InTASC Standard 7 Narrative
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InTASC Standard 7 |
Course Prefix and Title (electronic links to syllabi) |
Assessment (from among those listed under Section IV: Evidence of Meeting the Standard) |
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Standard #7 Planning for Instruction: The program prepares teacher candidates to plan instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross‐disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context. |
EDUC 283 - Understanding Cultural Diversity EDUC-350 /351- Practicum and Classroom Management Methods Courses in Content Areas EDUC 480/490- Student Teaching |
InTASC 7 - Student Teaching Data InTASC 7 - Exit Survey Data InTASC 7 - Completer Survey InTASC 7 - Employer Survey InTASC 7 - Disposition Data EDUC 283- Lesson Plan Analysis EDUC 350/351- Methods Planning data TLC Data |
Planning for instruction is one of four major elements in the EPP's conceptual framework (Planning, Implementing, Evaluating, and Reflecting) that all VCSU teacher candidates are expected to master. The data tagged to InTASC Standard 7 are gathered from student teacher evaluations, Teaching for Learning Capstone (TLC) units, disposition assessments, and surveys given to exiting seniors, completers in their first year of teaching, and employers. The data gathered from multiple assessments and multiple sources indicates that teacher candidates are well prepared to plan for instruction (Evidence 7.1 InTASC Standard 7 Data).
Cooperating teachers rated 93.9% of teacher candidates at the proficient level or higher for the item Connects lesson goals with school curriculum and state standards in 2019-2020. The mean score rating was the highest it has been at 3.45 on the 4-point scale. Each planning item rated by cooperating teachers were higher in 2019-2020 than in 2017-2018. As part of the EPP's efforts for continuous improvement, the increases in the mean score ratings are encouraging. The mean score ratings for Adjusts instructional plans to meet students' needs rose from 3.33 to 3.40 in 2019-2020 and the scores for "Collaboratively designs instruction" increased from 3.52 to 3.54.
Annual data sharing discussions are held each August with K-12 educators, administrators, and EPP faculty members who viewed the data and had conversations about long term planning. In the Exit Survey and Completer Survey, the data indicated that long range planning could be an area for improving in InTASC Standard 7. Each participant shared feedback in email with the assessment coordinator at the end of the session. The following comments are examples related to long-range planning that emerged from the annual data sharing session in August of 2020. The comments from the annual sessions are shared with faculty.
• "If there is a challenge that I see across the board as I mentor new teachers, it is the difficulty in planning for an entire year - seeing how a daily or weekly goal fits into a large picture. I think this is something that experienced teachers struggle with as well, and I know that most teachers are never asked to create a curriculum map or do scope and sequence work. There are certainly other areas that are more crucial for your students and staff to focus on, so this may not be something that can really be addressed in a teacher preparation course."
• "Preparation for Teaching - students could use more long-range instructional planning (curriculum map for a year)."
• "Make sure all methods classes look at standards and discuss long-range planning."
The hard work completed by methods teachers and teacher candidates is evident in the positive data related to planning across multiple assessments. The data also serve as a reminder for one area of improvement. Methods teachers can allow a little more time or add some extra emphasis to the experiences that teacher candidates have involving long range planning.
Teacher candidates begin learning about considering the diverse needs of learners and how to differentiate instruction in EDUC 240 Educating Exceptional Students and EDUC 283 Understanding Cultural Diversity. Teacher candidates analyze lesson plans in EDUC 283 (Evidence 7.2 Lesson Plan Analysis). Teacher candidates learn to plan assessments that measure the intended learning targets for lessons and units in EDUC 450 Trends in Assessment and Educational Issues.
Methods courses provide additional knowledge and the development of skills to address learner readiness, strengths, weaknesses, interests, and motivators of individual students. Teacher candidates also gain practice in the use of state standards and curriculum in their subject matter. Teacher candidates learn to use a variety of strategies for modifying content, instructional processes, and learning environments in ways to address individual student interests and preferences for learning. Teacher candidates have opportunities to teach to peers and to students in EDUC 350/351 Practicum and Classroom Management (Evidence 7.3 Methods Planning Data).
Methods teachers prepare teacher candidates to plan lessons that align with learning goals and standards. The content specific methods courses (Evidence 7.4 Methods Course Descriptions) that complement the professional education sequences are listed below:
Elementary Level (1st grade through 8th grade licensure) -EDUC 315 Mathematics in the Elementary School, EDUC 320 Social Studies in the Elementary School, EDUC 322 Methods of Language Arts Instruction, EDUC 323 Methods of Reading in the Elementary School, EDUC 355 Science Methods for Elementary Teachers
K-12 Level (K-12 licensure) - ART 390 Art Methods, MUS 403 Choral Methods and Literature, MUS 404 Instrumental Methods and Literature, HPER 490 Methods of Teaching K-12 Physical Education
Secondary Level (5th grade through 12th grade licensure) - BIOL 490 Secondary Science Methods and Techniques, BUSI 490 Methods and Materials for Teaching Business Subjects, ENGL 490 Methods of Teaching English, HIST 490 Methods of Teaching Social Science, HPER 390 Secondary Health Education Methods, MATH 490 Teaching Secondary School Mathematics, STEM ED 411 STEM Curriculum and Methods
The methods course experiences address state curriculum standards and strategies specifically designed for teaching content in the field. Teacher candidates gain experience planning activities, lessons, and units during methods courses (Evidence 7.4.1 STEM ED 411 Technology Education Methods course samples, Evidence 7.4.2 EDUC 355 Science Methods course sample, Evidence 7.4.3 MUS 390 Elementary Music Methods sample).
The culminating application for teacher candidate planning occurs during EDUC 480/490 Student Teaching and specifically during TLC unit. Teacher candidates have many opportunities to plan lessons both independently and in collaboration with their cooperating teacher during their student teaching field experience. Teacher candidates are required to plan a Teaching for Learning Unit (TLC) appropriate for the students in their content area. The expectations for planning the capstone unit are rigorous (Evidence 7.5 TLC Template and Evidence 7.6 TLC evaluation form rubrics). The extensive planning section of the TLC units has become an excellent capstone learning project for teacher candidates (Evidence 7.7 Elementary TLC planning work sample, Evidence 7.8 K12 TLC planning sample, and Evidence 7.9 English Education TLC Unit).
