementary educator, because I want to create an inclusive environment within my classroom so that all of my students can learn their best. I believe that educators need to adhere to local, state, and national teaching standards, but should also bring the backgrounds of their students into each lesson they teach. When teachers take the time to include aspects of students’ cultures in lessons, the children will learn subject matter and also increase their skills more readily than if the lessons were not made for each child to find a way to understand the concept.

            During my full time student teaching at the Runkle School, I used the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks to guide me in creating lessons for my students. Every time I had an idea for a lesson, I looked on the Framework’s website to see if what I planned on teaching corresponded with the state standards. This was important for me to do, because it is my responsibility as a future educator to make sure that my students are learning concepts that are appropriate for their age and grade level. Artifact 3A is one of the lessons from the science unit that I taught. As seen on the lesson plan, I used the Massachusetts Frameworks to guide me in making my objectives for the lesson as well as the overall learning goal.

            In addition to always using the Massachusetts Frameworks in my lessons, I also aimed to make my lessons as meaningful as possible for my students. When children are able to remember a lesson, it means that they were truly focused and interested. When students are focused, their understanding of the subject matter increases. One of the lessons that my Runkle School students remember the most is when I read the book The Wall to them around Veteran’s Day. We discussed what it meant to be a Veteran, and how it may feel to lose someone that you love during a time of war. I then introduced the writing lesson that I created to celebrate our veterans and active duty servicemen. I explained to my students that we would be writing to six different active duty marines that were currently stationed in Afghanistan. This intrigued my students and they immediately wanted to know more about them and what their jobs were. My students were interested and focused throughout the mini-unit of letter writing. They brainstormed questions and ideas that they would send to the men, and wrote first and second drafts. In addition, they drew the men pictures and included jokes to send to them. By completing this lesson, my students learned how to write a formal letter in drafts, but more importantly they learned about the importance of corresponding with men and women who help protect their country and promote democracy for others. Letter writing is still a great skill to have despite technological advances within the past decade, and my students also found it to be a fun activity. Artifacts 3B are some of the letters that my students wrote to the Marines in Afghanistan.

During my pre-practicum, I learned how to create units from a class that I attended at Wheelock College. In this course, we used the Massachusetts Frameworks and Understanding by Design to create our units. By looking at the frameworks for third graders, my group decided to produce a social studies unit on the major events and geography of Massachusetts, which is labeled as Artifact 3C. Our unit included goals, essential questions, knowledge, skills, and assessments. Although this unit was not implemented in any of our classrooms, it is a unit that I would use in mine if I were teaching third grade in the future. By using the frameworks and Understanding by Design, we were able to create a unit that included developmentally appropriate practices and concepts. Within the unit there were also various activities that addressed the issues of culture, religion, and community relative to the first people that immigrated to Massachusetts.

Through my student teaching and courses at Wheelock, I have learned how to create meaningful lessons and units that include concepts that are age and grade appropriate. I will continue to educate myself about ways to create lessons and units that allow my students to gain skills and knowledge of subject matter. It will be important for me to apply all of the knowledge I have learned throughout my classes here at Wheelock to my actual teaching.  I’m excited to further my education and learn more about different assessments. The experiences my students have within the classroom shape their knowledge and skills; therefore, I aim to continue to create beneficial lessons that enable my students to remember the concepts.

 

References

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005) Understanding by design (2^nd ed.) Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.