edTPA – Five Paragraph – Flashcards

Discourse includes the structures of written and oral language, as well as how members of the discipline talk, write, and participate in knowledge construction. Discipline-specific discourse has distinctive features or ways of structuring oral or written language (text structures) that provide useful ways for the content to be communicated.10 In the language arts and literacy, there are structures for composing, interpreting, and comprehending expository, narrative, poetic, journalistic, and graphic print materials as well as video and live presentations. If the language function is to interpret character development, then appropriate language forms could include written essays (with particular ways of citing textual evidence) or pattern sentences such as "The author used (action, dialogue, and/or description) to introduce (main character). One example of (action, dialogue, and/or description) was ____________, which suggested that the character was _______________."

Specific ways that academic language (vocabulary, functions, discourse, syntax) is used by students to participate in learning tasks through reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking to demonstrate their disciplinary understanding.

The content and language focus of the learning task represented by the active verbs within the learning outcomes. Common language functions in the language arts include identifying main ideas and details; analyzing and interpreting characters and plots; arguing a position or point of view; predicting; evaluating or interpreting an author's purpose, message, and use of setting, mood, or tone; comparing ideas within and between texts; and so on.

The set of conventions for organizing symbols, words, and phrases together into structures (e.g., sentences, graphs, tables).

Includes words and phrases that are used within disciplines including: (1) words and phrases with subject-specific meanings that differ from meanings used in everyday life (e.g., table); (2) general academic vocabulary used across disciplines (e.g., compare, analyze, evaluate); and (3) subject-specific words defined for use in the discipline.

Consistently addressing the same/similar learning outcomes for students.

Authentic work completed by you and your students, including lesson plans, copies of instructional and assessment materials, video clips of your teaching, and student work samples. Artifacts are submitted as part of your evidence.

"[R]efer[s] to all those activities undertaken by teachers and by their students . . . that provide information to be used as feedback to modify teaching and learning activities."14 Assessments provide evidence of students' prior knowledge, thinking, or learning in order to evaluate what students understand and how they are thinking. Informal assessments may include, for example, student questions and responses during instruction and teacher observations of students as they work. Formal assessments may include, for example, quizzes, homework assignments, journals, and projects.

personal: Refers to specific background information that students bring to the learning environment. Students may bring interests, knowledge, everyday experiences, family backgrounds, and so on, that a teacher can draw upon to support learning. cultural: Refers to the cultural backgrounds and practices that students bring to the learning environment, such as traditions, languages, worldviews, literature, art, and so on, that a teacher can draw upon to support learning. community: Refers to common backgrounds and experiences that students bring from the community where they live, such as resources, local landmarks, community events and practices, and so on, that a teacher can draw upon to support learning.

A description of the important understandings and core concepts that you want students to develop within the learning segment. The central focus should go beyond a list of facts and skills, align with content standards and learning objectives, and address the subject-specific components in the learning segment. The subject-specific components for elementary literacy include an essential literacy strategy and the associated requisite skills for comprehending or composing text. For example, the central focus for a primary grade literacy learning segment might be summarizing narratives. The learning segment would focus on the essential literacy strategy (summarizing) and requisite skills (e.g., decoding, recalling, sequencing). The central focus for an upper elementary learning segment might be persuasive writing. The learning segment would focus on the essential literacy strategy (using evidence to support an argument) and requisite skills (e.g., writing paragraphs, using correct verb tense, or other conventions). See the Making Good Choices resource for suggestions on selecting your central focus. For example, the subject-specific components for elementary mathematics are: conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and mathematical reasoning/problem-solving skills. A central focus for an intermediate grade mathematics learning segment might be equivalent fractions or equivalencies. The learning segment would focus on conceptual understanding and the associated computational/procedural understandings and reasoning/problem-solving skills.

Submitted as part of each task and, along with artifacts, make up your evidence. The commentaries should be written to explain the rationale behind your teaching decisions and to analyze and reflect on what you have learned about your teaching practice and your students' learning.

Using instructional and motivational strategies that promote students' active involvement in learning tasks that increase their knowledge, skills, and abilities related to specific learning objectives. Engagement in learning contrasts with student participation in learning tasks that are not well designed and/or implemented and do not increase student learning.

Performance indicators or dimensions that are used to assess evidence of student learning. They indicate the qualities by which levels of performance can be differentiated and that anchor judgments about the learner's degree of success on an assessment. Evaluation criteria can be represented in various ways, such as a rubric, a point system for different levels of performance, or rules for awarding full versus partial credit. Evaluation criteria may examine correctness/accuracy, cognitive complexity, sophistication or elaboration of responses, or quality of explanations

Evidence for edTPA consists of artifacts that document how you planned and implemented instruction AND commentaries that explain your plans and what is seen in the videorecording(s) or examine what you learned about your teaching practice and your students' learning. Evidence should demonstrate your ability to design lesson plans with instructional supports that deepen student learning, use knowledge of your students to inform instruction, foster a positive learning environment that promotes student learning, monitor and assess student progress toward learning objectives, and analyze your teaching effectiveness. Your evidence must be submitted electronically using the electronic portfolio management system used by your teacher preparation program.

learning environment: The designed physical and emotional context, established and maintained throughout the learning segment to support a positive and productive learning experience for students.

Student learning outcomes to be achieved by the end of the lesson or learning segment.

A set of 3-5 lessons that build one upon another toward a central focus, with a clearly defined beginning and end. For elementary literacy, the central focus should support students to develop an essential literacy strategy and requisite skills. For elementary mathematics, the central focus should support students to develop conceptual understanding,

Includes activities, discussions, or other modes of participation that engage students to develop, practice, and apply skills and knowledge related to a specific learning goal. Learning tasks may be scaffolded to connect prior knowledge to new knowledge and often include formative assessment. A sample literacy learning task for fifth grade that is focused on writing an essay with an argument structure could be a discussion about a topic about which students have strong opinions (e.g., school uniforms) and draw from their everyday experiences constructing arguments to introduce the features of the genre. Over a unit of instruction, the teacher models various features, while students read and analyze argument text on a variety of topics, and develop their own argument essay. A sample mathematical learning task for fourth graders working with multi-digit numbers could be: Collect the population from 4 neighboring states to compare with our own state. Identify the state with the highest and lowest populations and make a table showing the states' populations in order from highest to lowest populations. Compare the populations of the states by writing statements using .

For literacy, includes confusion about a strategy or skill (e.g., misunderstanding about text purpose and structure, application of a skill, or multiple meaning words). For mathematics, a misconception stems from an erroneous framework about mathematical relationships or concepts, sometimes based on informal generalizations from experience. For example, a student may believe that multiplying two numbers always results in a larger number than either of the numbers being multiplied. This misconception is likely to cause difficulty when learning to multiply fractions.

Includes both quantitative and qualitative consistencies for different groups of students and individuals across the whole class. Quantitative patterns indicate the number of similar correct responses or errors across or within student assessments. Qualitative patterns include descriptions of understandings and/or misunderstandings, partial understandings, and/or attempts at applying a strategy that underlies the quantitative patterns.

Instructional strategies, learning tasks and materials, and other resources deliberately designed to facilitate student learning of the central focus.

Includes students' content knowledge and skills as well as academic experiences developed prior to the learning segment.

A close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well with each other.

A positive feeling of esteem or deference for a person and specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the actual qualities of the one respected. It can also be conduct in accord with a specific ethic of respect. Rude conduct is usually considered to indicate a lack of respect, disrespect, whereas actions that honor somebody or something indicate respect. Note that respectful actions and conduct are culturally defined and may be context dependent

Subject-specific evaluation criteria used to score your performance on edTPA. These rubrics are included in the handbook, following the directions for each task. The descriptors in the five-level rubrics address a wide range of performance, beginning with the knowledge and skills of a novice not ready to teach (Level 1) and extending to the advanced practices of a highly accomplished beginner (Level 5).

Students in your class who may require different strategies or support. These students include, but are not limited to, students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students.

Include transitional spelling or other attempts to use skills or strategies just beyond a student's current level/capability.

Specific knowledge needed for reading and writing, including phonemic/phonological awareness; print concepts; decoding; word analysis; sight-word recognition; and spelling, punctuation, or other language conventions.

An approach selected deliberately by a reader or writer to comprehend or compose text. When students are able to select and use strategies automatically, they have achieved independence in using the strategy to accomplish reading and writing goals. Example strategies for reading include summarizing or retelling, comparing and contrasting firsthand and secondhand accounts of the same event, using evidence to predict, interpreting a character's feelings, or drawing conclusions from informational text. Example strategies for writing include organizing ideas before writing, note taking from informational text to support drafting a topic, using graphic organizers to organize writing, using a rubric to revise a draft, or using quotes as evidence to support an argument.

Support students' literacy development through an explicit understanding that many of the skills that are taught in reading instruction are also beneficial to young writers. Students gain insight on how the processes of reading and writing are interdependent, thereby reinforcing their understanding of the varied purposes of texts, how texts are organized, how to make meaning from text, and how writers develop their craft. Examples of learning tasks that support reading/writing connections include reading or researching informational text to inform an essay; journal writing to make predictions; making personal or text-to-text connections; writing book reviews or alternative endings to stories; or writing in a style that emulates a model.

Literacy skills students will develop and practice while learning a literacy strategy in the learning segment. This is not to be confused with prerequisite skills, which are developed before the learning segment begins.

Summative and formative assessments play an integral part in information gathering about student learning. Summative assessments are given periodically, to determine at a particular point in time what students know and do not know relative to content standards. Examples might include chapter tests, unit tests, or culminating projects. In contrast, formative assessments are incorporated into classroom practice and can provide information needed to adjust teaching and learning as students approach full mastery of content. Examples of formative assessments could include observations, questioning strategies, and self- and peer-assessments.

"Students demonstrate conceptual understanding in mathematics . . . when they recognize, label, and generate examples of concepts; use and interrelate models, diagrams, manipulatives, and varied representations of concepts; identify and apply principles; know and apply facts and definitions; compare, contrast, and integrate related concepts and principles; recognize, interpret, and apply the signs, symbols, and terms used to represent concepts.

The capacity to think logically about the relationships among concepts and situations. Such reasoning is correct and valid, stems from careful consideration of alternatives, and includes knowledge of how to justify the conclusions. . . . One uses it to navigate through the many facts, procedures, concepts, and solution methods and to see that they all fit together in some way, that they make sense.

Conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and reasoning/problem-solving skills. Mathematical competencies (conceptual understanding and procedural fluency) develop through instruction of mathematical topics. Mathematical reasoning provides opportunities for students to develop and express insights about the mathematical competencies that they are developing. Problem solving allows students to draw on the competencies that they are developing to engage in a task for which they do not know the solution.

Includes both quantitative and qualitative consistencies for different groups of students and individuals across the whole class. Quantitative patterns indicate the number of similar correct responses or errors across or within student assessments. Qualitative patterns include descriptions of understandings and/or misunderstandings, partial understandings, and/or attempts at a solution related to a concept or a skill that underlies the quantitative patterns. For example, if the majority of students (quantitative) in a class ordered unit fractions from least to greatest as 1/2, 1/3, 1/14, /5, the students' error shows that they believe that the smaller the denominator, the smaller the fraction and they have a mathematical misunderstanding related to the value of fractional parts (qualitative).

Skills to "engag[e] in a task for which the solution method is not known in advance."

Means to support students to revisit and review a topic with a different set of strategies, representations, and/or focus to develop understandings and/or correct misconceptions.

Manipulatives, models, tools, charts, and/or graphics that are used to deepen students' understanding of mathematics knowledge.