Domain 3: Instruction
3a. Communicating with Students
3a of the Danielson Framework addresses communicating with students. In order for effective teaching to take place, the teacher must clearly communicate with students the expectations for the assignment. One way I do that is through the directions I give each day. In the pictures attached to this section are various sets of directions and rubrics I give to my students on a daily basis. Each set of directions is given orally with explanation, as well as left on the board or projector for students to refer to as they work. If there is any confusion students only have to raise their hands and I will take whatever time is necessary to help them understand. I fine tune these written directions throughout the day as students bring up important questions or make suggestions.
3c. Engaging Students in Learning
3c of the Danielson Framework addresses engaging students in learning. When using assessments in the classroom, the teacher needs to make sure they are not only measuring learning, but engaging the students themselves. The documents attached to this section are the final products of the Organ Systems unit. Previous to this test, students spent a few days taking notes on ten different organ systems of the human body. Instead of using a "normal" test to gauge what the students had learned, I developed this booklet to allow the students to demonstrate not only the factual knowledge they had gained, but to aslo demonstrate their ability to work with others and research answers they needed. As a group they needed to make a booklet of the systems that gave the function, structures, and a fact about each system. As I circulated around the room I could hear a number of students in different periods commenting on how they remembered so much about the Circulatory System or "Oh yeah! That's the Lymphatic System!"
3e. Demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness
3e of the Danielson Framework addresses demonstrating flexiblity and responsiveness. The best laid plans can fail, so it is highly important a teacher is flexible enough to handle an obstacle to instruction. The documents and links in this section all make up a unit on the first three presidents of the united states. The goal was to create a FakeBook page for one fo the first free presidents that addressed some of the issues they faced through social media such as Facebook statuses. Initially a web based research project, this unit quickly became a paper/notes based assignment. The students began online researching and making a virtual FakeBook, but due to technical difficulties and a shortened amount of time, I had to create a powerpoint to help the students gather the information, as well as implement a backup FakeBook page template I had created just in case. I had to completely change the plan for the lesson in the span of a period and a half, roughly seventy-five minutes.