Vermont Core Teaching Standards

Standard 7.

The teacher plans 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.

7.2 The teacher plans instruction based on information from formative and summative assessments as well as other sources and systematically adjusts plans to meet each student's learning needs.

Evidence 1:

Introduction to Exceptional Populations. EDU 2110, 2005, Johnson State College, JSC Transcript

Description:

This course is an introduction to mentally, physically, and emotionally challenging conditions and approaches to working with children and young adults with special needs in various settings. This course provides the study of the history, philosophy, and current practices relating to education of children with special needs and assists participants in defining their roles with special needs children.

Analysis/Reflection:

This course discussed the history of special needs education and how the past concepts on present theories, practices, and attitudes have impacted the role of special education. I gained knowledge on ways that I, as a teacher, could identify and describe characteristics of various physical, emotional and intellectual conditions. I learned how to observe, report, and record information about a child’s development to learn if a child had a disability or impairment, as well as identify children that may be gifted or talented.

I am constantly rearranging or adjusting my learning environment, not only for the children that have learning/developmental challenges, but for the younger children in my program as well. Having an emergent curriculum works well with adjusting a plan or schedule to accommodate for a certain child for him/her to learn at their level. Every child deserves to benefit from their learning environment and/or activities that I present to the group. As I have a multi age group nearly every activity or project requires some modification to allow everyone to participate.

7.2

7.2

Evidence 2:

Teaching Strategies Gold Assessment, Form

Description:

Teaching Strategies Gold is a system for assessing children from birth through kindergarten. It is based on 38 researched based objectives that include predictors for school success and are aligned with the state early learning standards. It can be used to support all types of learners, including children with special needs and children with advanced knowledge and skills. TSG assessments range in age from birth to grade 3.

Analysis/Reflection:

Observation and documentation is my primary method to gain the insight I need to learn and support each child's development. Through the assessments and documentation of TSG I am able to document the development of each child to their own specific needs. With this information I am better able to note where a child may need help in areas of concern. This assessment system is a requirement with becoming a 5 STAR program, and for becoming a Prequalified Prekindergarten Education program. I base my curriculum on the information I receive from conducting the TSG assessments. As stated before, my emergent curriculum allows me to adjust my lesson plan or activity to accommodate each child's learning needs.

7.2

7.2

Evidence 3:

A photo of a VELS tracking sheet for a unit of study, Photo

Description:

Photo of a VELS tracking sheet I used for a unit of study "nature", with the activity of a nature walk.

Analysis/Reflection:

When implementing lesson plans and aligning them with the VELS tracking form, I am able to see where I may need to adjust the activity to accommodate different domains of learning. As an emergent curriculum based lesson plan, the children are the ones guiding their own lesson. With the help of the children's interests I am able to provide activities and experiences that are informative, educational, and of interest.