Specific Instructions for Putting Together Your Teacher Work Sample  

The following outline was derived from thelhandbook “Teacher Work Sample.”available at

http://www5.semo.edu/studentteach/TWS/tws_student_guidelines.pdf  

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Note: Sample TWS sample pages for science will be uploaded shortly

1. Contextual factors

2. Learning goals

3. Assessment plan

4. Design for Instruction

5. Classroom management

6. Instructional Decision Making

7. Analysis of Learning Results

8. Reflection and Self Evaluation

BASIC FORMATTING:

1. This report needs to be in 12 point font, 1 inch margins, and double spaced.  The body of the TWS (elements I-VIII) should not exceed 20 pages.  References, attachments, appendices and credits are not included in these 20 pages.  Use no real student names, likewise, disguise the names of your teacher and the school and district in which you worked.
    

2. Cover Page with:  your name, the date submitted, the grade level taught, subject taught, your university, and the course number and title (The course requiring the TWS)
    

3. Charts and Graphs:  Charts, graphs and assessments are required for the “analysis of learning” element.  These should appear in the analysis and as an appendix.

PARTS OF THE TWS for MIDDLE AND SECONDARY MAJORS

I.       Contextual Factors:  Discuss how relevant factors may affect teaching/learning 1-2 pages

A.     Levels of context – for each identify challenges and supports these present to your instruction.  If a specific fact does not affect instruction and learning, leave that fact out.

1.      community factors= size, general location, # going to college, general wealth level, race/ethnicity, political climate, community support for education, etc.

2.      classroom factors= physical features, technology availability, parental involvement, rules, routines, grouping, scheduling, arrangement of classroom.

3.      student characteristics= age, general level of the students (basic, advanced), special learning issues (details below in C), gender, culture, interests, skills, learning styles, etc.

B.     Instructional implications of these factors for

1.      planning

2.      assessment

C.     Specific factors for at least two characteristics, as well as any other factors that you think will affect the planning and implementation of your unit.

 

II.    Learning Goals 1-2 pages, may include a graphic organizer (table or chart) HINT: Use only 2-4 learning goals!

A.     List the measurable, significant, challenging and appropriate learning goals for your unit, coding them by number

1.      goal 1

2.      goal 2

3.      etc.

B.     Justify your choices of goals

1.      show alignment with Missouri Show Me standards and national standards for science education

2.      describe type and level of learning expected

3.      appropriateness for these students (development, prerequisites knowledge and skills, other needs)

 

III. Assessment Plan 2+ pages, should include table as organizer

A.     Provide an overview of Assessment Plan, as a table . 

1.      Goal being assessed (one column) and when (pre, formative, post) (one column)       

2.      Formats of each assessment (one column)

3.      Adaptations for individual student needs (one column)

B.     Describe your pre and post assessments and how they are aligned to goals

1.      criteria you use to show that students are meeting aligned learning goals

2.      include copies of the assessments themselves  NOTE:  the preassessment and post assessment should each include more than one question for each learning goal.  Each question should address a single learning goal or be able to be broken into sections that can be scored separately and related to different goals.

3.      include scoring guide showing your criteria or describe criteria

C.     Formative assessments (during instruction)

1.      tell the assessment methods you will use to check on student progress during the lesson, while you are teaching and give rationale for your choice of methods (why this method is important to use at the planned time during instruction)

 

IV.  Design for instruction  3+ pages, plus graphic organizer for block plan and chart of preassessment outcomes, by goal.  Individual Lesson Plans for three consecutive lessons from the unit must be in the appendix.

A.     Results of pre-assessment

1.      analyze the pre-assessment relative to learning goals.

a)      include a chart or graph showing patterns of student progress toward EACH goal

2.      tell how this pattern and analysis will guide your instruction or help you modify learning goals

B.     Unit overview

1.      Block plan:  in each block include the following

a)      topic for the day

b)      activity planned for the day

c)      coded goals addressed that day by the activity

d)  Missouri Grade Level expectations addressed by this lesson

C.  Activities.  List  at least 3 activities from your unit that show the following (do for each)

1)      variety of instructional methods

2)      why you are choosing this activity

(a)   how the activity relates to the goals

(b)   how activity stems from preassessment results and contextual factors

(c)   materials and technology required for this activity

(d)   formative and summative assessment plans

D.      Technology:  If none used, tell why.

1.      tell how you used technology in the planning process

2.      tell how you plan to use technology in instruction or to have students use it in learning

E.  Lesson Plans for your unit.  Use the lesson plan format for this course and append the fully developed lessons to the TWS.

