Professional Practice Standard 1: Professional Knowledge
The purpose of Virginia’s Professional Knowledge Standard is that teachers are knowledgeable in both content and pedagogy, well-qualified, and best able to provide students with an education that will enable them to become well-rounded, productive citizens. The goal of this standard is that teachers not only demonstrate, but strengthen the link between skills used in and out of school, between course assignments and engaging, critical thinking that lends itself to 21st-century skills. Subsequently, the objective of the Professional Knowledge Standard is that teachers are qualified to equip students with the authentic and relevant skills they need to be successful in their academic and professional lives.
Teachers can implement their professional knowledge by implementing the following strategies:
Connections to Content:
This capacity to build new learning experiences off of a previously-built foundation, and to align content-based skills with other content areas and/or with real-world scenarios opens the gateway for students to participate in learning that is both meaningful and enduring. When learning is authentic and relevant to students’ lives, it is more effective because students are more interested and engaged with the content. It is within this link between academic life and adult life that the power of true, purposeful learning lies.
An example of creating such a link is the following assignment wherein student develop a Google Slides presentation throughout the course of the school year by developing one slide per universal theme based on a text read in class. All of the slides and themes relate to a career path the student has chosen to research. Additionally, here is a lesson plan I use to help students understand plagiarism and research. Students created a working definition of plagiarism and then of research (using concept definition maps) based on a combination of their prior knowledge and new knowledge they gained throughout the lesson. As another example, here is a link to access a research assignment whereby students learn about the Irish Civil War before reading a story written by an author who lived through this war. Also, here is a link to an anticipatory set activity called the Grammar Playlist wherein students needed to fix grammar mistakes in popular song lyrics. Finally, here is a link to view the Real World Writing Purposes chart I use to ensure authentic writing instruction based on skills students will need in the future.
Higher-Level Thinking:
This method dictates that instructors not teach contents as disjointed entities, but, instead, that they integrate these components to form a comprehensive whole. Furthermore, teachers must move beyond simple memorization activities so that students fully utilize their higher levels of thinking such as creation, evaluation, and synthesis. In this way, students are at the helm of their learning. Inquiry-based learning centered on an essential question is one method teachers can use to ensure that students reach these higher levels of thinking. For example, the picture below is of one student who asked, “What are the effects of smoking”? then, with his group, created a public service announcement to answer this question.
Curriculum Standards:
The curriculum standards create an end-goal for teachers and students by holding uniform expectations for all students across the state for all grade levels and content areas. Additionally, the curriculum standards set by the VDOE provide steps towards reaching this goal, and a framework to guide teachers in planning effective lessons. As a result of the curriculum standards, all students are held to the same rigorous standards and receive an equally-valuable, equitable education.
See the link below for the Virginia Department of Education’s most current English Frameworks that I use to create my objectives and lesson plans.
Experience:
Please click on this link to view my Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment (VCLA) exam score.
Please click on this link to view my diploma for my Bachelor’s degree in English from Adelphi University. Click here to view my Master’s of Teaching degree from Hollins University.
Please click on the following link to view my post-graduate VDOE license to teach secondary level English.
Thesis:
Please click here to access my paper on this professional practice standard as part of my thesis for my MAT degree from Hollins University.