Teacher-candidates plan and/or adapt curricula that are standards driven so students develop understanding and problem-solving expertise in the content area(s) using reading, written and oral communication, and technology.
Teacher candidates need to have the ability to design lessons that are not only fitted to what the students need to learn but are made to benefited to teach how the students need to learn as well. There are times that we must be able to tailor the given curriculum to fit what we think our students will benefit from because what we are given is just not working. A classroom is not a one size fits all environment so one curriculum straight out of the book might leave some things to be desired.
As evidence of my ability to plan and adapt lessons I have attached a math lesson that I planned and taught in my internship class this last week. This was the first math lesson that I taught in my class and I felt like the students gained a lot from it.
This lesson is a good example of my competency in this area because I took a lesson out of the required curriculum that we use in my classroom and I modified it to ensure that my students were getting the most out of the lesson. I wanted the students to have a good understanding of composing and decomposing numbers so that they can continue to gain a deeper understanding of addition. The biggest change that I made was changing the lesson from a more teacher directed lesson. My students were able to build and take apart the number 7 on their own, where as if I would have read it right out of the curriculum.
After teaching this lesson I think the biggest thing that I learned is that it is okay to try new things. Sometimes they might not work and sometimes they will go even better than expected. This time things happened to go really great. The students had some good discussion about the parts in the number 7 and I felt that for the most part they had a solid grasp on the concept. The most important thing was that I was willing to change the things because I know my students and what they need.
This affected my student learning because I tried to tailor the lesson to their needs mathematically. There are students in my class who were already decomposing ten or more and there are students who are still composing numbers to five so I made sure to give them the opportunity to work at their level while still practicing the targeted skill.
I cannot wait to start planning and teaching more math lessons so that I can hone my skills at modify lessons to make sure my students are learning what they need to be learning in the way that they learn best.
Ms. Jena Machin 