V.     Classroom Management for Instruction 3+ pages plus classroom diagrams

A.     Write a management plan that addresses strategies for managing misbehavior, that organizes students for a variety of instructional activities, and that is written to also address

            1.  The importance of content: motivating students to do their best work and to fully participate

1.  Managing transitions

2.    Making expectations clear (co-developed with students and communicated to parents)

3.      Monitoring student behavior using proactive verbal and nonverbal interventions

4.     Detailing consequences for misbehavior, which focus on a varity of strategies

5.      Motivating to reinforce positive behavior, and extinguish negative behaviors such as .

a)      attention-seeking

b)      power-seeking

c)      revenge

d)      avoidance-of-failure

B.     A seating chart for each of the planned learning activities (e.g., for group activities with 3 people)

 

VI.  Instructional Decision Making  3-4 pages

A.     Choose two examples of how you modified instruction twice during the unit because of student learning or responses.

        For EACH instance, use evidence to:

1.      describe the student response that caused you to modify

2.      tell what you thought this response meant and how it informed your actions ( I saw he didn’t get it and realized I would have to give more time to this topic)

3.      tell what you actually did to modify and why

4.  Tell how you think your modification worked out.

 

VII.           Analysis of Student Learning – your reasons for why students did or did not learn  will be in section
             VIII.  Here, you provide the data, its analysis, and conclusion

Expected length:  4+ pages plus a table for student-by-student data on each learning goal and graphic organizers for summaries of whole class and subgroup results.  Samples of student work for part C should be placed in the appendices of the TWS.

A.     Whole class:  Table of every student, pre and post, for every learning goal.

1.      relate whole class data to attainment of each learning goal

2.      use visual representations (e.g. bar graphs of class averages pre and post) as well as narrative to summarize

3.  Do a t test for paired data to see if the differences between the means for the pre and post test data are significant.

B.     Subgroups (one learning goal)

1.      relate data to subgroups, however relate to only ONE learning goal.  Choose subgroups by sex, performance on pre-test, SES, special needs, etc.

2.      use visual representations as well as narrative

3.      tell why this goal is important for these subgroups.

4.   do an appropriate statistical test to see if the performance on the assessments differed from subgroup to subgroup.

C.     Individuals (two learning goals)

1.      choose two students with differing performances on the same two learning goals for each student.  Tell importance of understanding the learning of these two students.  USE STUDENT WORK as basis for drawing conclusions.   Student work should be placed in the appendix.

2.      give your interpretation of why these students learned or not

 

VIII.        Reflection and Self Evaluation:  Link your performance as a teacher in guiding instruction to student learning results

A.     Reflect on your instruction relative to student learning

1.      identify TWO strategies that you think contributed most to student learning - relate to student learning results.

2.      tell why you think they were effective in helping students reach goals of unit

B.     Reflection on improving your own practice as a teacher

1.      identify the TWO greatest barriers to your students’ learning.  These must be things you as a teacher can affect (so, not poverty, lack of parental involvement, etc.)

2.      tell what you could do differently in the future to improve students learning performance relative to these barriers.

C.     Reflection on your teaching performance

1.      Assess your teaching relative to the 8 TWS standards and how it impacted learning by your students (use data!!)

a)      teacher uses information about context and individual student differences to set goals and to plan instruction and assessments

b)      teacher sets significant, challenging, varied and appropriate learning goals

c)      teacher uses multiple assessment modes and approaches aligned with goals to assess learning before, during and after instruction.

d)      teacher designs instruction aligned to goals, contexts and student characteristics and needs

e)      teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior, creating a safe learning environment.

f)        teacher uses systematic and regular evaluation of student learning to make instructional decisions

g)      teacher uses assessment data to profile student learning and communicate information about student progress and achievement

h)      teacher reflects on instruction and student learning to improve teaching practice.

D.     Reflection on how to access specialized services

1.      describe fully steps you WOULD take to access specialized services for a student who needs them.

E.      Reflection on Ethical Practice

1.      describe a time when you had to consciously apply professional ethical standards while teaching

2.      describe how ethical standards applied to your use of technology for planning or teaching your unit

F.      Reflection on possibilities for professional development

1.      describe 1-2 areas of professional growth RELATED to TWS standards that you think are critical for you to work on to improve your ability to facilitate student learning.

2.      identify 2 professional growth activities likely to improve your performance on these two areas you have identified.

IX.  References and Credits

A.     give credit to any person’s ideas or materials used in this document

B.     use APA or other approved format

X.  Appendices

        A.  student work

        B.  3 full, consecutive lesson plans from your unit

        C.  other materials as needed.