The seventh standard of the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) model for teacher development states that teacher’s instruction must support the various learning needs of all students, including meeting learning goals by understanding how to integrate what is known about content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, pedagogy, as well as the learners and their community. Teachers must also design and implement sequenced learning experiences to ensure rigorous curriculum goals, aligned with content standards, are met by students and adjustments must be made for those with special needs or as circumstances change. Additionally, teachers need to collaborate with others to develop a comprehensive plan for instruction that meet the specific needs of all children.
Utilizing a detailed lesson plan such as the Madeline Hunter format seen to the left helps to ensure learning objectives are clear, concise, relevant, and designed to meet the needs of all learners [7(a),(g),(k)]. I carefully developed this lesson on edible soil layers to help achieve individual students’ goals, capture their interests, and provide evidence of learning through the use of formative assessments [7(b),(d)]. Additionally, there is flexibility embedded within this lesson to provide differentiation of instruction for students performing either above or below grade level, as well as for those with special needs and those who have accommodations in place [7(n),(q)].
Teachers must also understand how to use evidence-based instructional strategies to meet diverse learning goals. Using Bloom’s taxonomy as a framework to drive my instructional planning provides a solid foundation for structuring my lessons in ways that strategically meet the needs of my students and each of these stages are identified and highlighted in all of my lesson plans [7(i),(j),(k)]. Furthermore, the evaluation above, in which I received an exemplary average rating, attests to the efficiency of my instructional planning strategies and execution of lessons that reach the needs of the diverse learners in my classroom [7 (n),(o),(q)].
Collaboration with colleagues, parents, families, and other members of the education community is another critical element of instructional planning that must be utilized as often as possible. I have acquired nearly 200 hours of conferencing with my supervising teacher and other faculty and staff members at Glen Cove Elementary School [7(m),(o)]. The majority of these hours were focused directly or indirectly on enhancing the student experience in the classroom through more effective instructional planning and delivery. Additionally, I worked closely with the school’s reading specialist on a daily basis because we have several special needs students in our classroom that require additional support. In the images above, you can see the reading groups I created for our class, as well as Mrs. Doyle (supervising teacher) and myself planning for instruction for our virtual/hybrid students, our group A students, and group B students. Many additional hours were spent conferencing with parents, observing IEP meetings with our principal and SPED teachers, exploring resources that I consulted our librarian and IT specialists about, and simply getting to know all the people that make Glen Cove function so well.
For a more detailed look into instructional planning, please click on the link below: