Artifact Portfolio

The purpose of this blog is to showcase my artifact portfolio. You can find all of my artifacts on this page, neatly organized in one place.

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Friday, April 4, 2014

Artifact: Math Exit Slips



Every day after the math lesson the students are given a problem to solve on a post-it. They must complete the problem before they can go on to work independently or in groups. The exit slips are organized by math group, which is organized by level. This makes it easy to see if a group is not understanding the lesson. I go over the exit slips and give them a check, check minus or X on the checklist for that lesson. I then pull my small groups from that checklist of students who need reteaching.The artifact attached is math exit slips and checklists from Topic 10: Dividing by 1-digit divisors. This artifact was chosen to fulfill 1f designing student assessments. This artifact shows how students are assessed during each math lesson. It is an effective way to assess students quickly and to catch mistakes.



Thursday, April 3, 2014

Artifact: Arts Connection Video

Along with other teachers we worked on a collaborative video, created as part of the Arts Connection residency. My class was one of the classes that was chosen to participate. The residency focused on incorporating the arts, specifically dance, in classrooms with English language learners. The video was created after weeks of dance classes and a final performance. The video reflects all the work done and the findings of the residency.I chose this artifact to fulfill 4d participating in the professional community and 4e growing and developing professionally, 1a Demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy, 1e Designing coherent instruction, 4a Reflecting on teaching. This artifact shows that I seek opportunities for professional development and cooperate with other teachers. The video also shows how we understand our student’s needs and were able to help students throughout the process. The video in itself is a reflection that we as a group decided upon based on the footage we saw.

Artifact: Lesson Plan Reflection

Attached is a lesson plan reflection. The reflection includes a lesson from October compared to a lesson from January. The lesson from October from writing unit 1: realistic fiction writing. The second lesson is from unit 4: bringing history to life. I chose this artifact to fulfill 1b demonstrating knowledge of students, 1c setting instructional outcomes, 1e designing coherent instruction, and 4a reflecting on teaching. I am reflecting on my teaching and making changes based on those reflections. The plans are revised to reach all students, especially ELL students. This shows I have knowledge of my students.


Artifact: Revised Curriculum Maps

The artifact I am submitting is a revised curriculum map for Reading Unit 4: Learning Through Reading: The American Revolution and Writing Unit 4: Bringing History to Life. These were revised as a grade with cooperation from all 4th grade teachers.This artifact was chosen to fulfill 1a Demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy, 1e Designing coherent instruction, 4a Reflecting on teaching. This artifact shows that teachers understanding of prerequisite relationships among concepts and topics. The plans show a wide range of pedagogical approaches including differentiation for ELLs and at-risk students. Units were reflected upon when being revised. My personal reflection notes are included.

Artifact: ELL Teacher Video

As part of a professional development workshop for new ELL teachers I created a video. The video shows my beginner ELLs using conversation prompts to come up with an inference. There is also footage of Ms. Renda’s class doing a similar task. The objective was to get students talking with partners to help them articulate their ideas.I chose this artifact to fulfill 4d Participating in the Professional Community and 4e Growing and Developing Professionally. The professional development meetings I attended where insightful and encouraged me to try different strategies with my students, including adding talking prompts and allowing students to talk in groups. This artifact shows that I seek opportunities for professional development and cooperate with other teachers.

Click here for the ELL Teacher Video cover sheet
Click here for Talk in the Classroom Video

Artifact: Goal Letters

Every month I write goal letters for my students with information on what the students will be learning that month. There is also individualized feedback for each student with strategies as to how parents can help students. Every goal letter is also translated for Spanish speaking parents.I chose this artifact to fulfill 4c Communicating with Families. This artifact shows that I have had ongoing communication with parents. 

Below are the goal letters from two students, Nataly Cardenas and Ariel Nunez from the months of December, January and February. Nataly is a beginner ELL and Ariel is a former ELL. Each of their goal letters show specific strategies to meet that students needs.

Artifact: Inter-visitation Logs

I visited Mrs. Giunta's classroom to observe her teaching. After observing Mrs. Giunta I took notes and thought of how I could incorporate strategies in my teaching. I chose to submit these inter-visitation logs from 3/5 and 3/19 to fulfill component 4d, Participating in the Professional Community and 4e, Growing and Developing Professionally from the Danielson Framework for Teaching. This artifact shows that I seek opportunities for professional development and cooperate with other teachers.

Click here for the inter-visitation logs cover sheet

Click here for the inter-visitation logs