STANDARDS

STANDARDS

Artifact Rationale

Learning Outcome 1C: Standards, focuses on the ability to use and apply educational standards in order to plan instruction. Mastery of standards are critical in many school contexts; thus, the ability to plan and implement strategies aligned with these standards is crucial for student development and mastery. This learning outcome emphasizes the need to implement strategies that are aligned to standards being used in a particular learning context; thus, I selected this artifact to highlight my abilities to differentiate, plan for standards, and align instruction accordingly. The artifact that was selected was a culmination of three different standards addressing a similar skill and strategy. Because the artifact highlights varying standards and strategies, it made the most sense to align it with the learning outcome addressing standards.

This particular artifact was derived from the skill-based needs of many of the emergent bilingual students that I have taught. This comprehension portfolio highlights three Common Core State Standards (2019) and directly relates these standards to a skill and strategy that will allow students to fully function and master these standards. Being that most of the students in the classrooms that I have taught are emerging bilinguals, it was seemingly necessary for me to find standards that would be common in terms of exposure for students. For this reason, the standards that were selected highlighted varying aspects of the nonfiction genre, in particular utilizing informational texts. Students will be exposed to informational texts throughout their entire academic career, and although they are young, the rigor and level of complexity for these texts are important in terms of exposure and practice. Duke and Bennett-Armistead (2003), Oczkus (2018), and Honigsfeld and Dove (2013) made significant contributions to my understanding of the strategies necessary to be implemented in terms of the CCSS. Although this comprehension portfolio was originally created for students with particular strengths and areas for growth, it was adapted to fit the needs of students with similar strengths and growth areas.

The beginning of the portfolio focuses on a second grade standard aligned to the CCSS in relation to key ideas and details, Rl.2.1-- Second Grade Reading: Informational Text: Key Ideas and Details. It can be seemingly difficult at times for students challenged by informational texts to understand and locate evidence within a text that supports their understanding. In other words, it is not as straightforward as one may believe to find the best piece of information within a text that supports comprehension. For the tendency for students to develop certain misconceptions surrounding key ideas and details in a text, I align the first standard with the strategy of identifying the various elements of informational texts. Whereas many students are more comfortable with understanding elements of fiction books and narratives, it is equally important for them to understand the elements of nonfiction informational texts. It was then important for me to highlight and practice identifying various features of this genre. In order to identify and understand these elements, students were asked to participate in various activities including a book sort where they had to sort books that we had read in class into genre categories. This allowed me to address any misconceptions that may have arisen as a result of the conceptual misunderstanding of genre characteristics.

The second standard in the portfolio was aligned to the actual crafting and structural characteristics of informational texts, Rl.2.6-- Second Grade Reading: Informational Text: Craft and Structure. This standard in other words was intentional in students being able to, “Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas” (CCSS, 2019). Being that students were required to summarize key details that were supporting ideas within the text, the strategy that I implemented for the students to practice was identifying and citing relative textual evidence. In addition to students needing to be able to determine characteristics of informational texts, it is almost equally as important for them to be able to determine the ideas presented in the text and how they connect through key details. For this standard and strategy, students were exposed to printouts of a text and asked to read and annotate each in order to find the most pertinent information. The first lesson started with myself modeling think-aloud strategies that would allow students to understand the process of finding key details in a text so that they would then be able to practice and implement these strategies independently. Students were then led in a guided practice that would let them practice. After students had practiced highlighting information and questions that they may have come up with while reading, they were asked to partner up and share what they had highlighted and learned. The last lesson implemented with this strategy was to allow students to function with summarizations of the text. This steady progression allowed for students to see the process and importance of locating key details in order to facilitate a holistic understanding of the text.

The last standard that students were exposed to was also one aligning to informational texts, but this time it was focusing on level of text complexity, Rl.2.10-- Second Grade Reading: Informational Text: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity. This standard would allow students to be comfortable and able to understand texts on their grade level and beyond which is very important for closing gaps. The strategy utilized for this particular standard was the reciprocal teaching method described by Oczkus (2018). This strategy is used as a “scaffolded, or supported discussion” (Oczkus, 2018) technique that allows students the opportunity to develop their comprehension of a particular text. For this strategy, a grade level text was used for students to practice. This text would give students the opportunity to practice holistic comprehension strategies that would be aligned with their grade level and develop age appropriate reading skills. These lessons utilized a gradual release of responsibility in terms of what students would be asked to do. They started by seeing me utilize the technique and chart within the first chapter of the book and eventually moved on to completing the RT chart independently, one chapter at a time.

The elementary comprehension portfolio was initially created to reach skill gaps and comprehension struggles of emergent bilinguals in the classroom. However, the portfolio was aligned to national standards which allowed for it to function effectively across multiple contexts. This artifact was chosen because it displays the essence of this particular learning outcome. The outcome encourages the ability to utilize standards to implement and create learning experiences that develop students’ skills and abilities. For these reasons, the elementary comprehension portfolio was directly aligned to the Learning Outcome 1C: Standards. Developing strategies in conjunction with national and state standards is critical for student mastery and achievement in the classroom and beyond.